Knockturn Alley

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Knockturn Alley
Harry Potter locale
Rubeus Hagrid in Knockturn Alley as depicted in the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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 where no respectable witch or wizard ought to be found either. All of the shops and stores in Knockturn Alley are devoted to the Dark Arts; the largest and most disreputable 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.

1 Shops in Knockturn Alley

[edit] Shops in Knockturn Alley

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[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 necklace^{CS Ch.4}
Address: 13B Knockturn Alley, London (As listed on Rowling's official site)
Known customers: Merope Gaunt, Hepzibah Smith, Lucius Malfoy^{CS 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 asked 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 Riddle 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 quit around the time that the witch, Hepzibah Smith, was found murdered and two ancient heirlooms stolen.

Borgin and Burkes has held many items of ill repute. 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 stores 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. And somewhere in the alley, according to Hagrid, someone sells Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent.