Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Where do the Hogwarts teachers live?

51 replies

AintNobodyHereButUsChickens · 11/04/2021 23:06

I'm rereading Harry Potter for the billionth time and chapter 2 in book 6 is set in Snapes house. So clearly he has a home, but in book 5 where Umbridge is trying to throw out Prof. Trelawny, she says "But where will I go? Hogwarts is my home!" which strongly insinuates that she lives there permanently and has no house of her own.

Hagrid obviously lives there as he's the gamekeeper. But what about everyone else? Do you think they're given the choice when they get a job whether they live there full time or not?

And where do they sleep? Do they have sleeping quarters somewhere? I notice it's never really mentioned in the books about where the teachers sleep. It must be a bit miserable, living in your place of work, even if it is a magical castle.

OP posts:
TeenMinusTests · 12/04/2021 08:35

Super We had one housemistress who lived on sight with husband and child. I have no recollection of the husband at all, even from the year I was in that house, and just vague memories of the girl. On the whole I think we just weren't interested. (Or maybe I just went around in a haze, that's possible too.)

DobbyTheHouseElk · 12/04/2021 08:45

My headmistress was married. We had no idea she had a husband. Don’t know where she kept him, we never saw him. We always thought she was divorced. Only found out recently that he existed. Weird.

Viviennemary · 12/04/2021 18:39

I always assumed they lived at the school. Becausd when that scatty teacher got sacked by the one who took over from Dumbledore she had nowhere to go because Hogwarts was her home.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Children's books Films
Icancelledthecheque · 12/04/2021 19:08

Lockhart, Trelawney and Mad Eye all had suitcases so I guess they live in. The house heads do.

If snape lived off site then he certainly worked some long hours!

AppleKatie · 12/04/2021 21:51

I wouldn’t have wanted to work at Hogwarts. Boarders can be tricky and sneaky enough without adding all the magic in!

Whilst this is true-

  1. They are only allowed offsite about 3 afternoons a year so very few Exeat forms to chase.
  1. They put themselves to bed- you only have to go in and shout for 2 mins if its a particularly boisterous quidditch night.
  1. The house elves deal with the laundry.
  1. They don’t need waking up in the morning.
  1. Pastoral care is non existent.
  1. None of them have phones.

So really it’s just the occasional spot of patrolling the corridors and if you’re sprout or flitwick you apparently don’t even do that!

MabelPines · 12/04/2021 21:54

This is why I love mumsnet! Come for the EHCP advice, stay for the Hogwarts threads !!

PurpleSunrise · 12/04/2021 22:53

@MabelPines

This is why I love mumsnet! Come for the EHCP advice, stay for the Hogwarts threads !!
Grin
DarlingWithoutYou · 13/04/2021 15:38

@MabelPines

This is why I love mumsnet! Come for the EHCP advice, stay for the Hogwarts threads !!
Grin
Devlesko · 13/04/2021 15:50

A scene was shot from my dd school. There are still marks on the floor where an item was dropped, purposely in the film.

I think most staff would live there, they all seem to be there at Christmas.
Maybe they go home or elsewhere for the summer as it's a longer holiday.

TeenMinusTests · 13/04/2021 15:54

There are still marks on the floor where an item was dropped, purposely in the film.

The weighing scales outside the room of requirement?

Original poster
AintNobodyHereButUsChickens · 13/04/2021 16:02

@Devlesko

A scene was shot from my dd school. There are still marks on the floor where an item was dropped, purposely in the film.

I think most staff would live there, they all seem to be there at Christmas.
Maybe they go home or elsewhere for the summer as it's a longer holiday.

Maybe Trelawny's crystal ball?
OP posts:
AliceMcK · 13/04/2021 16:47

@Hellocatshome

I was always baffled by Snape’s home. It looked like a tiny Coronation st type terrace amongst thousands of other similar houses. It never seemed grand enough or creepy enough. My husband thought it might not be his house, just somewhere he was staying.

I think Snape was supposed to come from a poor family which was partly at the root of the bullying he received from James Potter and the others. He was also a half blood and I think his house was in the mugger world not the magical world.

This. It was the whole point of him being bullied. His dad was muggel and and his mum a witch. It’s been a while since I read them but I thought he had a neglected muggle life which is how he was able to make friends with lilly in the first place and just like Harry and Voldemort he wanted to escape that muggle life, which is why he was so proud to be the half blood Prince.

I always felt he would happily have lived at hogwarts but had to keep up the pretence of his old life hence why he stayed at spinners end in the holidays.

AliceMcK · 13/04/2021 17:34

Trelawney lives at Hogwarts for protection, she's probably Voldemort's #3 target (after Harry and Dumbledore).

I hadn’t thought about this, but your probably right @safariboot. Dumbledore would do his best to protect her. I always thought she was desperate for work and somewhere to live which is why she went to dumbledore for a job in the first place. I’m trying to remember the scene but I think he was going to turn her down when she spoke the prophecy.

AliceMcK · 13/04/2021 17:39

@IndecentCakes

Snape could just apparate there whenever he wanted, though, if he wanted a bit of peace.
He would have to leave Hogwarts to do it though as you can’t apperate from inside Hogwarts grounds.
LittleMissNaice · 13/04/2021 17:49

Didn't Neville marry Hannah Abbot? And live in the Three Broomsticks?

AliceMcK · 13/04/2021 17:52

@AppleKatie

I wouldn’t have wanted to work at Hogwarts. Boarders can be tricky and sneaky enough without adding all the magic in!

Whilst this is true-

  1. They are only allowed offsite about 3 afternoons a year so very few Exeat forms to chase.
  1. They put themselves to bed- you only have to go in and shout for 2 mins if its a particularly boisterous quidditch night.
  1. The house elves deal with the laundry.
  1. They don’t need waking up in the morning.
  1. Pastoral care is non existent.
  1. None of them have phones.

So really it’s just the occasional spot of patrolling the corridors and if you’re sprout or flitwick you apparently don’t even do that!

But do the teachers patrol the corridors? I always assumed it was Snape going about his and Dumbledore business as to why he was up and about at night. In the first book he suspects Quirrell is up to something, the 2nd his potions are being stolen and the chamber has been opened, book 3 he’s worried Lupin is enabling Sirius, book 4 Krakov, another death eater is about so he’s watching him, plus his potions are again being stolen and someone is obviously trying to kill Harry again, book five Voldemort is back so he’s playing his double agent part and so on...

I’m guessing we don’t see Flitwick or Sprout as there isn’t much focus on the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses.

McGonagal obviously is woken up by what ever rukkas that has happened.

Slughorn is up and about with the slug club or sneaking tentacular leaves or other things for his positions, given he’s a slytherin, sneaking around at night isn’t surprising, now I’m saying it, it’s just like Snape who is the only other one you tend to see sneaking around, unless you count lupin who was possessed by Voldemort, another Slytherin.

BlueLobelia · 13/04/2021 20:10

Oh i did not know Slughorn was a Slytherin!

(Currently on Chamber of Secrets with the DCs but a massive fan of the movies)

AppleKatie · 13/04/2021 20:48

Even better then! All the perks of living in with no boarding duties to speak of 😂

AliceMcK · 13/04/2021 21:18

@LittleMissNaice

Didn't Neville marry Hannah Abbot? And live in the Three Broomsticks?
I remember JK saying he married Hanna Abbot after she finished the books but not sure on the three broomsticks. I know there was reference to him in the books about being the herbology teacher and visiting the potters outside of school terms so I assumed he lived outside of Hogwarts.
AliceMcK · 13/04/2021 21:22

@BlueLobelia

Oh i did not know Slughorn was a Slytherin!

(Currently on Chamber of Secrets with the DCs but a massive fan of the movies)

Yes, he was head of Slytherin house when Voldemort was at Hogwarts.

My DCs are obsessed, the movies and audio books have been watched and listened to time and time again. Plus my oldest is not trying to read the books herself. We also have to do Harry Potter trivia questions every night at the dinner table 🤦‍♀️

Devlesko · 13/04/2021 21:27

No, not the crytal ball, nor the weighing scales.
In the Philosophers stone. Grin I think.

Dingleydel · 13/04/2021 21:30

Omg this is so weird as I was just pondering this EXACT question after reading the 1st one to dd this eve. Harry and Ron stay at Hogwarts for Christmas and lots of the teachers are there. Do they not have homes and families to go to?

AppleKatie · 13/04/2021 21:33

Neville did marry Hannah but it was the leaky cauldron not the 3 broomsticks.

amusedbush · 13/04/2021 23:31

But do the teachers patrol the corridors?

No, the prefects do it. They can dock house points and give detention if they catch younger students out of their common rooms after curfew.

AppleKatie · 14/04/2021 07:11

Ah but prefects docking house points is a bit of a plot hole isn’t it?

Percy does it early on in the books (or threatens too) but then Hermione tells Malloy he can’t in book 5 and he agrees but tells her he can because he’s in the inquisitorial squad.

I think JK explained it away at some point by saying that Percy was ‘mistaken’ or something.