Head:
Professor Minerva McGonagall
Founder:
Godric Gryffindor
Blazon:
gules, a lion rampant or (that is, a golden lion on a red field, hence the Gryffindor colours of scarlet and gold)
Ghost: Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington ("Nearly Headless Nick")
Sorting Hat's description (PS7):
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart
Characteristics:
Gryffindors are known for their courage
Location:
Gryffindor Tower, entrance on the seventh floor
The entrance is located behind a large painting of a Fat Lady in a pink silk dress. If you know the right password to tell her, she swings open to reveal a round opening in the wall. The common room contains a lot of squashy armchairs, a fireplace, and tables. The fireplace is connected to the Floo Network, but as it is extremely public except in the dead of night, Gryffindors commonly use owls to communicate with their families instead. There's also a notice board for public announcements such as the date of the next Hogsmeade weekend, but also for notices from individual students seeking to buy or sell secondhand books, or trade Chocolate Frog cards, or similar, as in any school.
There are two staircases opening off the common room into the Tower itself: the boys' staircase, on which the seven boys' dormitories are located (one for each year) and the girls' staircase, on which the seven girls' dormitories are located (one for each year). The girls' staircase is under a spell so that if a boy sets foot on it and persists for a few steps, a wailing klaxon goes off and the staircase temporarily Transfigures itself into a stone slide, sending him and anyone else on the stairs sailing to the bottom. According to Hogwarts: A History, the founders believed that girls were more trustworthy than boys, so that while the girls' staircase is enchanted to prevent boys from getting in, the boys' staircase does not carry a reciprocal enchantment (OP17). Each dormitory is a round room with windows looking out onto the grounds, and containing enough poster beds for the students occupying that room.
