Ravenclaw tower is the second most closely guarded residence- after that of the Slytherins, of course. In addition to the famous door knocker at the very bottom of the stairs, the thin, spindling stairs are also set with many booby traps. Ravens themselves never use the stairs on the way down, instead using a slide. On the way up, Ravens use a specific phrase to ask for a second, riddle then answer it for access to an safe version of the stairs. The riddle itself is not the safeguard, for the raven knocker will let pass anyone who humbly admits they do not know; instead, it is the asking for a second riddle that serves as a safeguard.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, one finds themselves in a sprawling library-like area. The entire thing is circular; the outer edges are lined with the personal offices of the third years and above; the rest of the area is a maze made up of towering book shelves. Occasionally the bookshelves part to reveal a little corner with a desk or two to read in, or a little shop or cafe made up of two walls and a couple of desks or a counter, a stove, some cupboards and several stools./span/p
You see… Ravenclaws are unique in their manner of hierarchy. They have a Council, consisting of a Student Head, Teacher Head and Prefects. This council mints the Ravenclaw Gold Marks on melted-down butterbeer caps collected by the students. These Gold Marks can be used to purchase a number of things; students rent out the shops to sell books, tutoring, coffee, butterbeer, muggle school supplies, or a good number of oddities.
In addition, Ravenclaws do not have dormitories in the manner of the others. Instead, they have what they call coteries (what some of the worst Ravens nickname, in a very misguided pun, clawtories) made up of twenty one students in all- three students from each year. These coteries hang out together, give each other advice, and create special ciphers to use to speak to each other with. These coteries participate in highly competitive games of trivia, risk, monopoly, and even an over complicated variation on capture-the-flag known as Egg Thieves. The prizes to these games can be anything from gold marks to an enchanted object.
Because they do not have dormitories, the Claws sleep in nest-style beds that hang from what the Ravenclaws call The Branch. At the beginning of the year, the new Claws bid on which nest they'll get using their new gold marks. Reasons for choosing a particular nest include neighbors, view and height. Often, the bidding gets tense, but trades also happen later into the year if multiple people get too upset with their spot.
The slanted, glass walls lose their tint as soon as the sun fades. Often Claws stay up late using telescopes to spot various constellations. The empty floor space below the Branch leaves plenty of room for board games and house meetings.
The entire place smells of coffee and distraction. Music is often playing in some area; art hangs on many of the walls, and there are owls, sternly trained cats and song birds everywhere. The entire house is very happy and cheerful in cleaning up, caring for their oversized collection of pets, and helping each other because of their good-natured temperaments and the promise of all the interesting thing their Gold Marks can buy, but the house can also be highly competitive. Once a year, all of those with offices (third years and up) carefully set up a mixture of puzzles, booby traps and locks to hold out the intruders. If the intruders get in, they are rewarded with whatever prize may await them inside the office; anything from a bit of particularly well done art to a recipe to highly effective coffee. And of course, Egg Thieves is pointed out by all the other houses as an example of how surprisingly threatening the Claws are. On November 2oth, negotiations for which coteries will form teams begin. On the first day of the new year, the game begins.
"Eggs" are hidden throughout the castle in strategic positions, and teams try to find and capture them. The game can last for months, and often are still unfinished by the end of the year. The "Eggs" are the prizes themselves, being valuable or interesting knick knacks. Since teams are not allowed to retrieve their own eggs, a favorite pastime of Ravens on a rainy day is to go egg-hunting. /span/p
Suffice to say, Ravenclaws leave Hogwarts with a boatload of funny, interesting memories, a sharp mind, and two or three suitcases full of interesting bits and bobbers.