Secret Passages
The Marauder's Map showed seven secret passages leading out of Hogwarts [POA10].
Four were known by Filch, so they weren't useful to mischief makers. One of
these passages was behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy, and another one
was caved in.
Filch didn't know about three passages out of Hogwarts:
· One was beneath the Whomping Willow and led to the Shrieking Shack.
· One was behind the mirror on the fourth floor but was completely blocked
off (probably during the cave-in during the Chamber of Secrets).
· One was in the hump of the one-eyed witch statue and led to the cellar
of Honeydukes, the candy shop in Hogsmeade. To enter this passage, you said
Dissendium and tapped the statue's hump with a wand. Then you slid a long way
down a stone slide until you ended in a twisting earthen passageway that finally
ended in the cellar of Honeydukes. No clue was given on how you get back up
the stone slide [POA10].
Two secret passages led to hidden rooms deep underneath the castle:
· A secret passage under a trapdoor in a room on the third floor corridor
dropped down to the secret chambers where the Philosopher's Stone was hidden.
· The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was hidden in Moaning Myrtle's
bathroom, but only a Parseltongue could say the words to open the entrance.
There were also many secret passages hidden within the walls of the castle.
Argus Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, have mastered them well and can quickly
get around the school. By Harry's sixth year, he also knew all the secret passages
and easily maneuvered through them [HBP15; 18].
During the 1997-1998 school year, the new Dumbledore's Army used the Room of Requirement as their headquarters. Since the room was unable to conjure food by itself (due to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration), it created a secret passage to the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade [DH29].
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