King’s Cross Railway station – Station to Hogwarts
Although through the wall of Leaky Cauldron’s Harry Potter first witnessed the magic world at Diagon Alley, Harry didn’t encounter actual magic nor was he self-conscious of himself as a wizard.
However, Harry Potter witnesses and becomes self-conscious as a wizard after his journey to Hogwarts by the Hogwarts Express from King’s Cross Railway Station. King’s Cross Railway Station was the portal from the muggle world to the magic world for Harry, so King’s Cross Railway Station meant a lot to him.
King's Cross railway station is an actual railway station, and an important hub of transportation located in Borough of Camden in the center of London.
King’s Cross railway station is the intersection point of the underground King’s Cross St Pancras tube station and St Pancras International which offers access to the Eurostar services that links London with all over Europe through the Channel Tunnel beneath the Strait of Dover.
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters
There are 10 platforms at King’s Cross Station. Platform Nine and three-Quarters (Platform 9¾) was a hidden platform where wizard could access the Hogwarts Express that would directly lead to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
While the novel series described Platform nine and three-quarters as a metal barrier, the cinematic series describes it as a bricked pillar.
There was a guard who will manage muggle incidents if muggles accidentally witness wizard and witches entering Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
There were also a handful of disguised employees from the Ministry of Magic to resolve incidents such as muggles obtaining lost magical objects, magical creatures causing a fuzz or other accidents that involve magic due to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.
Hogwarts Express - Only transportation allowed for students to Hogwarts
Hogwarts Express was the train that shipped students from London to Hogwarts. The model of Hogwarts Express is 4-6-0 Hall Class steam locomotive model number GWR 4900. The model of Hogwarts Express was first manufactured in 1928 by GWR Swindon Works.
On every 1st September every year at eleven o’clock exactly, the Hogwarts express departs to Hogwarts from Platform Nine and three-quarters of the King’s Cross Railway Station.
The Hogwarts Express’s destination was Hogsmeade Station where Hogsmeade was a small village occupied by witches and wizards nearby Hogwarts.
The Hogwarts Express would make journey about six times a year back and forth from Hogsmeade and King’s Cross Station.
School calendar of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
The Hogwarts Express takes six journeys a year. This includes the one-way departure during the start of the semester, the round-trip during the Christmas-New Year holiday break, round-trip during the Easter holiday break, and the one-way departure at the end of the semester.
September
September 1st – Hogwarts Express departs from King’s Cross London to Hogsmeade Station. On the afternoon, the Welcoming Feast and the Sorting ceremony of first year(freshman) starts
September 1st week~2nd week – Tryouts for the Quidditch teams normally take place
October - Passes for Hogsmeade visits are checked.
Once students from Hogwarts reach a certain age, under permission of their guardians, they could visit Hogsmeade. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry also celebrates the Halloween feast in October.
November – Start of Quidditch season
November is the start of Quidditch season. There aren’t many actual Quidditch games held during the whole year during the season.
Each house would only play one game with each house so each house would have a total of three games thus there were only six games throughout the whole year.
December – Christmas and New-Year Holidays
Except for students who remain at Hogwarts, students take about a two-week long break which included Christmas and the first day of the New Year.
On special occasions such as the Tri-wizard Tournament, the traditional Yule Ball is held on the exact day of Christmas that celebrates the triumph of each school’s champion participating the Tri-wizard Tournament.
January & February
Hogwarts Express takes off from King’s Cross station to Hogwarts and school resumes in January. In February, Quidditch season resumes.
March & April & May
Easter Holidays would start and the Hogwarts express would ship students to London and back from their brief Easter-break.
The final Quidditch match is on May and the winner of the Inter-House Quidditch Cup of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is determined. The winning house is determined by the total number of points accumulated rather than the number of victories.
June
1st week of June – N.E.W.T and O.W.L
The N.E.W.T and O.W.L exams were test conducted by the Wizarding Examinations Authority that students of mid-senior or those who were about to graduate needed to take. O.W.L would determine whether students have the knowledge and ability to advanced courses while N.E.W.T was more of a test that could determine one’s career.
Year-end exams – June
The year-end exams were also held in June. Students needed to pass their exam to advance to their next year. After the year-end exams, there was a week or two that students didn’t have classes and students would return to their home and semester would start again on the 1st of September.
Why did students of Hogwarts take the Hogwarts Express instead of using magic
There were many alternative methods to transport such as taking broom sticks, using portkeys, or floo powder. However, it was difficult for hundreds of students to travel without muggles witnessing them from using magic.
Also, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was heavily protected from protection charms and spells but establishment of floo powder networks or permitting individual transport would have severely compromised the security of the school.
Thus, the Ministry of Magic built the Hogwarts Express and demanded that all students take the Hogwarts Express only to enter Hogwarts school so all muggle sightings could be minimized and controlled with minimum effort at one location while maintain the integrity of security of Hogwarts as well.
History of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters & Hogwarts Express
When each individual student had to travel back and forth to Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic was concerned as the number of muggle sightings have increased.
Especially after the decree of the International Statute of wizarding Secrecy by the International Confederation of Wizards, the Ministry of Magic had to figure out a way to reduce muggle sightings while not compromising the security of Hogwarts.
In 1830, the Ministry of Magic was inspired by the steam engine train manufactured by muggles and decided to build the Hogwarts Express and railway station as a resolution of transporting students to Hogwarts secretly and safe.
It was the best method to transport a mass of wizards and witches while minimizing muggle witnesses.
The construction of the Hogwarts Express and the railway as well as Hogsmeade railway station included on 167 memory charms and concealment charms and spells.
Many families especially from the pure-blood families revolted using muggle technology but the Ministry of Magic authorized that all students of Hogwarts must take the Hogwarts Express and there would be no quarters to students or families that refuse. This was the start of Hogwarts Express’s journeys to Hogwarts.
Chocolate Frog Card
The Chocolate Frog Card included a magic chocolate frog and a collectable series of famous witches and wizards. There were many collectors of the tradable Famous Witches and Wizards Cards.
Only wizards and witches with great achievements were able to make the list of the Famous Witches and Wizards Cards.
There were other species such as vampires and goblins on the Chocolate Frog Card as well as information of fantastic beasts(magical creatures).
Although Lord Voldemort wasn’t listed on the Chocolate Frog Card, there were dark wizards such as Herpo the Foul that were listed on the Chocolate Frog card. Rumors say that white chocolate flavored frogs also existed.
"Considered by many to be the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of Dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling."
— Albus Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card –
Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans
One of the most famous treats of the Harry Potter universe was the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. would have ordinary flavors that muggles could have encountered but it also included unusual flavors such as bogeys, earwax, vomit, rotten egg, earthworm, liver, etc. The price of a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans was six sickles.
Parallel Life of characters of Harry Potter – First encounter on Hogwarts Express
First encounters of characters on Hogwarts Express were meaningful for all characters in Harry Potter. Harry Potter first met Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger like many other characters, their first encounter on Hogwarts express triggered the wild but heartwarming adventures of the trio.
