A FANGIRL GOES TO THE HARRY POTTER STUDIOS: Part The Beginning Of The End

The Hogwarts Express has long since left for the year, but I'm here with the very end of this trio of literary tourism posts! 

The amazing Knight bus! From the hall to the Express and to the backlot. After riding the double-decker buses in London and being thrilled with simply being on the second story, I would be so thrilled on the third story of this thing... 

So this is the Dursley house with all these letters. Of course they weren't suspended by wires when they were filmed; it's just for display. There's something haunting in a really cool way about that display. 

Dementor and inferi CGI and model stuff! Can you imagine wearing that Inferi backpack? 

The HP artists are amazing... look at this full model of a merperson's head.

It's the breathing model of Voldemort and as creepy as anything it moves. 

Tarantara, it's Diagon Alley! 

I always rather thought this shop was underrated? In the original Pottermore, you could buy phials and things from it that served no real purpose, although clearly they would have been needed for potions? Pity.

The books are so pretty I want to go insiiiide!

The "architect of Hogwarts" surrounded by the four animals mascots of the Houses. Completely a movie invention; there is no "architect" character in the books. Part of me is a little bit bitter; if Rowena Ravenclaw made the extremely important moving staircases and her House is responsible for one of the four towers, why is the eagle facing the wall?

This is entire rooms full of concept art: sketches, colored pictures, paper models. This is a house-elf suit of armor. How cool is that? There were so many sketches on the walls, it was hard to see them all. 

Here's the iconic (movie-iconic) bridge model!

And then. It hits you. It's dark, and there is clearly one thing in the center. It's Hogwarts. It's Hogwarts, and it's huge. It's magic. 

What I would give for a wand so I could apparate back there and see it all again. 

But it never truly ends. We are Book Eight. 

Happy reading!

~Citali

A Long-Winded Love Letter to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

So.

I read it.

The "it" I'm referring to is, of course, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the script of a recent play in London. It's Rowling-approved and officially canon, and ever since it came out it's been a source of extreme controversy within the fandom.

I, myself, quite liked it.

This is actually the second post on this blog about The Cursed Child. Citali wrote one already (go read it! It's far more eloquent than I could ever be), but I actually disagree with her opinions somewhat, so here I am. This post's probably going to be less coherent and more rambly, so you've been warned.

The book's in script format, so it's like (as quoted from one of my friends) reading Harry Potter on fast-forward. That, and the fact that the plot wasn't quite as stellar as we've come to expect from Rowling, explain why it's gotten less-than-great reviews from those who've read it.

However.

The Cursed Child is so, so important in that it acknowledges the characters' flaws and traumas. Lily and James and Rose are exactly what their parents wanted, perfect friendly happy Gryffindor children, not a care in the world, their parents' perfect legacy, but Albus? Oh, Albus. Albus Severus Potter: Slytherin, friendless, tormented, lonely. Albus, who so desperately wants to be more than just Harry Potter's loser son, Albus whose only friend is the son of Draco Malfoy, Albus who doesn't understand his father, whose father doesn't understand him, who isn't sure what to do about it and--

this is important, here. Not everyone is Harry Potter, who came to school and built a Golden Trio. Not everyone is Harry Potter, who stepped into the Wizarding World and became the youngest Seeker in a hundred years. Not everyone is Harry Potter, the golden child, the hero, the star, the Boy Who Lived.

This book, I think, focuses so much on stepping out of legacies and shadows. It takes Albus and Scorpius (and even Rose, to some extent) and says, firmly, "No. We are not our parents." Who would've thought, nine years ago, that there would be a tolerant Malfoy and a prejudiced Weasley?

I like this book because it forces you to confront the fact that its characters are imperfect, are scarred. That Harry Potter (the Chosen One, the one who killed the Dark Lord) is afraid of the dark. That Dumbledore made a hideous mistake in choosing to keep Harry with an abusive family (and wasn't reading that incredibly cathartic?). That Amos Diggory, all these years later, is still aching because his son was written off as merely "the spare." Rose Granger-Weasley, daughter of a Mudblood and a blood traitor, turns her nose up at Albus because he's friends with a Malfoy.

(I'm not saying The Cursed Child is perfect. It isn't, especially plotwise. I'm just saying that it's worth reading, because it delves into what Rowling didn't. )

Another thing. As we well know, Harry Potter suffers from a lack of diversity, both racially and otherwise. The Cursed Child (the play, I mean) cast Black actresses to play both Hermione and Rose Granger-Weasley. (!!!!! I know, right? So great.) In addition, although it's been confirmed that the late, the great Albus Dumbledore was in fact gay, he's the only canonically LGBTQ+ character in the Wizarding World thus far. Dare we hope Cursed Child is taking the first steps to change that? Nothing is stated explicitly, but. Reading the book, Scorpius's and Albus's interactions feel very much like the first steps towards romance. I'm gonna be honest with you: I ship it.

(Didn't I tell you it was going to be rambly? Hopefully it made sense.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Anyway. If any of you have read it, feel free to tell us what you thought of it!
Happy reading, as always.
~Willow

A FANGIRL GOES TO THE HARRY POTTER STUDIOS: Part Pictoral

Happy summer-is-ending, void-that-is-the-Internets-and-readers-or-dearth-thereof!
Maybe I should just introduce every post like that from now on.

Let's go ♫ sailing off to London ♫ again now, back to the wonderful Harry Potter studios in Leavesden!

**Book, tour, and movie spoilers ahead. Protego!**

The tour, you could say, has three parts (though wouldn't it be *metaphorically significant* if there were seven?): two soundstages and the back lot in between. The first soundstage focuses on sets and props, from the tiny (Harry's cupboard) to the huge (the Great Hall). The backlot is outdoors; the displays there are the outdoor props like the beloved Knight Bus. Finally, the second soundstage features the art and special effects, from the beautiful concept artists' images and models to the creepy masks or suits of special-effect characters like Aragog or Griphook.

Greetings from the Ford Anglia and huge pictures of the major actors! That's Alan Rickman and Tom Felton (Draco's face hidden by Ford Anglia). I think I just let the fangirling fill me up here, and I just stood around with my mouth open. It's already on a grand scale, and there are only a few set pieces out in the lobby.

The first (and smallest) set is right off the lobby; it's Harry's cupboard. It was amazing to see this right off the bat; it's icon and simple and a little bit heartbreaking. Again, it was only the beginning.

Possibly the most of me you'll ever see in a photo, this is my hand as we were standing in line. Buzzing with fangirling excitement, it was the most cheerful line we saw in England, and probably the most cheerful line in the world. We were all very excited, and I just love the Potterhead fandom.  C'mere, you guys. I had a blue pen with me, and I was seriously considering writing "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" or "#RavenclawPride" or "Ravenclaw is blue and bronze" on my hand. I didn't, though, partially because there were simply just too many slogans I wanted. 

There are just no words. No words. No words for the sheer reality and magic and size and scale of the Great Hall. There's a reason it's the first thing on the tour past the doors. Every visitor to the studios must say it, but this place just wows you. It's the best feeling in the world, that mixture of shock and awe and excitement and it's happening, it's happening, I'm here. Of course, this isn't the only place you can feel that, but it was truly magical. It stayed with me the whole time. 

It's the teachers. It's the sorting hat. It's the House mascot lamps. It's uniforms from every house, from first year all the way up to seventh. It's the Hogwartsians amongst us.

We reluctantly moved out of the Great Hall, because there was so much more to explore! The Yule ball outfits were stunning (ha, ha, Ron) from his disastrous dress robes to Cho Chang's beautiful dress (Cho is one of my favorites. Again, Ravenclaw pride!)

Then we moved on to costumes and wigs. This head with two Uncle Vernon mustaches pinned onto it was immensely entertaining to my strange sense of humor. That's a greenscreen glove for Dumbledore's dead hand underneath it, by the way.

More wigs! The long blonde one on the stand is Luna Lovegood's, another of my favorites. Quirky Ravenclaws for the win, of course! Her hair is beautiful, as is everyone's.

There are tables of wigs, there are shelves with more, there are racks of fancy clothes, there are matching shoes that I've never noticed watching the movies. And this can only be a fragment of the movie magic. Isn't that amazing?

It's a tiny rendition of Lupin's classroom! And the only lesson he cinematically taught! Merlin, I love that teacher... and Snape in Neville's grandmother's clothes. I mean... who doesn't?

When you see the Gryffindor boy's dormitory, you're standing a little bit under the roof of it. You look up at the timbers Daniel Radcliffe and Devon Murray and Alfie Enoch and Matthew Lewis and Rupert Grint looked up at, the timbers Harry and Seamus and Dean and Neville and Ron looked up at. It really is cozy.

What can I possibly say about the wands? They're all there. It's amazing. You can see which characters' wands really match them: Dumbledore's elder wand, Bellatrix's claw, Voldemort's terrifying bony thing. Other wands are plainer, like Ginny's which is the second from the right here. I rather wish hers had shown a bit more of her personality, but it's beautiful all the same.

It's the Gryff common room, with the Prisoner of Azkaban costumes! This place is the coziest thing possible, with so much detail, from the paintings on the walls to the door to the stairs up to the Gryff boys' dorm.

Lupin. Tonks. Sirius. I love how they're stood so that it looks a bit like an Olympic gold, silver, and bronze pedestal. This is only partly because it means Tonks is gold, Lupin silver, and Sirius bronze. Although I love them all; this isn't quite my ranking order, either. It would probably be Lupin, then Tonks, then Sirius in my book, but Lupin and Tonks are close in rank.

Beloved Alan Rickman, and less-beloved Snape. The potions classroom is scarily detailed.

It's Dumbledore's office! Look at all those Headmasters. Dumbledore's the washed-out figure in the bottom right.

This is a cage with all the Goblet of Fire props. Look. At. That. It's insane.

The beautiful and iconic, if nonliterary, clock from Prisoner of Azkaban. It's huge.

A big look at a ton of large practical props, with the greenscreen area in the background. I love the Ravenclaw moving staircases. 

The beloved Weasley Burrow. There are things here that actually move (mechanically), it's amazing.

It's the Hogwarts Express! Look at this scarlet glory. It's beautiful. I wish I were on there come this September first.

Everything from the Yule ball costumes up to this point were in this big main hall. Before I went aboard the Express, though, I just had to stop and take one picture looking back.

Hogwarts trolleys, each belonging to a different student distinctively. This is Luna's of course. Check out that aqua footlocker! 

In a cabin at the end of the express. All was well. (Don't talk to me about Cursed Child!)

This gave me so many feels... it's his broken glasses. From fifteen years ago, can you believe?

I promised myself I'd only make very important images very large; I'm getting carried away. But just you look at all these paper goods! I want those textbooks...and all that is just beautiful.

What wouldn't I give to visit a bookstore with a shelf like that? 

I'll end this post here. Don't worry, I'll pop you all off to the rest of the tour (we'll go to all destinations, just nothing underwater, haha) later! 

A big thanks again to people who put up with long-winded and philosophical or pictoral posts. Especially to those people who put up with posts who are also the people who took me on this trip! And especially to Lauchlan for the travel blog format. Thanks for understanding.

Happy imagining!

~Citali