Harry Potter Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Harry Potter Wiki

"It's meant to be the most haunted building in Britain."
Hermione Granger discussing the Shrieking Shack[src]

The Shrieking Shack is an abandoned house in Hogsmeade. For many years, villagers thought it was haunted because they often heard screams coming from inside, and Albus Dumbledore encouraged the rumour, as he was the one who commissioned it, due to Remus Lupin's Lycanthropy.

According to Nearly Headless Nick, not even the Hogwarts ghosts will enter it. The Shrieking Shack's entrance from the Hogwarts Grounds is the base of the Whomping Willow. The trick is to poke the knot in the trunk, which paralyses the tree. The secret passageway can be seen on the Marauder's Map.

History

Creation

"This house, the tunnel that leads to it-they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous."
— Lupin reveals the Shack's history[src]
The Shrieking Shack (Concept Artwork for the HP3 movie 01)

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley visiting the Shack

In reality, the Shrieking Shack was only used so that Remus Lupin would have a place for his monthly transformations into a werewolf in secret and in safety, during the time he was a student attending Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey used to escort Lupin into The Shrieking Shack before his transformation. The yells and shouts heard by the villagers were really Lupin biting and scratching himself due to lack of humans to infect.

The "shack" actually has no working doors or windows that allow entry or exit of the premises. The entrance is through a tunnel under the Whomping Willow on Hogwarts's school grounds. This allowed Remus Lupin (and James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black) to pass between the two locations unnoticed (as Animagi or Werewolf).

One year Sirius thought it would be funny to lure his arch-nemesis Severus Snape to the Shack where Lupin was due for his monthly transformation, in order to eliminate Snape from spying on them. James saved Severus in time, but not before Snape witnessed what Lupin was, though he was forbidden from telling anyone else.

1994-1998

Shakesiriusharrylupinronhermionewormtail

The trio, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack

In 1994, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were led into the shack when Sirius Black, as a dog, dragged Ron off into the underground passage, located underneath the Whomping Willow. While inside the shack Harry then found out who had really betrayed his parents and Scabbers' true identity was revealed. During the confrontation, Remus Lupin and Severus Snape also entered the shack. Remus entered to assist his friend in exposing the true betrayer, and Snape attempted to capture Sirius.

Pottermore Snape's Death

Voldemort orders Nagini to Kill Snape within the Shack during the Battle of Hogwarts

The Shrieking Shack was later used by Lord Voldemort and several of his Death Eaters in 1998 as a hideout during the Battle of Hogwarts. Severus Snape was killed by Nagini in this very building, while Harry, Hermione and Ron watched helplessly from their hiding spot. It is unknown whether they knew that if they went down the stairs and through a passage they would be in the Castle Grounds next to the Whomping Willow. It is also unknown if it was disassembled, but it is likely the house remained on Hogwarts grounds.

Description

"It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up."
— A description of the Shack[src]
B3C17M2

The interior of the Shrieking Shack

The Shrieking Shack was an abandoned house, with the windows and doors boarded up. The rooms and halls were all dirty, covered with dust, and the furniture was moth-eaten and broken. There was a chair in the foyer of the Shack that had one of its legs ripped off.

In the foyer, a staircase leads to the second floor. In one of the rooms, there is a magnificent but dusty four-poster bed with rickety doors, and in the film adaptations, the walls are shown to slowly move. This room is also where Peter Pettigrew was caught.

Behind the scenes

ShriekingShack WB F3 ConceptIllustrationOfShriekinfShack Illus 080615 Port

Concept art of the shack on Pottermore

Normal poapic200

The interior of the Shrieking Shack in the movies

Lego Shreiking Shack

The Shrieking Shack in LEGO

  • Severus Snape had a terrible history with the Shack. In 1975, Sirius Black told Severus that if he went under the Whomping Willow, he would find out what was wrong with Remus; this would have lead to his death, as Remus was in werewolf form. On 6 June, 1994, Severus was disarmed, and knocked unconscious. On 2 May, 1998, Severus was ultimately killed in the Shrieking Shack by Nagini under Voldemort's orders.
  • In the film adaptation Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Snape instead dies in the Boathouse.
  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the walls of the Shack are shown to slowly move.
  • The Shrieking Shack is shown more as a large two-story house rather than a shack in the film adaptations.
  • The second moment of Chapter Fourteen on Pottermore, in which the Shack first appears, is titled "The Shrieking Shack".
  • Given a werewolf's superhuman strength when transformed, Dumbledore likely enchanted the shack's structure to be abnormally durable and possibly added enchantments to make it impossible for Lupin to exit during his transformations.

Appearances

See also

Hogsmeade
Hogsmeade WW logo
Scotland, Great Britain
Founder: Hengist of Woodcroft
Shops and other businesses
Baby Witch · Batworthy Junk · Bewildering Blooms · Bingle & Blatch · Brews and Stews Café · Brood and Peck · Ceridwen's Cauldrons · Dervish and Banges · Dogweed and Deathcap · Dominic Maestro's Music Shop · Fickle Fabrics · Flutes and Lutes · Gladrags Wizardwear · The Haunted Hogsmeade Shop · Hayden family shop · Hog's Head Inn · Hogsmeade Post Office · Honeydukes · J. Pippin's Potions · Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop · Madam Snelling's Tress Emporium · The Magic Neep · McBloom & McMuck · McHavelock's Wizarding Headgear · The Old Fool · Ollivanders · Pedrus Pridgeon · Pets & Familiars · Renka Rabblehauser's shop · Rosa Lee Teabag · Scribbulus Writing Implements · Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop · Spintwitches Sporting Needs · Steepley and Sons · Three Broomsticks Inn · Tomes and Scrolls · Vladimir Plot Plumbing Supplies · Wizarding hairdressing salon · Zonko's Joke Shop
Other locations
Cave near Hogsmeade · Elphinstone Urquart and Minerva McGonagall's Hogsmeade cottage · High Street · Hogsmeade Graveyard · Hogsmeade Station · Merge Publications · Office 323 · River by Hogsmeade · Rivers Edge · Road to Hogsmeade · Road to Hogwarts · Shrieking Shack · Silvanus Kettleburn's house · Spire Alley · Wizarding Wireless Network Headquarters
Known residents and shop employees
Alice · Garnuff · Gwendoline Babcocke · Gwendoline Babcocke's mother · Archibald Bennett · Bilton Bilmes · Thomas Brown · Otto Dibble · Aberforth Dumbledore · Andre Egwu · Employee of the Hogsmeade Post Office · Fastidio · Mopsy Fleabert · Ambrosius Flume · Mrs Flume · Greebly · Beatrice Green · Corey Hayden's parents · Augustus Hill · Hogsmeade street sweeper · Hogsmeade town crier · Horace · Hrithvi · Betty Huxley · Richard Jackdaw · Silvanus Kettleburn · Lucy Lanyon · Dominic Maestro · Soleil le Marveillus · Cassandra Mason · Cassandra Mason's tenants · Minerva McGonagall · McHavelock · Agnes Nutt · Penny (house-elf) · Agabus Philbert · Dulcibella Philbert · Gabbey · J. Pippin · Parry Pippin · Vladimir Plot · Puddifoot · Renka Rabblehauser · Olivia Redding · Patrick Redding · Rosmerta · Sirona Ryan · Scrivenshaft · Calliope Snelling · Perdita Strix · Timothy Teasdale · Yubert Thorne · Thaddeus Travers · Jasper Trout · Unidentified 19th-century Hogwarts student · Unidentified Ollivander's assistant · Unidentified shop assistant · Elphinstone Urquart · Waiter at the Three Broomsticks · Ethel Wigley · Albie Weekes · Wally Wimbles · Zonko · Zonko's shopkeeper
PA C10 This article about a location is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
Advertisement