Looks like Harry’s shoplifting

Bad Harry! Tsk, tsk.

I bought this set, but I was always torn about it. On the one hand, it's a really nice parts pack, full of interesting little bits and bobs that you didn't find in many other sets (and were perfect, for inclusion in a dark magic store). On the other ... the set was indicative of all the design problems that the Harry Potter line had (and a lot of lines still have).

It isn't a good building, it's a wall and half a roof. That annoyed me, so much, as a kid. The most interesting part of the building is the turret, above the main shop, and even that's just a facade, there's no second floor (just an angled plate with no extra space at all).

I remember dismantling the flue-network chimney, and using those pieces to actually give the shop two walls and a decent ceiling (thus making it a lovely dark magic shop for my Lego city).

The first Harry Potter range was one of the most nostalgic. 4708 Hogwarts Express was one of my first and I was amazed on the box, that you could connect the sets to create the castle. The range conveyed mystery; through hidden details and passages; spookiness; through traps, skeletons, knights and cosiness through fireplaces, torches and locations.

An excitment of earlier LEGO sets was that they included exclusive and rare pieces. The Hand of Glory is exclusive and the brain in jar is very rare, appearing in one other; 1382 Scary Laboratory.

there's more to knockturn alley than just borgin and burke's you know!