Everyone familiar with Harry Potter is likely familiar with the Hogwarts Express, the direct line from Kings Cross station in London to Hogsmeade. But being a direct line, this would seem to require everyone who wanted to use it to first travel to London.  Assuming Hogwarts is the only school for students aged 11+ local to England (i.e. Hogwarts isn't just for London locals), are there alternative conventional (Muggle) means of getting students from other parts of the country to Hogwarts or Hogsmeade?
122473
We know that most students get to Hogwarts by train, and that Harry Potter and Ron Weasly arrived by flying car, but are there other ways to get to the school?
24789
Leaving aside ethical and moral considerations, the whole policy of Salazar Slytherin's "we should not teach muggle-born magic-capable children" seems to be completely counter-productive to the whole "Let's not allow Muggles to know about existence of magical world" idea.  To wit, muggle-born wizards are obviously capable of performing magic (there were several examples in the book) even without wands/training, and many of them are powerful enough as far as their magical ability that it's likely to get noticed.   So, short of killing off every child that has latent magical abilities (or at least those with abilities beyond some threshold) or charming them so they are unable to do any magic, wouldn't refusal to teach them all how to PROPERLY use magic and what the rules are merely get a lot more chances for Muggles to see magic being performed which totally goes against the whole "Let's not allow Muggles realize that there are magic users around" that drives a lot of the Wizarding rules?  UPDATE Just to clarify - this question is about the idea of Salazar Slytherin himself and not the modern-day Death Eaters/Voldemort.
55643
As we know, whenever school ends, Harry is sent back to live with the Dursleys, where he suffers from abuse. He would much prefer to live with the Weasleys, and often visits there before returning to school. It stands to reason that they probably don't live that far from each other, since:   Both Harry and the Weasleys use Platform 9&frac34; to get to school Ron was able to take Harry to the Burrow in a flying car within a reasonable amount of time   It's heavily hinted at that the Weasleys are poor. However, it's not like Harry would live there permanently. Three months isn't that bad, not to mention he's pretty well-off from his parents' money. There would be little to no extra expense on the Weasleys.  The only explanation is that Dumbledore goes out of his way to ensure Harry lives with the Dursleys. If so, why is this?
29617
In the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, just before the Sorting ceremony, all the first years were quite terrified. No one had any idea what was going to follow (even Ron who came from a wizarding family). Why is this?  The ceremony itself is not a secret since most of the wizards in England went through it. Even if there is an unofficial rule not to talk about it, at least some of the kids would probably have heard about it and spread the news.
30354
If Mad-eye Moody's only purpose was to get Harry to Lord Voldemort then why did he have to wait until the very end of the Tri-wizard tournament? Being a teacher he had Harry at his mercy anytime so should he take the pain of getting Harry into the tournament, risk helping him with the tasks, and so on? He could have easily done it any time during the entire year with any other object as the port key.  Why was the Triwizard cup chosen?  Is there anything that I'm missing?
114674
After reading in the wiki that Neville Longbottom would become Professor for Herbalogy at Hogwarts I got curious if there are any special requirements for becoming a teacher there. Do you just need to be very good in the subject you want to teach?  Following the wiki, most teachers had N.E.W.T's at least in their subject. But was that necessary? Could the headmaster hire anyone, regardless of his curriculum?  For example, could Dumbledore engage Sirius Black as DADA teacher when he was still sought by the Ministry for murder?
23201
So in GoF, they state that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are hidden from view and don't have their locations public.     “Durmstrang’s another wizarding school?” said Harry      “Yes,” said Hermione sniffily, “and it’s got a horrible reputation.      According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a   lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts.”      “I think I’ve heard of it,” said Ron vaguely. “Where is it? What   country?”      “Well, nobody knows, do they?” said Hermione, raising her   eyebrows.      “Er — why not?” said Harry.      “There’s traditionally been a lot of rivalry between all the magic   schools. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons like to conceal their whereabouts   so nobody can steal their secrets,” said Hermione matter-offactly.   So how do students get to the other school for the Triwizard tournament?
68517
At the very start of the movie adaptation of Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry attempts the spell Lumos Maxima in his bedroom. He then inflates his Aunt Marge and makes her float in the air.  How come he is doing this outside of Hogwarts as an underage wizard? The Trace is clearly still on him!  I understand the quote by the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, "Oh, come now, Harry. The Ministry does not send people to Azkaban for blowing up their aunts." But isn't that pretty much saying that casting any smaller spell is something that an underage wizard or witch can get away with?
53461
The annual student intake of Hogwarts seems about 100. Since in book 7 Hogwarts is declared mandatory for all children, this means that the total magical population of Britain cannot be much more than 10,000.  How do these people make a living?  All jobs mentioned in the books are non-productive occupations (government, stores, sports &amp;c) - not farmers or engineers. There are exceptions - makers of wands/robes/broomsticks - but where do they get the raw materials from?  Who and how "creates goods" in the wizarding world?  Note that if you say "wizards exchange their gold for Muggle money and buy stuff from Muggles (through intermediaries, if necessary)" then you would have to explain where they get their gold: they would either have to mine it, or produce something of value to the Muggles (in which case the separate financial system of galleons/sickles/knuts does not make sense).  PS. A simple issue of maintaining a steam locomotive for Hogwarts express is pretty much insurmountable for 10k people - without Magic, that is. So, I can imagine that the skilled tradesmen can transfigure dirt into raw materials for their trade - except for food, which "is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration".
44666
In the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Hagrid mentions he needs to leave in a hurry and hands Harry the train ticket. Harry asks Hagrid about the ticket as he squints at it in confusion, but gets no response. Harry then turns to see that Hagrid is nowhere to be seen, even though he was there just a second ago. He has somehow vanished into thin air.  What actually happened here?    Hagrid was there seconds ago. They were standing in the middle a bridge-like walkway in the train station so there are only 2 ways to go; forward or back the way they came, yet there's no sign of Hagrid walking away in the distance. Hagrid, though strong, doesn't strike me as being a cheetah-like sprinter, and I don't think he's related to The Flash. Did he apparate? Did he fly away on a broom?   The question  seems to indicate that itls illegal for Hagrid to apparate, as his wand was broken upon expulsion. Did he apparate then, using the umbrella-wand thingy? What is the in-universe, movie version explanation for how Hagrid seemingly vanished into thin air?
108947
I remember from my mumble about nine mumble rereads of the Harry Potter series that the following classes Harry took were taught to more than one house in the same lesson:   Potions with the Slytherins  Herbology with the Hufflepuffs  Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins  broomstick riding with at least the Slytherins (maybe other houses, too?)    I don't remember any student from a house that isn't Gryffindor being mentioned in the sections on Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against Dark Arts, History of Magic, or Divination. That would mean McGonagall had to teach twice as many classes as Snape, if both subjects got the same number of lessons (which I think I recall).   Were any subjects other than Potions, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures taught to more than one house in the same lesson? And do we know why some subjects are taught to more students at the same time than others?
105335
How could Harry and Ron so easily fly Mr. Weasley's car (the magically enhanced Ford Anglia) to Hogwarts, when many times in the book it is mentioned that Hogwarts is protected by various spells, such that even Dumbledore had to revert all the security spells in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince so that Harry and Dumbledore could enter Hogwarts on a broomstick?
8722
Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday — and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.   In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter Nine - The Midnight Duel Harry's first -     At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson.   (and only) flying lesson is described. During this single lesson Harry discovers that he has a tremendous natural ability to fly on a broomstick and is made Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.  Flying lessons are never mentioned again in the first book, and as far as I recall, not a single other time in the entire seven books. Harry clearly didn't require them but there were a lot of other students who would have benefited from them, including Hermione.  What amount of tutoring is actually available for those wishing to learn to fly at Hogwarts? Are flying lessons mandatory for first years? Do they continue in subsequent years as well?
25994
During Goblet of Fire, Voldemort lured Harry away from Hogwarts and into a Muggle cemetery. This was done during the Triwizard tournament to make Harry’s death look like an accident.  Harry was supposed to have a Trace on him, so why couldn’t the Ministry tell an underage wizard was performing magic (Expelliarmus) in a Muggle cemetery? Or (as the Trace seems to pick up ANY magic used near a young wizard/witch) magic used by the Death Eaters?
115083
By now, most of us are familiar with the quote by Ron Weasley in Sorcerer's Stone:     There hasn't been a witch or wizard gone bad who wasn't in Slytherin.    Logic states that this means that all dark wizards/witches were from the Slytherin house, but not that all Slytherin were dark wizards/witches.  But how much of this was just hyperbole from an 11 year old boy?  After all,  was arguably a "dark wizard" and studied at the Durmstrang Institute. Peter Pettigrew (who actually was a Death Eater) and Sirius Black (who was falsely accused as one) were also both from Gryffindor.  As noted in  and from Goblet of Fire, we know that the wizarding community is not confined to England or even Europe. We know that there are other schools. I haven't been able to positively confirm this, but it appears - and it would make sense that the other schools have their own "houses" similar to Hogwarts. Following that line of thought, it isn't a stretch to assume that other houses look for similar traits/qualities such as "potential greatness".  Seeing as that what Voldemort  would affect all wizards/witches, it would make sense if wizards/witches from other countries joined up with him.  Is there any evidence that the Death Eaters was or was not an international group?
54029
Or is it just 'further education' i.e. Hogwarts, Durmstrung, Beaux-batons? Are there wizarding universities?
1262
I have been re-reading the Harry Potter books again and I noticed that Harry, Ron and Hermione have been giving each other Christmas presents each year at Hogwarts. How have they been able to buy each other presents if they are not allowed to go out of Hogwarts?   From their third year on they could visit the village and buy presents there, but what about the first two years? Did they give their personal belongings? Or did they just happen to have boxes of chocolates or books to give each other?