Every Harry Potter fan wants to go to a few specific (fictional) places. Hogwarts, obviously, is top of the list, but Hogsmeade isn’t far behind. This all-wizarding village first popped up with Harry and his classmates were given the opportunity for field trips to it on weekends - and when Harry, being The Chosen One, chose to ignore his lack of permission slip and sneak out through the secret tunnels to join his friends there.
Quickly, Hogsmeade became a vital part of the Golden Trio’s Hogwarts experience.. and somewhere that every fan dreamed of visiting. Getting a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, checking out the sweetshop and the joke shop, everything about it sounds amazing - but it doesn’t all make sense!
How Far Is It From Hogwarts?
The distance from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade seems to change depending on how far the story needs it to be, so fans are left wondering what the distance actually is… or maybe it actually does move, seeing as it’s magic? At times, it seems only a stone’s throw away - when the students walk there on days out, the existence of secret passages, the short passage from the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack, etc. Then at other times, it seems much further - First Years take boats from the train station to Hogwarts, while older students have to take carriages, and it seems that Harry never so much as spots it from the castle in his first year.
Does The Train Only Run For Students?
The Hogwarts Express would seem to run only for the students at the school, taking kids from London to Hogwarts and back at the start and end of the year and over holidays. However, this leaves quite a few questions - primarily, is there an entire train line and station that exists just for this purpose?
What if other witches or wizards wanted to go between Hogsmeade and London, would they be able to use a train, if they didn’t feel like flying/using floo powder/apparating? What about students who don’t live anywhere near London? Would young witches and wizards in, say, Leeds have to travel down to London in order to take the Hogwarts Express back up, or are there other trains too?
How Does Real Estate Work?
Hogsmeade has many stores, but it seems that there is no estate agent listed in any of Rowling’s descriptions - and it seems to remain a very small and quaint place, despite being (presumably) a desirable place to live. So how does it work if someone wants to move to Hogsmeade? Given the expandable tents and disappearing Grimmauld Place that exist in the series, do they just pack mansions into every tiny space? Is it protected real estate, only available through inheritance?
Who Built The Tunnels To Hogwarts?
We know that the tunnel between the Shrieking Shack and the Whomping Willow was intentionally constructed when Lupin came to Hogwarts, so that he would be able to deal with his werewolf ‘monthlies’ in safety. The Room of Requirement also managed to magic up another one to help Dumbledore’s Army. What about the other tunnels, though? Some of them end up in specific stores in Hogsmeade, but these stores were presumably built long after the castle, so how did these passages come to be?
How Did They Explain The Shrieking Shack?
Speaking of tunnels and the Shrieking Shack, how was this explained to the people living in the village? It makes sense that the building was used and described as haunted to keep people away (although, given the sheer number of ghosts who live in the castle, ‘haunting’ might not be much of an impediment to magical folks). However, it was actually built for Lupin to use - which means that the village somehow accepted that someone built a tumbledown shack. As a tumbledown shack. And that it became immediately haunted, without anyone having lived there. Perhaps the whole village was treated to a memory charm?
How Does The Grocery Store Work?
The stores in Hogsmeade are all geared to what students would want - a joke shop, a sweet shop, etc. There is mention made of a few others, like a robe store, or a music store, but there is only one grocery store (and it is barely mentioned). So where do the witches and wizards of Hogsmeade get their food?
For that matter, where does Hogwarts get their food? Food is something that Rowling claims is except from magical laws that allow for the creation of things, which means it has to be transported from somewhere - does this tiny greengrocer somehow supply an entire village and school?
How Does Hogwarts Work For Hogsmeade Students?
It’s a good thing that Harry and his friends all seem to live in and around London, but surely there are some young witches and wizards who live in Hogsmeade itself? If this is the case, how does school work for them? Would they still live in the dorms and houses with the other students, or would they live at home… and would they be limited in their field trips to Hogsmeade like the other students, even if they actually lived there? In the series, no mention is made of a student living here, but presumably at least some children do!
How Was It Affected By The Battle Of Hogwarts?
At the end of the Battle of Hogwarts, it would seem that Hogsmeade was near-decimated, so what happened to the village and the people who live there? Did they just quietly rebuild? Was anything destroyed? Given that fiendfyre burned out the Room of Requirement, did this go through the tunnel to the Hog’s Head and burn up part of the town?
Why Are There No Other All-Wizarding Settlements?
Hogsmeade is famous for being the only all-wizarding settlement in Britain, with others (like Godric’s Hollow) being combined with Muggle villages. However, this begs the questions of… why? Or, more accurately, why aren’t there others? Presumably at some points, witches and wizards would want to live in spaces where they don’t have to worry about Muggles seeing their magical activity, so why haven’t more sprung up - and why don’t places like Diagon Alley count? Perhaps becuase Diagon Alley is primarily for shops, but presumably, at least a few people live there.
Why Hasn’t It Expanded?
This may be the biggest question of all. Hogsmeade exists to be a quaint, lovely little village in the Harry Potter world, but in the real world, adorable little villages at useful locations tend to grow pretty quickly! Why hasn’t Hogsmeade become a sprawling wizarding city over the years? As already mentioned, it may have some kind of protected status, preventing most witches and wizards from adding to it, or perhaps there is some kind of extendable charm on every dwelling, but we’d still expect at least some growth!
