Lifts

• Type: Transportation, Magical Device
• Owners: Ministry of Magic, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
• Maker: Unknown

Lifts, or elevators, in the Wizarding world vary in appearance depending on their location. They serve as a primary means of vertical and horizontal transport within large, multi-level magical buildings.

• Ministry of Magic Lifts: These are described as large lifts with golden grilles that form the cage. They can hold a considerable number of wizards and witches. The interior is panelled with dark, polished wood.
• St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries Lifts: The lift at St. Mungo's is depicted as rickety and shabby, lurching and groaning during operation, which contrasts with the grandeur of the Ministry of Magic's lifts.

Wizarding lifts are operated magically and do not require conventional Muggle mechanisms like cables or pulleys. Their most notable feature is the ability to move sideways and diagonally in addition to the standard vertical movement, a necessary function within the sprawling architecture of buildings like the Ministry of Magic. A cool, disembodied female voice announces the destination and current floor, serving as an automated operator. Passengers typically state their desired destination aloud for the lift to proceed. For instance, to reach the Department of Mysteries, one would state “Department of Mysteries”. The lifts can be stopped between floors and opened with magic, as demonstrated when Hermione Granger uses the Immobulus Charm to halt a lift during the infiltration of the Ministry of Magic in 1997.

The specific origin and inventor of magical lifts are not mentioned in the canonical texts. They appear to be a standard and long-established feature of major institutions like the Ministry of Magic and St. Mungo's, suggesting they have been in use for a considerable time.

Lifts are featured in several key scenes, primarily within the Ministry of Magic and St. Mungo's.

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Harry Potter and Arthur Weasley use a lift to travel to Harry's disciplinary hearing in the Atrium. The journey serves to introduce both Harry and the reader to the vast and complex layout of the Ministry, with the disembodied voice announcing various departments like the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Mysteries.
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: When the Weasley family, Harry, and Hermione Granger visit Arthur Weasley at St. Mungo's, they use the hospital's less reliable lift. This journey leads to their poignant encounter with a memory-charmed Gilderoy Lockhart and the parents of Neville Longbottom, Frank and Alice Longbottom.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Lifts play a significant role during the trio's infiltration of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron, and Hermione (disguised with Polyjuice Potion) become separated and have several tense encounters in the lifts. Harry shares a lift with a disguised Ron and a hostile Yaxley, while Hermione is forced to accompany Dolores Umbridge. Later, during their escape from the Ministry, Yaxley manages to grab onto Hermione just as she Disapparates, leading him to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic lifts are depicted as large, open-gated elevators within the vast Atrium. Their unique sideways movement is not explicitly shown. (film)
• The concept of a magical elevator that can move in any direction is reminiscent of the “Great Glass Elevator” from Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, which could travel “sideways and longways and slantways and any other way you can think of.”