Hogwarts Dungeons

• Type: Subterranean Level of a School
• Location: Beneath the Ground Floor of Hogwarts Castle, Scotland
• Owner/Residents: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Notable residents include the students of Slytherin House. The castle's house-elves work in the Kitchens located here.
• Key Features: A network of cold, stone-walled corridors lit by torches. The dungeons are vast, and some areas, like the Slytherin Common Room, are located directly beneath the Black Lake.

The dungeons of Hogwarts Castle are a labyrinthine network of passages and rooms that comprise the lowest levels of the school. Contrary to what the name might suggest, they are not primarily a prison but a functional part of the castle, housing classrooms, common rooms, offices, and service areas. The atmosphere is consistently described as cold and dimly lit, with stone walls that can be damp to the touch. Historically, the dungeons are part of the original castle structure built by the Hogwarts founders. The placement of the Slytherin Common Room here is thematically appropriate, reflecting Salazar Slytherin's association with the Serpent and water. The dungeons are known to be complex and potentially confusing for those unfamiliar with their layout.

The dungeons are a recurring and significant setting throughout the series. They are the location of the Potions classroom, where Harry Potter and his classmates endure challenging lessons with Professor Snape, making it a place of frequent tension and anxiety for many students. Key events that take place in the dungeons include:

• The Hallowe'en incident in Harry's first year, where a Mountain Troll was reported to be loose, leading to Hermione Granger being saved by Harry and Ron Weasley.
• Harry and Ron's infiltration of the Slytherin Common Room using Polyjuice Potion to question Draco Malfoy in their second year.
• Harry's private and often volatile Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape in his dungeon office during their fifth year.
• The trio's discovery of the castle Kitchens, a warm and welcoming place that becomes a source of food and comfort, and a focal point for Hermione's work with S.P.E.W.

• Potions Classroom: A large, cold classroom filled with the fumes of various potions and lined with shelves of pickled animals and potion ingredients in glass jars. It was the long-time domain of Professor Snape and later Professor Slughorn.
• Severus Snape's Office: An office adjoining the Potions classroom, described as being filled with unsettling specimens in jars. This office was the primary location for Harry's Occlumency lessons.
• Slytherin Common Room and Dormitories: The entrance is a stretch of bare, damp stone wall that opens when the correct password is spoken. The common room is a long, low, dungeon-like room with a greenish glow, located under the Black Lake. The decor includes rough stone walls, skulls, and carved chairs.
• Kitchens: Located one floor below the Great Hall, directly underneath it. The entrance is concealed behind a painting of a fruit bowl; one must tickle the pear to reveal the handle. The Kitchens are a vast, high-ceilinged room as large as the hall above, staffed by over a hundred house-elves.
• Hufflepuff Common Room and Dormitories: The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room is located in a corridor near the Kitchens. The entrance itself is concealed within a stack of large barrels (Pottermore). While its interior is not described in the novels, supplementary materials state it is a cozy, round, earthy room with a low ceiling (Pottermore).
• Unused Classrooms and Corridors: The dungeons contain numerous other passages and empty rooms. In Harry's first year, the Mirror of Erised was temporarily stored in one such disused dungeon classroom.

• While the books do not provide a detailed description of the Hufflepuff Common Room's entrance or interior, J.K. Rowling later revealed these details on the Pottermore (now Wizarding World) website. The entrance requires tapping a specific barrel in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'; tapping the wrong barrel or rhythm results in being doused in vinegar.
• The film adaptations of the Harry Potter series established a strong visual identity for the dungeons, often depicting them with a dark, damp, and greenish-tinged aesthetic that became synonymous with Snape's classroom and the Slytherin areas.