Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Shrieking Shack
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Place | |
| The Shrieking Shack | |
|---|---|
| Location | Hogsmeade village |
| Permanent Residents | None |
| First Appearance | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
Contents |
[edit] General Overview
The Shrieking Shack is famed as the most haunted place in Britain. It is a small house, set well away from the rest of the village of Hogsmeade village, fenced off and with all its windows and doors boarded up.
[edit] Extended Description
The Shrieking Shack got its reputation some twenty or thirty years before our story begins, when loud howls and shrieks were heard from the building at odd times.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, we learn that the Shrieking Shack can be reached via a tunnel that starts at the roots of the Whomping Willow, an animate willow tree with a nasty temper. We also learn that the shrieks and howls were actually produced by Remus Lupin as a schoolboy; he is a Werewolf, and the tunnel had been created especially for him. Once in the Shrieking Shack and transformed, he could not escape, and so he was a danger to nobody except himself.
These revelations are made in one of the final chapters of the book, which actually take place largely in the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Hermione had gone down the tunnel to rescue Ron, who was in turn dragged down the tunnel by a large black dog. The dog turned out to be the Animagus form of Sirius Black, who was not after Ron, but instead was after Scabbers, Ron's pet rat. Scabbers turned out to be the Animagus form of Peter Pettigrew. They are later joined by Lupin, who reveals the reason the Whomping Willow was planted and the secret passage under it created.
The Shrieking Shack again makes an appearance in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, where Lord Voldemort makes it his headquarters for the first assault on Hogwarts. At that time, we see that Voldemort has uncovered one of the windows to allow him to watch the battle. He is apparently unaware of the existence of the secret passage to the Hogwarts grounds, and it is through this passage that Harry, Ron, and Hermione are able to approach him closely enough that they are able to witness the death of Snape.
[edit] Analysis
We can assume that, as Tom Riddle was long gone from Hogwarts when Lupin arrived, the Shrieking Shack holds no fears for Voldemort, and probably seemed only a conveniently located, abandoned building that he could use as an observation post. Additionally, he would be unaware of the tunnel that was created for Lupin. Almost certainly, Voldemort has simply unsealed a door as well as the window, and entered the Shack through a normal doorway. It is certain that Voldemort would not enter the school grounds to reach the Whomping Willow, only to leave them again via the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack.
