Hog's Head Inn

• Type: Inn, Pub
• Location: Hogsmeade, Scotland
• Owner/Residents: Aberforth Dumbledore (Owner/Bartender)
• Key Features: Notorious for its grimy interior, a clientele seeking anonymity, and a strong smell of goats. The inn features a secret passage to Hogwarts Castle concealed behind a portrait of Ariana Dumbledore.

The Hog's Head Inn is one of the two pubs located in the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade. In stark contrast to the clean and welcoming Three Broomsticks, the Hog's Head is a small, dark, and exceptionally dirty establishment. The main barroom is a single cramped space with a grimy wooden floor and windows so caked with dirt that they admit very little daylight. The pub is known for attracting a “dodgier-looking crowd,” often consisting of wizards and other magical beings wishing to conduct business discreetly, with many patrons concealing their faces under hoods or veils. The inn's sign depicts the severed head of a wild boar, leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. The bartender and owner is Aberforth Dumbledore, the younger brother of Albus Dumbledore. He is a tall, stringy, and grumpy old wizard with piercing blue eyes, who maintains the pub's disreputable atmosphere and is known to be intolerant of trouble. Historically, the Hog's Head was the site of at least two pivotal events. It was in an upstairs room of the inn that Albus Dumbledore interviewed Sybill Trelawney for the position of Divination professor, during which she made the prophecy concerning Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. The first part of this prophecy was overheard by Severus Snape, who was then ejected from the premises by Aberforth. Years earlier, Rubeus Hagrid won a dragon egg from a disguised Professor Quirrell during a game of cards at the pub.

The Hog's Head Inn serves as a key location at several critical moments in the series.

• In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, it is where Rubeus Hagrid is illegally given a Norwegian Ridgeback egg (Norbert) by a hooded figure, later revealed to be Professor Quirrell acting on behalf of Lord Voldemort. This event provides Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger with a crucial clue about the Philosopher's Stone.
• In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hermione Granger chooses the Hog's Head for the initial, secret meeting of students who wish to learn practical defensive magic from Harry. The inn's seedy reputation provides the necessary privacy for the group that would become Dumbledore's Army. The meeting is secretly observed by Mundungus Fletcher and reported to Dolores Umbridge by Willy Widdershins.
• In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter learns from Albus Dumbledore that the Hog's Head was the setting for Sybill Trelawney's prophecy, confirming its importance in the events that shaped Harry's life and the first Wizarding War.
• In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the pub's role is most significant. Aberforth Dumbledore uses it as a safe house to help the trio escape from Death Eaters in Hogsmeade. He reveals a secret passage behind the portrait of his sister, Ariana Dumbledore, which leads directly into the Room of Requirement. This passage becomes the main supply line and evacuation route for Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix during the Battle of Hogwarts, making the inn an essential headquarters for the resistance against Voldemort.

• Main Barroom: The single, squalid public room where patrons gather and are served drinks.
• Upstairs Private Room: A room located above the bar. It was here that Sybill Trelawney was interviewed and where the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army was held.
• Secret Passage to Hogwarts: A hidden tunnel, accessible only through the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore, that connects the Hog's Head directly to the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts Castle. It is the only unmonitored passage into Hogwarts by the final book.

• The name “Hog's Head” may be a play on “hogshead,” a historical unit of measurement for a large cask used for alcoholic beverages, particularly beer and wine.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the bartender is not explicitly identified as Aberforth Dumbledore. However, in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the character is played by Ciarán Hinds and is central to the plot, confirming his identity.
• The pub's sign in the films is depicted as a magically animated, realistic boar's head that occasionally snorts (film).