Mental Floss

Bring Some Magic to Your Next Zoom Meeting With These Harry Potter Backgrounds

Video-chatting is a little like chatting by Floo Powder (minus all the soot).
Video-chatting is a little like chatting by Floo Powder (minus all the soot). | Christian Wagner, Unsplash

While Harry Potter definitely never jumped on a Zoom call with his classmates, video-chatting technology does have some similarities to communicating via Floo Powder, portrait-hopping, or Sirius Black’s mysterious mirrors. To make your next Zoom meeting feel a little more magical, why not switch your background to one of your favorite Wizarding World locales?

As Screen Rant reports, some particularly kindhearted Twitter users have offered up their own personal photos of Harry Potter film sets as potential backgrounds for fellow fans. “Socially distant dave” (@ddryan), for example, shared snapshots taken during a Warner Bros. studio tour in London; there’s an image of Dumbledore’s eccentric office with the Sorting Hat perched on its usual shelf, a view of Diagon Alley that features Ollivanders, Flourish & Blotts, the eye-catching Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, and more.

There are also plenty of photos people have taken at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter or other Harry Potter-themed locations and posted them to image-sharing sites like Unsplash and Flickr, and many of them are available to use if you credit the owner. From the Weasleys’s cozy Burrow to the (possibly even cozier) Gryffindor common room, below are several of our favorites.

And for directions on how to change your Zoom background—plus some other pop culture images to use—head here.

1. The Burrow

Yes, the jumper is knitting itself.
Yes, the jumper is knitting itself. | Tony Hisgett, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

When your Zoom call is over, you can help the Weasleys de-gnome the garden before dinner.

2. The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom

There's a grindylow in a tank just out of frame.
There's a grindylow in a tank just out of frame. | Norm Lanier, Flickr // CC BY-NC 2.0

Professor Lupin is off hunting for a Boggart to use for Dementor practice later this evening, and he’s given you permission to use his empty classroom to video-chat with your classmates in the meantime.

3. Honeydukes

Steer clear of the Cockroach Clusters.
Steer clear of the Cockroach Clusters. | Kevin, Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Stock up on Sugar Quills, Fizzing Whizzbees, and a nice big bar of Honeydukes’s classic chocolate before your late morning meeting, in case it cuts into your lunch hour.

4. Platform 9 ¾

Best do it at a bit of a run, if you're nervous.
Best do it at a bit of a run, if you're nervous. | Sarah Ehlers, Unsplash

You can squeeze in a quick Zoom touch-base with your team before you head through the barrier, but don’t lose track of the time—the Hogwarts Express departs precisely at 11:00 a.m., and it waits for no one.

5. The Gryffindor common room

Drop a Dungbomb if you need to clear the common room for a private video-chat.
Drop a Dungbomb if you need to clear the common room for a private video-chat. | Orangeaurochs, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Afternoon all booked up with back-to-back video calls? Nab an armchair by the fire—they’re extra squashy.

6. Hogwarts Castle

Bright sky, but not too sunny—perfect Quidditch conditions.
Bright sky, but not too sunny—perfect Quidditch conditions. | Christian Wagner, Unsplash

This sweeping view of the beautiful Hogwarts castle just might convince you to start re-reading the entire Harry Potter series as soon as your last Zoom call of the week is over.

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