West Tower

• Type: Tower within a School
• Location: Hogwarts Castle, Scotland
• Owner/Residents: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Offices for Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick are located within.
• Key Features: A tall, stone tower that houses the school's Hogwarts Owlery at its peak. It contains numerous offices and likely classrooms on its floors.

The West Tower is one of the many towers that make up the unique skyline of Hogwarts Castle. It serves several important functions within the school. Architecturally, it is a circular stone tower consistent with the rest of the castle's design. The most notable feature of the West Tower is the Hogwarts Owlery, which is situated at its very top. The Owlery is a circular, draughty room with no glass in its windows, allowing the many owls to come and go as they please. The floor is covered in straw and littered with owl droppings and the skeletons of small rodents. Below the Owlery, the tower contains various rooms. The first floor holds the office of Professor McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor and Transfiguration professor. The seventh floor contains the office of Professor Flitwick, the Charms master and Head of Ravenclaw. It was from the thirteenth window from the right on this floor that Sirius Black was temporarily imprisoned.

The West Tower is the setting for several significant events throughout the series. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the tower plays a climactic role. After being captured, Sirius Black is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor to await the Dementor's Kiss. Following a tip from Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger use a Time-Turner to travel back in time. They fly to the West Tower on the back of Buckbeak the Hippogriff and successfully rescue Sirius from his imprisonment, allowing him to escape the castle. Earlier in the same book, Harry and Ron Weasley are sent to Professor McGonagall's office in the tower after a confrontation with Draco Malfoy. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry visits the Hogwarts Owlery at the top of the tower to send an urgent letter to his godfather, Sirius, informing him that his scar has been hurting and that his name mysteriously came out of the Goblet of Fire. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Owlery is once again a key setting. Harry goes there to send a message to Sirius, but is found by Cho Chang. Their emotional and fraught conversation in the Owlery about their respective loyalties and grief ultimately contributes to the end of their brief relationship.

• Hogwarts Owlery: Located at the pinnacle of the tower, it houses all of the school's and students' owls.
• Professor Flitwick's Office: A seventh-floor office that was used as a high-security holding cell for Sirius Black due to its height and position.
• Professor McGonagall's Office: An office located on the first floor of the tower.

• While the books describe Sirius Black being held in Professor Flitwick's office at the top of the tower, and the Owlery also being at the top, it is generally understood that Flitwick's office is on the highest habitable floor, with the open-air Owlery situated structurally above it.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the room where Sirius is held is shown as a cell at the very top of the Dark Tower, not the West Tower. The film version of the Owlery, introduced in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is a separate, massive, and elaborate free-standing tower. (film)
• The West Tower and its Owlery are featured as explorable locations in several Harry Potter video games, particularly in the games for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. (video game)