Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Gryffindor House
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Place | |
| Gryffindor House | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gryffindor Tower |
| Permanent Residents | Gryffindor students |
| First Appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Contents |
[edit] General Overview
Gryffindor House is one of the four Houses in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
[edit] Extended Description
Housemistress: Professor Minerva McGonagall
Founder: Godric Gryffindor
Coat of Arms: gold lion, red
Ghost: Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington ("Nearly Headless Nick")
Characteristics: "Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring nerve, and chivalry."
Location of common room: Gryffindor Tower, seventh floor, behind the portrait of the Fat Lady
There are two main staircases which lead from the Common Room to dormitories, one staircase for boys and one for girls. The girls' dormitories have an enchantment that doesn't allow boys to enter, but the boys' dormitories do not have such an enchantment (and so girls can freely enter) because, according to Hogwarts, A History, the founder thought that girls are more trustworthy than boys. Each of the two dormitories is further divided into seven floors, one for each year; each dormitory floor apparently has space for five students.
Harry is Sorted into Gryffindor House, as were his father and mother before him. It is never stated, but seems very likely that Professor Dumbledore was a member of Gryffindor House as well.
[edit] Analysis
The number of students actually in each House is uncertain. We only ever hear of five boys and five girls in each year, but we have been told by the author in an interview that the average class size (all residents of one House for one year) is about thirty. Thus we must assume a population of 210 per house, fifteen boys and fifteen girls each year.
One gets the impression from things said in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that House honours, notably the House cup and the Quidditch cup, are generally held by either Gryffindor house or Slytherin house, with Ravenclaw house occasionally winning an upset victory.
