Department of Queries: The Passages of Hogwarts

This DoQ is more focused on the setup of the passages, not so much the passages in Cannon themselves.

The question we started with for this week is: "How do earthen passages appear out of walls several stories up, like the passage that caved in on the fourth floor or the one that comes out of the second floor of the Hog’s Head in the seventh book?"

Calie and I began exploring this question by looking at the passage behind Ariana's portrait in the Hog's Head. This is one of the passages that are "earthen". We began discussing how the passage could be there in the first place. How could this huge tunnel just connect two places, and allow travel at the same time? I brought up the theory that it would semi-resemble the Floo network how it connects two places using an entry and exit. Another thing brought up was the possibility of an Undetectable Extension Charm on the passage to allow there to be an inside, like Arthur used on the car. We couldn't quite figure out how this extra dimension could be created and exist, rather than the explanation of "it's magic." We agreed that it is almost like a wormhole, and that it was probably "earthen" because it was literally underground, because maybe that was the only way to have this extra dimension. If you notice, all of the passages slope upward in some form before the exit.

Next, we discussed the creation of the passages. We know that there are at least two different kinds of passages-tunnels and slides- but why are they located where they are? We talked about who would've created them, and we came to a consensus that there were probably some that were established when the castle was built, made by the Founders, much like the Chamber of Secrets. I'd like to think that some at least, would be by the students, but I think that it would be very advanced magic, so there might not be many. We know that at least one teacher made one-Dumbledore with the Shrieking Shack for Lupin. Calie and I agree that it would've been awesome if Fred and George would've made one, because it seems like something they would do. If the students were able to make their own, they would have had to pass the secret on for them to become known, and since we don't know about very many other than the ones on the Marauder's Map, we expect that they are lost to the times, but I think that there would be tons of these passages everywhere in Hogwarts.

A great point brought up in our discussion was the protection of the Hogwarts grounds if there are more passages. Calie said that it would be a huge breach in security if there were all of these passages everywhere, but I argued that back in the day, security was probably not as big of an issue as it was during Harry's time, for obvious reasons. One thing that boggled us was how damage could be inflicted on one. We assumed that they would be protected magically, yet the one on the fourth floor was caved in. We couldn't think of what could damage it either.