


Once in the door, visitors ride on a spiral stone staircase that moves slowly upward as the gargoyle’s entrance closes behind them. However, the office can be sealed so that none can enter save the rightful Headmaster or Headmistress ( OP28), and also can be sealed so that someone already inside cannot leave without the Head’s permission ( OP37). McGonagall as Deputy Headmistress knew the password ( CS12), but so did Hagrid ( CS13), Snape ( GF28), and even Umbridge ( OP27). Dumbledore’s password for the gargoyle always seems to have been the name of a sweet, and to have been known to the various staff members though not to the student body at large. When given the proper password, the gargoyle will leap aside, and the wall behind it will split in two to reveal a spiral stone staircase that moves like an escalator ( CS12, GF30, OP22). The entrance to this office at Hogwarts is behind a statue of a gargoyle on the seventh floor, although it seems to move around since this entrance was found on the second floor on one occasion ( GF28) and the fifth on another ( CS11). The headmaster/mistress of Hogwarts has an office in one of the towers of the castle.
