'Harry Potter' prank proves what happens when you're kicked out of Hogwarts
Though the Harry Potter film franchise concluded in 2011, fans have had numerous subsequent opportunities to re-immerse themselves in the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling. Those include catching the two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London ahead of its Broadway run, visiting the Potter-themed amusement park attractions at Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood, and checking out “Warner Bros. Studio Tour London — the Making of Harry Potter?,” which features a wide assortment of props and items from the franchise’s production at the very spot where the movies were shot. In fact, the one thing die-hards haven’t experienced is the sensation of being denied entry into the universe of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and He Who Must Not Be Named — until now.
At London’s King’s Cross Station, Potterheads can actually visit the famed Platform 9?, the secret entryway to the Hogwarts Express that takes magical students to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which exists as an attraction boasting a cart in the process of disappearing into a brick wall. And in a new video uploaded to YouTube by Pranks For Laughs (above), one over-eager visitor to that site learns, the very hard way, that if you’ve been expelled from the legendary institution — or, one would assume, never accepted into it in the first place — the price for trying to access Platform 9? is serious, bone-rattling pain.
Let this be a lesson to anyone eager to follow in Harry’s literal footsteps: Make sure you’ve checked with Hogwarts’ admissions office before trying to make a last-second mad dash to catch the Hogwarts Express. Your shoulder will thank you.
