Top Sights Where Harry Potter Was Filmed
Harry Potter’s story is set in a magical, largely fictional Britain, but the film series used many real locations as evocative backdrops. Other settings, like Diagon Alley, exist only at Leavesden Film Studios .
Many of the real-life filming sites are closed to visitors, far out of the way for most travelers, or an unmagical disappointment in person for all but the most committed fan. But plenty of locations are worth visiting for their own sake; these are my top picks.
London
Harry first realizes his wizard powers;in The Sorcerer’s Stone when talking with a snake at the London Zoo’s Reptile House.
When Hagrid takes Harry shopping for school supplies, they enter the glass-roofed Leadenhall Market and approach the storefront at 42 Bull’s Head Passage the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron pub .
Harry catches the Hogwarts Express train at King’s Cross Station. Inside the glass-roofed train station, on a pedestrian sky bridge over the tracks, Hagrid gives Harry a train ticket. Harry finds his way to the magical platform 9¾ with some help, but these days it’s well-signed, with a luggage cart that looks like it’s disappearing into the wall, and a cleverly located gift shop. Expect a 30-minute wait for a photo with the cart.
In The Prisoner of Azkaban , The Leaky Cauldron’s exterior was shot on rough-looking Stoney Street, at the southeast edge of Borough Market, near The Market Porter pub. En route there, the Knight Bus squeezes between Muggle buses on Lambeth Bridge .
Near Bath
Tragedy Also Followed Rowena Ravenclaw
Rowena Ravenclaw was the greatest witch of her time; a figure famed for her intelligence and wit and that was before she wore her enchanted diadem, which was said to enhance the wisdom of the wearer. Such a witch casts a long shadow, one her daughter Helena found it difficult to escape from. Envying her mothers status and power, she betrayed her by stealing the diadem believing it could make her powerful and ran away from Hogwarts. The betrayal embarrassed Rowena, who told no one, including her fellow founders, that the diadem was missing.
On her death bed, she sent a young man to find Helena, so she could see her daughter for one last time. That young man, who had long been infatuated with Helena, tracked her down to a forest in Albania… but ending up killing her when she rejected his advances. His real name is unknown, but youll recognise him by his post-mortem moniker, the Bloody Baron.
Rowena Ravenclaw died soon after. Legend has it that the cause of death was a broken heart.
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic has been waging a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore, disputing their claims that Voldemort has returned. Harry is made to look like an attention-seeking liar, and Dumbledore a trouble-maker. A new character is introduced when the Ministry of Magic appoints Dolores Umbridge as the latest Hogwarts’ Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor . Because the paranoid Ministry suspects that Dumbledore is building a wizard army to overthrow them, Umbridge refuses to teach students real defensive magic. She gradually gains more power, eventually ousting Dumbledore and seizing control of the school. As a result, Harry’s increasingly angry and erratic behaviour nearly estranges him from Ron and Hermione.
Rowling says she put Harry through extreme emotional stress to show his emotional vulnerability and humanitya contrast to his nemesis, Voldemort. ” a very human hero, and this is, obviously, a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. And Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down, and say he didn’t want to play any more, he didn’t want to be the hero any more; and he’d lost too much. And he didn’t want to lose anything else. So that; Phoenix was the point at which I decided he would have his breakdown.”
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Wizarding School Locations From Harry Potter
January 31, 2016
Map created by Pottermore.com
The map above shows the locations of the 7 Wizarding schools that have been revealed so far, that exist in the Harry Potter universe.
The map comes from the official Pottermore.com website, which also claims that there are: eleven long-established and prestigious wizarding schools worldwide. This of course means the location of the remaining 4 3 is anyones guess!
Fred & George Weasley
Fred and George left Hogwarts during their sixth year, but not before taking their O.W.L.s The two Weasley twin both earned three passing grades each in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Herbology.
This is less than half of the number of high grades that their older brothers received. However, considering the two managed to open up a very successful joke shop, their O.W.L.s essentially become a moot point.
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The Ministry Of Magic
Home to Muggle politicians, Whitehall, and Old Scotland Yard was used to represent the magical counterpart to our muggle organisations.
Here you will find the exteriors used for the Ministry of Magic during filming for the Polyjuice potion scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Shots taken here are also used for the trip that Mr. Weasley and Harry Take in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
In the books and the films there is a red telephone box outside the Ministry of Magic that wizards use to access the Ministry.
From the phone box, one must dial 62442 and the phone booth acts as a lift, taking visitors down underneath the ground to the Ministry.
The red phone box used in the film was actually a prop brought in specifically for shooting so sadly, no journeys to the Ministry can be made any longer!
Harry Potter Fan Tours
Join an immersive Harry Potter Fan Tour and you’ll be part of a one-of-a-kind wizarding adventure across England and Scotland. Guests on the tour are brought into an interactive storyline filled with magic and mystery.;While travelling to visit all the filming sights, youll be introduced to characters and surprises at every turn. Hunt;for beasts and fight;against dark magic, and;even stay in your;very own castle of wizardry. Wands at the ready!
- Harry Potter Fan Tours: The Fantastical Tour 2 Immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter!
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Harry Potter And The Half
In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry enters a tumultuous puberty that, Rowling says, is based on her and her younger sister’s own difficult teenage years. Rowling also made an intimate statement about Harry’s personal life: “Because of the demands of the adventure that Harry is following, he has had less sexual experience than boys of his age might have had.” This inexperience with romance was a factor in Harry’s failed relationship with Cho. Now his thoughts concern Ginny, and a vital plot point in the last chapter includes Harry ending their budding romance to protect her from Voldemort.
This book also focuses on the mysterious activities of Harry’s rival Draco Malfoy. Voldemort has coerced a frightened Malfoy into attempting to kill Dumbledore. During a duel in Moaning Myrtle‘s bathroom, Harry uses the Half-Blood Prince’s spell, Sectumsempra, on Malfoy, who suffers near-fatal injuries as a result. Harry is horrified by what he has done and also comes to feel sympathy for Draco, after learning he was forced to do Voldemort’s bidding under the threat of his and his parents’ deaths.
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone
Harry first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Starting in 1981, when Harry was just one year old, his parents, James and Lily, were murdered by the most powerful Dark Wizard, Lord Voldemort . He attempted to kill Harry too, but was unsuccessful and only left a lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry’s forehead. Voldemort’s body was destroyed, but his soul was not. Harry later learns that the reason why he survived was that his mother sacrificed herself for him, and her love was something that Voldemort could not destroy.
According to Rowling, fleshing out this back story was a matter of reverse planning: “The basic idea Harry … didn’t know he was a wizard … and so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn’t know what he was… That’s… When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry’s parents, and then he tried to kill Harryhe tried to curse him…. Harry has to find out, before we find out. And for some mysterious reason, the curse didn’t work on Harry. So he’s left with this lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead, and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard who has been in hiding ever since”.
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Platform 9 And The Hogwarts Express
This is where Hogwarts students catch their train up to Scotland at the beginning of the term and travel back down on when the school year is over.
It was actually on platforms 4 and 5 that scenes for the films were recorded but if you try hard enough, you can find the entrance to Platform 9 ¾if you know where to go!;
Also here you will find the grand Victorian St. Pancras Station just next door.
The outer facade of St. Pancras was used for filming Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry and Ron decide to travel to school in a flying Ford Anglia when Harry cannot get through the barriers to the Hogwarts Express.
Harry Potter: The Best Students At Hogwarts Ranked By Their Grades
As much as people bet that Hermione is the best Hogwarts student, you might be surprised how well some of the other Harry Potter characters performed.
Despite Harry’s extracurricular activities such as Quidditch, going to Hogsmeade, and repeatedly defeating the darkest wizard of all time, his primary focus is at Hogwarts. Hogwarts, like any other school, works to provide witches and wizards with viable assets that will help them in their career endeavors after their seventh and final school year. In order to determine their educational dexterity, they had to take tests known as the O.W.L.s in their fifth year and N.E.W.T.s in their seventh year.
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Ordinary Wizarding Level; examinations are standardized tests that determine if a student can go on taking specific courses their few next years. Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test;or N.E.W.T.s are major;determining factors in a witch or wizard obtaining their preferred line of work outside of Hogwarts. As much as people are willing to bet that Hermione is the best student, you might be surprised to see how well some of the others performed. Here are the best students at Hogwarts, ranked by their grades.
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What Did Harry Potter Learn At Hogwarts
So what did Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley actually learn at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? How good was their education?
Better than you might think.
Hogwarts offered them an education with creative depth and breadth, certainly compared to schools that have squeezed out a lot of science, history, art and other subjects to make way for test prep.
Here are the courses at Hogwarts, as listed on this Harry Potter wiki:
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Charms
Muggle Studies
Care of Magical Creatures
Apparition
Extracurricular subjects:
Ghoul Studies
If you are scoffing, dont. Theres more here than meets the eye.
Potions is an interesting way of teaching chemistry, Herbology is all about biology and Defense Against the Dark Arts is sort of like a fantasy criminology course.
The opportunities for experiential learning are legion, and we know from research that thats the way kids learn best, especially in science. Care of Magical Creatures for third-year students is a multi-disciplinary course .
The arts arent ignored at Hogwarts, and as for physical exercise, well, the kids get plenty of exercise simply by walking from class to class up and down the staircases in the enormous castle.
If Arithmancy seems like a silly fortune-telling class, remember that it involves complex numbers charts and was Hermiones favorite. Since Hermione is a brain, the course must have offered some real intellectual challenge.
Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test
- Main article:Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test
A Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test was a subject-specific exam that seventh year witches and wizards at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry took to help them pursue certain careers after their graduation. For instance, the Ministry of Magic only accepted Auror applicants with at least five N.E.W.T.s with top grades of either ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Exceeds Expectations’.
Not much was known about these exams. Some students did not take these exams at all, as some careers in the Wizarding World did not require N.E.W.T.s.
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Hermione Finished School Of Course:
Although Harry and Ron never returned to Hogwarts to finish their seventh year, Hermione put in the effort to get her N.E.W.T.s.
She would definitely, definitely go back, and she would want to graduate, Rowling explained during an interview with PotterCast. She went with Ron and Harry because she has a really good heart. Thats not about brain. Ultimately, she had a bigger heart than she had a brain, and thats saying something for Hermione. But was she naturally drawn to battle? No, she wasntShe would be glad to go back to school, be glad to get back to study, and then would join them at the Ministry.
How Old Were The Kids In Harry Potter
The then-11-year-old Radcliffe, 10-year-old Watson and 11-year-old Grint were in high spirits as they strolled into their first press conference. We saw so many enormously talented kids in the search for Harry, said director Christopher Columbus at the time.
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Does Higher Education Exist In Harry Potter
- 11Jan 9 ’12 at 20:29
- 2That was more a rhetorical/somewhat humorous answer. But I’d think if anyone went into higher magical education, it would be Dumbledore.Jan 9 ’12 at 20:37
- 8Jan 9 ’12 at 20:39
- 1What about research into new magic? Severus Snape apparently invented a new curse when he was a student at Hogwarts, so that shows that not all magic had been invented at the time of Godric Gryffindor.
There are no universities, but there is some evidence of “Trade Schools”, for lack a better term. The most mentioned of these is the extensive training that Aurors undergo in order to become Aurors. The training to become an Auror lasts for 3 years after normal education is complete. I believe it is reasonable to assume there are other specialty programs like that in existence.
No there are no Wizarding universities or post-Hogwarts higher eduction. SOURCE: Harry Potter Lexicon
- 3It’s the American wizardry school: The Salem Witches Institute. It’s referenced in Goblet of Fire in the chapter called Bagman and Crouch.Jan 10 ’12 at 0:54
- 6Feb 18 ’16 at 21:01
Percy goes straight from school to working at the Ministry. This suggests some sort of apprenticeship situation. His title in book 5 is ‘Junior Assistant to the Minister’ which he hopes will impress his father – instead his dad says Fudge is probably trying to use him to spy on the family , and this enrages Percy.
It Was Built In Scotland Away From Muggle Eyes
The tenth century was a dangerous time for witches and wizards, who were being persecuted by Muggles hostile to magic. Therefore, Hogwarts was built somewhere in the Scottish Highlands, and concealed with numerous charms and spells to make it impossible for Muggles to trespass. For instead of an enormous school, any passing Muggle would only see ruins and signs warning them of danger.
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But His Parents Never Recovered:
According to Rowling, Alice and Frank Longbottom were eventually moved to the incurable wing of St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to continue treatment for their torture-induced insanity.
I know people really wanted some hope for that, and I can quite see why because, in a way, what happens to Nevilles parents is even worse than what happened to Harrys parents,she said. The damage that is done, in some cases with very dark magic, is done permanently.
Kings Cross Station London
Maybe one of the most legendary Harry Potter locations, Kings Cross station also in London plays home to the iconic platform 9¾ where Harry nervously makes his way to The Hogwarts Express. Situated in the arched wall between platforms 9, 10 and 11, the disappearing trolley provides the perfect photo opp for all you Potter fans.
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Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
In the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling pits Harry against Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort’s “memory” within a secret diary which has possessed Ron’s younger sister Ginny. When Muggle-born students are suddenly being Petrified, many suspect that Harry may be behind the attacks, further alienating him from his peers. Furthermore, Harry begins to doubt his worthiness for House of Gryffindor, particularly considering he discovers he shares Lord Voldemort’s ability to communicate with snakes via Parseltongue. In the climax, Ginny disappears. To rescue her, Harry battles Riddle and the monster he controls that is hidden in the Chamber of Secrets. To defeat the monster, Harry summons the Sword of Godric Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat supplied by Dumbledore’s pet phoenix, Fawkes. In doing so, Dumbledore later restores Harry’s self-esteem by explaining that that feat is clear proof of his worthiness of his present house.