Wizarding World

Hogsmeade

Hogsmeade is the only village in Britain inhabited exclusively by wizards and witches. Hengist of Woodcraft built the village a thousand years ago in the shadow of a large, rocky mountain to hide from the Muggles who had persecuted him. The village consists of a High Street lined with thatched-roofed shops, surrounded by streets of cottages that become further apart away from the main village. As the only non-Muggle community in Britain [POA5], Hogsmeade has played a pivotal role in wizarding history in the country. It attracts all sorts of magical beings like ogres and hags, who wouldn't blend in well in Muggle areas. Goblins plotted a rebellion in one of its inns in 1612, and many other fateful meetings took place in the village during Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts. Hogsmeade is not far from the school (about a thirty minutes' walk, or twice as much if the journey is made through one secret passages connecting it to the school). Hogwarts students in their third year or above can visit the village four times a year, one Saturday in each season.

Diagon Alley

Diagon Alley is a twisted cobbled street located at (or at least accessed on foot from) the centre of London, which acts as the main shopping centre of wizarding Britain. When shopping for those particularly tricky items (such as a Lunascope or a Nimbus 2000), Diagon Alley is the only place to go. While a number of wizard-related items can be bought from other places, such as Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley seems to be an important location for the wizarding populace of Britain. And, as Hogsmeade is the only purely magical village in the whole of Britain, it is unclear whether magical shops can be found anywhere else.For the majority of the wizards of the world, the location of Diagon Alley is irrelevant as most reach it either by Apparating or by using the Floo Network, both of which provide a means of nearly instantaneous travel. For those witches and wizards who wish to walk, or who are unable to reach Diagon Alley by magical means, the entrance can be found via a tiny, grubby-looking pub on the Charing Cross Road called The Leaky Cauldron.

Knockturn Alley

Knockturn Alley is a dingy street that runs off Diagon Alley and is home to an altogether less salubrious class of wizarding shops and a horrible reputation. Only one Knockturn Alley shop - Borgin and Burkes - is specifically identified, but there are a number of others, selling shrunken heads, giant spiders, poisonous candles, Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent and a vast array of other Dark Arts materials. The fact that items like these are openly on sale in a place accessible by any witch or wizard is a plain indication that ownership and trading of such things is legal, even if it is not respectable, per say. It's unclear, however, where the law stands on use of the Dark Items in question.

The Ministry of Magic

The Ministry of Magic is located somewhere just below the surface of downtown London. To get to the Ministry, you must head for an old, shabby telephone booth down in a small graffiti-filled alleyway. Once you get inside, pick up the receiver, hold it above your head, and dial 6 - 2 - 4 - 4 - 2 (which happens to spell out the word "MAGIC"). The voice of the receptionist fills the air. She first tells you to state your name and business. When you have been approved, you get a small silver badge that lists your name and business as stated. You are then told, if you are a visitor, to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is at the far end of the Atrium. Then the telephone booth begins to descend like an elevator, finally arriving in a magnificent mahogany-panelled entrance hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor. Welcome to the Ministry of Magic

Platform Nine and Three Quarters

The Hogwarts Express, the only train that takes students to Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry, departs at 11am on September 1st; the day before Hogwarts students begin their school year. Students board this train from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross Station, London