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A trip to the WB Potter Museum
By Heidi Tandy/TLC

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to visit the Warner Bros. Studio Museum, where a number of props from Philosopher's Stone are on display. The public (at least, those over 8 years old) are able to visit the Museum as part of the WB Studio VIP Tour (click the link and select "VIP TOUR" in the left menu bar). The Museum is a treasure trove of movie memorabilia, but, naturally, I was there for the Potter Props.

When you walk in right in the entrance behind the guard's desk is the painting of The Fat Lady from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. The rest of the first floor is filled with interesting, but non-HP, props like Sam's piano from Casablanca, John Wayne's coffee mugs and some wonderful costumes from a dozen films.When you turn to go up the stairs, off to the right, you pass Ron's knight from the chess scene.

Then, you ascend the stairs and if you're with a three year old he might get slightly freaked out by the Gringotts Goblin sitting behind his bank desk, quill in hand, as you round the corner and reach the top. If nobody in your party wants to run back downstairs upon seeing the goblin, you'll be able to wander this floor as long as you want. And here are some of the things you might see:

First you're greeted by Hagrid with baby Harry - a *green eyed* baby harry - in a sling - and Sirius' bike off to the side. It's an aqua Triumph with a worn leather seat and they have a glass underneath to catch oil.

Off to the left is the letter from Dumbledore addressed to Mr and Mrs V. Dursley. I tried to read it through the envelope but it was a challenge. I couldn't tell any of the contents, except that it was signed by Dumbledore, and the ink seemed to be green. To the right is the fireplace from the Dursleys', with hundreds of letters flying out of it.

Harry's cupboard set shows a foam mattress with brown quilt on wooden crates. The things on the shelves are a piece of wood that resembles a wand but isn't, four soldiers including one on a horse and a red post office savings bank book.

Among the other newspaper headlines are "World Quidditch Cup Stolen", "New Breed of Dragon Discovered in Kent", "Ministry of Magic Reshuffle", and "Owl Union Threatens Strike". There were also stories that didn't have headlines - one included the lines from the book about the break-in at Gringotts, and the other is about a few wizards being hit by helicopters and modern planes. The articles repeat all over the page.

The original design of the Ravenclaw tower at the Quidditch pitch has it in black and white instead of the house colours, and it was, the description said, used for the staff towers.

Next to the Quidditch pitch towers is one of the most amazing things in the room - the drawing by JKR of the "Dark Forrest". It's on the left wall. Since I wasn't able to bring in a camera, I can't replicate it perfectly here, but these were the notes I took:

Front gates to hogsmeade have winged boars on either side and Hagrid's cabin is nearby to the right. The pitch is to the left - close proximity for Dementors. The lake is on the far side, beyond the castle, and the station is to the right of the wall and there is a road beyond the lake.
In the scene on the boats, there was to be dialogue!
Harry said: Who do you suppose lives there?
Ron: You do, Harry. We all do. Don't you know? That's Hogwarts. That's home!
Hermione: Oh. It's brilliant, isn't it?
And harry replies: Brilliant.
Of course, in the actual film, Harry and Ron were in one boat, while Hermione was in another, with Susan.

The sketches of the characters in the storyboard for this scene were clearly done before the casting was completed.

The Hogwarts seal is on the Quaffle and the Snitch looks like it has stag's horns on it. I don' t know if that means anything, in terms of canon, though.

You can take a peek at Harry's letter - it's a standard form letter with Professor McGonagall's name signed on the bottom and "Mr Potter" inserted on the salutations line.

Towards the middle of the room, one of the security guards will settle you onto a three legged stool so you can be sorted. With the real hat. Unsurprisingly, I was sorted into Hufflepuff - don't let the ickle ones who still believe in magic know this, but there's a recorded voice of the guy who does the voice of the Sorting Hat that tells you where you've been sorted.

On the candy cart we have:

Explosive fairy dust
Powdered porcupine
Pumpkin shaped lollies that look like marzipan
Liquorice wands
Pickled pythons in gherkin flavour
Slug pellets
Red pepper imps
Toothflossing *snakes* - empty jar (not sure if this was a mistake and they're supposed to be the Toothflossing Stringmints mentioned in PoA)
All flavour dead - no more explanation of what this means
Slug pellets
Dragon claws
Spooky spiders
Mouse trap candy - green mice in traps
Bug biscuits
speckled egg candy
Cauldron cakes
Dragon droppings - look like eggs
Zebra hoofs
And children's teeth
Next to the candy cart is a stack of wands and the sign from Ollivander's. The wands have strange symbols but some have real numbers like 2913 2918 6023, etc.

Elsewhere in the room you can see the costumes that the trio wore in the scenes at the climax of PS/SS, Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch costumes - one of each - plus a broomstick, and a Snitch, flying just below the ceiling to the right of the box of Quidditch balls. They've also displayed the models of Fluffy and the Troll, and the Troll's club is hanging on the ceiling. I would not want to stand under it during an earthquake to determine whether it's plaster or wood!

All in all, if you have a chance to go on a WB Studio Tour while in Los Angeles, it's something we highly recommend. Of course, in the next few months, they're going to transition from props from PS/SS to things from Chamber of Secrets, but they're not on display yet. We'll let you know when they are. Thanks to everyone who made our tour possible, from the wonderful security guards to those who invited us to visit the lot. It was terrific - an altogether unforgettable experience!