======Utility Room======
=====Location Information=====
  * **Type:** Room
  * **Location:** First floor, [[Hogwarts Castle]], [[Scotland]]
  * **Owner/Residents:** [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]]
  * **Key Features:** Formerly contained a [[Vanishing Cabinet]]
=====Description and History=====
The Utility Room is an otherwise unremarkable room located on the first floor of [[Hogwarts Castle]]. Its primary and sole significance in the narrative is that it housed a specific [[Vanishing Cabinet]], a large, black-and-gold piece of furniture that formed a pair with another identical cabinet located in [[Borgin and Burkes]] shop in [[Knockturn Alley]].
This particular [[Vanishing Cabinet]] had a troubled history. In [[Harry Potter]]'s second year, it was broken by the poltergeist [[Peeves]], who dropped it from a height above [[Argus Filch]]'s office on [[Nearly Headless Nick]]'s persuasion to create a diversion. By Harry's fifth year, the broken cabinet was situated in this first-floor Utility Room.
=====Role in the Story=====
The Utility Room is the setting for a key event that sets up a major plot point in the series. During the 1995-1996 school year, [[Fred Weasley]] and [[George Weasley]] shoved [[Graham Montague]], a [[Slytherin]] [[Quidditch]] player, into the [[Vanishing Cabinet]] located inside this room. [[Montague]] became trapped in limbo, flickering between [[Hogwarts]] and [[Borgin and Burkes]], before managing to [[Apparate]] out.
This incident, intended as a simple prank, proved crucial. When [[Draco Malfoy]] heard of [[Montague]]'s experience, he realised that the [[Vanishing Cabinet]] provided a secret passage into [[Hogwarts]] that bypassed the school's extensive protective [[enchantments]]. In the following school year, [[Draco]] moved the cabinet from the Utility Room to the [[Room of Requirement]], where he could work on repairing it in secret. His successful repair of the cabinet allowed a group of [[Death Eater]]s to enter the castle, culminating in the [[Battle of the Astronomy Tower]] and the death of [[Albus Dumbledore]]. The Utility Room, therefore, served as the location where the cabinet's potential was first revealed, directly leading to one of the darkest events in [[Hogwarts]] history.
=====Behind the Scenes=====
In the film adaptation of //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince//, the narrative is simplified. The [[Vanishing Cabinet]] is depicted as being stored within the [[Room of Requirement]] from the outset, where [[Draco Malfoy]] both discovers and repairs it. The separate Utility Room on the first floor and its role in the [[Montague]] incident are not featured. (film)