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harry potter - How could Argus Filch clean up the whole castle by himself without magic?


Hogwarts castle is quite big as far as I know (7 or more floors plus all the Towers). How could Filch alone clean up the whole castle provided the fact that he is unable to use magic? Maybe Mrs. Norris helped a bit (joke)?




Answer



He couldn't have done, but that's not an issue because he didn't have to take care of the entire castle by himself. He was the caretaker of Hogwarts school, and some of that included janitorial type duties, but he wasn't the only person responsible for keeping the castle clean. So, who else was involved?


House Elves


It's revealed in Goblet of Fire that House Elves were responsible for cleaning the Gryffindor common room and dormitories, in addition to their cooking and cleaning duties in the kitchens. I think we can reasonably assume that this applies to the other three Houses, at the very least. They may also have assisted with cleaning duties in other areas of the castle. Staff may not necessarily have wanted Filch bustling around cleaning their private studies, but an almost entirely unnoticed House Elf wouldn't have been an issue.


Students


Ron serves detention with Filch polishing trophies in the Trophy Room in The Chamber of Secrets. There are other examples of relatively menial tasks being delegated to students who have received detentions. With at least 200 students enrolled at the school during any particular year there'd likely be a reasonably ready supply of free labour during detentions.


Teachers


For the messes that simply couldn't be removed using non-magical methods - the swamp created by Fred and George before leaving the school in Order of the Phoenix, for example - he would have had to request the assistance of a member of staff.


Mrs. Norris


I know you were joking about it, but having thought about it I'm not sure it's that far-fetched. If you consider the weird bond Argus Filch has with his cat it's not entirely implausible that she'd be able to assist with identifying areas of the castle that need particular attention. If she's capable of alerting him to troublemakers and those making a mess in the hallways (e.g. Harry coming back from Quidditch practice) then I don't see why she couldn't also communicate that there is, for example, a leaking toilet in one of the bathrooms.



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