A year full of magical education awaits you; it will be very much the same and somewhat different than it's always been. First, to all first years, the forest on the grounds is strictly forbidden to all students. I have also been reminded by the caretaker to tell you that there is a blanket ban on any joke items and magic is not to be used in corridors outside lessons. Any student found using magic outside lessons or in possession of these items shall be punished with detention or reduction of house points. Permitted/Prohibited Areas
Hogwarts Grounds
Students shall not leave Hogwarts grounds. Students may leave with the Headmaster's permission if collected by a parent or guardian.
Hogsmeade Village
Third through Seventh Years may visit Hogsmeade Village.
Visitors
Visitors to Hogwarts must obtain permission from the Headmaster or Deputy Headmaster. This includes parents of students and Ministry personnel. The only exceptions to this rule are members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, who have free access to the school.
Faculty Areas
Students are forbidden from faculty areas. This includes the kitchen, faculty lounge, and offices, unless with the escort or written permission of a faculty member. This also includes classrooms when a class is not in session. (Note that class scenes don't necessarily have to be run by staff. There is plenty of opportunity in classes for RP that doesn't involve someone actively playing a professor. Feel free to pose professors in the background for class scenes.) Prefects may enter faculty areas if investigating another student violating this rule.
House Areas
Access to common rooms and dormitories is strictly controlled.
Students may not enter the common rooms or dormitories of houses other than their own. Each common room has a protective measure in place to restrict access. The Gryffindor Tower and Slytherin Dungeon require passwords. Ravenclaw Tower requires the answer to a riddle. The Hufflepuff Basement requires tapping a specific barrel in a particular rhythm. Attempts to bypass these protective measures by members of other houses are considered serious offences.
Boys may not enter the girls' dormitories. Attempts to do so will trigger spells preventing it, such as a Slide Spell on the staircases in the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw rooms. The one exception to this is a male Prefect in an emergency.
The Forbidden Forest
The Forbidden Forest (a.k.a. the Dark Forest) is expressly forbidden to students without a faculty escort. As of the 1938-39 term, students are forbidden from even approaching the forest, due to the increased danger of the centaur clan conflicts.
The Black Lake
Swimming in the Black Lake is prohibited without faculty or Prefect supervision.
Boating on the lake is prohibited without faculty permission.
Though the juvenile Giant Squid is friendly, other inhabitants of the lake (such as Grindylows and Selkies), and the cold itself, can be dangerous.
Restricted Section of the Library
This area is roped off and forbidden to students unless they present a signed note from a professor.
Some notes will be for a specific book, some are for a specific subject. But students are never given free access to every book in the Restricted Section.
Books from the Restricted Section may not be removed from the Restricted Section. Books must be taken to one of the desks provided in the section.
Conduct
Uniform
Students shall be in uniform at all times while on Hogwarts grounds. This includes robes, jumper, shirt, tie, slacks/skirt, shoes (Mary Janes for girls, dress shoes for boys) and socks, and gloves and scarf when necessary. All articles must be kept neat and tidy (i.e. shirt tucked in, tie worn properly, shoes polished, clothing washed and without excessive wrinkles).
Pointed hats are also part of the uniform, but are ceremonial in nature, and not required except at special assemblies (e.g. the Start-of-Term and End-of-Term Feasts).
Robes (but not the rest of the uniform) may be removed when not in class or at assemblies (e.g. meals, after classes, weekends, etc.).
Additions to the uniform are unacceptable without special permission. Reasonable hair adornments, eyewear, and small jewelry (i.e. rings, necklaces, earrings) are exempt from this. Excessive jewelry may be confiscated by faculty.
Students may dress casually during Hogsmeade weekends if they have permission to visit Hogsmeade.
Magic
Magic should only be used by students in relation to school work or approved extracurricular activities.
Students may cast spells appropriate to their studies in classrooms and other study areas. Study areas include common rooms, and the Great Hall (when not being used for meals).
Magic that is not related to studies may only be cast with the permission and supervision of a faculty member, Prefect, or Head Boy/Girl.
Duelling may only be performed on the duelling stage (in the club room), under the direct supervision of a faculty member or Prefect.
Students always have the right to use magic to defend themselves or to respond to an emergency.
Attendance
Students must attend all classes, meals, and assemblies that they are scheduled for.
Only written or verbal permission from a Professor can excuse absenteeism.
Hogwarts is a boarding school full of eyes (students, faculty, ghosts, Peeves, paintings, etc.), making it just about impossible to get away with playing hooky. If you skip classes, you will be caught and disciplined. Discipline consists, at the very least, of loss of house points and detention.
The requirement for attending all meals is rather loosely enforced. The faculty is understanding but also knows that skipped meals are a great time for students to be up to no good. Head counts are taken at every meal, and a student that shows a pattern of frequent absence will be warned, and eventually disciplined.
Decorum and Behaviour
Students shall maintain decorum and good behaviour at all times.
Swearing, snogging, shouting in the halls, vandalism, fighting, provoking Peeves, and releasing puffskeins during mating season are strictly forbidden.
During breakfast and dinner meals, all students are required to remain at their house tables for the duration of the meal. During lunchtime meals, this rule is less strictly enforced, and will only take effect if problems arise.
Alcohol and Tobacco
Alcohol and tobacco are strictly prohibited on Hogwarts grounds. Butterbeer may be consumed in Hogsmeade, but may not be brought back to the school.
Punishments
Loss of House Points
The most common form of discipline is the deduction of House Points. This relies mainly on house pride and the peer pressure of one's housemates to be effective.
Prefects may dock points from their own house only, though a Prefect's report on the misbehaviour of a member of another house is likely to see that house docked points as well.
Usually, no more than five or ten points is taken at a time for minor infractions. But more severe rule-breaking can see the loss of twenty, thirty, even fifty points. Usually, anything that warrants such a drastic loss will also be accompanied by harsher punishments (see below). The table to the right gives a general idea of the average point losses for various violations. By no means are these numbers set in stone, and a given professor or prefect might dock more or less than the average.
Detention
Detention can vary greatly in application. In some case, a student will be assigned extra duties to assist a professor or other faculty member. One popular punishment is making students polish the numerous candelabra in the castle.
Actual corporal punishment takes place in the dungeons under the supervision of the Caretaker and can range from paddling to immobilization by magic, to being hung by one's wrists. Though cruel and painful, such punishments are administered under careful magical control to prevent any real harm from being done.
Removal of Privileges
Students with special privileges may find them suspended or revoked for severe rule-breaking. Examples of privileges that can be removed are: Hogsmeade weekend visits, club membership, playing on the Quidditch team, Quidditch team captaincy, or even prefectship if the perpetrator is a Prefect.
Suspension
Though rare, suspension from school can occur for violations that are severe, but not so severe as to warrant expulsion.
(or worse) Expulsion
A student will be expelled from Hogwarts only under the direst of circumstances, and only if they are deemed a danger to other students. This punishment is extremely rare.
Prefects
Have some disciplinary authority, but it is very limited. Prefects can dock up to ten points from their own house (and only their own house) for misbehavior. Conversely, they cannot award points, nor can they assign detention. But a Prefect's real authority is in the status their badge provides. If a Prefect reports rule-breaking to a Professor or other faculty member, their word carries much more weight than a normal student's. In other words, getting in trouble with a Prefect is just about as bad as getting in trouble with the faculty, if the Prefect is inclined to report one's misdeeds. These guidelines apply to the Head Boy and Head Girl, as well, save that they can dock points from any house.
