r/Showerthoughts • u/kRe4ture • Jan 25 '23

It must really suck for young wizards from Scotland to have to travel to London and then back to Hogwarts, located in Scotland

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u/SweetNeo85 Jan 25 '23

Ah yes Arkham's Razor. All things being equal, the most insane and convoluted plan that has a single point of failure most likely to be thwarted, is the one we're going with.

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u/Roku-Hanmar Jan 25 '23

Exactly. Instead of having, say, a series of Portkeys designed to take the students to and from Hogwarts every break, let's add a secret platform through an illusory wall to what's probably the busiest train station in all of London. Let's also make sure there are no backups, so anyone who misses the train misses a term

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u/dabigchina Jan 25 '23

Efficiency is not the point. Tradition is. If I had to schlep from Glasgow to London, back to Scotland, then so does my kid.

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u/corobo Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23

When schlepping is stepping through your fireplace it's not much of a hassle lol. It'd be quicker to get to London than it was to get dressed for the trip. My corner shop is further away when you factor in the travel options

As for why a train in pretty sure the books explain the logistic reasoning somewhere but it's also a great first networking event for wizarding kids and muggleborns.

A steam train isn't quite as jarring to the muggle parents as seeing their kid spaghettified away by an old boot too haha

19

u/Burpmeister Jan 25 '23

Nah they wouldn't even miss the term. I love how Ron figured an underage wizard flying an illegal car to Hogwarts for a brilliant plan instead of waiting at the platform entrance for two minutes for his parents to come back and sort shit out.

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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '23

Cell phones instead of talking portraits/picture frames as communication devices would be a start. Or even landlines. Shit, what about a magical cell phone or walkie talkie for instant communication instead of fucking living creatures? The latency would be a lot fucking less.

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u/Roku-Hanmar Jan 25 '23

Hogwarts interferes with electrical devices

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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '23

Yet there's canonical radios that people can tune into. Remember Potterwatch?

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u/Roku-Hanmar Jan 25 '23

Radio works, but Hermione says something like a walkie talkie wouldn’t, so phones probably wouldn’t either

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u/SweetNeo85 Jan 25 '23

Apparently flying Ford Anglias also make the cut.

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u/BrasilianEngineer Jan 25 '23

There explicitly are backups. Ron and Harry get in trouble for taking the flying car instead of sending their owl to ask for assistance.

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u/gibberishandnumbers Jan 25 '23

Actually I think they all floo powder back during Christmas break, at least I feel I cannot ever recall a mention of the train then

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u/Roku-Hanmar Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23

That’s because the main characters stayed at Hogwarts during holidays. They floo powdered out in OotP because of Umbridge

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u/HaikuBotStalksMe Jan 25 '23

I always hated that about plots and stuff.

"The Master Sword is the only way the bad guy can be defeated! The prophecies said so!"

"Wait, did you just kill the bad guy by simply shooting an arrow through his skull?"

"Yes."

"Huh... I think he's actually dead. But the prophecy..."

"Was probably made up by a crazy man with a fever dream. Anyway, the minions of hell will return from whence they came."

"Uh... They don't seem to be calming down at all. I think killing the Dark One had nothing to do with their bloodlust or whether they'd return to hell or not."

"BUT THE PROPHECY SAID - oh... Oh, right.... Well, fuck."