You think the mall or the playground is fun? Well, believe me --- wizards and witches hang out in all sorts of cool places that we bet you’d give anything to visit. Read about a few of them below, and check out another “Harry Potter places” post, soon!
Hogsmeade Village: Third year Hogwarts students are allowed to visit the all-wizarding town of Hogsmeade on the weekends. Nestled right near Hogwarts and home to the Hogwarts Express train station, Hogsmeade is a great place to shop, eat and just walk around. Some of the shops in Hogsmeade include Honeydukes, the sweet shop; Zonko’s Joke Shop, and Dervish and Banges, which sells and repairs magical instruments. The Three Broomsticks is the place to grab a mug of butterbeer, and if you’re in the mood for a scare, check out the Shrieking Shack.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Hogwarts is the British wizarding boarding school that Harry Potter and his friends attend. Founded around 990 A.D. by Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin, Hogwarts is one of the best magical institutions in the world. The Hogwarts Castle is located somewhere in Scotland and is accessible by the Hogwarts Express. Students take a variety of classes to help prepare them for the wizarding world, including Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology. Hogwarts divides its students via sorting hat into four houses --- Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin --- each founded by an original founder of Hogwarts. Students attend Hogwarts for seven years and can strive to become prefects and Head Boys and Girls.
Gringotts Bank: Wizards need a place to put their money too, right? When they want to save up their galleons, sickles and knuts they take them to the goblins at Gringotts bank. Located in Diagon Alley, Gringotts has vaults deep underground to store the money and valuables of all the wizarding families. To get to your vault, a goblin has to take you on a little cart that twists and turns on a track through the underground vaults, just like a rollercoaster. Hagrid takes Harry to Gringotts in his first year to collect money from his parents’ vault and gets rather sick along the way.
