Underneath a sign saying "Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock", the train waits at the platform--a scarlet steam engine with a string of carriages behind it, long enough to contain all of the Hogwarts students. On the days when the train is leaving for Hogwarts, it gushes sooty steam over Platform Nine and Three Quarters--which is packed with Hogwarts students, their pets, and their parents who have come to take them to the station and say goodbye.
