This June, a new wave of Harry Potter sets was released. The star of this lineup is 76435 Hogwarts Castle Great Hall. The best feature of this set is that its size is perfect for minifigures. On the outside, it looks like a display piece, and at the same time, there is a great deal of space inside to make realistic scenes with the characters featured. There is one funny paradox with this set, though: the smallest part of the “Great Hall” is the hall itself!

Just like when we explored the micro-scale Hogwarts Castle, we’re going to visit this new version of the Great Hall that I prepared for this festive post and decorated for celebrations and events from the Harry Potter movies and books.

Halloween at Hogwarts

One of the most impressive and mysterious celebrations has come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is lit by thousands of pumpkin lanterns that float in midair over four long tables. Harry and his friends are helping themselves to the multiple sweets of the haunted holiday and pumpkin juice!

Harry has never imagined such a strange and splendid place as the Great Hall of Hogwarts! The most magical feature of the hall is the enchanted ceiling, that is bewitched to look like the sky beyond the castle. It’s hard to believe there’s a ceiling there at all and that the Great Hall isn’t simply open to the heavens. The stars are covered by clouds, and Harry can hear the howling of the autumn wind outside.

Professor Quirrell will have topped everyone at Hogwarts when it comes to celebrating Halloween by leading a giant troll into the dungeons. Quirrell has a special way with trolls, and this big, clever-looking guy, I’m sure, is pleasant in conversation.

What an amazing new Troll! He looks even bigger and stronger than his cinematic counterpart!

The professor runs into the hall at the speed of a windstorm, making the candlelight in the pumpkins flicker. “Troll in the dungeons!!! Thought you ought to know...”

Halloween Decorations

Hogwarts’s magical Halloween inspired me to create a miniature festive menu for the whole school! The staff and students enjoy the sugary and baked icons of the holiday: spiders, skeletons, ghosts’ heads and multicolored candy towers. All of these fun treats are shown in the movie, along with marshmallows, bats in the apples, donuts, and chocolate coins on the tables.

And here’s the main item from Hogwarts kitchen: hog head jug toppers that I sculpted especially for the feast! These hog heads can attach to any LEGO piece, so the characters can get pumpkin juice like in the movies.

Christmas Vacation

The most magical time of the year is coming: Christmas! A light snow falls from the enchanted ceiling, and Professor Flitwick is busy with setting up the decorations. The biggest tree in the hall glitters with golden baubles and candles. The roaring fire keeps the students warm against the cold weather outside.

Harry and the Weasley brothers stayed at school for the holiday. Harry has never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner! Fat roast turkeys, buttered peas, mountains of roast, boiled potatoes, and flaming Christmas puddings. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a coin embedded in his slice of pudding.

One of Ron’s favorite festive activities is wizard chess! I sculpted the set of miniature figures for Harry and Ron. Wizard chess is exactly like Muggle chess, except that the figures are alive, which makes it a lot like directing troops in battle. Harry isn’t a very good player yet, and the figures keep shouting different bits of advice at him: “Don’t send me there, can’t you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him.”

Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell take a break to play wizard chess, too. Quirrell is losing intentionally and overwhelming Snape with compliments about his skills.

"If I draw Harry’s attention to Snape’s talent, he’ll never think I won against the giant wizard chess figures who are guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone!” Quirrell thinks to himself.

Harry and his friends are having so much fun with the special wizard crackers! Harry pulls a cracker that goes off with a blast like a cannon, and from inside comes a wizard’s hat and a live white mouse.

Besides the chess set and the wizard crackers, I created a cake with two snowmen having a snowball fight. The snowmen represent two friends from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Houses. This cake is shown briefly in the second movie.

The Triwizard Tournament

Many holidays were celebrated during Harry’s time at Hogwarts. But, during his fourth year, a very special event is hosted at the school…

Students from two other Wizarding schools - Beauxbatons and Durmstrang - have come to compete for the Triwizard Cup in one of the most spectacular events of the magical world: The Triwizard Tournament. This competition will test their magical prowess, courage, powers of deduction, and ability to face certain dangers.

The Durmstrang ship from set 76440 is a masterpiece in shipbuilding! The set is stunning with its intricate details and accurate design to film, all with a realistic scale. It captures the presence that the ship commands in the movie.

The old castle welcomes the guests warmly in the Great Hall with flying candles and a rich plethora of culinary delights! Professor Dumbledore presents the Triwizard Cup to the students: “Eternal glory, that is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do this, that student must survive three extremely dangerous tasks!”

Outside, the cold rainfall hides a dim figure of a man who is drawing close to the castle. Mad-Eye Moody has managed to penetrate the school guarding Harry. This man will unknowingly be the most difficult part of the Triwizard Tournament!

Mad-Eye is going to celebrate with his own treat: a polyjuice potion that will let him hide his true identity. After the festive dinner, Professor Moody broke into Snape’s office and stole some ingredients from his private stores.

There are many details in the Potions Classroom in set 76431. The blackboard and the ingredients on the table have a connection, and the new boiling potions look amazing!

A Feast and the House Cup Hourglasses

Like in the movie, my Triwizard Tournament dinner is marked with magic foods of all shapes and flavors. There’s even a surprise that I added to one of the treats. The menu for the guests includes giant ice cream towers, vanilla cakes, sweet rolls, and a family of chocolate hares!

And surprise! The sugar mice even glow in the dark!

You can also see a well-known item found in the Great Hall: the House Point Hourglasses, which record the merits earned by the students. As you can see, I filled them with rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds… and kept some intrigue as to who is in the lead. Who will win the House Cup? Gryffindor or Slytherin?

Thanks to the scale of the new line of sets, Hogwarts Castle can serve both as a play set and a sophisticated diorama for minifigures. But you can always add a little extra magic through the nano-sculptures. I hope you enjoyed celebrating the holidays at Hogwarts as much as I did!

DISCLAIMER: These sets were provided to BrickNerd by LEGO. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

What do you think of the new Harry Potter sets for this year? Do you decorate your Hogwarts Castle for the seasons or special events? Let us know in the comments below!

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