Let’s look one more time at the charts. Remember, the charts below show the frequency with which the names of four popular places are used across the Harry Potter book series. The places are: Diagon Alley, Grimmauld Place, Gringotts, and Hogwarts. So, can you match the places to the letters? Let’s see.

And the places are as follows:

• Diagon Alley – C
• Grimmauld Place – D
• Gringotts – A
• Hogwarts – B

It’s no surprise that Hogwarts (in black) features so heavily throughout the books. It also makes sense that Grimmauld Place is most frequently used in Order of the Phoenix. The place that most interests me based on the data is Gringotts. Its importance in the first book and last book is clear to me, but I’d love to reread the sections it appears in in the middle books where it always appears, but less prominently.

Does this suggest the author had plans for it in the Deathly Hallows? Did J.K. Rowling want to make sure that readers remained familiar with the bank that would play such an important role in the series’ conclusion?

Thank you, Data, for giving me an excuse to pull those books off my shelf. -TLL