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 as the possibility of creating more than one Horcrux. In "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", Slughorn briefly appears with other teachers assembling to fight Death Eaters. As Snape is now Headmaster, Slughorn has again assumed the post of Head of Slytherin. Though he is initially hesitant to join in the Battle of Hogwarts and is assumed to have evacuated with his house, he returns to the fray later on. It is revealed that he has not fled, but has recruited a large number of reinforcements to fight for Hogwarts. He then summons up the courage to duel Voldemort, alongside