Harry Potter: All 6 Harry’s Return to Hogwarts Journey, Ranked Worst to Best

Getting to Hogwarts should have been the easy part of Harry Potter’s school year, yet September 1 had an odd habit of putting him through the wringer before he even reached the Great Hall. Across his six years as a Hogwarts student, Harry got lost looking for Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, missed the train entirely, encountered a Dementor, endured romantic embarrassment, and eventually had his nose broken by Draco Malfoy.

There are only six journeys to rank because Harry never returned to Hogwarts as a seventh-year student in Deathly Hallows. His later appearance at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters comes in the epilogue, when he sends his own children to school. Ranking these trips from worst to best comes down to danger, misery, friendship, and how much Harry probably wished he had stayed in bed that morning.

6 Second Year: The Train Leaves Without Him

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Nothing tops Harry’s second journey for sheer catastrophe. Dobby seals the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, leaving Harry and Ron stranded as the Hogwarts Express departs without them. Their brilliant solution is to steal Arthur Weasley’s flying Ford Anglia and drive it all the way to Scotland. It goes about as well as you would expect.

The car’s faulty Invisibility Booster leaves them visible to Muggles, and the journey ends with a crash into the Whomping Willow, which damages the car, breaks Ron’s wand, and earns both boys punishment. Even the official Wizarding World retrospective asks why they did not just send an owl. Fair question. Second year finishes dead last because Harry manages to miss the train and nearly gets himself expelled before classes begin.

5 Sixth Year: Draco Gets His Revenge

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Harry’s final regular Hogwarts Express journey becomes one of his nastiest. Already suspicious of Draco, Harry uses the Invisibility Cloak to hide inside Draco’s compartment and eavesdrop. Draco discovers him after the other students leave, uses the Full Body-Bind Curse, breaks Harry’s nose, and leaves him immobilized beneath the cloak. The official Hogwarts Express quiz confirms Draco breaking Harry’s nose aboard the train.

The book has Nymphadora Tonks rescue Harry and repair his nose, while the Half-Blood Prince film gives that job to Luna Lovegood. Harry’s detective instinct was right about Draco, but getting your face rearranged before dinner is a steep price for vindication.

4 Third Year: Dementors Board the Train

Harry’s third trip starts badly before the train even moves. Arthur Weasley warns him that escaped prisoner Sirius Black may be hunting him, and Ministry cars escort the family to King’s Cross. Then the Hogwarts Express stops. A Dementor enters Harry’s compartment, and Harry hears his mother’s final screams before losing consciousness. Remus Lupin drives the creature away and gives Harry chocolate afterward. This ranks above sixth year only because something good comes from the ordeal: Harry meets Lupin, one of the few Defence Against the Dark Arts professors who treats him with immediate kindness. Still, passing out while reliving your parents’ murder hardly qualifies as pleasant rail travel.

3 Fifth Year: Harry Meets Luna Lovegood

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Harry enters fifth year carrying the knowledge that Voldemort has returned while much of the wizarding world thinks he is lying. Even reaching King’s Cross requires an Order of the Phoenix escort, with Sirius accompanying him disguised as Padfoot. The train ride itself provides one of the series’ best introductions: Luna Lovegood.

It also provides one of Harry’s least glamorous encounters with Cho Chang. Neville’s Mimbulus mimbletonia sprays Stinksap around the compartment just before Cho appears, while Draco needles Harry about Ron and Hermione becoming prefects instead of him. There is embarrassment and plenty of anxiety, but nobody crashes a car, breaks Harry’s nose, or makes him hear Lily Potter scream. By Harry standards, that is practically first class.

2 Fourth Year: A Rarely Normal Journey

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Fourth year deserves second place because almost nothing goes horribly wrong. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have become old hands at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters by now. The official Wizarding World retrospective notes that they casually lean against the magical barrier instead of nervously charging toward it, while conversations around the platform tease the Triwizard Tournament waiting at Hogwarts. Compared with Harry’s other September journeys, that is remarkably civilised.

Of course, the school year waiting on the other side includes dragons, merpeople, a Portkey to a graveyard, and Voldemort’s resurrection. Harry just does not know any of that yet. For a few hours on the train, ignorance truly is bliss.

1 First Year: Harry Finally Finds Home

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Harry’s first journey wins because no later trip carries the same sense of discovery. He arrives at King’s Cross completely baffled by a ticket directing him to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, until Molly Weasley explains how to cross the barrier. Once aboard the Hogwarts Express, everything changes. Once aboard the Hogwarts Express, everything changes. Harry meets Ron, shares a mountain of sweets with him, encounters Hermione and Neville, discovers Chocolate Frogs, and rejects Draco’s offer of friendship.

The best part is what Harry does not know yet. Ron will become his family, Hermione will repeatedly help save his life, and the strange castle waiting at the end of the journey will become the first place he considers home. For that reason, first year takes the crown. Harry begins the day unable to find his platform and ends it surrounded by the people who will define his life.

Which trip would you rank No. 1? Drop your pick below, and follow FandomWire for more Wizarding World rankings.