'Harry Potter' fans gather at London rail station to celebrate big 'Deathly Hallows' day

Ethan Alter
·Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment

Sept. 1, 2017, may just be another day for us Muggles, but within the Wizarding World, it’s a truly magical date. Why? Because today’s the day that Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley’s second son, Albus Severus Potter, climbs aboard the Hogwarts Express for his first year at England’s finest school for witchcraft and wizardry. That scene concludes the “19 Years Later” epilogue in J.K. Rowling‘s franchise-capping 2007 novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as well as its 2011 film adaptation. And earlier today at 11 a.m. U.K. time, Potter fans brought the scene to life at London’s King’s Cross railway station, where the express train to Hogwarts departs from Platform 9?.

Rowling herself wasn’t there in person (nor were Daniel Radcliffe or Bonnie Wright for that matter), but she certainly attended in spirit, re-tweeting images of the sizable fan gathering.

One Potterverse superstar who did drop by the station was Warwick Davis, who played Charms professor (and Head of Ravenclaw House) Filius Flitwick.

Rowling may have promised that “All was well,” in the final line of her epilogue, but as those who have seen the sequel play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — which premiered in England last year and comes to Broadway in 2018 — know that young Albus has a somewhat rough entry into Hogwarts. As of Sept. 1, 2017, though, the boy’s future is still quite bright. And while the fans who assembled at King’s Cross today couldn’t board the train with him, they can pay their own visit to the school courtesy of the just-launched Hogwarts Experience virtual tour now live on Pottermore. That’s a good way to ensure that your back to school experience is a magical one.

Flashback: J.K. Rowling talks Harry Potter after release of first book in 1997:

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