The Harry Potter Compendium
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"It is a room that a person can only enter when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs"
Dobby explaining to Harry Potter the abilities of the Room of Requirement[src]

The Room of Requirement, also known as the Come and Go Room[1], is a secret room within Hogwarts Castle, that only appears when a person is in great need of it. The room is thought to have some degree of sentience, because it transforms itself into whatever the witch or wizard needs it to be at that moment in time, although there are some limitations. For example, it cannot create food, as that is one of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. It is believed that the room is Unplottable, as it does not appear on the Marauder's Map, nor do its occupants, although this could simply be because James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew never found the room.

Location[]

The room is located on the seventh floor in the left corridor of the Hogwarts castle and has a hidden entrance opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet. The way to open the room is to walk past it three times thinking about what you need, and the door will appear.

"It's a proper hideout, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get at us, the door won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this room. You've got to ask it for exactly what you need—like, "I don't want any Carrow supporters to be able to get in—and it'll do it for you! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes! Neville's the man!"
—Seamus explaining the Room of Requirement[src]

It is advised that the users of this room be very specific about what they are looking for, as it has been shown that other people can enter the room and see what the occupant is doing if they know how the room is being used. The Inquisitorial Squad found the hideout of the D.A. in 1996 by knowing that the D.A. was in the room at the time. Neville Longbottom used this knowledge to create his hideout, as he specifically asked that the hideout be made unavailable to those who supported Alecto and Amycus Carrow.

History of use[]

Dumbledore's mention[]

"...I took a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I had never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamberpots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is only accessible at five thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon - or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder."
Albus Dumbledore[src]

The first mention Harry Potter heard of this room was in 1994, when Albus Dumbledore told Igor Karkaroff of his discovery of a room full of chamber pots when he needed to go to the toilet. However, he was unable to find the room again later like many of those who stumble across the room.

Dumbledore's Army[]

Dobby: "Dobby knows the perfect place, sir! Dobby heard tell of it from the other house-elves when he came to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, sir, or else as the Room of Requirement!"
Harry: "Why?"
Dobby: "Because it is a room that a person can only enter when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs. Dobby has used it, sir, when Winky has been very drunk; he has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has found antidotes to Butterbeer there, and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her on while she sleeps it off, sir… and Dobby knows Mr. Filch has found extra cleaning materials there when he has run short, sir, and -"
Harry: "And if you really needed a bathroom, would it fill itself with chamber pots?"
Dobby: "Dobby expects so, sir. It is a most amazing room, sir."
— Dobby telling Harry Potter about the Room of Requirement[src]

In 1995, Harry Potter asked Dobby if he knew of a place where Dumbledore's Army could safely meet. Dobby told Harry of what the house-elves called the "Come and Go Room" or "Room of Requirement", which he had used to treat Winky after she had gotten drunk on Butterbeer, as the room filled with antidotes to butterbeer and an elf-sized bed for Winky to sleep off her inebriation. He also said that Argus Filch had found extra cleaning supplies in the room. During the first D.A. meeting, Fred and George Weasley revealed that it had once taken the form of a broom cupboard which they had used to hide from Filch.

Hermione: "It's also known as the Come and Go Room. The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has real need of it and is always equipped for the seeker's needs."
Ron: "So say you really needed the toilet..."
Hermione: "Charming Ronald. But yes that is the general idea."
— Hermione describing the Room of Requirement[src]

Harry and Dumbledore's Army used the room as their headquarters and practice area. Among the items provided by the room for the D.A. were Dark Detectors and shelves of helpful books such as A Compendium of Common Cures, The Dark Arts Outsmarted, Self-Defensive Spellwork, and Jinxes for the Jinxed. They were eventually discovered by the Inquisitorial Squad.

Second Wizarding War[]

Main article: Second Wizarding War

During the 1997–1998 school year, Neville Longbottom and several other students used the room as a hideout to escape the wrath of the new Death Eater professors, the Carrows. The problem was the lack of food, as it was one of the exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. So the hideout adapted by adding an eighth passage into Hogsmeade, connected to the Hog's Head pub, whose owner, Aberforth provided food. Also, this advantage allowed members of the Order of the Phoenix to enter the school to help fight off Lord Voldemort's attack, without setting off the Caterwauling Charm on the village.

Room of Hidden Things[]

"I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year, I know how to get in."
Draco Malfoy to Harry Potter[src]

History[]

After Tom Riddle resurfaced as Lord Voldemort and had his second request of becoming Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher denied by Dumbledore, Voldemort managed to sneak Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem into the room, as a means to hide one of his Horcruxes. Unlike the others, he did not have time to set up many powerful spells to protect it due to time constraints, but believed that he was the only one who knows of the room's existence, and that nobody would look for it.

Harry used the room in his sixth year to hide the Half-Blood Prince's copy of Advanced Potion Making. He found that many other students had used the room to hide a multitude of other objects, including the Vanishing Cabinet. Inside the cabinet in which he hid the book, Harry found a cage that contained the skeleton of something that had five legs.

Also in Harry's sixth year, Professor Trelawney attempted to use the room to hide her sherry bottles, but Draco Malfoy threw her out. Draco was using the room to repair the Vanishing Cabinet so he could smuggle Death Eaters into the castle via a matching Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes. They did in fact use the room to penetrate the castle in 1997.

The Room of Hidden Things became inaccessible whenever the Room of Requirement was used for another purpose. As a result, during the Battle of Hogwarts, when the room was being used to provide passage to Hogsmeade and as a sanctuary, it had to be vacated of all people and "reset" before the Room of Hidden Things could once again be accessed.

Protection[]

The Room of Hidden Things may have had a special protection that prevented a Summoning Charm being used in it,[2] meaning students had to physically find what it was they were looking for. This was the case when Hermione attempted to summon Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, but failed, although this may be because the diadem was a Horcrux. She, Ron and Harry had to go searching for it instead. However, this protection may have been placed by Voldemort specifically for the diadem, as he took similar precautions for his locket horcrux. Tom Riddle believes that he, and only he, is the only person that ever discovered the deepest secret in Hogwarts. He never expected Harry to discover this chamber. Additionally, even House-Elves cannot Apparate into the room, meaning they have to know what to ask the room to become into in order to access it.

Skirmish in the Room of Requirement[]

Later that same year, during the Battle of Hogwarts, it was used as an evacuation route to move the students away from the dangers that followed. Later, Harry realized that Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, was hidden in the Room of Hidden Things, as he has seen it in his sixth year while hiding his Potions book and had even picked it up without realizing what it was.

As noted above, as long as the room was being used to maintain the passage to Hogwarts, the Room of Hidden Things couldn't be accessed. Harry, Hermione, and Ron cleared the room and accessed the Room of Hidden Things, where they were ambushed by Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Crabbe let loose cursed fire that destroyed the Horcrux and many other objects, killing himself in the process. The entire room was turned into a sea of flames, and Ron wondered if the Room of Hidden Things could be accessed again due to the possibility of it being destroyed.

Items hidden inside[]

Harry Potter saw many things that other students had hidden in the room, including:

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Battle of Hogwarts
  3. Half-Blood Prince script on the Internet Movie Script Database (archived here)


Hogwarts Castle
Locations on the seventh floor

Attic · Classroom 7A · Classroom 7B · Classroom 7C · Dark Tower topmost cell · Disused bathroom · Divination Classroom · Fat Lady's Corridor · Filius Flitwick's office · Gryffindor Tower reading room · Gryffindor girls' staircase · Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory · Hall of Hexes · Knights' Room · North Wing · Room of Requirement · Seventh Floor Corridor · Sybill Trelawney's office

Portraits, statues and other artwork located on the seventh floor

Barnabas the Barmy · Bridget Wenlock · Sir Cadogan · Caged monkey · Edward Rabnott · Elephant · Elizabeth Burke · Fat Lady · Flowering almond trees · George von Rheticus · Giraffe · Godric Gryffindor · Healers · Hippopotamus · Journeying wizards · Lachlan the Lanky · Mother and baby · Oraclitus Spheer · Staring Portrait · Three young ladies · Tiger · Two lovers in a graveyard · Valeria Myriadd · Wailing Egyptians · Witch flying to the moon · Wizard in black flowing robes · Wizard in blue · Wizard with a broomstick · Wolfhound

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