When I heard that Department 56, purveyors of my beloved Dickens Village, were introducing new Harry Potter Village pieces this year, I totally lost my shit. Not only am I a HUGE Harry Potter fan, but the style of the Harry Potter pieces is very in keeping with my preferred Village, i.e. Dickens Village. It's like I've been PLANNING THIS FROM THE START.
Usually I give Katr (and her alter ego, Master Potts) free reign on building choices and I remain in blissful ignorance and enjoy being surprised, but once Department 56 made their Harry Potter announcement, I knew we would have to coordinate.
There are only three building options for the Harry Potter village this year: Hogwarts Castle (waaaay too big), Hagrid's hut (too hutlike, plus Katr doesn't dig on Hagrid for various reasons) and the PERFECT building for a Village nerd trying to recreate Diagon Alley: OLIVANDERS WAND SHOP. And on Friday, I GOT IT OMG. I plugged it in and LUMOS!
Ooo, let's see it from another angle!
Aaaaaaah. The little wand boxes in the window! The little sign with the wand and the O! Love.
Now, Ollivander's is not the only Harry Potter item in Diagon Alley. Katr also made sure that I had a few accessories to really give it an authentic feel. The only problem with the Harry Potter village accessories is that I can't make up dirty stories about the characters because they're just kids and I never got into Harry Potter slash fic. But the lady in the background with the birds is definitely sleeping with Tom, who runs the Leaky Cauldron. The birds like to watch.
Here, Dumbledore cautions Harry about excessive manspreading when he's doing spells.
Nearby, Hermione and Ron practise their spells on Scabbers, who looks like he's been gored pretty bad. Episkey!
As I said, the Harry Potter style is very similar to the Dickens Village style, so when it came to choosing the other two buildings for my Diagon Alley vignette, I had a few options.
PLUS, in a couple of other prescient moves, my friend Chpl sent me the Lily Bros. Gazing Balls shop for my birthday a few years back - an obvious hang-out for Professor Trelawney.
And last year, for some completely unfathomable and therefore delightful reason, my friend Jech included a dragon in my box of Christmas goodies. HOW DID THEY KNOW
I like the idea that the dragon has just escaped from Gringotts and is hitting up the crystal ball shop to decide what to do next.
The final building in Diagon Alley - for NOW - is Fagin's Hideaway. Katr got Fagin's Hideaway real cheap along with some other lovely building several years ago now and because it has a bit of a rough and tumble vibe, I've never really found a place for it in my village. But this year, I thought that Fagin is probably the Muggle most likely to have his spot staked out in Knockturn Alley.
Out in front of Fagin's is a kid selling the Daily Prophet to some dude who is clearly a total douche. I mean, just look at this kid's face.
On the other side of Fagin's is the chestnut seller, but because this is Diagon Alley, probably the chestnuts have fangs.
And here, finally, is Rosewood Cross in all of its two-shelf glory!
I'm so happy.
