Wizard/Muggle Proximity

[Kristin]

I am currently watching the second movie, and it stirred up a question about the Potterverse.

So, do wizards live among humans? The Weasley's house seems very remote, and very...well, apart from muggles. But, for some reason, wizards have to enter the muggle world to get on the train to Hogwarts? Well, they have to go to a muggle train station in order to get to a portal to the wizard train station. Why? Seems an unnecessary trip.

Do they live in our world? Or a parallel world? And why do they have to come into our world only to return back to theirs?

Ideas?

[Ice]

They do live among muggles.The weasleys are just living in an area where there are not much muggles or rather the muggle settlement is a little way off.They certainly do not live in a parallel world.

And the station probably does not allow apparition and cud only be got to by the portal.Obviously they can't apparate in front of muggles into the muggle station so they have to use muggle means.

Does that answer your question?

[Kristin]

Not particularly. You're right, they can't apparate in front of Muggles. But why not apparate in the privacy of your own home? Why must we go to a muggle train station in order to go through a portal to get on a wizard train?

I got some feedback on another website that sounds pretty good. But still, we can't figure out why we must go near the muggles in the first place.

"Some do, some don't. For instance, 12 Grimmauld Place (where the Black family lived) is right in the middle of a muggle neighborhood, but it's magicked so that it only appears to people who know it's there. Same with the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. (Well, to be specific, the Leaky Cauldron appears to people who know it's there. There's a special passcode to get in to Diagon Alley.)

I imagine that some wizards, particularly those who were raised muggle, might be interested in keeping one foot in that world. Not that the Blacks were muggleborn, they're pureblood. And then there's situations like Seamus Finnegan's parents. His mother was a witch who was presumably living in the muggle world, she got involved with and married a muggle, and then they had a wizard son.

You make a fair point about the train station. My guess is, they wanted to avoid building unnecessary structures. As far as I know, the Hogwarts Express uses muggle rail lines until they can't anymore. It's a long train ride from London to the West Highlands. I think they went with Kings Cross as the central boarding for the Hogwarts Express because well, it's in London. So I think the Hogwarts Express train goes as far as it possibly can on pre-existing muggle rail lines, until it has to veer off toward Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. I think it's a matter of practicality. If they can magic a train to run on the tracks with nobody knowing... isn't that much easier than building their own tracks? And if they don't have to build their own tracks, then why should they build a separate station?"

[Ice]

I think you are right about the tracks.But they wud certainly need a separate station as too many students climbing on a train wud raise questions and the muggles wud want to know more about hogwarts.

[AgCl]

Its not a parallel world. Platform 9 3/4 is a concealed area inside kings cross.

Now why do the students need to get to a train in order to go to Hogwarts? Well lets debunk some of the seemingly more efficient options.

1. Apparition- you can't apparate inside Hogwarts or its grounds as Hermione repeatedly said. You also can't apparate if you aren't licensed and you can only apply for that license once you turn 17 so its not an option for most of the kids plus there's SPLINCHING and other possible dangerous disadvantages.

1.1 Side-along apparition- only good for those with wizard parents or guardians who are licensed to apparate.

2.Floo-it would defeat the purpose of putting up all those magical security enchantments outside if the school allowed people to get in through its fireplaces. The baddies are sure to take advantage of it and the faculty have better things to do than guard fireplaces don't you think?

2.1. Floo in Hogsmeade- yeah cause the village people would certainly want random kids popping out of their hearths, and even if they did well remember when Harry accidentally ended up in knockturn alley?

3. Portkeys- not efficient. Imagine the hogwarts population. All those portkeys need to be authorized by the ministry, not to mention the difficulty in distribution and retrieval, activation and timing. You also can't control the number or identity of people who can use a portkey plus it might get lost and fall into the wrong hands and again the faculty have better things to do than go outside hogwarts and organize portkey transport.

4. Brooms, carpets and related transportation devices- are illegal. Too much risk of breaches to the international statue of secrecy and really not everyone's made to ride a broom, right Hermione?

The Hogwarts express might not seem practical at first but it allows for most if not all students (pureblood or mudblood) no matter the parentage to safely get to Hogwarts without endangering their lives or the statute of secrecy. There are also plain clothed ministry officials that keep watch inside kings cross to deal with damage control and other such inconveniences.