The cupboard under the stairs, where it all began.
I find it difficult to express how much Harry Potter means to me; in fact I'm fairly certain I tried to do so in a college application essay back in the day. From midnight book release parties and movie screenings to book club meetings and subscribing to Mugglecast, Harry Potter pretty much was my childhood. Other books came and went but JK Rowling's series was the only one that remained a constant, something that I would easily go back and read to this day; sort of like the literary equivalent to the 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, there's just a timeless quality to it that I never tire of.
Since I had already been to London once prior to this weekend, and had thus covered all the main attractions, the recent opening of Warner Brothers' studios to the public was the primary reason I was willing to go again despite a depressingly low exchange rate.
It goes without saying that the books are better than the films, but as a fan who grew up half-wishing (or maybe more than half?) she would someday receive a letter by owl telling her she was not just an ordinary girl, the films - and their preserved sets - are the closest one can get to what is, unfortunately, just a fantasy.
I had already seen many of the costumes and props from the films at the traveling exhibit when it came to my hometown a few years ago (humblebrag: the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor), but walking through the Great Hall and Dumbledore's office was really something else. The studio tour also provides behind-the-scenes looks at the various departments that contributed to the making of the films, including hair, makeup, digital effects, and set design, making you appreciate the sheer magnitude of the task of adapting the book series.
But just think, in another ten years they'll probably re-make all of them.
See the rest of the photos on Flickr.