Embedded Files
It's every Harry Potter fan's DREAM to be in the studio where all the magic happened. Ten years, eight movies, endless wonder—mainly from Leavesden Studios, about an hour away from the dorms at Marylebone.
Hayley and I had given up on going, because all the tickets were booked through the end of September by the time we checked, but one of the girls in the social program agreed to sell us two tickets she didn't need. (Huge thank you to Alexandra!) Hayley gave her ticket to our friend Jennie, and we headed to Leavesden for a 4:30 tour. We anticipated a three hour stay, but we ended up staying until 9:30, just 30 minutes before the studios closed!
This, along with Tower of London, was my absolute favorite part of the trip so far! It was (to be cliché) magical. All of the original sets are intact, and many behind the scenes exhibits are set up (including hair and makeup, costume design, etc.).
This is the bus that took us from the train station to the studios. On the ride, we got to watch an interview with the man who plays Professor Flitwick and Griphook the goblin.
On the left is one of my favorite characters, Nymphadora Tonks (but don't call her Nymphadora). See, I say she's my favorite, but I also say Hermione, Remus Lupin, McGonagall, and Sirius Black are my favorites too. It's the gift and curse of Harry Potter—the characters are so great that no one can decide on just one favorite!
These are replicas of the choir in the Hogwarts Great Hall (based on the dining hall at Christ's Church, Oxford), complete with singing frogs. The child actors couldn't manipulate the frogs and sing, so they had adults kneel between the rows of kids to manipulate the frog puppets.
Here are recreations from the Prisoner of Azkaban era of Argus Filch, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin.
This is the Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory, where Harry and Ron shared a room with Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, and Dean Thomas.
The beds in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory were built for 11 year old boys, so by later films, the actors had to curl up to fit.
The walls of the dorm were removable so camera crews could take wide shots.
The prop team made over 3000 wands, including 1000 wands for the Battle of Hogwarts alone. Each one was given a number and handed to an actor, and at the end of the day, the actor returned the wand. They never lost any of them. Rumor has it that Daniel Radcliffe ruined 80 of them from wearing them down by using them as drumsticks. The important wands were intricate, made of wood and resin.
This is the Gryffindor common room.
Here's a panoramic view of the Gryffindor Common Room.
The painting on the right of the spiral staircase is of a young Minerva McGonagall, based on images of her actress, Dame Maggie Smith, when she was younger.
Jennie and I looked in the Mirror of Erised, which is supposed to show "the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts," but it turns out, it's just a mirror.
A recreation of Dumbledore and his phoenix, Fawkes, in his office. The commitment to realism was so intense that Fawkes was built with tear ducts so they didn't have to create CGI tears!
The Triwizard Cup, from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
All of these paintings (in total, there's 200) were ordered early on in filming and were created by classically trained artists. They were then aged a few hundred years by the production team.
Did the painters copy a portrait of Mary Shelley? What do you think?
The Potions classroom, instructed by Professor Severus Snape.
Many animal actors played roles in Harry Potter, and the cast was encouraged to bond with their on-screen pets!
The chairs and tables in Hagrid's Hut were made in huge sizes to make the actors look small. On the bottom left is Fang, Hagrid's dog.
Racing brooms!
Quidditch gear.
Ravenclaw's newest Keeper!
They made two different versions of Sirius's motorbike—a little one that Hagrid sat on to make him look big and a full-sized one that Harry sat in.
If this was a real dragon, you wouldn't catch me within ten feet of it, but this recreation of Norbert was harmless enough!
The Burrow, home to everyone's favorite wizarding family, the Weasleys!
In this scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One, Snape arrives at a meeting between Voldemort and his ranks of Death Eaters in Malfoy Manor. Behind Snape, you can see Muggle Studies Professor Charity Burbage suspended "with magic" above the table, where she is tortured by Death Eaters before being given to Voldemort's snake Nagini as dinner.
Recreations of Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy.
Would I ever want to work at the Ministry of Magic? No amount of gold in the world could make me say yes.
But would I want to work at Hogwarts? Most definitely!
In case the information in the diagram below is hard to read, this set shows how as Umbridge gained more power, her clothing got more pink, as did the pink accents in the clothes of her colleagues. I'd never realized that!
Personally, I think Umbridge is a worse villain than Voldemort, but that's a controversial opinion...
Hagrid!
The Forbidden Forest.
Me with Buckbeak the hippogriff, who escaped execution along with Sirius thanks to Hermione's Time-Turner in book 3.
I'd never want to get this close to Aragog if he was actually real!
I'm always running late, even to Hogwarts!
This is the original Hogwarts Express that appeared in all the films.
All aboard the Hogwarts Express!
This is a showcase of some of the thousands of printed props made for the Harry Potter films.
This is a model of the Burrow.
Behind this tiny door is the cupboard under the stairs, where poor Harry was forced to sleep for the first 11 years of his life.
In this temporary exhibit, fans can harvest screaming Mandrakes from Professor Sprout's greenhouse!
On the set home to the Dursleys, Harry's horrible Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, a flood of magical letters for Harry gush in from Movie 1 as Aunt Marge blows up from Movie 3!
What do you do if you're running late for Hogwarts? Why, you take your father's illegal flying car, of course!
And then, you crash into the Whomping Willow.
All aboard the Knight Bus, bound for all destinations (even underwater ones)!
If only all buses were as comfortable as the Knight Bus!
The interior of Gringotts, the magical bank. This inspired a setting for my book!
This is Harry's invisibility cloak, used by Harry and the goblin Griphook in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two when Hermione, Ron, and Harry broke into Gringotts.
“What do you mean, the exchange rate is that high?”
Thousands of gold and silver pieces were made as props for the scene in the Lestrange vault in the last movie.
In a recreation of the vault scene, here I'm trying to retrieve Helga Hufflepuff's Cup from the Lestrange vault at Gringotts.
As the sign to the left explains, to destroy a set, you can't simply destroy the original. Instead, filmmakers have to build and demolish a new one. This is Gringotts after it was destroyed.
Some shopping in Diagon Alley!
As an author, I'd be spending a lot of money on quills, ink, and parchment here if I lived in the magical world!
This is Ollivander's Wand Shop, which has been making wands since 382 B.C.!
To film the outside of Hogwarts, they used the model in the background.
My favorite school in the world? This one!
The wand chooses the wizard, and this one called to me, although it already had an owner! Each of the thousands of wands in this room are labeled with the names of every single person who ever worked on a Harry Potter set.
It wouldn't be the world of Harry Potter without some Butterbeer!
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