A Complete Timeline Of The Most Important Moments In Hogwarts History

In 990, four great wizards and witches come together to found Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is hidden in the wilds of Scotland. All four founders - Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw - want to nurture the magical talents of young witches and wizards across the British Isles. Though each of them prizes different traits in their students, they all join around the single goal of fostering a safe and prosperous magical community at the school.

Hogwarts castle receives its name after Rowena Ravenclaw dreams of a wart-covered hog that leads her to the shores of the castle's lake. All four founders work directly with their students for at least a decade after the school is built.

During the early days of Hogwarts, all four founders coexist harmoniously, but this is not to last. Salazar Slytherin grows increasingly incensed over the decision to allow Muggle-born students to learn magic at the school. He believes that only wizards and witches with so-called "pure blood," or who are born of two non-Muggle parents, should be allowed to study at Hogwarts. When the other three founders refuse to bend to his will, Salazar quietly begins plotting his revenge.

Around the year 1000, he starts to construct the infamous Chamber of Secrets beneath the school without the knowledge or permission of the other founders, intending it to be a way of keeping Muggle-borns out of the school after he is gone by the cruelest possible means. Once it is completed and the Basilisk is planted in the Chamber, Slytherin takes his leave of Hogwarts. He publicly decries the inclusive philosophy of the founders and leaves with the hope that one day his heir will return to exact his vengeance.

1294 is the year of the first Triwizard Tournament. It is created as a way to hold a sportsman-like competition between Europe's most prominent wizarding schools, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Durmstrang Institute, and Hogwarts. The tournament is held once every five years with a rotating hosting schedule for each of the competing academies. The tournament is held at least 125 times, with Hogwarts claiming 63 of those victories and Beauxbatons earning 62.

The event lasts as a time-honored tradition for around 700 years until it is finally canceled after the 1792 tournament. The cancellation occurs after a task goes horribly wrong: A cockatrice goes wild and bombards all three of the judges. Though there are many attempts to revive the event in the centuries that follow, none prove successful until 1994.

Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington is the ghost associated with Gryffindor's house. Born sometime in the 15th century, he was once a member of a noble household and attended Hogwarts as a youth. After graduating, Sir Nicholas joins the Muggle world as a member of King Henry VII's court and is even knighted. He falls victim to an unfortunate end after he attempts to straighten the teeth of a lady-in-waiting, Lady Grieve, on the evening of October 30, 1492. His charm backfires, causing the unlucky woman to sprout tusks. He is immediately deprived of his wand, imprisoned, and sentenced to death as a result of this accident.

On October 31, Nearly Headless Nick suffers the fatal blow that earns him his nickname: A botched execution (which involved a grisly 45 blows with a blunt ax) leaves his head still barely attached at the moment of his demise. Sir Nicholas chooses to remain as an earthbound spirit after his demise, and in the years that follow, he somehow makes his way to Hogwarts, where he has haunted the Gryffindor Tower for over 500 years.

The Wizarding World before plumbing was... an interesting place. Fortunately, the magical community decides to adopt Muggle innovations in this area and chooses to retrofit Hogwarts with running water and bathrooms. This project to install pipes begins sometime in the 1700s and is cause for alarm to Corvinus Gaunt, a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Going into the foundations of Hogwarts to add in plumbing poses a very real possibility of the Chamber of Secrets being discovered.

As the sewage system is being constructed, he covertly moves to obscure the entrance to the Chamber, and has the sinks erected over the trapdoor to keep it hidden. It is presumed he is also responsible for emblazoning the image of a serpent on the sink's tap, thus leaving a hint for his future descendants should they ever need to find their way into the Chamber.

During the 1920s, a dark wizard known as Gellert Grindelwald stirs up trouble on the European continent. His charismatic words have wizards rallying around his twisted ideology - he believes that those with magical abilities should rule over those without in order to "benefit" both parties. This, coupled with the fact that he has recently come into the possession of the Elder Wand, spells serious trouble for those who oppose him.

In response to the growing number of Grindelwald's supporters and the unavoidable violence their uprising promises to bring, security grows tighter at Hogwarts. In late 1926, the Daily Prophet writes that defensive measures will be increased at the school. Shortly after, Headmaster Armando Dippet holds a meeting with the concerned parents of the school's students. It is decided that, for everyone's safety, the students should be sent home early from Hogwarts that year.