( platform 9 ¾ )

in northwestern London lies Kings Cross Station, a Muggle railway station that is one of the busiest in the city. It's a perfectly ordinary station, with big plastic numbers over each track and guards who have never heard of Hogwarts School. However, every September 1, as the clock overhead approaches eleven o'clock and the InterCity 125 pulls into platform nine, a strange crowd turns the occasional Muggle head. The crowd is wizarding children, bearing enormous trunks and caged owls, making their way toward - and then through - the solid metal barrier between platforms nine and ten. Through this barrier, of course, lies Platform nine and three-quarters, home of the famous Hogwarts Express. There a look back at the barrier reveals it is instead a wrought-iron archway with the words "platform nine and three-quarters," and over the scarlet steam train billowing smoke, a sign announces that the Hogwarts Express departs at eleven o'clock. The platform also has a distinct smell - one which lifts the spirits of young wizards look forward each summer to the start of term.