King's Cross Station

**King's Cross Station** is considered one of the main train stations to serve London, England. Students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry take the scarlet steam engine named the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts from Platform 9¾ on 1 September at 11 AM sharp. To get to Platform 9 3/4, you run straight at the wall between 9 and 10. It also serves as a major intercity and commuter rail hub for Muggles going to North London or Yorkshire and the North East and Scotland.

## History

When Ottaline Gambol commandeered a Muggle train to serve as the new mode of transport for Hogwarts students, she also had constructed a small station in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade: a necessary adjunct to the train. The Ministry of Magic felt strongly, however, that to construct an additional wizarding station in the middle of London would stretch even the Muggles' notorious determination not to notice magic when it was exploding in front of their faces.

It was Evangeline Orpington, Minister from 1849-1855, who hit upon the solution of adding a concealed platform at the newly built King's Cross station, which would be accessible only to witches and wizards. On the whole, this has worked well, although there have been minor problems over the ensuing years, such as witches and wizards who have dropped suitcases full of biting spellbooks or newt spleens all over the polished station floor, or else disappeared through the solid barrier a little too loudly. There are usually a number of plain-clothed Ministry of Magic employees on hand to deal with any inconvenient Muggle memories that may need altering at the start and end of each Hogwarts term.

## Locations

### Platform 4

Platform 4 had trains coming direct from Watton-at-Stone northbound direct to St Neots.

### Platform 7

Platform 7 had trains headed northbound direct to York via the East Coast Main Line.

### Platform 7½

Platform 7½ offers a long-distance train, similar to the Muggle Orient Express, off to wizard-only villages in continental Europe.

### Platforms 9 & 10

Platforms nine and ten are the Muggle platforms on either side of the barrier through which wizards and witches must walk into in order to get onto Platform 9¾.

### Platform 9¾

 File:Sorcerers-stone kings cross.jpg
Platform 9¾ is the platform from which the Hogwarts Express may be boarded on September 1st. The platform has a sign hanging over it, reading: *Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock*, and there is a wrought iron archway bearing the words *Platform Nine and Three-Quarters* over the entry/exit to the platform. At the conclusion of the school year, the Hogwarts Express returns to King's Cross bringing the students of Hogwarts back for their summer holidays. It can be assumed that the sign over the platform changes on the day the train returns from Hogwarts.Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

In order for someone to get onto Platform 9¾, they must walk directly at the apparently solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. Molly Weasley advises that one should "do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous." It is not known exactly how Muggles do not, or cannot get onto the platform; however, it can be assumed that powerful magic of some sort is employed in order to keep them ignorant of its existence. However, It was shown in Snape's memories that Lily Evans's family was present at the platform as she boarded it, which could mean that Muggles are able to enter the platform, if made specifically aware of its existence.

### Other hidden platforms

Other concealed platforms may be opened on an as-required-basis, for instance for large, one-off events such as Celestina Warbeck concerts, or, perhaps, the Quidditch World Cup.

## Usage by Harry Potter

### 1990s

**Harry Potter**: "*It looks like King’s Cross station. Except a lot cleaner and empty, and there are no trains as far as I can see.*"
**Albus Dumbledore**: "*King’s Cross station! Good gracious, really?*"
— Harry and Dumbledore while in Limbo[src]
 File:Chamber-of-secrets-kings cross.jpg
In 1991, Harry Potter, being a first-year, saw the platform 9 3/4 after being told to go there at king cross Station. He had no instructions on how to get on and therefore he needed the help of the Weasly family, who he had heard discussing it. Harry and Ron Weasly first met at this moment starting a life long friendship.

In 1992, Dobby the House-elf did something to the barrier dividing platforms 9 and 10, in order to prevent Harry Potter and Ron Weasley accessing the platform. All that is known about the magic he used is that it somehow made the barrier which acts as entrance/exit to Platform 9¾ solidify, thus causing Harry and Ron to crash into it, as opposed to passing through it as wizards and witches normally did. Consequently, they decided the only way to get to Hogwarts was to steal Arthur Weasley's Flying Ford Anglia and fly it to the school. This caused them both numerous amounts of trouble, as they were seen by Muggles and risked wizarding exposure.

 File:Limbo.jpg
In 1998, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter allowed himself to be struck with a Killing Curse by Lord Voldemort, and he entered a Limbo state in which his spirit met with the spirit of Albus Dumbledore, at a location that Harry Potter identified as King's Cross Station. The station was, in the unconscious mind of Harry, clean and empty except for something that looked like a small, naked child, curled on the ground, with skin that was raw and rough, as though it had been flayed, which lay under a seat. Dumbledore then revealed to Harry that the form represented a small part of Lord Voldemort, destroyed when he "killed" Harry and thus annihiliated the part of his soul which he had unwittingly implanted in him.

### 2017

In 2017, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione sent their children - Rose Weasley, Albus Severus Potter, and James Potter - off to Hogwarts. There, they caught a glimpse of Draco Malfoy and his wife Astoria Malfoy seeing off their son Scorpius.