Great Hall
Double doors in the Entrance Hall lead to the Great Hall, which is a vast chamber with an enchanted ceiling that mirrors the sky outside. Lightning and thunder flash across it during storms, on clear nights it appears deep black and full of stars, and it has been full of sunshine or covered with gray clouds [PS/SS7]. For special occasions the ceiling has been transformed; warm, dry enchanted show fell for a Christmas celebration [COS12] and colorful confetti fell during Lockhart's Valentine's Day celebration [COS13]. There are windows in the Great Hall near the front door, and at night the room is lit with thousands of floating candles. There are four long tables for each of the four houses, and the teachers sit at a fifth table on a raised platform at the front of the room [PS/SS7].
The kitchens lie directly beneath the Great Hall and are just the same size. Five preparation tables lie directly beneath the five tables in the Hall above, and at mealtimes the food is magically transported through the ceiling to the tables in the Great Hall [GOF21].
There are usually four feasts each year; the start-of-term feast, Halloween feast, Christmas feast, and the end-of-year feast. The staff and students eat all their regular meals in the Great Hall, and the Owl Post arrives during breakfast. After dinner the students are expected to go to the library or their house common rooms for studying and socializing. The Great Hall is not used for studying.
The Great Hall is sometimes used for other reasons:
· Gilderoy Lockhart held the first (and perhaps only) meeting of his ill-fated Duelling Club in the Great Hall [COS11].
· After Sirius Black attacked Ron's bed, the students slept in the Great Hall for the rest of the night [POA9].
· The Yule Ball was held in the Great Hall, which was transformed with silver frost, garlands of mistletoe, and ivy crossing the starry ceiling. There were a hundred small, lantern-lit tables, each seating about twelve people [GOF23].
· Some of the OWL and NEWT exams are given in the Great Hall. Once breakfast is over, the fifth- and seventh-year students wait in the entrance hall while the other students go to their classes. At nine-thirty, they are called into the Great Hall to take the theory portion of the tests. The four House tables are gone and replaced with small individual tables, all facing the staff table. After the two-hour test, the students are excused. The four House tables reappear over the lunch hour. After lunch, some of the practical exams are given in the Great Hall [OOTP28, 31].
· The Apparation classes for the sixth-year students were given in the Great Hall. Since witches or wizards cannot Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts or the grounds, Dumbledore lifted this enchantment, only in the Great Hall, for one hour so the students could practice [HBP18].
· The Hogwartian army used the Great Hall as their base during the Battle of Hogwarts. After the first phase of the battle, when Voldemort gave Harry an hour to give himself up, the castle emptied of the Dark Lord's forces. The Great Hall became both an impromptu hospital and an impromptu morgue: Madam Pomfrey and a team of helpers attended to the injured, which included Firenze, whilst the dead were placed in a row in the middle of the room, and included Fred Weasley, Lupin and Tonks amongst their number [DH33].
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