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u/WaspScratch May 19 '26
Unfortunately, the actual Kings Cross Station has a display and plaque and stuff about Harry Potter, as a sign asking people to not run into it
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u/Bwunt May 19 '26
Not entirely.
In King's cross, the platforms 9 and 10 are not adjacent. 8 and 9 are, then 10 and 11. There is no pillar between platform 9 and 10, just rail tracks. Platforms 9 and 10 in King's cross.
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u/kaytay3000 Ravenclaw May 19 '26
That truly was one of the most disappointing moments for me when I visited London when I realized there was no 9 and 3/4. I mean, I know itās not real, but to not even be plausible was a bummer.
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u/FireWhiskey5000 Hufflepuff 3 May 19 '26
Iām sure I read somewhere once that JKR got Kingās Cross and Euston mixed up, and platforms 9 and 10 are back to back at Euston. Not checked if this is true though.
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u/ZannityZan Pine and phoenix feather, 10Ā¾", nicely supple :) May 19 '26
I thought it was King's Cross and Paddington she got mixed up - but yes, I've definitely read that she mixed up KGX with some other big mainline station.
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u/FireWhiskey5000 Hufflepuff 3 May 19 '26
I thought it was Euston as it also sends trains north and is just down the road from Kings Cross. Could be wrong though.
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u/Bwunt May 19 '26
It was Euston. Or better, it seems to be some mixture of KC and Euston, as Euston doesn't have old masonry arches like KC does.
If you want to make it work best, it should be Platform 4 3/4, as KC platforms 4 and 5 are separated by stone pillars/arches.
Take a look around, you can explore all 3 station interiors on Google street view
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u/nightingale-nitemare May 19 '26
Completely off-topic, but the first time I ever of Euston Station was the Spirit of the West song āHome for a Rest.ā Great fucking song.
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u/Bwunt May 19 '26
Euston, not Paddy.
Paddy also has rail-adjacent 9 and 10, plus it doesn't do heavy stone pillars.
In fact, architecture wise, KGX works best, at least when it comes to northbound stations, but only Euston has platforms 9 and 10 adjacent on platform side. Paddy and KGX are rail-adjacent
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u/ZannityZan Pine and phoenix feather, 10Ā¾", nicely supple :) May 19 '26
Ahh, gotcha. No idea why I thought it was Paddington. I remember even being excited to see Paddington for the first time because of that! Now I guess I'll be excited and go and have a snoop around the next time I'm in Euston š
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u/Emphursis May 19 '26
Probably a good thing she did given how shit Euston is!
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u/zenithpns Ravenclaw May 19 '26
How funny would it be to see all the Americans having their photograph taken inside the abominable shithole that is Euston
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u/Bwunt May 19 '26
At least it wasn't London Bridge. Would be funny when muggles decided in 2007 to built the tallest building in London on top of it and modernise entire station.
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u/robin-bunny May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
I looked up Euston but Platform 9 and 10 are the same there. There is no platform between the tracks.
I think this is a deterrent. I think she deliberately got some things wrong so we don't all go down there and run at train station walls. She learned something from Rita Skeeter! Keep it just close enough to the truth to be completely plausible....wait, the whole series is about magic and hundreds of people are running through a wall to catch a train every Sept 1.
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u/corobo Ravenclaw May 19 '26
That's what they want you to think. They had to adjust how it works when Rowling outed the old entranceĀ
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u/CrystalWhispeer_ May 19 '26
lore accurate gaslighting š āthe ministry changed the barrier mechanics after the 2007 incidentā
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u/PooBumExtraordinairy May 19 '26
There is a 9 3/4 platform - itās at the back of the main hall. Right next to a Harry Potter shop. Source: I lived in London for 5 years, and worked just down the road from KX
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u/Onyx1509 May 20 '26
There is currently literally an unnumbered platform between platform 9 and 10, which I think is pretty cool.Ā
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u/TATsimTV May 19 '26
Ah, but Kings Cross has a platform 0. So technically 8 and 9 are the 9th and 10th platforms, maybe wizards don't confirm to Network Rail platform numbering systems.
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u/Basketball312 May 19 '26
Kings X has done major renovations over the years.
Back in the day there was a trolley sticking out of a wall somewhere now there's a whole special tourist thing for it.
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u/areasofsimplex May 19 '26
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u/Bwunt May 19 '26
"Minister Granger. We seriously need to do something about Platform 9 3/4 portal. This is 4th time this month that a drunk muggle tried to kick the infoboard and fell trough"
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u/MattCarafelli May 21 '26
"Well at least he was drunk... the memory reversal squad didn't even have to Obliviate him. He didn't even know he was on our platform. I'll talk to the magical planning commission about it next Wednesday..."
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u/Bwunt May 21 '26
Yeah, but what about 5 of his buddies, 20 random muggles in the area, 2 security guards and half a dozen of KGX CCTV cameras?Ā
Oh and the Youtube video of him falling trough the board has 350 million views, but at least most people are saying it's just a shitty AI. i'm telling you, bad AI generated videos is saving out butts here.
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u/MattCarafelli May 21 '26
"AI was our greatest invention. Thanks to Dan Thomas and Justin-Finch Fletchley and myself of course!"
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u/Bigbanghead May 19 '26
There is a permanent tourist spot, where you have to pay, to hold a trolley that is half way through the wall. It always has a queue.
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u/tomdidiot May 23 '26
They decommissioned platform 10. They then remembered 11 to 10. Thereās actually an unused platform right between 9 and 10ā¦ā¦.
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u/Glittering_Bet8181 May 20 '26
Iām not falling for it, theyāre just trying to stop me from going to Hogwarts.
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u/IchLiebeKleber May 19 '26
Canonically, most wizards do not receive their Hogwarts letter on their 11th birthday; remember they tried to deliver it to Harry for a while before that birthday and it was a complete coincidence that the successful delivery ended up happening on Harry's birthday.
Also, at the real King's Cross station, there is a railway track between platforms 9 and 10: https://openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=51.532636070643875&lon=-0.1239757239818573&zoom=19 so it is impossible to do exactly what the books describe...
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u/ImMaxa89 Ravenclaw May 19 '26
True, it is a common mistake people make. I image all potential new students get their letter roughly at the same time, somewhere in July.
So Hermione for example with a birthday in September was a few months away from her 12th birthday when she got her letter.
Ginny has her birthday in August so she got it at age 10, a month before turning 11.
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u/HoneyMoonlighht May 19 '26
the funniest part is the parent spending 11 years committed to the bit only for the kid to hit them with ,um actually hogwarts letters arrive in july
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u/RayneShikama Ravenclaw May 19 '26
How do you know that?
JFC have you not read Hogwarts, a History?
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u/ImMaxa89 Ravenclaw May 19 '26
Would be extra funny yes if they would commit to the bit, only for it to fail for that reason. Or the kid's birthday would have to be close to Harry's.
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u/Knight-Man May 19 '26
Yeah. A school year officially starts on September 1st and officially ends on August 31st of the next year, so acceptance needs to be in before the new school year starts so they probably start getting the letters when the 3rd term ends and summer begins in July.
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u/RayneShikama Ravenclaw May 19 '26
Imagine if Hogwarts had admitted Hermione a year earlierā so sheād have been one of the youngest like Ginny instead of one of the oldest of her year.
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u/ImMaxa89 Ravenclaw May 19 '26
Yes, if she had been born three weeks earlier. She's close to the cutoff. Same for Ginny on the other side. Make her three weeks younger and she would have only started Hogwarts in PoA and avoided the diary...
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u/MetroidJunkie May 19 '26
Yep, the Dursleys sure did jump through hoops trying to keep Harry bubbled from it.
Hagrid: Looks like we gotta do things the hard way, don't we?
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u/RayneShikama Ravenclaw May 19 '26
I would have loved to have seeing what Dumbledore and the Hogwarts staff was thinking trying to get Harry his letter.
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u/Moksoms Hufflepuff seeker May 19 '26
I think JK forgot about this, because on pottermore she wrote that McGonagall recieved her letter on her birthday, but we know her birth day is october 4th.
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail May 19 '26
McGonagall did get hers on her birthday though, on October fourth.
It's possible most people do get it on their birthday, but that Hogwarts doesn't send those letters during the summer (so everyone has enough time and/or simply bc the staff has a summer holiday), so they just send the rest on the same day in late July
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u/areasofsimplex May 20 '26
There is a wall for no other reason, so it must be Platform 9Ā¾
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u/BambooSound May 20 '26
Last time I was there there was a different wall with half a trolley sticking out of it. Is that gone?
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u/Rababerhero May 19 '26
There isn't even a ground between platforms 9 and 10. Only tracks.
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u/LowAspect542 Ravenclaw May 19 '26
And yet where exactly would you expect a platform to be except between tracks. It hides itself between the two.
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u/RayneShikama Ravenclaw May 19 '26
Not just buying booksā but usually a Hogwarts teacher goes and explains things to muggle parents. So a muggle born witch or wizard probably wouldnāt just get a letter.
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u/Vertigo_uk123 May 20 '26
Hire an actor to play a hogwarts teacher. Also have them explain that they had to move the barrier to platforms 4/5 due to muggles finding it. However muggles thing itās always been the way it is due to the confundus charm. Explain that books are now owl ordered and will be waiting at hogwarts on arrival as diagon alley was getting too busy.
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u/Reviewingremy Ravenclaw May 19 '26
The most ridiculous thing about this is it clearly isn't written by a Brit because he wants to go to kings cross in "fall".
So why would he go to hogwarts and not somewhere closer like ilvermory
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u/Imissyoudarlin Ravenclaw May 19 '26
I don't think people received their hogwarts letters on their birthday. Its just convenient that harry received his on his birthday since his birthday was at the end of July, a month and a bit before they start school.
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u/Key-Opposite-1994 May 19 '26
Technically he received it like a month earlier too but the dursleys just prevented him reading it till his birthday
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u/shellexyz May 19 '26
We took our kids to Universal back in 2019 and told them about it through Hogwarts letters. Printed in a fancy looking font, āagedā the paper with coffee and drying it in the oven, then put them in likewise-aged envelopes and put them on the Christmas tree.
They thought it was great.
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u/Combei May 19 '26
And before going to Kings Cross you gonna go magic shopping where? Asking for a friend
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u/FireWhiskey5000 Hufflepuff 3 May 19 '26
Thereās just one flaw with this planā¦at Kingās Cross platform 10 connects to platform 11 not platform 9. There is no barrier between platforms 9 and 10ā¦
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u/Clemdauphin May 23 '26
There is a barrier. That stop you going on the train tracks. Wich is located between the two of them
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u/Nuo_Vibro May 19 '26
the abundance of folk queueing up for pics in Kings cross with the trolley might disuade him of this
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u/Hungry_Help319 May 19 '26
I have similar plans.
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u/dtarias May 19 '26
Being a parent is all about creating unforgettable experiences for your children š„°
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u/Cohens4thClient May 19 '26
I like the Superman version better:
Take a bunch of pictures of your baby with a 'spacecraft' in the woods. Put the pictures in a photo album that is hidden but still accessible and wait for the kid to find it.
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u/AlpineAvalanche Gingers Unite May 19 '26
The first part of this has happened. I remember seeing a news article about some parents who were super fans, raised their kid believing it was real and then had to deal with the world crushing fallout when the kid didn't get the letter from Hogwarts on their birthday.
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u/taffyowner Hufflepuff May 19 '26
Yeah it feels like something to just absolutely fuck up your kids psyche going forward and to establish major trust issues further down the
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u/GaryHornpipe May 20 '26
We already do this to kids anyway. We just tell them different fiction like āif you work hard, you can achieve your dreamsā.
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u/CommercialYam53 Ravenclaw May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Good luck with that the brick wall is between platform 4 and 5.
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u/Bison_and_Waffles May 19 '26
You have thousands of dollars to spend flying to England for a practical joke? Good for you.
And we know the OP of this picture isnāt already in England, because then he wouldāve said āautumnā instead of āfall.ā
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u/Albertagus May 19 '26
If the 11 year old kid actually buys this then he definitely belongs in a special school. Win-win!
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u/SadExternal767 Ravenclaw May 19 '26
Watch Papa Meats recent video on Harry Potter Fandom. I LOVE harry potter books and movies. But itās good to know your fellow fans. A LOT OF PARENTS ACTUALLY DO THIS WEIRD SHIT
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u/realslimeshady90 Hufflepuff May 19 '26
Yes! I was just thinking damn, that kid would get made fun of so much..
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u/CompetitiveAd9639 May 19 '26
This kids life will peak at 11 itās all down hill right after his cart connects with the platform.
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u/The_Linkzilla May 20 '26
60 years later
"I don't get it; why don't my kids talk to me anymore? Why do they never visit me after dumping me in this nursing home?"
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u/foafoa May 20 '26
You should be worry of an 11 year old kid is that stupid. Kids arenāt dumb. I remember being 7 and faking that I believe in Santa Clause just so my mom can live her fantasy of seeing me believe in Santa Clauseš«
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u/BorderKeeper May 19 '26
Only for him to dissapear into it and you realising the true magic is you believing in magic and that you are a bitter old person :D
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u/BakeKarasu May 19 '26
When you grow up and have kids for 11 years you will be to tired for elaborate stuff like that
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u/IceDamNation Hufflepuff May 19 '26
This ain't complete unless you get him a letter that actually looks legit, might as well get him a wand and tell him you already purchased it as birthday gift early.
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u/Deep-Cheesecake-4699 May 19 '26
I went to the place irl, it isnāt a pillar between the platforms.
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u/ThankTheBaker May 19 '26
When my kids were little I would craft wands out of rolled up card, like a tube. One time I put a syringe filled with water in the bottom and made it squirt water while shouting Aguamenti!
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u/reremastered May 19 '26
More like chaotic neutral with one bad deed but 11 years of doing everything so that your child feels like a wizard. Or even chaotic good.
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u/imobsessedwithmycat May 19 '26
Take him to Kingās Cross at Universal Orlando for the full immersive experience!!
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u/NeverendingStory3339 May 19 '26
Actually go to Kings Cross. Not only is the Harry Potter shop very evident next to platforms 9-11, but there arenāt any pillars between 9 and 10.
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u/Altruistic_Hat372 May 19 '26
how would they get their hogwarts stuff from Diagon Allley? Print stuff online and get him a hogwarts trunk?
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u/muterabbit84 May 20 '26
I never understood the running start. I donāt remember anything in the books that suggested the students had to run to enter Platform 9 3/4. I mean Molly recommended it to Harry, presumably to push past his usual assumption that he canāt walk through any brick wall, but wouldnāt it present a potential safety hazard for people on the other side of the wall?
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u/airwalker08 May 20 '26
If this kid reads all 7 books before they turn 11, they're smarter than their parent and aren't going to fall for this nonsense.
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u/Classic_Flounder4036 May 20 '26
bellatrix turning the cruciatus into her personal karaoke night is textbook chaotic evil
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u/That-One-Goose11 May 21 '26
Afterwards, tell him he went for his first year, but got kicked out for bad behaviour (or something more creative) and they obliviated his memory of his time there
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u/Saelora Caw Caw Claw! May 19 '26
as funny as this is.. there is no pillar between platforms 9 and 10 at kings cross. The platforms are facing each other, with tracks in between, not adjacent platforms. (this bugs me because kings cross has not renumbered the platforms, meaning Rowling couldn't even be bothered to look at the train station she was writing about
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u/Ryponagar May 19 '26
After that, you need to throw him out of a window to conclusively determine whether he's a wizard or not.
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u/NefariousnessOk209 May 19 '26
Youād have to go full Truman show though for them to make it to age 11 without seeing a single piece of Harry Potter media prior.
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u/OkEssay4173 May 19 '26
Got to stop him from any internet connection and going to school too to work
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u/keloyd May 19 '26
This first kid - does he look like that Dursley thug who lives nearby and your wife was texting again and bought some drills from?
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u/RayneShikama Ravenclaw May 19 '26
And then point out that they were too centered. Itās 3/4, not 1/2. Try again but aim slightly off from center.
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u/Kimmey-loukinreads May 19 '26
Yeh hate to break it to you the station isnāt laid out the way it is in the movie
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u/TheDoutor Ravenclaw May 19 '26
And he'll plan all that just to find out that there's no brick wall between the platforms 9 and 10 in the real Kingscross.
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u/Magic-Thestral-13 Ravenclaw May 19 '26
How many concussions have they had involving that wall do you think? š¤£
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u/ChaiCringe May 20 '26
okay but when I was a kid I legitimately thought my front door was gonna be like platform 9 3/4 and now my forehead has a dent in it.
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u/AngelAlexG May 22 '26
And then your kid will have trust issues for life, and once he became an adult, never want to see you again.
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u/Hot-Bison5904 May 23 '26
Well there is no pillar between 9 and 10 at kings cross because Rowling has a poor memory so
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u/Elena19967 May 24 '26
My parents did not do this to me and I am stil agonizing about all of this being fantasy. Your child will need so much therapy
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u/Brider_Hufflepuff Hufflepuff May 19 '26
The joke will be on you when they run through the wall without a problem and disappear š