The Houses of Harry Potter (You know I had to do a post on this!)

Last night was the opening of the much anticipated final movie of the Harry Potter series. I was there with the other die hard fans (although I wasn't in costume.)

Here are the three main characters of the series from one of the earlier movies. Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

In honor of all things Harry Potter, I thought it would be fun to have a look at the different residences in the series. Here is a top view of Hogwarts Castle, the school of witchcraft and wizardry. Boys and girls in the wizarding community live and study here to become witches and wizards. (This shot was from the 3rd movie, Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry, Hermione and Sirius are flying away from the tower on the back of Buckbeak.)

Another shot of Hogwarts Castle.

The orphan, Harry Potter was raised by his relatives, the Dursleys. They didn't want to know anything about the world of magic and tried very hard to live a normal life. I love how their house and car portrayed their desire to be the same as everyone else.

A portrait of the Dursleys from the 5th movie, The Order of the Phoenix. Uncle Vernon, Dudley and Aunt Petunia (Harry's mother's sister.)

The cottage where Harry lived with his parents, Lily and James Potter when he was a baby. (Before his parents were killed.)

Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley and his family lived in a ramshackle house known as the Burrow. (Even though this house played a part in every movie, I had difficulty finding good pictures of it.)

A young picture of Ron Weasley.

Hagrid, the groundskeeper (and later professor) lived in a hut on the Hogwarts' campus.

Hagrid, who was half giant, was a friend to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The home belonging to school friend Luna Lovegood was featured in the 7th movie.

A front view of the eclectic house with Luna's loony dad.

Luna Lovegood, resident free spirit.

An interior view of the Malfoy Manor. The Malfoys were a wealthy family with allegiance to the evil Lord Voldemort. Their home was like a dark and gloomy castle complete with dungeons.

The Malfoy family, Lucius, Draco (Harry's arch nemesis at Hogwarts), Narcissa and the wicked Bellatrix Lestrange (Narcissa's sister and one of my favorite characters.)

Harry, Ron and Hermione in the last movie all grown up.

I still think of them as first years on their way to Hogwarts and adventure.

(photo credits: flying castle-fanpop; burrow-muggle meets wizard; Ron-hyderhostselect; Dursley's house-wizardinglife; Dursleys-moviebuzz; hagrid hut-wesleykayharris;hagrid-markreadsharrypotter; Lovegood front-dailymail; Luna-harry potter fanzone; malfoy mansion-tumblr; all three-digital citizen; all else-wikia)