Ravenclaw Common Room

The Ravenclaw common room is located in the west tower of the school, up a tight spiral staircase. For more information on the common room, please refer to the information below.

Entrance

Instead of a portrait and password, the Ravenclaw common room entrance is protected by a bronze eagle-shaped knocker mounted on a plain wooden door. After knocking on the door, the eagle asks students a riddle-like question, requiring them to use their intelligence and creativity to answer correctly. If a student does not know the answer to a question, or gets the answer wrong, they must wait by the door until a student arrives who does know the answer. As Luna tells Harry, "That way you learn, you see?"

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we see the eagle ask two questions. The first, the eagle asks to Luna Lovegood; "Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?" Luna correctly responds to this question with, "A circle has no beginning." The eagle then goes on to ask Professor McGonagall; "Where do Vanished objects go?" Again, a correct response is given when McGonagall replies, "Into non-being, which is to say, everything."

Common Room Description

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.472-473:

The deserted Ravenclaw common room was a wide, circular room, airier than any Harry had ever seen at Hogwarts. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue-and-bronze silks. By day, the Ravenclaws would have a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars, which were echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. There were tables, chairs, and bookcases, and in a niche opposite the door stood a tall statue of white marble.

Harry recognized Rowena Ravenclaw from the bust he had seen at Luna's house. The statue stood beside a door that led, he guessed, to dormitories above. He strode right up to the marble woman, and she seemed to look back at him with a quizzical half smile on her face, beautiful yet slightly intimidating. A delicate-looking circlet had been reproduced in marble on top of her head. It was not unlike the tiara Fleur had worn at her wedding. There were tiny words etched into it. Harry stepped out from under the Cloak and climbed up onto Ravenclaw's plinth to read them.

"'Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.'"