Other Denizens
of the Castle

ghosts
paintings and other artwork
creatures
miscellaneous

Hogwarts is a place of many surprises. Not only are the doors and staircases unusual, but also the paintings on the walls and the suits of armor in the corridors act in ways a visitor might not expect. Everything seems to be alive in some fashion. The armor creaks and moves and even laughs at unsuspecting students. And the paintings... well, the paintings are practically full-fledged Beings. They speak and intereact, not just with the humans in the castle but even with each other.

paintings & other artwork

paintings

• bowl of fruit, painting of
  One of a series of cheerful paintings (mainly still lifes featuring food, although "still life" is a rather relative term to use in the wizarding world) that hang in a broad stone corridor to the left of the staircase leading one flight down from the Entrance Hall. The painting of the bowl of fruit will open to reveal the entrance to the Hogwarts kitchens if the pear is tickled (GF21)
• Sir Cadogan is a little knight whose picture hangs in a seventh-floor corridor near the South Tower. He is a silly fellow whose bravura outshines his commons sense and who glories in quests and challenges. Sir Cadogan spent some time guarding the Gryffindor Common Room after Sirius Black attacked the Fat Lady (he was the only painting brave enough to take the job). He thought up ridiculous passwords and changed them on a daily basis. He challenged people to duels whenever they would try to enter or leave through the portrait hole. Sir Cadogan has a huge sword and a little fat pony (PA6, PA9) He chased after Harry when Sir Cadogan's picture was hanging on a landing near the North Tower and the Divination classroom, but was stopped in his pursuit when he entered a picture which had a large and angry-looking wolfhound in it (OP12)
• group of women in crinolines, painting of
  Hangs on the narrow spiral staircase leading up to Professor Trelawney's classroom in North Tower (PA6)
• Fat Lady, painting of wearing a pink silk dress hangs over the round doorway into the Gryffindor Common Room. To gain admittance to through the portrait hole, a person must give the correct password to the Fat Lady, in which case she swings her frame out from the wall. She has been known to get a bit testy with people who wake her up for no good reason and even to wander off late at night out of her frame to go visiting, making it impossible to get into Gryffindor Tower. She is friends with Violet (GF17). At Christmas, The Fat Lady and Violet tend to consume a good bit of holiday cheer; during Harry's fourth year they got a bit tipsy on chocolate liqueurs (GF23), and over the holidays of Harry's sixth year they drank their way through quite a lot of five-hundred-year-old wine (HBP17).
• landscape with trees
  On the fourth floor. Peeves saw the Fat Lady running through this painting after she fled from Sirius' attack (PA9)
• mermaid, painting of
  She resembles the mermaids of folklore (that is, like merfolk who live in warm climates such as the Mediterranean Sea) rather than like the merpeople living in Hogwarts' own lake. Her painting hangs in the prefects' bathroom; she apparently flirts with the young gentlemen while they bathe, which doesn't seem to impress Myrtle much (GF25).
• monks, painting of a group of
  Hangs on the narrow spiral staircase leading up to Professor Trelawney's classroom in North Tower (PA6). At first Harry thought they looked "sinister".
• soppy-looking witch standing in a meadow, painting of
  Her painting seems to hang in the Entrance Hall (OP28)
  "soppy" in this case means "overly emotional, maudlin, weepy "
• Violet ("Vi")
  the Fat Lady's best friend, a wizened, pale old witch whose painting is located in the antechamber off the Great Hall (GF17, 23, HBP17 ).
• walrus mustache, wizard with
  His painting hangs next to Violet's in the antechamber off the Great Hall (GF17).
• wizards playing cards
  painting located in the Entrance Hall, next to the painting of the soppy-looking witch in the meadow (OP28)
• Entrance to the Hufflepuff common room
  Like the Gryffindor common room, the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room is hidden behind a painting. In the case of Hufflepuff, the painting is a still life and it's located in a corridor somewhat below the level of the Entrance Hall, near the kitchens (BLC).
• Argyllshire, map of
  On second floor, Fat Lady hid here after being attacked by Sirius (PA9)
• portraits of previous headmasters
  These portraits apparently spend their days snoozing in the Headmaster's office (CS12). In fact, often they are faking sleep and listening to everything that goes on; they are duty-bound to help the current Headmaster in any way they can, which usually means travelling to their other portraits on other places and reporting what they see or delivering messages.
  • Albus Dumbledore - hangs directly behind the headmaster's chair, concealing a hiding place (DH33)
  • Phineas Nigellus Black - visits his portrait in number twelve Grimmauld Place
  • Armando Dippet
  • Dilys Derwent - visits St. Mungo's, where she had been a Healer
  • Everard - visits the Ministry of Magic
  • Dexter Fortescue

suits of armor

• seem to move about (PS8)

• laughs at Ron

• singing Christmas carols but don't know all the words

• strange lights inside for Christmas (PA

• oiled for the visit by Durmstrang and Beauxbatons (GF

• Peeves trapped Mrs. Norris inside suits of armor a couple of times (OP

statues

• Boris the Bewildered, statue of (GF25)
  a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands near the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor

• Gregory the Smarmy, statue of
  Stands in front of the entrance to a secret passage that the twins say they found during their first week at Hogwarts (PS9)

• griffin, large stone statue of (PS10)

• humpbacked witch (probably Gunhilda of Gorsemoor), statue of
  Halfway along a third-floor corridor between the staircase leading from the Entrance Hall and the way to Gryffindor Tower, this statue conceals the entrance to a secret passage leading to Honeydukes' cellar (PA10)

• Lachlan the Lanky
  Located on the seventh floor very close to the head of the stairs leading down to the sixth floor. Ron hid from the twins behind it to avoid being teased about wanting to try out for Keeper (OP13)

• Paracelsus, bust of
  Located halfway down the corridor leading from the Gryffindor common room to the shortest route to the Owlery; requires a right turn from the common room (OP14)

• Wilfrid the Wistful
  Located between Gryffindor Tower and the Owlery, requires a left turn from the common room. Mrs. Norris disappeared behind this statue while setting out to report to Filch after encountering Harry on his way to the Owlery, so a secret passage or short cut may be in its vicinity (OP14)

• A stone gargoyle protects the entrance to the Headmaster's office, and will leap aside only if given the proper password; this statue has not spoken to Harry when spoken to or even when kicked (CS11, GF, HBP

• two stone gargoyles stand on either side of the door of the staffroom; they challenge any student who tries to knock on the door (OP17, DH31)

• winged boars flanking the entrance gates (PA5)

• McGonagall animated the statues and armour to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts (DH30) using a Piertotum Locomotor spell.

tapestries

Tapestries on the walls of the corridors sometimes hide secret passages (PS9, CS8, OP28, HBP14), including the entrance to the staircase with the trick step (GF12, 25). There are tapestries in the Gryffindor common room (HBP9).

Barnabas the Barmy, moving tapestry of
depicting his foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet, hangs on the seventh floor of Hogwarts Castle, opposite the entrance to the Room of Requirement (OP18, 26, HBP20).

creatures

• house-elves - over a hundred (GF, OP)

• boggarts - several turned up in PA, seem to be fairly common

• Peeves the poltergeist (sort of a ghost, but not really)

• see also Forbidden Forest; Aragog lived in the castle for a period as Hagrid's pet when Hagrid was a student (CS13)

miscellaneous

secret passages to Hogsmeade

• There are seven on the Marauder's Map; during Harry's third year the twins reckoned that Filch knew about only four of these (PA10)

• behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy

• (unknown to Filch up through Harry's third year)
  under the hump of the statue of the hump-backed witch, leads to Honeydukes' cellar (PA10)

• (unknown to Filch up through Harry's third year)
  under the Whomping Willow, leads to the Shrieking Shack (PA10)

• (unknown to Filch up through Harry's third year)
  one that is caved in, Hogwarts entrance is behind a mirror on the fourth floor (PA10)

strange stairways

• one with a trick step halfway up - your foot sinks into it (GF12, 25 )

• the staircase up to Dumbledore's office moves magically upward, like an escalator (CS11, OP22, DH36)

• Although the films show a huge hall filled floor to ceiling with moving staircases, the books only mention one. It is refered to as "the swivelling staircase", which suggests that it's the only one (OP32). There is mention, however, of staircases that lead someplace different on different days (PS8).

weird doors

• the huge oak front doors of Hogwarts are apparently semi-sentient, because Flitwick taught them to recognize a picture of Sirius Black so that they could refuse to let him enter the castle (PA9)