Places in Harry Potter

Within the fictional universe of Harry Potter, constructed in the writings of J. K. Rowling, exist fictional locales serving as the settings for the events in her fantasy novels. These locations are listed below categorised in accordance to either being a Dwelling, School, Shopping Districts, or Government affiliated locale.

Dwellings

The Burrow

The Weasleys' home, known as The Burrow, is located outside the village of Ottery St Catchpole, also near the home of the Lovegoods, the Diggorys and the Fawcetts. The Burrow was used as the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows until it lost its given protection. The Weasley house has seven floors. It is also quite dilapidated, managing to remain standing only by magic. Despite the house's rundown appearance, Harry remarks on his first visit that it was the best house he had ever been in and it comes to be his second favourite place in the world (after Hogwarts). The well-hidden orchard nearby doubles as a Quidditch pitch for the Weasley boys and (secretly) Ginny Weasley. Real Quidditch balls cannot be used in case they escape and fly over the Muggle village. A multitude of garden gnomes infests the garden of the Burrow.

The Weasleys own an unusual (possibly unique) clock, a manifestation of Molly's anxiety about her family's well-being. Instead of telling time, each hand has the name of a Weasley written on it and points to a term indicating their whereabouts; when Harry arrives at the Burrow in Half-Blood Prince, with Voldemort waging war on the Wizarding world, all the hands are fixed on "mortal peril." It is not known where they obtained this clock, although Molly comments that she does not know anyone else who owns one.

Godric's Hollow

Godric's Hollow is a fictional village in the West Country of England. With Hogsmeade established as the only remaining all-magical community in Great Britain, Godric's Hollow has a Muggle population. The village was the residence and final hiding place of James and Lily Potter prior to being murdered by Lord Voldemort on 31 October 1981. It was at this same time that their son, Harry, was left with his lightning bolt-shaped scar.

Godric's Hollow was the home of James Potter's family, and the home of long-dead Hogwarts founder Godric Gryffindor (after whom the village was named). After expressing his interest in returning to Godric's Hollow to visit his parents’ graves, Harry does so with the company of character Hermione Granger. Once there, it is revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that the church graveyard of Godric's Hollow is the resting place for many wizard personalities, the most famous being Ignotus Peverell, the Potters and the Dumbledores. Immediately after Harry and Hermione's visit however, it turns out that Voldemort had expected that they would appear and they barely escape his trap.

Rowling was questioned in an interview for CBBC Newsround and implicitly confirmed the connection between Godric's Hollow and Godric Gryffindor. This connection was also stated outright by Hermione in the final book of the series.

At the centre of the village square of Godric's Hollow, is a war memorial which magically transforms into a monument to the Potter family – James, Lily, and Harry – when approached by witches and/or wizards unaccompanied by Muggles. Invisible to Muggles, the remains of Harry's old house are left at the end of the main street.

Little Hangleton

Little Hangleton is a Muggle village notable as the place of origin of Voldemort's maternal and paternal ancestors, and as the place where he was restored to bodily form in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Although the village first appears in Goblet of Fire, the fourth volume in the series, it is not described until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth volume.

The village occupies the floor of a valley, bounded by steep hills, not far from a larger settlement called Great Hangleton. Above the village on one side of the valley are a Church and cemetery, and the Riddle House, the former home of the Riddle family and, at one time, the finest house in the village. It first appears in the opening of Goblet of Fire as the location of Frank Bryce's murder; at this point in the chronology of the Harry Potter series, it is decrepit and covered in vines. During his time as student, Tom Marvolo Riddle also murdered his father and grandparents in the house.

On the opposite side of the valley, the only dwelling appears to have been the dilapidated cottage which was the home of the Pure-blooded, anti-social descendants of Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunt family. The Gaunt cottage is set in a copse alongside a winding road which climbed out of the valley. In Goblet of Fire, Voldemort and Harry fight in the graveyard of Little Hangleton.

Little Whinging

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Little Whinging

Little Whinging, in Surrey, England, is a fictitious town to the south of London. Rowling supposedly designed this place to be a bland, stereotypical satellite town in the London commuter belt, in order to contrast it with the unique and spectacular Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, is Harry's home, where he lives with his aunt, uncle and cousin, the Dursleys. He has lived there since the age of fifteen months, having previously lived with his parents in Godric's Hollow. However, since beginning at Hogwarts, he spends little time here, returning only during the summer holidays. In the novels and films, the Dursleys' home is in a respectable and deeply boring neighbourhood where the neighbours ostracise Harry, who despises Little Whinging because of his memories of his cruel treatment there. Arabella Figg, who lives two streets away from 4 Privet drive in the novels (but just across the road in the films) knows of Harry's magic as she is a Squib member of the Order of the Phoenix, placed in Little Whinging by Albus Dumbledore to keep an eye on Harry. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore reveals that there is a reason why Harry must return there at least once a year.

Malfoy Manor

Malfoy Manor is the home of the aristocratic Malfoy family: Lucius, Narcissa,and Draco Malfoy, and later Bellatrix Lestrange (sister of Narcissa). They were previously served by Dobby the house elf, before Lucius was tricked into freeing him by Harry.

Voldemort used the Malfoy manor as headquarters on at least one occasion in Deathly Hallows. The three Malfoys seemed quite displeased by this use of their manor as Voldemort himself stated; only Bellatrix appears to be pleased he is there. The Malfoys have become prisoners in their own home and in very real fear for their lives. During the Deathly Hallows novel, several prisoners are being kept in the basement on Voldemort's orders, including Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Griphook the Goblin, and Mr Ollivander. When Snatchers capture Harry, Ron, and Hermione, they are brought to Malfoy Manor. They escape with the other prisoners thanks to Dobby's help. The four residents of the manor are then placed under house arrest by Voldemort, and at the end of the final installment go to fight with other Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Number 12, Grimmauld Place

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Number 12, Grimmauld Place in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London is the address and name of reference to the home of the Black family, an ancient and pure-blooded line of wizards. It first appears in the fifth book. The structure of Number 12, Grimmauld Place is a Georgian terraced house.

Number 12 houses the Black family tree on a wall tapestry, and an enchanted portrait of Walburga Black, Sirius' mother. An ancient and deeply mad house-elf named Kreacher is loyal to the portrait of Mrs Black. There are other portraits of members of the Black family, including Phineas Nigellus Black, one-time Head of the Black family and least-popular Headmaster of Hogwarts. The staircase is lined with the heads of beheaded former house-elves, which are mounted onto the walls.

Many security measures are in place at Grimmauld Place: there are anti-Apparation charms; it is Unplottable; it is disguised from Muggles and other interlopers. In the seventh book it is noted that the neighbours had long ago come to terms with the fact that the houses on their street went straight from 11 to 13. It is as secure as any magical dwelling can be and can accommodate a large number of people. For this reason, it was chosen as the headquarters of the reconstituted Order of the Phoenix when Sirius offered it to the Order. Only magical persons can see it, and only if told the location by the Secret Keeper himself.

Because Sirius was incarcerated in Azkaban, the house fell into disrepair over the next several years. When he later returned to his family home in 1995, it was a gloomy and unpleasant dwelling teeming with dust, decay and various dangers. Harry inherits the house at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince after Sirius' death, although he donates it to the Order (wanting no connection to the place where Sirius felt trapped and useless before his death).

In Deathly Hallows, it becomes a sanctuary for Harry, Ron, and Hermione while hiding from Voldemort. Harry loses the house to Voldemort when Yaxley grabs hold of Hermione when she attempts to escape by Disapparation. She accidentally drops the Death Eater off at 12 Grimmauld Place, thus revealing the location of 12 Grimmauld Place to Voldemort.

Shell Cottage

Shell Cottage is the home of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour after they get married in Deathly Hallows. It is located overlooking a beach outside of the fictional village of Tinworth in Cornwall. The cottage served as a hiding place for Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Dean Thomas, Mr Ollivander, and Griphook after they managed to escape from imprisonment in Malfoy Manor. Dobby the house-elf was buried in the garden after a knife thrown by Bellatrix killed him.

Spinner's End

Spinner's End is a Muggle street, on which sits a house that is the summer home of Severus Snape. It is described as one of several streets of identical brick. The street is located near a dirty river, the bank of which is strewn with litter. A mill with a tall chimney is close by.

Snape's front door opens directly into a sitting room that has the feeling of a dark, padded cell, containing walls filled with books, threadbare furniture, and a dim, candle-filled lamp that hangs from the ceiling. A hidden door leads to a narrow staircase. Spinner's End first appears in Half-Blood Prince, when Snape is visited by Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. In Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that Snape lived at Spinner's End as a young child and that Lily and Petunia Evans lived in the same town.

Schools

Beauxbatons

Template:Infobox Harry Potter school Beauxbatons Academy of Magic (French: Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons) is a fictional magic school, first introduced in Goblet of Fire. Beauxbatons has a history that goes back at least 700 years, when it first began participating in the Triwizard Tournament. Though never explicitly stated in the books, the school is likely to be located in France.

Beauxbatons students follow a strict system of protocol concerning their behaviour towards their professors, which is noticeably different from that at Hogwarts (e.g. standing when their headmistress enters the room). The school follows a different examination system as well: at Hogwarts, major board exams are taken in the fifth and seventh years, while Beauxbatons students sit for their exams in the sixth year. In these regards, Beauxbatons resembles customs at a typical French school.

The Academy is housed in a glittering palace. The food, at least according to alumna Fleur Delacour, is delicious. Students wear blue and grey silk uniforms. Rather than suits of armour, statues of ice that glitter like diamonds during the Christmas season flank the halls of Beauxbatons. While only female students of Beauxbatons are portrayed in the film, the books mention that the school is co-ed, as Hogwarts students Parvati and Padma Patil are mentioned to be sitting at a table full of Beauxbatons boys at the Yule Ball.

Beaux bâtons literally means "beautiful sticks" in French, and could be translated as "fair wands".

Durmstrang

Template:Infobox Harry Potter school Durmstrang Institute for Magical Learning is a fictional magic school first making its appearance in Goblet of Fire. The school has existed for at least 700 years when they began participating in the Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore welcomes Durmstrang's students as "our friends from the North." Durmstrang students wear heavy furs with blood-red robes.

Durmstrang is known for placing an emphasis on the study of the Dark Arts. While other schools of magic in the series limit the study to Defence Against the Dark Arts, Durmstrang students actually learn them. In Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald attended Durmstrang. He also carved the symbol of the Deathly Hallows onto one of the school's stone walls. Although Durmstrang teaches the Dark Arts as part of its curriculum, it apparently does not allow magical experimentation or torture, only limiting its study to theory. Grindelwald was thrown out of Durmstrang for performing such acts on his fellow students.

The name "Durmstrang" is likely to be an allusion to the German phrase Sturm und Drang.

Hogwarts

Main article: Hogwarts

Diagon Alley

Template:Infobox Harry Potter location Diagon Alley (a play on the word "diagonally") is a fictional High street located in London. It is accessible to the wizarding world, to which it is something of an economic hub, but hidden from Muggles. However, Muggles are allowed access to it if they need to accompany their Muggle-born magical children. If a wizard or witch needs something, chances are that it can be found in Diagon Alley.

One entrance to Diagon Alley can be reached on foot by passing through The Leaky Cauldron. The inn, invisible to Muggles, lies somewhere along the London thoroughfare Charing Cross Road, between a bookshop and a record shop. To reach Diagon Alley, one must go through The Leaky Cauldron to a rear courtyard and tap a brick in the wall, found by counting three up and two across, three times. Given the busy nature of the area, travelling to and from Diagon Alley is likely typically done by more magical means such as Apparition or by using the Floo Network.

The DVD of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets includes a video "guided tour" of Diagon Alley, apparently shot on the original film sets.

The Daily Prophet office

The Daily Prophet office is the office of the wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet, as witnessed by the fact that "Letters to the editor should be sent by owl to The Daily Prophet, Diagon Alley, London."

The office makes a small appearance in the first film, where its sign is only seen as Harry wonders about where to get a wand.

Eeylops Owl Emporium

Eeylops Owl Emporium sells owls and supplies such as owl treats. The inside is dark and full of a low, soft hooting, rustling and the flickering of "jewel-bright eyes." Among the types of owls sold are Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. It is here that Rubeus Hagrid purchased a snowy owl for Harry who named her Hedwig in Philosopher's Stone.

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, under the management of Florean Fortescue (founder and shopkeeper), sold ice cream, including sundaes, which could be enjoyed at outdoor tables.(Personal attack removed) Harry spent pleasant hours here working on summer holiday assignments before his third year at Hogwarts in Prisoner of Azkaban. Mr Fortescue himself helped him with one of his essays about historic witch burnings and supplied him with free sundaes every half hour.(Personal attack removed) In the Half-Blood Prince the parlour is boarded up and Fortescue has gone missing. Rowling confirmed that Florean was in fact murdered.

Flourish & Blotts

Flourish & Blotts sells a great variety of magic-related books, including textbooks for Hogwarts courses and other books of general magical interest. In the back there is a corner devoted solely to Divination, which includes a small table stacked with titles like Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself against Shocks and Broken Balls: When Fortunes Turn Foul. Another small display contains the book Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst is Coming.

There is usually a display of gold-embossed spell books the size of paving slabs in the window, but in Prisoner of Azkaban, the front window holds an iron cage filled with hundreds of copies of The Monster Book of Monsters. To deal with the vicious books, set for the third year Care of Magical Creatures class by Hagrid, the harassed manager had to gear up with thick gloves and jab at them with a knobbly walking stick, as the books tend to rip each other apart. The manager says that he had thought he had seen the worst when "we bought two hundred copies of The Invisible Book of Invisibility - cost a fortune and we never found them..." (Personal attack removed)

In Chamber of Secrets, celebrity author Gilderoy Lockhart signs copies of his autobiography, Magical Me, at the shop the day Harry visits, from 12:30–4:30 p.m. The signing drew a huge crowd of fans (mostly middle-aged women).Template:CS This is also where Lucius Malfoy slips Tom Riddle's diary into Ginny's battered old Transfiguration book, thus bringing about the start of the events in Chamber of Secrets.

Gringotts Wizarding Bank

See also: Money in Harry Potter

Gringotts is the only known bank of the wizarding world and it is operated primarily by goblins. A snowy white building, near the intersection of Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley, Gringotts towers over all neighbouring shops. Customers pass through a set of bronze doors and then silver ones before entering the lobby. The main floor is paved with marble and has long counters stretching along its length. Within, wizards and witches keep their money and other valuables in vaults that are protected by very complex and strong security measures. The vaults extend for miles under London and are accessible through rough stone passageways and then by means of magic carts that travel speedily along their tracks. Gringotts also offers Muggle-Wizarding currency exchange.Template:CS

When Harry first visited Gringotts, he was told by Hagrid that one would have to be mad to try to rob Gringotts. Goblins are extremely greedy and will protect their money and valuables at any cost, which makes them ideal guardians for the valuables of the wizarding world. In addition, according to Hagrid, apart from Hogwarts, Gringotts is considered "the safest place in the world for anything you want to keep safe". There are a number of methods to opening the vaults. Most vaults, such as Harry's, use small golden keys. Higher security vaults may have various enchantments upon the doors. For example, the door to Vault 713 needs to be stroked by a certified Gringotts goblin, which causes the locks to retract to the centre of the door. If anyone but a Gringotts goblin touches the door, the person will be sucked into the vault, which is checked for trapped thieves about once every 10 years. Dragons guard the especially high security vaults found in the lowest reaches of the bank.

Gringotts Vault 713 held a small parcel wrapped in paper, inside of which was the Philosopher's Stone. Dumbledore sent Hagrid to retrieve it while he escorted Harry. Later that very same day, Professor Quirrell broke into the vault under orders of Voldemort. Although he was unsuccessful in obtaining the Philosopher's Stone, the break-in shocked the wizarding world because it was practically unheard of for Gringotts to be robbed. The culprit was not caught. In Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, aided by a reluctant Griphook, break into the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange where a Horcrux of Voldemort (Hufflepuff's cup) is hidden. However, when they go into Bellatrix's vault, which is stocked with all manners of treasure, they find out that the treasure has had Gemino and Flagrante charms placed on it, which, respectively, cause any item to multiply rapidly and go red-hot whenever it is touched. The trio escape with the Horcrux by freeing a half-blind dragon that was part of the security for the vault, and clambering onto its back. The trio inside the vault and the subsequent escape via dragon are illustrated in the U.K. Edition, the U.S. deluxe edition and on the cover of the Dutch translation of the book.

While Gringotts is largely staffed by goblins, including Griphook and Ragnok, it is known that the bank does employ humans, though not apparently for banking and accounting services. Bill Weasley worked as a curse-breaker for Gringotts in Egypt, retrieving artifacts from ancient Egyptian tombs and pyramids. Fleur Delacour took a part-time job with Gringotts after participating in the Triwizard Tournament, apparently to improve her English skills, and Wizard guards are mentioned in Deathly Hallows during the break in.

The Leaky Cauldron

The Leaky Cauldron is a pub and inn for wizards, located on the Muggle street of Charing Cross Road in London, offering food, drinks and rooms to rent. It was founded by Daisy Dodderidge (1467–1555) in 1500 "to serve as a gateway between the non-wizarding world and Diagon Alley." The current barman and innkeeper is a wizard named Tom.

On the main floor, the inn has a bar, several private parlour rooms and a large dining room for guests to dine. On the upper floors, there are a number of rooms available; Harry has stayed in Room 11,(Personal attack removed) which has a talking mirror and windows that allow him to look out onto Charing Cross Road. People often stay at The Leaky Cauldron when they come up to London on shopping trips; there is no mention of other wizarding hotels or inns in Diagon Alley.

The pub serves as a way of entering onto Diagon Alley from the Muggle London either for Muggle-borns and their Muggle parents (both of whom, until the first letter from Hogwarts, have no magical knowledge or means of entering). The rear of The Leaky Cauldron opens onto a "chilly little courtyard" where a brick is tapped (found by counting three up and two across) three times.

Rowling has revealed that Hannah Abbott becomes the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron, and lives above the pub with her husband Neville Longbottom, when he is not teaching herbology at Hogwarts.

Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions

Madam Malkin's is a clothing shop next to the bookstore, Flourish & Blotts. It sells robes and other clothing, including the standard Hogwarts-required plain black work robes, and dress robes. Madam Malkin, a squat witch who wears mauve robes, and her assistants will tailor the robes to fit right in her shop. Malkin is an archaic term for a crotchety old woman.

Harry has two meetings with Draco in Madam Malkin's shop. This is where Harry meets the first wizard of his own age, Malfoy, for the very first time in Philosopher's Stone. Harry is rather bewildered by the questions Draco asks, as Harry is still unfamiliar with so many aspects of the wizarding world. A second meeting occurs just before the beginning of Harry's sixth year, in Half-Blood Prince, at Hogwarts. This meeting is far more unpleasant, and escalates quickly into a near-duel before Draco and his mother leave in disgust that Hermione (a Muggle-born) would shop there.

Magical Menagerie

The Magical Menagerie is a magical creature shop that, besides selling magical creatures, also offers advice on animal care and health. The shop is very cramped, noisy and smelly, due to every inch being covered with cages. Among the creatures in the Magical Menagerie are enormous purple toads, a firecrab, poisonous orange snails, a fat white rabbit that can turn into a silk top hat and back, cats of every colour, ravens, Puffskeins, and a cage of sleek black rats that play skipping games with their tails.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit in Prisoner of Azkaban, a witch wearing heavy black spectacles helps them. Ron buys Rat Tonic for his pet rat Scabbers, while Hermione buys herself a cat, Crookshanks. Crookshanks had apparently been in there for ages because no one wanted him and he often caused chaos in the shop.

Ollivander's

Ollivander's is a fine wands shop described as narrow and shabby, with a sign that reads Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC in peeling gold letters over the door. The only display in the window overlooking Diagon Alley is a single wand lying on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. Within, there are countless narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling and a spindly legged chair (Hagrid however breaks it after he sits upon it).

Mr Ollivander, the pale-eyed, white-haired shopkeeper, makes and sells the magic wands to witches and wizards as they enter school or break their old wands. He remembers every wand he has ever sold. To determine the best wand for a witch or wizard, Mr Ollivander measures various body parts (including, in Harry's case, between his nostrils) and then checks the reactions of various wands to the buyer, a process he refers to as "the wand choosing the wizard."

The shop closed when Mr Ollivander went missing on 31 July, 1996 when Voldemort kidnapped him in order to attempt to discover more about the link between his own and Harry's wand. One of his last customers was Neville who purchased a Cherry and Unicorn Hair wand. However, Harry rescues Ollivander in Deathly Hallows, and presumably, the store reopened following Voldemort's defeat.

Pottidge's Cauldron Shop

The Cauldron Shop sells all different varieties and sizes of cauldrons, including copper, brass, pewter, silver, self-stirring, collapsible, and solid gold, according to a sign outside the shop in Philosopher's Stone. Hogwarts requires its students to have a size 2 pewter cauldron. The Cauldron Shop is very near to the entrance from The Leaky Cauldron.

Quality Quidditch Supplies

Quality Quidditch Supplies sells broomsticks and Quidditch-related items. The store windows often draw young customers to gaze longingly at the merchandise. Its most famous items on display were the Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt, both of which Harry would eventually own. He spent the summer before his third year gazing at the brand new Firebolt racing broom in the display window. The price was given on request, though as Harry never asked, the price is unknown. Ron had previously longed for a full set of Chudley Cannons robes offered at the shop.

Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop

Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop is a stationery shop sells everything for all of your writing needs like quills, ink, parchments, envelopes, seals and others.

Slug and Jiggers Apothecary

The Apothecary sells potions and potion ingredients. The shop is "fascinating" despite its very bad smell — a mixture of bad eggs and rotten cabbage. The inside includes barrels of slimy stuff on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots and bright powders on the shelves; and bundles of feathers, strings of fangs and snarled claws hanging from the ceiling. They sell scales, too. Harry bought a set of brass scales.

Some of the ingredients available are silver unicorn horns (for twenty-one Galleons each) and glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop.)

Stalls

As well as many shops, Diagon Alley also contains small stalls. These stalls sell a wide range of things; including magical sweets. In Half-Blood Prince, many witches and wizards try to take advantage of the fear created by Voldemort's return. They set up stalls selling amulets and other objects, which (according to them) protect you against werewolves, Dementors and Inferi. These "dark magic protection" stalls, however, are illegal. Arthur Weasley is the one in charge of arresting their owners.

Telescope Shop

Sells different kinds of telescopes for the subject Astronomy, Harry bought his telescope here when he was in first year.

Twilfitt and Tatting's

Twilfitt and Tatting's is a wizarding clothing shop located in Diagon Alley, mentioned in Half-Blood Prince by Narcissa Malfoy, who claims she would shop there rather than shopping in Madam Malkin's due to the presence of Hermione.

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is a popular joke shop that started as a small school business created by Fred and George Weasley in the fourth book. It opened its doors at Number 93 Diagon Alley in the summer of the sixth book, using Harry Potter's Triwizard Winnings as starting capital. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes sells joke and trick items, useful novelties, and Defence Against the Dark Arts items.

Fred and George started using the name "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" in Goblet of Fire for mail orders. To run their own joke shop had always been their life's ambition, and this ambition was finally realised when Harry gives them his Triwizard Tournament winnings of a thousand Galleons. After an early departure from Hogwarts in Order of the Phoenix, the two Weasleys set up their shop in Diagon Alley, which quickly became a huge success.

Early on in Half-Blood Prince, at the height of uncertainty about Voldemort's return, a large sign posted on the outside of the shop mockingly proclaimed, "ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO? YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO - THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION THAT'S GRIPPING THE NATION!” Inside, the shop is filled with boxes of Skiving Snackboxes stacked to the ceiling, bins of trick wands, boxes of specialty quills along with displays of a "Reusable Hangman" and "Patented Daydream Charms". Near the front window of the shop is a collection of "violently pink" merchandise called "WonderWitch Products", which include Love potions, ten-second pimple vanishers, and Pygmy Puffs (miniature Puffskeins). Pygmy Puffs are basically moving balls of fur that come in different colors, and Ginny ends up buying a purple one, which she names Arnold. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes also sells Muggle magic tricks, edible Dark Marks and Joke Cauldrons. In the back of the shop, there is a room set up for the more serious line of Defence Against the Dark Arts products including shield hats, cloaks, and gloves, as well as Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and Decoy Detonators. Decoy Detonaters are walking bombs, and are quoted by George to be" Walking off the shelves!". Employees of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes wear magenta staff robes. One of the employees is a woman named Verity, who calls Fred and George, "Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley".

After Fred's death at the Battle of Hogwarts, George continues to run the shop, temporarily helped by his younger brother, Ron.

Hogsmeade

Template:Infobox Harry Potter location Hogsmeade Village, or simply Hogsmeade is the only settlement in Great Britain inhabited solely by magical beings, and is located to the northwest of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was founded by medieval wizard Hengist of Woodcroft. Students of Hogwarts who are in their third year and above are permitted to visit Hogsmeade during scheduled visits, to shop and mingle with friends unchaperoned, as long as they have a signed permission slip from a parent or guardian. Mainly, students frequent a high street in the Village which contains the named specialty shops and pubs in the series. Otherwise, they wander on to observe the infamous Shrieking Shack.

Hogsmeade remained unseen in the Harry Potter film series until the release of Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004. It has lately reappeared in Order of the Phoenix, released in 2007. In both films, the Village is seen under heavy caps of snow.

The Three Broomsticks

The Three Broomsticks is one of the local pubs in Hogsmeade. It is known for its delicious butterbeer and its beautiful owner Madam Rosmerta, who lives above the pub. The Three Broomsticks is a favourite pub among Hogwarts students and staff.

Zonko's Joke Shop

Zonko's Joke Shop has jokes and tricks that can "fulfil even Fred and George's wildest dreams." It closes down in Half-Blood Prince. Fred and George had planned to buy the shop, but decide against it when Hogwarts' students are banned from visiting Hogsmeade due to heightened security after Voldemort's rebirth.

Hogsmeade Station

Hogsmeade Station is the closest train stop to Hogwarts; the Hogwarts Express stops here after travelling from King's Cross. Scenes involving Hogsmeade Station in the Harry Potter films were shot at Goathland railway station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, built in 1865 and virtually unchanged, that serves the village of Goathland in the North York Moors. According to Rowling's illustrations, Hogsmeade station is not actually in Hogsmeade, but on the opposite side of the lake.

The Hog's Head

The Hog's Head is another pub, which often attracts a more unusual and private clientele than the Three Broomsticks, and many of the customers hide their faces. The hanging sign on the front of the pub has a severed boar's head, leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. The pub itself is filthy, with the floor covered with layers of dirt, and the windows smeared with so much grime that little light gets through. The main floor is a single room, but there are additional rooms on the upper floors. Harry notes that the pub smells strongly of goats. The bartender is Aberforth Dumbledore, the brother of Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

Despite its seedy reputation, the Hog's Head pub has been host to several important events in the world of Harry Potter. The inn was the headquarters of the 1612 Goblin Rebellion. A few months before Harry was born, it was here that the seer Sybill Trelawney revealed the prophecy connecting Voldemort and Harry, during an interview with Dumbledore for the position of Divination teacher at Hogwarts. It is also where Hagrid wins an illegal dragon egg (Norbert) while gambling with a disguised servant of Voldemort. In Order of the Phoenix, the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army is secretly held at the Hog's Head. It also serves as an evacuation point for the underage students directly before the Battle of Hogwarts. The children are sent to Hogwarts’ Room of Requirement and travel to the Hog's Head through a portrait of Ariana Dumbledore. In addition, during the Battle of Hogwarts, the Hog's Head is the gathering place of the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army who have gathered to fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Dervish & Banges

A shop that sells and repairs magical equipment, Dervish & Banges is located near the end of the High Street.

Gladrags Wizardwear

Gladrags Wizardwear sells clothing. There are other branches in London and Paris. It is full of quirky merchandise, and appears to specialise in strange and unusual socks.

Madam Puddifoot's

Located on a little side street off the main High Street, Madam Puddifoot's is a small teashop favourite among Hogwarts couples out on dates. On Valentine's Day Madam Puddifoot hires floating golden cherubs to throw pink confetti on visiting couples. It was at Madam Puddifoot's that Harry celebrated his Valentine's Day with Cho Chang, in the fifth book.

Honeydukes Sweetshop

Honeydukes Sweetshop is one of the most famous wizarding confectioneries in the world. It sells wizarding sweets of all descriptions, including Chocolate Frogs, Liquorice Wands, Pepper Imps, Chocoballs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Fizzing Whizzbees, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Toothflossing Stringmints, Ice Mice, Cockroach Clusters, Jelly Slugs, Blood Lollipops, Acid Pops and Sugar Quills, among others. Honeydukes is particularly well known for their special kind of fudge. They also sell creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-coloured toffees, and hundreds of different kinds of chocolate.

The owners, Ambrosius Flume and his wife, live in a flat above the shop. There is a trapdoor in the cellar of Honeydukes, which connects to a secret passage. The passage leads to a statue of a one-eyed witch on the third floor of Hogwarts. Harry uses this to enter Hogsmeade illegally in Prisoner of Azkaban.

Post Office

The Post Office is filled with at least two–to–three–hundred owls, ranging from Great Grey Owls to tiny Scops (the latter for "local deliveries only"), hooting down from colour-coded shelves. The shelves are colour-coded based on how quickly they will arrive at their destination.

Shrieking Shack

The Shrieking Shack, on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, is believed to be the most haunted building in Great Britain. Connected to Hogwarts by a secret tunnel, the Shrieking Shack was used by Remus Lupin, a werewolf, to hide during the full moon to avoid harming fellow students or others. The villagers heard the noise and mistook it for violent spirits. This rumour, encouraged by Dumbledore, led to the Shrieking Shack being officially regarded as the most haunted building in Britain.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, the Shrieking Shack becomes part of the dramatic conclusion of the book when Sirius returns to the school. He drags Ron and his pet rat, Scabbers, there in order to kill Scabbers. It is revealed that Scabbers is actually the Animagus Peter Pettigrew, Black's former friend who had betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, a crime for which Black had been blamed. In Deathly Hallows, Snape is killed in the Shrieking Shack by Voldemort's snake, Nagini.

Government affiliated locales

Azkaban

File:Azkaban.jpg

Azkaban (heavily damaged) as seen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Azkaban is the wizard prison. Wizards who violate the laws of the British wizarding world are sent there. Only one other such prison, Nurmengard, is known to exist. According to Half-Blood Prince, Azkaban is located "in the middle of the North Sea". Sirius Black mentions that when he (as a dog) swam to Britain from Azkaban, he then travelled northwards to get to Hogwarts. This implies that Azkaban is located at a lower latitude than Hogwarts, which is in Scotland.

Generally, only very severe crimes are punished with a term in Azkaban. Many of the prisoners were supporters of Voldemort, though some misunderstandings have resulted in others' imprisonment. Hagrid, for example, was sent there in Harry's second year at Hogwarts because of a crime he did not commit. Performing any of the Unforgivable Curses on a human is punishable by a mandatory whole life tariff in Azkaban, although several characters throughout the series have performed the curses and not been punished accordingly. Other crimes which merit imprisonment here include assaulting the Ministry (for example, the Death Eaters detained in Order of the Phoenix), being an unregistered AnimagusTemplate:HP5 and impersonating an Inferius.Template:HP6

Azkaban has a reputation of evil and fear throughout the series. By the start of the series, Azkaban is guarded by the Dementors, working under the British Ministry of Magic. The large presence of Dementors renders the inmates incapable of happiness and forces them to relive their worst memories, as they become gradually helpless and often severely insane. According to Sirius, many inmates simply stop eating and eventually die of starvation. As Dementors are extremely difficult even to injure - the only spell effective against them is the Patronus Charm - Azkaban was long considered impossible to escape, until Sirius escaped (although Barty Crouch Jr had previously broken out with the help of his parents); however, Dumbledore claimed he could break out of Azkaban if he wished to do so.

In Order of the Phoenix, ten of Voldemort's most dangerous and loyal followers escape, including Bellatrix Lestrange. Dumbledore was always vocal in declaring that it was a mistake to guard Voldemort's greatest supporters with Dementors, who have the most to gain if Voldemort returned to power. He is proven right as the Dementors leave their posts at Azkaban and join ranks with Voldemort. The prison is still in use, but greatly weakened by the revolt of its wardens. By the start of Deathly Hallows, there had been another mass breakout from Azkaban, and several Death Eaters escaped.

Following Voldemort's ultimate demise, Kingsley Shacklebolt sees to the end of use of Dementors at Azkaban, their use having always been a mark of the underlying corruption of the Ministry.

Ministry of Magic

Main article: Ministry of Magic

Platform Nine and Three Quarters

Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station

The ride on the Hogwarts Express starts from King's Cross railway station platform 9¾, which is invisible to Muggle eyes and is reached by walking through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10.

Rowling discovered after the books were published that she had confused the layout of King's Cross with that of Euston station, and that platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross were not the ones between which she had meant her magical platform to be placed. There is no platform between tracks 9 and 10 at King's Cross. To solve this, the filmmakers re-numbered platforms 4 and 5 for the duration of filming. In reality, at both King's Cross and Euston, platforms 9 and 10 are separated by train tracks.

Perhaps coincidentally, a local legend claims that Queen Boudica fought her last battle near the site of King's Cross Station, and her body is said to be buried somewhere between platforms nine and ten.

Today, King's Cross Station still has no Platform 9¾, but it does have a ‘Platform 9a’ and a ‘Platform 9b’. The secondary building containing platforms 9 to 11 has been decorated with a ‘Platform 9¾’ sign, complete with a luggage trolley ‘stuck’ halfway through the wall as tribute to the book.

St Mungo's

St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries is a fictional hospital within the universe of Harry Potter. Medics at the hospital are not called doctors, but are known as Healers and wear lime-green robes. Founded by famous wizard Healer Mungo Bonham, St Mungo's is located in London. It was established to treat magical injuries or illnesses endemic to the Wizarding World. To enter the premises, one has to step through the window of what appears to be a derelict department store called Purge & Dowse Ltd. The exteriors of the hospital are red-bricked and dirty, which is the complete opposite of the interiors. Inside, everything is very neat and looks exactly as a hospital should. There are six floors. The emblem of St Mungo's is a magic wand crossed with a bone. This is the hospital where Arthur Weasley is sent after he was attacked by Voldemort's snake, Nagini, in the Ministry of Magic and also Minerva McGonagall is hospitalised from severe stunning when Hagrid is forced out of Hogwarts. During one visit, Harry and company happen across Neville, who has come with his grandmother Augusta Longbottom to visit his parents in the long-term care ward; they also find former professor Gilderoy Lockhart there, still suffering from the effects of a backfired Memory Charm.

Dark locations

Knockturn Alley

Knockturn Alley (a play on the word "nocturnally") is a dark and seedy alleyway leading off from the more savoury Diagon Alley to which Muggles have no access. It is frequented largely by Dark Wizards. Many of the shops in Knockturn Alley are devoted to the Dark Arts; the largest is Borgin & Burkes, which sells sinister and dangerous objects.

Nurmengard

Nurmengard is the prison that Gellert Grindelwald built to keep his enemies and Muggles. The entrance of Nurmengard was marked with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, along with the legend "For the greater good". After Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, the prisoners were released and Grindelwald himself was imprisoned in the top-most cell. Nurmengard first appears in the final book when Voldemort arrives at the prison looking for Grindelwald and information about the Elder Wand. After Grindelwald refused to give Voldemort any information, he was killed in his own prison by the Dark Lord.

Filming locations

The following are locations used by Warner Bros. to film the fictional locations in the Harry Potter film series.

• Australia House, The Strand, London (Gringott's Bank)
• Alnwick Castle, Northumberland (Hogwarts, outside scenes)
• Bodleian Library, Oxford (Hogwarts interiors)
• Martins Heron, Berkshire (Privet Drive)
• Christ Church, Oxford (Hogwarts interiors)
• Durham Cathedral (Hogwarts interiors)
• Gloucester Cathedral (Hogwarts corridors)
• Goathland railway station, Yorkshire (Hogsmeade Station)
• King's Cross Station, London (King's Cross interior)
• Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire (Hogwarts interiors)
• Leadenhall Market, London (Diagon Alley)
• London Zoo (Reptile House)
• St Pancras railway station, London (King's Cross exterior).
• Scottish Highlands, Scotland (Outdoor scenes in Prisoner of Azkaban and Half-Blood Prince)

See also

• Gazetteer of the Wizarding World at Harry Potter Lexicon