--- title: Harry Potter: Fans Celebrate Hogwarts Day King's Cross Photos description: For Harry Potter fans, September 1st is the first day of school for young wizards and witches, starting with boarding the Hogwarts Express. canonical: https://time.com/4476143/hogwarts-day-pictures-train/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-01T17:34:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:08.615Z og:title: Here's How Muggles Are Celebrating "Hogwarts Day" og:description: Today marks back-to-school for wizards and witches in Harry Potter's world. og:url: https://time.com/4476143/hogwarts-day-pictures-train/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Muggles Are Celebrating "Hogwarts Day" twitter:description: Today marks back-to-school for wizards and witches in Harry Potter's world. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # _Harry Potter_ Fans Celebrate Hogwarts Day By Taking Pictures at King's Cross  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 1, 2016 5:34 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 1, 2016 5:34 PM UTC For [_Harry Potter_ fans](http://time.com/4455746/j-k-rowling-pottermore-new-harry-potter-books/?iid=sr-link1), September 1st marks a very special occasion: the first day of school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, also [known as “Hogwarts Day.”](http://time.com/4019156/jk-rowling-hogwarts-backtohogwarts-tweets/?iid=sr-link2) The first step in getting to the elite academy of magic, however, is boarding the crimson steam train, the Hogwarts Express, which departs from London’s King’s Cross Station at Platform 9 3/4, taking students directly to [Hogsmeade Station](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1637886,00.html). You can only board if you’re a witch or wizard, and you can melt through a solid brick wall that’s been “magicked” as a portal. That means Muggles can’t make the trip, but they still posed as if they were going to on Thursday morning in London. To celebrate this year’s Hogwarts Day, the train station also got in on the action, [posting an unusual departure](http://www.timeout.com/london/blog/harry-potter-fans-today-is-officially-back-to-hogwarts-day-at-kings-cross-090116) on the schedule. > [](https://twitter.com/VisitEngland/status/771293736592486400) [Author J.K. Rowling](http://time.com/4463272/jk-rowling-harry-potter-sketches/?iid=sr-link2) herself also gave a shout-out to the day, although there was a bit of confusion over whether or not this year would be the first year of school for Harry Potter’s son Albus Severus Potter… or not. “If you’re at King’s Cross, the Potter, Granger-Weasley and Malfoy families are there too. Albus Severus starts school today. #19YearsLater,” she wrote in a [now-deleted tweet](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/01/jk-rowling-confuses-fans-hogwarts-day-tweet); in the Harry Potter universe, the epic Battle of Hogwarts occurred in 1998\. Then, she followed it up with a correction: > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/771278266271461376) Regardless, plenty of fans are celebrating #BackToHogwarts, even though it seems like most of their school letters were lost in the owl post years ago. > [](https://twitter.com/pottermore/status/771271449839538176) > [](https://twitter.com/chaitanyaroks13/status/771344930363039744) > [](https://twitter.com/pottermore/status/771293557768486912) > [](https://twitter.com/%5FSnape%5F/status/771286383205822464) > [](https://twitter.com/lynnmahler/status/771279798639427584) > [](https://twitter.com/deannawhite269/status/771305112014884864) > [](https://twitter.com/CurtainCallPAS/status/771383301756059648) > [](https://twitter.com/ambrielllee/status/771383352897200128) > [](https://twitter.com/BGibs122/status/771383106901245952) > [](https://twitter.com/HelloImCindy/status/771382582437154816) > [](https://twitter.com/leahamyy/status/771381187667427328) > [](https://twitter.com/PotterWorldUK/status/771276947548573696) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4476143/hogwarts-day-pictures-train/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4476143/hogwarts-day-pictures-train/"},"headline":"Harry Potter Fans Celebrate Hogwarts Day By Taking Pictures at King's Cross","datePublished":"2016-09-01T17:34:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:08.615Z","description":"\"Hogwarts is my home!\"","url":"https://time.com/4476143/hogwarts-day-pictures-train/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Books","Harry Potter"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4476143/hogwarts-day-pictures-train/","name":"Harry Potter Fans Celebrate Hogwarts Day By Taking Pictures at King's Cross"}}]}] ```