Shrieking Shack

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.

Creation
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


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

1998
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. The death of Severus Snape occurred in this building. 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.

Description
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.

Behind the scenes

 * 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".

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
 * Harry Potter LEGO Sets
 * Pottermore