'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 9¾, 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 9¾ 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.