Knockturn Alley
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| Harry Potter locale | |
 Rubeus Hagrid in Knockturn Alley as depicted in the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
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| Knockturn Alley | |
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| Location | London, near Diagon Alley |
| Affiliation | The Dark Arts |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
Knockturn Alley, a pun on nocturnally, is a fictional location in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of novels. Leading off of the more savoury Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley is a dark and seedy alleyway in London to which muggles have no access, and which is frequented largely by Dark Wizards. Many of the shops in Knockturn Alley are devoted to the Dark Arts; the most notable is Borgin & Burkes, which sells sinister and dangerous objects.
Despite its reputation, Hagrid visits Knockturn Alley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in search of Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent and other items which he presumably requires for the care and feeding of the exotic and dangerous creatures to which he tends to become attached.
Harry, while travelling via Floo powder to Diagon Alley, accidentally landed in Knockturn Alley, where he eavesdropped on a conversation between Lucius Malfoy, his son, Draco, and Mr Borgin. Harry was discovered by an old witch (or possibly a hag) who clearly wanted to take advantage of him being lost and vulnerable, but he was rescued by Hagrid.
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[edit] Shops in Knockturn Alley
[edit] Borgin and Burkes
- Founder: Mr Borgin and Caractacus Burke
- Known employees: Tom Marvolo Riddle (former)
- Sells: Dark items such as blood-stained cards, masks, human bones, spiked instruments, a Hand of Glory, a hangman's rope, and a cursed opal necklaceCS Ch.4
- Address: 13B Knockturn Alley, London (As listed on Rowling's official site)
- Known customers: Merope Gaunt, Hepzibah Smith, Lucius MalfoyCS Ch.4, and Draco Malfoy.
Borgin and Burkes is a shop on Knockturn Alley, widely reputed to have a collection of Dark magic items, poisons, and the like on sale.
Borgin and Burkes is first seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco pay a visit. Mr Borgin is given a list of poisons that Malfoy wishes to sell. Borgin and Burkes is later visited by Draco Malfoy in Half-Blood Prince, where he asks how to mend a Vanishing Cabinet and to keep an item in his shop (either the second Cabinet or the opal necklace).
It is revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that when Merope Gaunt was pregnant with her son Tom Riddle (later Lord Voldemort), she went to Borgin and Burkes to sell a locket, a family heirloom that originated with Salazar Slytherin, as she was desperately in need of money. Mr Caractacus Burke, knowing how valuable the item was, bought it for a mere 10 Galleons, which the poor woman willingly took.
Borgin and Burkes is also revealed to be the place where Tom Riddle worked after leaving Hogwarts. Riddle was employed to seek out and purchase rare antiques, heirlooms, and obviously Dark items; his legendary charm aided him in this pursuit. His employment ended when he abruptly disappeared around the time that the witch, Hepzibah Smith, was found murdered and two ancient heirlooms stolen.
Borgin and Burkes has held many dangerous items. Notable items include the Hand of Glory, a withered human hand holding a candle that will give light only to the bearer. The shop also contains a Vanishing Cabinet connected to its twin in Hogwarts and a silver and opal necklace which causes death to anyone who touches it. Other items which have unknown uses include many rusty, spiked instruments, masks, a blood-stained pack of cards and a staring glass eye.
As there is no apostrophe in the word "Burkes", the shop was clearly founded by one Borgin and two or more Burkes (the Black family tree shows that Belvina Black and Herbert Burke had two sons and one daughter). It is unknown whether or not either Burke is still alive, as only the elderly Mr Borgin has been seen running the shop in the era in which the books take place.
[edit] Other unnamed shops
In Chamber of Secrets there are other shops mentioned selling shrunken heads, live gigantic black spiders, and poisonous candles. Street vendors include an old witch with a tray full of whole human fingernails. When Harry runs into Hagrid in the Alley, Hagrid mentions he is going to a store which sells Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent, as the slugs were ruining the school's cabbages.
[edit] References
- [HP2] Rowling, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747538492/US ISBN 0439064864.
- [HP6] Rowling, J. K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747581088/US ISBN 0439784549.
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| Towns | Godric's Hollow · Hogsmeade · Little Hangleton · Little Whinging |
| Schools | Hogwarts · Durmstrang · Beauxbatons |
| Homes | Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place · The Riddle House |
| Streets | Diagon Alley · Knockturn Alley · Spinner's End |
| Other | Azkaban · Hall of Prophecies · Hog's Head · Ministry of Magic · Shrieking Shack · St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries · Weasley's Wizard Wheezes · Wizarding world |
