The Hut on the Rock

In a freezing cold sea, there lies a rather small rock (in comparison to the sea). On the rock, there is a dilapidated hut. Inside the hut, there are two rooms, and always, the incredibly wet smell of seaweed. The hut isn’t very warm, although there is a fireplace, albeit of not much use since there is no wood and it’s already wet. Just like the sea.

The Dursley House
Outside of Number four Privet Drive, the lawn is green and tidy. Inside, it’s even tidier. The once extravagant fireplace is now boarded up, and the once numerous fine china have been reduced in numbers. There is a cupboard under the stairs, where you might find a lonely, ugly, small sock. The kitchen is clean and spotless, and everything is put away neatly. Upstairs you will find four rooms, the smallest being bizarrely messy and inhabited by a snowy owl, a growing wizard, and the bodies of a few deceased mice. In one room, are many broken toys, and what looks like the bed of a severely obese teenager. In another room, are unknown items, though it would probably contain a bed and a bedside table. In the master bedroom sleep the master and mistress of the house, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. Undoubtedly, the room is unbearably clean.

The Burrow
Home to the wonderful red-headed Weasleys, the burrow apparently ‘isn’t very much’ to wizard standards. But to Muggles it’s fascinating and filled with magical creatures and accessories. It is several stories high, and rather cramped, but that makes it all the more cozy. Outside are chickens and gnomes, and various remnants of magical equipment and clothing. The kitchen is where you will most often find Mrs. Weasley, cooking for the many members of her family. There is a ghoul in the attic, and creaking stairs, and loud noises come from Fred and George’s room. Here, Harry feels at home, and so do Ron, Fred, George, Percy, Ginny, Bill, Charlie, Arthur and Molly Weasley.

Number 12, Grimmauld Place
Protected by heavy magic, and invisible to eye and unthinking mind, Number 12, Grimmauld Place, the old, old house of the pure-blooded and beautiful Blacks, is now headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix. The house is rather worn and shabby, and somewhat inhabitable. However, much patience and cleaning is required when dealing with this home. The chandelier and candelabra are shaped like serpents, and are very dusty. Some odd and grotesque ornamentations to the house are: an umbrella stand made from a troll’s leg, the severed heads of an entire line of house-elves, and screaming portraits of the Black family. Even though the house is dark and foreboding, it is clear that the Black family was not at all poor, in fact they were rather rich.

St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
Many wizards and witches get themselves into a spot of trouble. If the case is very severe, or the witch or wizard in question is unable to heal themselves, a healer at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries would be happy to assist them (you). St. Mungo’s, or to the muggle-eye called ‘Purge and Dowse Ltd.’ There are six floors to St. Mungo’s. The Ground Floor is where you enter, and where you stay if you have had an Artifact Accident. The First Floor is where you go if you have a Creature-Induced Injury. The Second Floor for Magical Bugs, the third for Potion and Plant Poisoning, the fourth for Spell Damage, and of course, every hospital must have a ‘Visitor’s Tea Room and Hospital Shop,’ which here is located on the fifth floor. Apparently, the welcome witch will be splendiferously happy to assist you if you need assistance. Be careful!

Hogwarts
The Gryffindor Common Room
Outside the haven of Gryffindor students is the portrait of the beloved Fat Lady. Give her the password and she will allow you entrance. Inside the Gryffindor Common Room are many comfy, cozy, squishy and squashy armchairs. Scattered are some tables that hold the spell books of tired and stressed students. Two staircases go separate ways, one to the girls’ dormitory, and one to the boys’. But they all unite every once in a while for a good party hosted with snacks from Fred and George Weasley.
The Slytherin Common Room
The Slytherin Common Room
The Slytherin Common Room is underground, quite different from Gryffindor Tower. Lamps hang by chains from the rough ceiling, and add a greenish tinge to the room. Though the place is undoubtedly dark and rather gloomy, an elaborately carved mantelpiece hangs above a noisy but splendidly warm fire. And don’t forget the stylish chairs that have oversized backs, to hide the Slytherin’s cunning head.
Professor McGonagoll’s office/classroom
Known to be one of Hogwarts’ strictest teachers, Professor McGonagoll is not someone to cross. She can change her furniture into farm animals. And if that doesn’t shock you, you should see what she gives to students when they are in trouble. You shouldn’t be late to her class, or else she might turn you into a pocket watch. So I suggest you take a seat in one of the many tables and pay rapt attention to her teachings of Transfiguration, sometimes shown on the drawing board.
The Dungeon (Snape’s Classroom)
Almost every Hogwarts student dreads the dank, smelly classroom of Professor Severus Snape, but potions are required of every Hogwarts student below sixth year. So it is obviously very important to try and ignore the pickled animals floating in glass jars around you. It is very cold, and all around the classroom, in the various cabinets and jars are stored precious ingredients to make the most difficult potions, and various magical substances are also found here. The floor, which is made of stone, often falls victim to a cauldron spilling, and occasionally, a student can even escape the watchful eyes of the professor when this happens. Perhaps even long enough to make a quick dash to the cabinet to grab some shredded skin of boomslang.

Dumbedore’s Office
The Headmaster’s office is truly a safe and marvelous place to be. There you can find portraits of the former headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, all probably snoozing away as soon as your muggle feet step inside the large, circular room. A number of amazing silver wizard instruments stand on long, narrow tables, and all work to perfection. Fawkes, the headmaster’s pet Phoenix should be there staring at you curiously, and the Sorting Hat might even say, ‘Hello!’ If you really want to be daring, you might want to find the Pensieve in a drawer, but it would suit you well to stay put, and wait for the headmaster to return from his duties, and to sit in his high chair as the supreme learned one of Hogwarts.

Moaning Myrtle’s Bathroom
Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom is deserted, and gloomy. There is one large, cracked mirror above a row of chipped sinks. The floor is usually wet, due to the fact that Myrtle likes to flood her toilet, of which she rarely comes out of. There are stubby candles which burn faintly; probably the only source of light. The doors to the stalls are torn and flaky, and Myrtle’s constant moping keeps almost everybody away from this haunted, depressing bathroom.

Hagrid’s Hut
The jolly half-giant, gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures Teacher, lives in a small hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Inside is only one room, with a large bed in the corner. Game and fowl hang from the ceiling, and there is no stove, just an open fire. Undoubtedly, there are many cabinets that contain kettles, cooking pots and large tea mugs, some of which have held a rat in the past.

The Great Hall
The Great Hall
The Great Hall of Hogwarts is where Hogwart’s hungry students come to enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner. Many great feasts are also held here, like the Halloween feast, the Christmas feast, and the end of the year feast. For each feast, the decorations are changed, but remain extravagant. Still, the five long tables remain, for placed vertically, one placed horizontally. And don’t forget, the ceiling depicts the weather outside.

The Hogwarts Quidditch Field
The Hogwarts Quidditch Field
This is where every student at Hogwarts wants to be. Some are just happy to be sitting in the raised seats, but some dream of flying around on the field, playing the glorious game of Quidditch. On either edge of the field are three fifty feet high hoops.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts Room
Here, is Hogwarts most renowned class. The job, rumored to be jinxed, has head a new teacher every school year. The first year, when Professor Quirrel taught this class, you might have come out smelling strongly of garlic. When Gilderoy Lockhart took up the job, you would have learned about how he banished a banshee, or some equally heroic feat. The walls were covered with his pictures. When Professor Lupin taught, the classroom was filled with excitement, possibly about the fact that they were actually going to learn something, or because there was a terrifying monster at the front of the room. And ‘Alastor Moody’ also taught, and then, the room was filled with dark arts detectors. But, the room got the biggest makeover when Dolores Jane Umbdrige came to Hogwarts. The room was astonishingly pretty in pink.

The Forbidden Forest
The Forbidden Forest
All Hogwarts students are never allowed access to the Forbidden Forest, though some rule-breaking ones always find their way in. The Forbidden Forest takes up a good part of the Hogwarts’ grounds, and it’s filled with all sorts of horribly shaped trees that are large in size. Among the numerous magical creatures in the forest are centaurs, giant spiders, and even werewolves! Occasionally, you might come across something that resembles an oversized troll, but it’s only a runty giant. However, there are also gentle and pure creatures such as the unicorn. As tempted as you might be to go and see the wonderfully white unicorns, it’s best to stay out of the Forbidden Forest.

The Prefect’s Bathroom
You might think it terribly boring to be a prefect of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but you might change your mind if you could only see the bathroom of the prestigious prefects. There is a swimming pool in the middle of the bathroom, which is made of white marble as is the rest of the bathroom. It is lit by a wonderfully beautiful candle-lit chandelier. Around the pool’s edges are many golden-colored taps with a brilliantly colored jewel inset into the tap. The taps supply different kinds of bubble-bath. There’s even a diving board beside the swimming pool. You’ll find towels to be in stock, but privacy might be a little harder to fetch, although no one will watch from the windows. If you’re a rather good-looking young man, you might find Moaning Myrtle watching you, or the beautiful blonde mermaid flirting with you.

King’s Cross Station- Platform 9 and 3/4
Many young wizards, such as the famous Harry Potter, eagerly await the trip to Hogwarts from Platform 9 3/4. In order to do that though, they must go to King’s Cross Station in London, by way of muggle transportation since it is a muggle train station. Between Platforms 9 and 10, there is a barrier. To any muggle this wall seems perfectly solid. But to Hogwarts students; however, it is the gateway to getting away from home and getting to Hogwarts. Through the barrier one goes, and then they find themselves among a horde of students, all saying goodbye to parents. Such is the bitter sweetness of platform 9.

The Hogwarts Express
The brilliant red train is one of the many treasured ways of transportation for Harry Potter. He can fly on his broomstick, travel by Floo Powder, get hurled by a portkey or nearly fall out of a flying Ford Anglia. In any which way, young Harry enjoys traveling on the steam engine the most. Mainly Hogwarts students ride it, as the only three adults ever to be reported on board are the food lady, the Hogwarts Express conductor and former Professor Remus J. Lupin. There have also been reports of missing toads, biting rats, and scary dementors on the wonderfully huge train.

Diagon Alley

Flourish and Blott’s Wizard Bookshop
In Diagon Alley lies Flourish and Blott’s, the wizard bookshop. They carry every kind of wizard book, autobiographies, and history books, spell books, etc. Hogwarts students come here to buy their books before the start of term. Often, famous authors can be found here amidst the endless number of fans vying for their autograph.

Madam Malkin’s Robes For All Occasions
Madam Malkin’s Robes For All Occasions
Another shop in Diagon Alley, Madam Malkin’s Robes For All Occasions makes good business come start of Hogwarts term. Sometime Madam Malkin herself will assist you. In any case, she and her employees make beautiful robes for all occasions, and for nice prices too.

Ollivander’s Wand Shop
Every wizard or witch needs a wand. And no one sells finer wands in Diagon Alley then Ollivanders, in business since 382 B.C. The place is dusty and quiet, but that shouldn’t ruin its reputation. Ollivander’s has sold wands to famous and powerful wizards, such as Lily and James Potter, Harry Potter and even He-who-must-not-be-named. The wands comes in a narrow box, and there are seemingly thousands of wands, piled high to the ceiling. A very lovely selection of wands indeed, but you must remember: The wand chooses the wizard.

Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor
In Diagon Alley, you can find this ice cream parlor. Any kind of ice cream is sold here, ranging from sundaes to double-scoops. All are sold by the magical and knowledgeable Florean Fortescue.

The Leaky Cauldron
The Leaky Cauldron is a dark but cheery wizard pub and inn. Wizards can find refuge from curious muggle eyes in this comfy place. The Leaky Cauldron’s owner and innkeeper, known as ‘Tom,’ will be happy to assist you. In the back area, if a wizard takes out his or her wand, and taps the third brick from the left above the trash bin the wall turns into an archway that leads into Diagon Alley. So, the Leaky Cauldron is the haven for wizards and witches. Muggles can walk right by without even noticing.

Knockturn Alley
Knockturn Alley is a side street running off the more respectable Diagon Alley. The street, which is devoted to the Dark Arts, is somewhat of a hang out for witches and wizards with more nefarious dispositions. The name Knockturn Alley is actually a play on words of nocturnally, and, like Diagon Alley, it is accessible only by magical means.

There are a number of dodgy shops located along the street, but the only one specifically mentioned in the books is Borgin and Burkes- a store which specializes in dark collectables, poisons, and other paraphernalia. Other shops along the alley are known to sell items such as shrunken heads, gigantic black spiders, poisonous candles, human fingernails, and flesh-eating slug repellent.

Hogsmeade

The Hog’s Head
The Hog’s Head
Located in Hogsmeade, this smelly, and rather dirty pub, gives off the impression of having never been cleaned. Hermione Granger would describe it as “dodgy” and “a place where I don’t think we’ll be heard.” Since the windows are incapable of supplying light, the tables (which are rough and wooden) are lit by the stubs of candles. Everything is unpleasantly dusty, from the floors to the windows and even the butterbeer bottles.

Honeydukes

Honeydukes
Under the magnificent sweet shop of the all wizarding city of Hogsmeade runs a secret passageway. When you go through it, you will be extremely relieved to find yourself at the trapdoor that leads into the cellar of Honeydukes. Eager as your stomach may be to consume all the delicious sweets inside Honeydukes, you need to be careful because a rather rotund man often comes up to get more crates of various candies. Or, you can be like a normal witch or wizard and come through the front door.

The Three Broomsticks
The Three Broomsticks
The Three Broomsticks is a magical saloon where almost any kind of drink is served. Students and Professors of Howgarts love to come in on chilly days for a wonderfully warm drink. It’s usually quite crowded, and is generally not a good place to hold secret meetings (for students, that is). But the professors can get a nice private chat what with all the hubbub between students over chocolate frog cards.

Zonko’s Joke Shop
Here is where students go to fill their pockets with little toys to cause havoc. Dungbombs, Hiccup Sweets, Frog-spawn Soap, Nose biting teacups, and other hoodlum accessories are sold here. Fred and George Weasley, along with Lee Jordan, practically pick the store clean. Though I’m sure they aren’t the first. The Marauders were the first of their kind.

The Shrieking Shack
The Shrieking Shack scares the creeps out of little children who hear about it. It is the most haunted location in Britain, and adolescents enjoy teasing each other about the violent spirits who allegedly reside there. But, the Shrieking Shack no longer shrieks or shakes with horrifying noises. In fact, it has remained silent for years. Under the Whomping Willow, there is a secret passage that leads to the inside of the Shrieking Shack. The interior of this foreboding little shack is perhaps like any other house inhabited by a werewolf. The curtains are torn, it’s awfully dust, and the bed is a mother’s worst nightmare. Back in the day, a werewolf (young Remus Lupin) used to come in there and destruct the place after he transformed from a person to a werewolf. After that, three other rowdy boys would come in after him and they would have the time of their life. They were known as the Marauders: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.

Azkaban Prison
The infamous Azkaban Fortress is one of the most well-known and most feared places in the wizarding world. Dwelling in the uninvitingly cold and distant waters above the North Sea, the dreary island fortress exists as a prison for those accused of the most heinous of magical crimes. Those unfortunate enough to call its stony walls home suffer a bleak and comfortless existence as every ounce of peace, every measure of joy and happiness is slowly and completely drained from their being by the notorious Azkaban guards, the dementors. Feeding on happiness and relishing in despair, the dementors gradually subdue their prisoners into such a state of hopelessness that most prisoners, captive to their own misery, no longer have any desire or motivation to do anything but die. The popular alternative is to be driven to insanity. The stony walls of the immense pillar tower into the sky, its black cliffs dwarf the crashing waters below; the Azkaban fortress affords no thoughts of escape to a wizard hundreds of miles from land without magic, without means, and without hope.

The responsibility of maintaining and managing the prison falls to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement who until the escape of Sirius Black in 1993 had no known break outs. Many subsequent ‘escapes’ occurred in the following years as the return of Voldemort marked a change in the dementor’s loyalties. After the dementors abandon their posts at the prison, the job of maintaining order within the walls of the prison falls to Aurors.

There are a variety of crimes one can commit to be sent to Azkaban, all with concordant punishments ranging from a few weeks or months within the fortress up to a lifetime sentence, or in the most extreme cases, the dementor’s kiss. It would appear that there are no other wizard prisons within the United Kingdom so any crime will allot at least some time within the walls of the dreaded prison; a definite deterrent.

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic
Le Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons, better known to English-speaking readers as Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, is a palatial school of wizardry thought to be located somewhere along the Mediterranean coast in the South of France. Beauxbatons, along with Hogwarts and Durmstrang, is one of the three largest schools of wizardry in Europe, and in the spirit of competition conceals its exact location as not to divulge its secrets. The school was established at least 700 years ago and places a great deal of emphasis on students’ studies and etiquette; a convention typical of most formal French schooling. Students at Beauxbatons are expected to rise when their headmistress enters the room, they wait until after the sixth year of schooling before taking their major exams, and they seem to have a natural bond with Ravenclaw.

The Palace of Beauxbatons and its amenities are, in its students’ opinion, far superior than those of the drafty Hogwarts Castle. The Academy is described as a stunning palace marked by its exquisite cuisine which the students dine on while being serenaded by choirs of wood nymphs, great halls lavishly decorated with beautiful ice-sculptures that glitter like diamonds during the Christmas season, and a warm Mediterranean climate which favors the students’ silky light-blue robes.

Consistent with the school’s elegant and cultured demeanor, the name Beauxbatons actually translates to “Beautiful Sticks” or “Beautiful Wands”. The school’s coat of arms, a pair of golden wands crossed over one another, each emitting three stars, is present on the door of the powder-blue palomino-drawn carriage in which the Beauxbatons arrive at Hogwarts. The headmistress during the 1994-1995 school, during which the delegation from Beauxbatons stays at Hogwarts, is Madam Olympe Maxime- a half human half giantess.

Durmstrang Institute
The Durmstrang Institute is a school wizardry thought to be located northern Europe. Like Beauxbatons the school’s location is kept secret as not to reveal its secrets, and like Hogwarts the school is housed in a castle. Durmstrang castle is, however, smaller and less impressive than Hogwarts. Unlike the Beauxbatons students, the delegates from Durmstrang are very impressed with the amenities at Hogwarts including its golden tableware, enchanted ceilings, and fire places which stay lit year-round. The Durmstrang school grounds do occupy far more land than Hogwarts, however. The school, which is at least 700 years old, is set amidst many mountains and lakes, all of which apparently belong to the school.

Durmstrang and its students have the distinct (and sometimes unfair) reputation of being bigoted and untrustworthy. The school, which is said to only admit pure-bloods, puts a heavy emphasis on the Dark-Arts- not only teaching defense against them, but also how to perform them. Harry is warned more then once to watch his back when Durmstrang students are around. This warning seems, however, to be a bit excessive, as the Durmstrang students exhibit none of the devious qualities they are said to posses. Nevertheless, the Durmstrang students do appear to have a natural affinity with the Slytherin House.

During the 1994-1995 school year Durmstrang sends a delegation of potential contestants (via a ship that travels underwater) to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament at Hogwarts. The student’s uniforms consist of deep blood-red robes concealed under heavy fur cloaks; a fitting uniform as during the winter the school enjoys little daylight, and fireplaces are lit only for magical purposes. Their headmaster, the former Death Eater Igor Karkaroff, clothes himself in a sleek silver-colored robe. The Durmstrang students have a real “no nonsense” attitude towards the competition. They are the first to put their names into the Goblet of Fire, and when Harry’s name comes up, suspecting fowl play, they immediately threaten to leave.

Budleigh Babberton
Budleigh Babberton is a small muggle village most-likely located in Devon, England. The “charming” (Dumbledore’s words) town features a village square containing an old war memorial surrounded by a few benches, a deserted inn, and a church clock-tower which chimes on the hour. A dark swirling mist fills the town’s steep, narrow streets providing an odd chill like that which occurs when dementors are near.

Dumbledore brings Harry to the town of Budleigh Babberton on an attempt to persuade Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement. The house in which Slughorn is staying is one in a series of homes lining a narrow street. The small stone home sits in a gated garden with a neat garden path leading to the door of the house. When Dumbledore and Harry arrive, the interior of the house is in shambles; furniture lies cracked and splintered across the floor, cushions and their feathers are scattered throughout the room, shattered glass and china are thrown everywhere, and blood is splattered on the walls. Dumbledore exposes Slughorn who has apparently turned himself into a large arm-chair. Slughorn actually made the mess on purpose in an attempt to convince Dumbledore he had been attacked and captured by Death Eaters. Slughorn doesn’t actually live in the house, he is merely staying there while its owners are vacationing in the Canary Islands; he used a freezing charm to disable the security system. The interior of the house is really quite nice after Slughorn and Dumbledore, with a flick of their wands, put it back right. After a few words alone with Harry something about him convinces Slughorn to come out of retirement…just as Dumbledore planned.

Gaunt Gottage
Through a series of lessons with the Pensieve Harry and Dumbledore travel to the Gaunt Cottage multiple times learning of Voldemort’s lineage and how he came to possess the black-stone ring which would later become a Horcrux hidden within the cottage.

In the first of their special lessons, Harry and Dumbledore use a Pensieve to exam the memory of a man named Bob Ogden that took place quite a few years earlier. Their delve into the Pensieve leaves them about a mile outside of Little Hangleton, a small town in England. They follow the main road towards Little Hangleton until they turn off unto a narrow dirt road just outside the town. The rocky path leads them down a small hill until they reach a small derelict cottage uncomfortably fit between a patch of large dark tress; it belongs to Marvolo Gaunt.

Marvolo Gaunt lives in the cottage with his son, Ogden, and daughter, Merope. The cottage has clearly seen better days. The walls are covered with moss, the shingles are missing in so many places that the rafters are exposed, the landscape is covered with nettles, the windows are covered with grime, and a life-less snake is nailed to the door.