Tower & Tome35 notes on the castle, the grounds, the village and beyond, written for wizarding-school roleplay. Each one has a teaching tip for professors.
Search, filter and quiz these notesThe huge hall just inside the castle's front doors, where a marble staircase leads up and a pair of doors opens into the Great Hall.
Teaching tip: Use it as your meeting point. Start a class by gathering here, and let students notice the house hourglasses on the way past.
The great stairwell at the heart of the castle, where the staircases swing from one landing to another.
Teaching tip: Have a staircase move mid-scene and send half the class to the wrong floor. They must find their way back in character.
The cold stone passages under the castle, home to the Potions classroom and the Slytherin common room.
Teaching tip: Set the mood before a Potions class: cold air, echoing steps, torchlight. Ask each student for one thing their character notices.
A vast kitchen directly below the Great Hall, where the house-elves cook every meal.
Teaching tip: A kitchen visit is a good scene about manners. Watch how each student's character speaks to the house-elves.
A round stone room at the top of a tower where the school owls and students' owls roost.
Teaching tip: Send students here to post a letter and have them write the first line of it aloud. It is a gentle way to build backstory.
A room of glass cases holding the school's cups, shields, plates and awards.
Teaching tip: Invent a trophy with a name and a date, and let students guess the story behind it. It gives the castle a history of its own.
A round tower room reached by a moving spiral stair hidden behind a stone gargoyle that asks for a password.
Teaching tip: Being sent here should feel serious. Describe the gargoyle and the stair slowly before the student steps inside.
Lessons are held in classrooms spread across the castle, each one suited to its subject.
Teaching tip: Give your own classroom two or three fixed details and repeat them each lesson, so students come to know the room.
Between the castle's wings are open courtyards, covered walkways and bridges, popular places to meet between lessons.
Teaching tip: Hold an outdoor lesson in a courtyard on a fine day. A change of setting wakes up a tired class.
A large oval field in the grounds, with three tall goal hoops at each end and raised stands all round.
Teaching tip: Use the stands for a scene even when nobody is flying. Supporters, banners and nerves make good roleplay.
Also on: Flying
The landing place at the edge of the lake, where the first-years' boats arrive on their first night.
Teaching tip: Play the first-years' crossing as a scene: dark water, lanterns, and the first sight of the castle. Ask for one line of wonder each.
A small wooden house at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, home to the keeper of the grounds.
Teaching tip: A visit to the hut is a good small-group scene: tea, a strange creature in a crate, and a warning about the forest.
Sloping lawns run from the castle down to the lake, with the forest on one side and the greenhouses and pitch on the other.
Teaching tip: Ask students where their character goes to be alone. The answer tells you a lot about them.
A grand bathroom on the fifth floor, open only to prefects and guarded by a password.
Teaching tip: Mention it as a privilege when you appoint a prefect. Small rewards make the badge feel real.
The castle is full of hidden ways: behind tapestries, statues and mirrors, and a few that lead right out of the grounds.
Teaching tip: Let students discover one passage as a class reward, and decide together who is allowed to know about it.
The village near the school, and the only settlement in Britain where everyone is a witch or wizard.
Teaching tip: Give each student a short shopping list and a few coins. Let them choose what to skip when the money runs out.
The warm, crowded inn on the village's main street, and the favourite stop on a village weekend.
Teaching tip: Run a table scene. Seat students in small groups and visit each table for a line or two.
The village's other inn: small, dim and none too clean, on a side street away from the main road.
Teaching tip: Use it when a scene needs secrecy, and remind students that anyone might be listening.
The village sweet shop, with shelves of sweets from floor to ceiling.
Teaching tip: Ask each student to invent one sweet and what it does. Vote for the one the shop should stock.
The small railway station at the edge of the village, where the school train arrives and leaves.
Teaching tip: Open the term here. The platform is where characters meet again after the holidays, so start with greetings.
The cobbled wizarding shopping street hidden in London, where students buy their school things.
Teaching tip: Play a shopping trip before term. Each student buys one item from their list and describes the shop.
A small, shabby inn in London that is the doorway between the Muggle street and Diagon Alley.
Teaching tip: Use it as the place where a character from a non-magical family first meets the wizarding world.
The wizard bank, a tall white building in Diagon Alley run by goblins.
Teaching tip: Ask students what their character keeps in the bank besides money. A single odd object can start a story.
A dark, twisting side street off Diagon Alley, lined with shops that deal in the Dark Arts.
Teaching tip: Good for a cautionary scene. A student's character takes a wrong turn, and the class decides how they get out.
The government of the wizarding world in Britain, with its headquarters hidden in London.
Teaching tip: Bring in a visitor from the Ministry for one lesson. Students practise speaking to an official in character.
The wizarding hospital in London, for magical illnesses and injuries too serious for a school matron.
Teaching tip: When an injury in class is too serious for the hospital wing, sending a character here marks how grave it is.
The wizard prison, a fortress on a small island far out in the cold North Sea.
Teaching tip: Keep it as a distant threat. It is mentioned in lessons about the law, and it is not a place to set a scene.
The school stands in the Scottish Highlands, among mountains, lochs and forest, far from any Muggle town.
Teaching tip: Ask students what their character sees from a tower window. It reminds everyone how far the school is from anywhere.
Where meals, feasts and the Sorting happen. Four long house tables and a staff table.
Teaching tip: Use a feast scene to mix groups. Students sit at a table not their own and start one conversation with a new character.
The tallest tower at Hogwarts, used for stargazing lessons at night.
Teaching tip: Pair it with the night observation task. Students climb in character, set up a chart and record what they see before the bell.
The dark forest on the edge of the grounds. Off limits to students.
Teaching tip: Treat it as a rules lesson. Ask what a sensible student does when a friend suggests going in, and who they tell.
Thousands of books, watched over by a strict librarian.
Teaching tip: Research task: students find a note on this site, summarise it in one sentence, and say which book they would ask for.
Where injured or ill students are treated by the school matron.
Teaching tip: Ask students to describe one realistic reason to visit, and how their character behaves while resting. It builds care-taking roleplay.
A hidden room on the seventh floor that becomes whatever the seeker needs.
Teaching tip: Imagination exercise: each student names what they need and the class describes the room that appears. Add a rule that it must not harm anyone.
Herbology is taught in the greenhouses. The lake holds merpeople and a giant squid.
Teaching tip: Split into two groups: one tends plants safely, the other plans a lake visit with limits. They swap and compare notes.