Hogwarts School Stock

• Type: Educational Supplies; Magical Ingredient Collection
• Owners: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Maker: N/A (A collection of various items sourced from multiple suppliers)

The Hogwarts School Stock refers to the general supply of ingredients, equipment, and other materials kept by Hogwarts for student use in various classes, most notably Potions. The primary repository for this stock is the student store cupboard located within the Potions classroom in the dungeons. This cupboard is described as being filled with shelves containing numerous jars of slimy specimens, disgusting-looking animal parts, bundles of dried herbs, and multicolored powders. Known contents include items like horned slugs, pickled eyeballs, Flobberworm mucus, porcupine quills, and snake fangs. The stock is intended for everyday student assignments and contains common, standard-quality ingredients required by the school's curriculum. This general stock is explicitly separate from the Potions Master's private stores, which contain rarer, more expensive, and often more dangerous ingredients. This private collection is kept under lock and key in the Potions Master's personal office.

The primary function of the school stock is to provide students with the necessary materials for their practical lessons. In Potions, students are typically allowed to access the store cupboard under the supervision of the professor to gather ingredients for the potion they are assigned to brew. While the stock is extensive enough to cover the Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) and Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test (N.E.W.T.) curricula, the ingredients are of a standard grade. As demonstrated by the Half-Blood Prince's annotated copy of Advanced Potion-Making, superior results can be achieved by using improved preparation techniques on these standard ingredients, such as crushing a Sophora bean with a silver dagger instead of cutting it. Beyond Potions ingredients, the concept of a school stock also applies to other areas. For example, Hogwarts maintains a supply of very old and worn school brooms (such as Cleansweep Fives) for first-year Flying lessons.

The school stock has been a fundamental part of the Hogwarts educational system for centuries, providing the resources for practical magic. During Severus Snape's tenure as Potions Master, he was extremely protective of all Potions supplies. He often accused Harry Potter of stealing from the school stock and made it clear that his private stores were strictly off-limits. The need for ingredients not found in the general student cupboard, such as Bicorn horn and Boomslang skin, forced Hermione Granger to steal from Snape's private office to create the Polyjuice Potion in her second year. When Horace Slughorn returned to teach Potions, he appeared to have a more relaxed attitude toward the student store cupboard. He allowed his sixth-year students to freely select their ingredients for a competitive brewing session of the Draught of Living Death. It was during this lesson that Harry Potter, using the Half-Blood Prince's notes to better prepare standard school-stock ingredients, successfully brewed a perfect potion and won a vial of Felix Felicis.

The Hogwarts School Stock is a key element of the world-building that makes the magical education at Hogwarts feel tangible. It serves as both a resource and a source of conflict throughout the series. The distinction between the general stock and the Potions Master's private stores drives several subplots. It establishes the high stakes and difficulty of brewing advanced potions like the Polyjuice Potion and reinforces the antagonistic dynamic between Harry Potter and Severus Snape. Snape's constant accusations of theft from the stock contribute to the tension in their relationship. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the school stock plays a pivotal role in demonstrating Harry's burgeoning talent in Potions. His ability to create superior potions using the same standard ingredients as his classmates, thanks to the Prince's annotations, is a central part of the book's mystery and directly leads to him obtaining the Felix Felicis, which proves crucial in retrieving a key memory from Horace Slughorn.

In the film adaptations of the *Harry Potter* series, the Potions classroom and its associated storerooms are visually depicted as being filled with thousands of glass jars containing a vast array of colorful and bizarre ingredients. This visual representation greatly expands on the book's description, creating a rich and atmospheric setting that emphasizes the depth and complexity of potion-making. (film)