Slytherin values ambition, cunning, leadership, and resourcefulness; the Sorting Hat said in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that Slytherins will do anything to get their way. The house mascot of Slytherin is the serpent, and the house colours are green and silver. Throughout the series, until the seventh book, the Head of House is Professor Severus Snape. Then, the previous Head of House Professor Horace Slughorn comes out of retirement, re-assuming authority after Snape becomes headmaster. The ghost of Slytherin house is the Bloody Baron. [17] According to Rowling, Slytherin corresponds roughly to the element of water. [13] The founder of this house is Salazar Slytherin. The translators of the books' foreign editions had difficulty translating the "house" concept; in countries where this system does not exist, no word could adequately convey the importance of belonging to a house, the loyalty owed to it, and the pride taken in prizes won by the house. [12] Gryffindor

Riphouse, Acascias (2004). The Harry Potter Companion. United States of America: Virtualbookworm Publishing. p.100. ISBN 1-58939-582-4.The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two". MuggleNet. 16 July 2005. Archived from the original on 24 July 2005 . Retrieved 20 June 2017.

A passage beneath the one-eyed witch statue by the stairs to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, leading to the cellar of Honeydukes. Speaking aloud the word 'Dissendium' to the witch allows access to this passage; the hump on the statue then opens and reveals the hidden passageway. The Mirror of Erised can be found in the final chamber, further enchanted by Dumbledore to bestow the Philosopher's Stone upon a seeker only hoping to acquire the stone but not use it for selfish means. The train began use in the 1850s. Before that, pupils used to reach Hogwarts on brooms or enchanted carriages. [25] Haas, Heather A. (15 April 2011). "The Wisdom of Wizards-and Muggles and Squibs: Proverb Use in the World of Harry Potter". The Journal of American Folklore. 124 (492): 29–54. doi: 10.5406/jamerfolk.124.492.0029. JSTOR 10.5406/jamerfolk.124.492.0029. Doppelmayr/Garaventa built the Hogwarts Express" (Press release). Doppelmayr Garaventa Group. 25 July 2014 . Retrieved 6 September 2014.Hogwarts ... Logically it had to be set in a secluded place, and pretty soon I settled on Scotland in my mind." Fraser, L., An interview with J.K.Rowling, Mammoth, London, 2000. ISBN 0-7497-4394-8. pp 20–21. Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.

At the end of their fifth year, students take the Ordinary Wizarding Level ( O.W.L.) examinations for all subjects in which they are enrolled. [ citation needed] Each examination consists of a written knowledge test and, where applicable, a practical demonstration of skills before a panel of proctors from the Ministry of Magic. Students who achieve a high enough O.W.L. grade in a particular subject may take its advanced course for the final two years, in preparation for the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (N.E.W.T.) given at the end of the seventh year.From there, first-year students are accompanied by the "Keeper of the Keys, Game and Grounds" (which was Rubeus Hagrid during the first novel) to small boats, which magically sail across the lake and get them near the entrance of Hogwarts. The older students ride up to the castle in carriages pulled by creatures called Thestrals. When the first-year students initially arrive at the castle, they wait in a small chamber off the entrance hall until the older students have taken their seats, and then enter the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony to determine their House assignments. As Professor Minerva McGonagall said in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, "The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room." The entrance to the Chamber is hidden in the second-floor girls' lavatory (haunted by Moaning Myrtle). One of the sink taps has a snake scratched into its side; when a command in Parseltongue is spoken, it opens to reveal the mouth of a dark, slimy chute, wide enough to slide down, that gives onto a stone tunnel. There are many skeletons of small animals littering the floor and even a gigantic skin shed by the Basilisk. The tunnel leads to a solid wall, carved with two entwined serpents with emeralds for eyes. [22] At a command in Parseltongue, the wall opens to expose a long, dim corridor, lined with monumental statues of snakes, including two rows of towering stone pillars with more carved serpents that brace the ceiling. A colossal statue of Salazar Slytherin, looking ancient and monkey-like, is at the centre. The Basilisk rested inside the statue and emerged from its mouth when the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle, summoned it. [23] a b c d e "Harry Potter: What Is 'Hogwarts' In French? (& 9 Other Translations For The School)". Screen Rant . Retrieved 23 February 2021.