Hogwarts the Hogwarts Express that students take at the start of each school year. Students board the train from the also fictional and hidden Platform 9¾ at King's Cross station in London. The train arrives near Hogwarts, some time after nightfall. From there, first-year students are accompanied by the "Keeper of the Keys, Game and Grounds" (which was Hagrid during the first novel) to small boats, which magically sail across the lake and get them near the entrance of Hogwarts. The older students ride up to the castle in carriages pulled by creatures called Thestrals. When the first-year students initially arrive
Hogwarts staff there is nothing particularly magical about Mrs Norris, other than her being "just an intelligent (and unpleasant) cat." It's the ambition of many Hogwarts students to "give her a good kick". In the "Chamber of Secrets" incident, Mrs Norris is temporarily petrified by the Basilisk, which causes Filch extreme distress. David Bradley portrays Filch in the film series. Mrs Norris was played by a Maine Coon cat named Pebbles. Filius Flitwick is the Charms Master at Hogwarts and the head of Ravenclaw house. He is a very short, dwarf-like person. In "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" he uses his