I am curious about this little query of mine and my only flaw I feel I have in the understanding of the HP world!. I mean of course muggles just don't stumble upon Hogwarts; obviously there is some type of magical protection?

What is it?

~ Is Hogwarts part of a whole world hidden behind the train platform 9 3/4?. Bearing in mind the Weasley's were able to fly there in their car when they couldn't pass into Platform 9 3/4.
~ Is Hogwarts disguised as something else?.
~ Is it in another (magical) dimension?.

Where is it?

Do magical people live in the same place and universe as muggles?.

Let's hear your theories on this!

Hi Helen,

Well, firstly Hogwarts is over the Firth in bonnie Scotland, not in merry England. As you probably know Great Blighty has quite a bit of uninhabited and hostile land!.

And the final answer to your questions is 'obliviate.' Being more specific, magical areas are hidden by optical illusion. Muggles simply don't see what's there. Instead of a castle, they see a rocky cragg that no matter how they climb around, they can't get to it.

Haven't you ever seen an oddly shaped building that you can't figure out which rooms the windows go to or one with maze-like hallways? (I can name a few!) Do you calculate the dimensions of the rooms and halls to figure it all out, or do you just accept that it doesn't seem to match up because you're missing something? People will usually assume that they missed something or got turned around rather than think that something magical is happening.

Liam

Where was this revealed in the books? I never knew this. Very interesting...

Isn't is cool that the world is the same but only wizards and witches can see certain things. How can wizards see what muggles see, though, when they differentiate?

Jeremy,

Scotland really is an assumption on my part. The main clues I use for this are the weather--England doesn't get that much persistant snow, except maybe near the Scottish boarderlands with Northumberland or up in Cumbria (England), tradionally in Britain, the further North you go, the worse the weather gets(fact actually!).

The landscape, as described, sounds more like Scotland than England. And finally, if you board a train in London at 11.am and travel north, non-stop, until dark in September, you'd almost be guaranteed to be in Scotland. That would be 9 hours of travel!. It's about 5 hours, London to York with stops, I think 4 hours to Edinburgh non-stop. The Hogwarts Express travels for NINE hours! Even for a steam train, that has to be in Scotland.

Blast! Now I'm going to have to look up the train schedules for the moors railway...

(Once over the Firth River btw you reach the Scottish boderlands, hence I said 'over the Firth' or the old Hadrian's Wall route! ).

Liam

WOW Liam, it looks as if you have really done a lot of working to get all of those calculations and stuff, you're pretty smart Liam. The good thing is that you live in England so you can kind of get all the locations in the Harry Potter world.


~*Mari*~

in one of the interweives from when the official harry potter site at warner bros was still on the sorcerers stone interface, jk mentioned that her imaginary location of hogwarts is somewhere north of glasgow.

I have used trains here a lot. I like them. Steam trains in Britain usually run about 90 mph, so assuming the Hogwarts Express travels like a normal steam train (which I doubt--maybe just the steam is magical, but the engine works just like a Muggle one?), it could run around 900 miles. That would put Hogwarts way up north--like Shetland maybe! ... lolol.. ;) It's only like 990 miles from Lands' End (Cornwall, England which is the 'last point in Britain' to John O'Groats in Scotland which acts as the 'start of Britain'. So I guess the Hogwarts Express putts a bit slower than the average steam train. But then again, Maybe they are in the Outer Hebridies somewhere--the train is magical... :)

I'm not really! It's just I have family spread around the country so when I have visited I have done some 'roaming'. I have family in Cornwall, visited much of SW peninsula, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire, I used to have family living in the capital so I visited quite a bit, as well as touring in the long 'hol's, so pretty much all the compass points of the country!.


Liam

I have a question, L. :)

How can wizards see what muggles see, though, when things differentiate? (This is referring to what you said about Hogwarts to muggles could just be a pile of rocks.)

remember how hagrid said muggles are just non-magical folk. well technically wizards are just muggles with magic running through their viens. a wizard sees everything a muggle sees, just more. so if you have magical blood then the mugglerepelling charms and concealment charms are null and void.

and its a given really throughout the book that people with even the smallest amounts of magic can see magical stuff, and people without, can't. (dudley/mrs. figg/dementors)

The only answer I can give you is that it is magic. I suppose it appears to magical people when it doesn't to muggles. I'm thinking along the line of colour blindness. Have you seen the tests where they have numbers made up of green and orangey bubbles? or blue and purpley bubbles? If you can't differentiate between the colours, you won't see the numbers. I think it's like that with magic. If you don't have that magic gene, you can't differentiate between the background and what's really there.

Also, reinstating my point on Hogwarts's location in Scotland, I think you'll see I have been proven right! :) ;)

^

Click Here: Map Of Magical Britain

Liam

Thanks, you two. ;)

*Nods in agreement with Liam* I also thought that Hogwarts would be in Scotland, since it is in the North (first page of thread) - Hermione also said the school was far north in GoF when she was explaining to Harry and Ron about the different magical schools being hidden.

The color blindness theory is brilliant, Liam - I would've never thought of that! However, what would explain the different magical schools also being hidden from each other? Remember Hermione said that the locations of the various schools were hidden from wizards too so that their secrets would not be revealed or something like that?

I think I need to go re-read GOF....

Helen :D

quite brilliant liam. Placing magical inheritance into genetic theory like color blindness (although that is sex-linked, which would make everything not work out and i'm not going to go into that because its to complicated) is completely feasible.

(look for a new topic to explain my reasoning somewhere else)

that magical map puts things into perspective.

I'm seeing it in a whole new limelight, thanks for the responses and again nice theory Liam!.

This got me thinking, are there any other ways to get to Hogwarts (other than the Hogwarts Express)?. We have seen Harry and co get there by Knight Bus, No one can apparate into Hogwarts grounds. However, Hogsmeade isn't within the grounds so couldn't older students (once passed apparition test) apparate to Hogsmeade and then walk to Hogwarts?

Any other ideas?

-H

Personally, I think the lower years would be required to take the train. Only students working on their NEWTs would be old enough to apparate to Hogsmeade and walk in. Obviously, prefects are required to take the train as they are responsible for monitoring behaviour on the journey :eyeroll: . It could be that those above OWL level could get to Hogsmeade by any means?.

I'm thinking that if Malfoy is on the train, it's required. I have an inkling that if it were permissible to get there by other means, he would take it -- and then gloat about it!!..lol..

The only problem with flying I think, would be remaining undetected by Muggles and carrying your trunk!.

Liam