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"Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. [...] As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows."
— Description of Hut-on-the-Rock[src]

The Hut-on-the-Rock[2] (or Shack-on-the-Rock)[3] was the name Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry gave to the hut that Vernon Dursley somehow managed to rent, in an attempt to move out of the reach of the letters Hogwarts was sending to Harry Potter, Vernon's nephew by marriage.[1]

Description[]

B1C4M2 Harry's birthday cake from Hagrid

The hut's interior

The hut smelled strongly of seaweed, had only two rooms, a damp and empty fireplace, and was perched upon a rock way out to sea. The hut had only two pieces of furniture: a moth-eaten sofa and a lumpy bed. It was a rather rickety wooden structure which had filthy windows, and wind blew through the many cracks in the walls.[1]

History[]

Hut-on-the-Rock (Concept Artwork)

Harry and the Dursleys heading towards the Hut-on-the-Rock

On 30 July 1991, Vernon Dursley had hoped that being on a rock out to sea, in the middle of a storm, would be enough to prevent the letters — which were inviting Harry to attend Hogwarts — from reaching his family. Out of a mistaken belief that wizards could not cross water, Vernon chose to resort to isolating Harry via the island, taking an old rowboat to get there. Vernon and Petunia Dursley despised magic and did not want their nephew, who was the orphaned son of a wizard and witch, to enter the wizarding world and thus increase their exposure to it.[1]

B1C4M1 Hagrid at the Hut-on-the-Rock

Hagrid entering the hut

In spite of all their efforts, however, Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts groundskeeper, was able to reach the hut by flight. He forced his way inside, dealt with Vernon's gun and gave Harry his acceptance letter. While there, he gave Dudley Dursley a pig's tail in response to Vernon insulting Albus Dumbledore, whom Hagrid respected and admired greatly. It was on this occasion that Harry first learned he was a wizard, the truth about his parents' deaths, and of the existence of Lord Voldemort.[4]

Harry and Hagrid then, in the morning, escaped the hut using the same vessel that Harry and the Dursleys had used to reach it, leaving the Dursleys to return to the mainland by other means.[4]

Appearances[]

Wiki
The Harry Potter Wiki has 13 images related to Hut-on-the-Rock.

Notes and references[]

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