In the highest tower, in the highest level, lies the painting of a slightly large woman in a pink silk dress that is affectionately called by others as the “Fat Lady”. She is a cheery woman always up for a talk, but there is more to her than meets the eye, for it is she who guards the entrance to Gryffindor common room. After being given the right password, she will swing her portrait aside, to reveal a round opening in the wall behind it.
The room beyond that opening is round, filled with lots of squashy armchairs and divans, a big fireplace with a delicately worked fireplace and lots of tables. Like all other common rooms, the dominant colors are the house colors. So the red and gold of Godric is spread everywhere, from the chairs, the soft carpet and the banners hanging from the walls. Ancient tapestries, such as the Lady and the Unicorn, also hang from the walls here. The stone fireplace used to be connected to the floo network, but the illegal connection has since then been discovered and severed.
Lightning in the room is also very great. Windows all around mean the sun always shines in this room. And when it doesn’t, the many torches around the room keep it well illuminated. There is a fantastic view of most of the castle from this tower, possibly the best view in the school.
There are two staircases opening off the common room into the tower itself: One for the boys, one for the girls. There are a total of fourteen dormitories and each is a round, windowed room that includes five four poster beds and several bedside tables. The dormitories go in a way that the lowest dormitory is for the first year boys, the one above the first year girls, and then the second year boys, going up until the highest dormitory that houses the seventh year females. Each floor has its own bathroom too.
The stairs are enchanted so that it if a student tries to go up the wrong one, they transfigure themselves into a stone slide and sound a warning klaxon as the offenders, and everyone else in the stairs sail down to the bottom. It used to be that only the girls’ staircase was enchanted to do so, seeing as the founders believed that girls were more trustworthy than boys. But with the advancing of time and changes in society, the same countermeasure was put in the male staircase.
Overall, the general mood about the place is one of comfort. That goes well in hand with the reputation of Godric’s Gryffindor students as do-gooders.
The room beyond that opening is round, filled with lots of squashy armchairs and divans, a big fireplace with a delicately worked fireplace and lots of tables. Like all other common rooms, the dominant colors are the house colors. So the red and gold of Godric is spread everywhere, from the chairs, the soft carpet and the banners hanging from the walls. Ancient tapestries, such as the Lady and the Unicorn, also hang from the walls here. The stone fireplace used to be connected to the floo network, but the illegal connection has since then been discovered and severed.
Lightning in the room is also very great. Windows all around mean the sun always shines in this room. And when it doesn’t, the many torches around the room keep it well illuminated. There is a fantastic view of most of the castle from this tower, possibly the best view in the school.
There are two staircases opening off the common room into the tower itself: One for the boys, one for the girls. There are a total of fourteen dormitories and each is a round, windowed room that includes five four poster beds and several bedside tables. The dormitories go in a way that the lowest dormitory is for the first year boys, the one above the first year girls, and then the second year boys, going up until the highest dormitory that houses the seventh year females. Each floor has its own bathroom too.
The stairs are enchanted so that it if a student tries to go up the wrong one, they transfigure themselves into a stone slide and sound a warning klaxon as the offenders, and everyone else in the stairs sail down to the bottom. It used to be that only the girls’ staircase was enchanted to do so, seeing as the founders believed that girls were more trustworthy than boys. But with the advancing of time and changes in society, the same countermeasure was put in the male staircase.
Overall, the general mood about the place is one of comfort. That goes well in hand with the reputation of Godric’s Gryffindor students as do-gooders.
