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Hogwarts Security - A Wet Paper Bag?

Hogwarts is, of course, an exceptionally important part of the wizarding community of Great Britain: at any one point in time it houses the entire next generation of witches and wizards, and educates them so that they can follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and perhaps even forge new paths into areas of magic as yet unexplored. It is also a boarding school, and so for the time its pupils are there, the staff have sole responsibility for the children during term-time, and frequently during the holidays as well. Not only do they have responsibility for their education, but importantly in an ever more dangerous world, they have responsibility for their safety and wellbeing too.

Following the first fall of Voldemort in 1981, the world seemed to be a safer place for a decade or so. The Dark Lord seemed to have disappeared entirely, and many even believed him to be dead. The (supposedly) traitorous Sirius Black was safely in Azkaban, and even the majority of Death Eaters who remained within civilised society gave up on their old master. But inevitably things didn’t stay this way, and within a few short years the world was a dark and dangerous place again: Voldemort returned, wizards started to disappear and get murdered, and people simply didn’t know where the forces of darkness would strike next.

Through all of this, the parents of the wizarding world were still expected to entrust the care of their children to Hogwarts School, and almost without exception they were happy to do so. Not only that, but the darkening of events coincided precisely with one Harry Potter starting at the school: the boy who caused the downfall of the Dark Lord, and the boy who Voldemort wanted dead more than anything else in the world. Hogwarts therefore carried twin burdens of the utmost importance – the safety of the entire generation of young witches and wizards, and the preservation of the life of The Boy Who Lived – and it rightly took security issues very seriously.

But did it take them seriously enough? It’s a tough wizarding world out there, and many of the evil are very, very clever, and totally devoted to their cause. If they want to get into Hogwarts, it is up to the school (and until recently up to their Headmaster, the greatest wizard of the modern age) to keep them out. And whilst there can be no doubt that they did their best, the truth of the matter is that they failed miserably. Whilst perhaps not actually rubbing their hands in glee at the ease with which they can break into the hallowed grounds of the school, Voldemort and his supporters have rightly come to the conclusion that getting round the Hogwarts defences is about as difficult as putting on a hat.

The Hogwarts defences are, in magical terms, little more effective than a wet paper bag. The breaches of security have been alarming: students have been murdered, both in the past (Myrtle) and the present day (Cedric Diggory), Voldemort himself has possessed one of the teachers and lived in the school for an entire year, Death Eaters have been let in on more than one occasion, and students have been Petrified (Colin Creevey, Hermione Granger, Penelope Clearwater), cursed (Katie Bell), and poisoned (Ron Weasley). In short, it’s become pretty much a lottery in Hogwarts School as to whether you’ll make it though without someone trying to murder you (and perhaps succeeding).

Just think for a second and compare this with Muggle schools – would Muggle parents accept this level of security? No way would they! Their precious children would be out and into another school before you could blink. Except in the wizarding world, of course, there is no choice of other schools. All of the Hogwarts staff have done their best to keep the place safe, there can be no doubt of that. But the fact is that they simply haven’t done well enough.

First, we’ll take a quick look at what security measures are actually in place.

According to Hermione (PoA Chapter 9) there are “all sorts of enchantments” on the school to stop people entering by stealth. It’s well known that you can’t Apparate inside the grounds (unless you’re a House Elf), and Hermione also implies that you can’t fly in either. Having said this, not only did Dumbledore and Harry fly in after their visit to the Horcrux Cave (which is understandable given that it’s Dumbledore himself we’re talking about here), but four of Charlie Weasley’s friends also jetted in on broomsticks in 1992 and left again carrying a dragon in a cage, all unchallenged. Perhaps that anti-flying protection isn’t so good after all.

Muggles see only a ruin with a sign saying “DANGER, DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE” if they look at the castle, as revealed by Hermione in GoF (Chapter 11). Presumably there must also be some sort of Muggle-Repelling Charms on it as well to encourage people to take notice of the sign. It may also be Unplottable – Hermione certainly doesn’t rule this out.

When heightened security is required further protective spells such as the Anti-Intruder Jinx are added to the walls, whilst for the start of the 1996/97 school year the gates were bewitched by Dumbledore himself so that they could only be opened by a teacher. During the Sirius Black episode of 1993/94, they went as far as to have Dementors guarding the walls, although this was against Dumbledore’s wishes, as he rightly didn’t trust these most unpleasant creatures.

So, all pretty impressive then. All pretty safe? Certainly not! Whilst it may sound good, all of the following are methods that can still be used to gain unauthorised access to the castle and/or grounds. What’s more, all of them have been successfully used at least once by people of ill-intent during Harry’s time at the school.

1. Apparition OK, so people can’t Apparate into the grounds. But House-Elves can, and if Side-Along Apparition is used, then the problem is solved. Kreacher, for example, could have had Death Eaters into the grounds in no time, without any need for Malfoy to go messing around with those cabinets. Dobby also Apparated into the school on a number of occasions, and caused an awful lot of havoc whilst he was there. If he had been malevolent, Harry would have been dead.

3. Floo Network This still seems to have been connected as of June 1996 (ie the end of OOTP). Common sense suggests that the Hogwarts Floo connections must have been shut down during HBP though, or again Malfoy wouldn’t have needed the cabinets. It was certainly working fine during PoA, however, when security was meant to be high following the escape of Sirius Black. Lupin used it to come and talk to Snape about the Marauders Map, and Sirius himself used it to talk to Harry in the Gryffindor Common Room during both GoF and OOTP. It was being watched in 1995/96 but it was still functional, and Sirius and Harry both used it successfully.

5. Portkeys In theory, the use of Portkeys is closely monitored by the Ministry. In practice, anyone can make one with the spell Portus whenever they like. Bartemius Crouch Jnr did it with the Triwizard Trophy, and Dumbledore did it with the statue’s head after the battle at the Department of Mysteries. Both keys took the user into Hogwarts from another location and both functioned perfectly well. As an aside, it’s interesting to note that the Trophy Portkey shows how they function: they are not just one way, but rather seem to join two locations and will transport you in either direction between them.

6. Flying As already mentioned, four of Charlie Weasleys friends flew straight into Hogwarts to collect Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback during 1992, and flew out again carrying him.

7. Secret Passages Whilst Hermione thinks that Filch knows all the secret passages into Hogwarts (PoA Chapter 9), Fred and George disagree. They say he only knows about 4 out of the 7 (PoA Chapter 10). Whilst one of the others has collapsed and another leads to the Shrieking Shack, this still leaves one unattended, which leads from the school into the cellar at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. Harry used this passage to get out of and back into the school despite the heightened security following Sirius’ escape from Azkaban.

8. Animagus Form/Transfiguration Sirius Black gained access to the castle using his animagus form as a huge dog, which is hardly an unobtrusive animal, whilst Peter Pettigrew lay low at the school as a rat for years. Moody/Crouch once transfigured Draco into a ferret with few ill-effects, which points to a very clear way into the school. Transfigure whoever wants to get in into a small animal and they can walk in. An insider transfigures them back. Simple.

9. Polyjuice Potion Similarly to the above, Bartemius Crouch Jnr gained access by taking on the appearance of a teacher, and escaped detection for almost a year.

10. Vanishing Cabinets OK, so this was quite clever. Still, given the other 7 ways the Death Eaters could have got in, Draco needn’t have bothered going to so much effort.

So - it doesn’t look quite so safe given that lot. And don’t forget, all of these methods have been used. In fact, there have been at least 10 serious security breaches during Harry’s time at the school, all of which could (and in some cases, did) lead to the deaths of students or staff. Here is the roll of shame:

1. Voldemort himself gained entry to the school in 1991 and lived there for a year. Admittedly he was living in the back of Professor Quirrell’s head, which is a fairly extreme way to go about it, but he was nevertheless at large within the school for a long time. Whilst under his influence, Quirrell attempted to murder Harry.

2. A mountain troll was let into the school and allowed to run amok during the Halloween celebrations in 1991. This was an inside job (Quirrell again), but the implication is that any sufficiently malevolent student (eg Draco Malfoy) could have done it if they’d tried hard enough.

3. Sirius Black gained access to the grounds, the castle and indeed the Gryffindor students’ dormitory at a time when he was believed to be the most dangerous man on the planet. If he’d wanted to kill any of them it would have been only too simple. Following the revelation that he was not guilty of the crimes he was imprisoned for, he escaped from Hogwarts by flying out on a Hippogriff.

4. Peter Pettigrew used his animagus form as a rat to remain undetected at Hogwarts for many years. As an active Death Eater, this allowed him access to a large amount of information that was subsequently of great benefit to the Dark Lord upon his return.

5. Bartemius Crouch Jr. gained access to all areas of the school by using Polyjuice Potion, and also remained undetected for a long period of time during which he put in place a sequence of events that killed Cedric Diggory and was designed to kill Harry.

6. Whilst on the run, Sirius Black repeatedly used the Floo Network to speak to Harry from 1994 until his death in 1996. He was never caught even though the network was watched, and could have entered the school in this manner if he wished.

7. Harry and Cedric were Portkeyed out of the school to Little Hangleton, where Cedric was killed. Harry also Portkeyed back in again using the same key.

8. A number of Death Eaters entered the school using linked Vanishing Cabinets in 1997. This invasion led to a battle at the school where Dumbledore was killed and Bill Weasley seriously injured.

9. Dobby has repeatedly Apparated in and out of Hogwarts whenever he wished to. During his time within the grounds he was able to tamper with a Bludger, which led to Harry being injured. Had he been of ill-intent he could easily have killed someone.

10. Harry sneaked out of the school and back in again using secret passages in 1994, at a time when security was supposedly increased due to Sirius Black being at large.

All of these events occurred within a period of only 6 years, and the violent deaths of two teachers and one student during this time is hardly a record to be proud of. Any Muggle school with a history of that nature would have some serious talking to do to justify its security procedures. The conclusion can only be that despite the best efforts of everyone at the school, security at Hogwarts is dangerously slack, and this puts both the staff and the pupils in considerable danger.

As a final aside, there is one freely-available tool that would help an enormous amount with this problem: the Marauders Map. It shows everybody and everything in the school, even if they are in their animagus form, invisible, transfigured or anything else. It shows where they are and what they are doing. Used properly as a security device it could come closer to guaranteeing the safety of the students than anything in place at the moment. What’s more, the existing map was put together by a couple of students, albeit exceptionally gifted ones. Surely a collection of some of the greatest wizarding minds in the world could easily enough whip up their own version, tailored to provide audible and/or visual warnings of unexpected people in the grounds, animagus activity or unauthorised spell use. And that could make Hogwarts a genuinely safe place to go to school. As things stand right now, this is something it certainly is not.