Great Hall

Great Hall
Location	Hogwarts Castle, Highlands of Scotland
Founded	10th century
Owners	Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Book information
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Last appearance	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Great Hall is a room in Hogwarts Castle. It appears throughout the Harry Potter book series. It is the main gathering place for students and staff where they receive their meals and daily owl post, and attend special feasts throughout the year starting with the Start-of-Term Feast. The hall is large enough to hold everyone at the same time. It is found off the Entrance Hall and has held many important events, including the defeat of Voldemort at the endof the Battle of Hogwarts and the Second Wizarding War.

About

The hall is very large with four long tables for each school house where students are seated at meal times. At the top of the room is the High Table where professors are seated, with the Head sitting in the middle of the table on a throne-like golden chair.

The ceiling of the hall is enchanted to look like the sky outside. It has small windows going around it. The room is decorated for special events and holidays. During the Start-of-Term Feast, there are candles. At the Hallowe'en Feast, there are sweet-filled pumpkins. The food served in the hall is cooked by house-elves in the kitchen and then magically appears on the tables.

The food served for breakfast at the beginning of the day includes toast, porridge, kippers, bacon and eggs.

Events

The Great Hall by Pottermore

On the first of September, the Start-of-Term Feast is held in the evening. The new students are sorted into their houses before the Head gives a speech and orders the feast to begin. Food magically appears on the table.

Every morning before the students have to go to their lessons, there is a breakfast. Owls arrive to deliver the post, circling the tables until they find their owner. They drop their letters and packages onto the table. In October, a Hallowe'en Feast is held. In December for Christmas, the Great Hall is decorated with twelve trees scattered around the room, festoons of holly and mistletoe, sparkling tiny icicles and glittering candles.

A special feast is held on Christmas Day. Food includes a hundred roast turkeys, chipolatas, roast and boiled potatoes, peas, gravy and cranberry sauce. Silver sickle pieces are put in slices of the pudding. Each table has stacks of wizard crackers. The teachers eat their dinner at the High Table. However, if there is a small number of students staying at Hogwarts one year, they put one table in the center of the room to eat together.

In June, the End-of-Year Feast takes place. The winner of the House Cup is announced.

History

In the early twentieth century, a pantomime adaptation of The Fountain of Fair Fortune was held in the Great Hall. During the performance, the Ashwinder playing the Worm exploded and shrouded the room in smoke. A duel erupted on stage when the actors, caught in a love spat, started fighting each other while the an inferno was brewing in the Hall. It was several months before the Hall lost its "pungent aroma of wood smoke".

One year a special feast was held at night to celebrate the closing of the Chamber of Secrets. They kept going until the morning. The students who were Petrified were brought back and joined the celebration and Rubeus Hagrid was sent back from Azkaban. The students cheered when they found out their examinations had been cancelled and Professor Lockhart was leaving Hogwarts.