• Event As Voldemort and Harry duel in front of the Death Eaters, the twin phoenix feather cores of their wands create a “Reverse Spell Effect” known as Priori Incantatem, and shades of Voldemort’s previous victims come out of his yew wand and protect Harry, including… Read More
• Event In disguise, Harry and Hermione visit Godric’s Hollow on Christmas Eve. First they see a statue of baby Harry with his parents (disguised to Muggles as a war memorial) and visit James’ and Lily’s graves, where they also see the Deathly Hallows symbol on Ignotus Peverell’s grave and the graves of… Read More
• Event The toy broomstick is a gift from Sirius. Lily Potter wrote a letter to Sirius, in part to thank him for the present: Dear Padfoot, Thank you, thank you, for Harry’s birthday present! It was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick,… Read More
• Source Harry and Albus Dumbledore enter the sea cave where Lord Voldemort has hidden a Horcrux. After swimming to the entrance, Dumbledore splatters it with his blood to gain entry and they take a hidden boat across a lake. Protecting the Horcrux there is a… Read More
• Public places • Railway places • Wizarding places The railway station that serves both the town of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts School. A “tiny, dark platform” where the Hogwarts Express ends its journey north from Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters (PS6). The station is located near the lake, and from there a road extends around the lake to Hogwarts Castle (PA5,… Read More
• Hogwarts • Transportation The arriving first-years travel across the Lake to the castle in a flotilla of small boats, propelled by magic and escorted by Hagrid (PS6).  … Read More
• Article
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
The Hogwarts Express has been the subject of various essays exploring its nature and function. As has been plausibly noted elsewhere on this site, it isn’t really a steam engine, but rather a magical transportation device that mimics a Muggle equivalent in external form and function. This is consistent with the general trend in Wizard “technology,” which seems… Read More
• Transportation The Hogwarts Express is a passenger train which makes a run between King’s Cross Station, London, and Hogsmeade Station, taking students to and from Hogwarts. The train makes this run at least four times a year, and probably more often than that, as needed. It does leave without… Read More
• Character Madam Hooch is the Quidditch coach and flying instructor at Hogwarts. She teaches basic broom skills to First Years and referees the Quidditch matches between the House teams. Hair: gray, cut short. Eyes: yellow, hawk-like. Expertise: Quidditch coach and Referee, Flying teacher (PS9, CS10,… Read More
• Character Basil Horton played for the Falmouth Falcons, a Quidditch team from England, in the 1920s. Along with his Falcons teammate Randolph Keitch, he started the Comet Trading Company in 1929. He and Randolph are also the creators of the Horton-Keitch Braking Charm (QA9). Read More
• Magical effects House-elves have a very powerful magic all their own, magic which requires none of the types of focusing tools (wands or words) that Wizard magic requires. Dobby used his magic to enchant a Bludger, to close the magic portal that leads to platform nine-and-three-quarters, to interfere with Owl Post and… Read More
• Rivers and streams The Hudson River is a large American waterway extending through eastern New York State before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean through New York Harbor. Read More
• Spells A nasty kind of hex that can be placed on a broom. The effect is presumably to make the target broom attempt to hurl its rider off. Read More