Getting to Hogwarts

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 104031

Shannon wrote:
The thought that all students would have to go to
Diagon Alley to get their school supplies anyway,
since even in Hogsmeade I do not remember them
saying anything about stores that carry the supplies the
kids would need, would make it seem reasonable that
they travel from Kings Cross to school.  I mean it's
not like in the WW they have to travel as muggles
do, they can apparate and travel by floo and other ways
to get to the area.

Carol responds:
What I wonder is how the pureblood kids get their trunks to and from
King's Cross Station. Even if they're old enough to apparate, you
can't apparate with a trunk (and in many cases, a pet as well). I
don't think you can get to King's Cross using Floo Powder, either, as
there aren't any fireplaces there even if you could "Floo" with a
trunk. And you can't ride a broom in broad daylight with a trunk
hanging from it without calling attention to yourself (the escort at
the beginning of OoP strikes me as one of the most improbable scenes
in any of the books). The Muggleborns and half bloods could travel by
car or taxi and would be dressed like Muggles to blend in, but Alfonso
Cuaron to the contrary, can you imagine Draco and friends in jeans and
a jumper and Lucius or Narcissa in Muggle clothes and driving, say, a
Jaguar? Or the Malfoys subjecting themselves to the indignity of
taking the Knight Bus (in the daytime)? Yes, the Malfoys et al. can
get to *Diagon Alley* by Floo powder if they don't have a trunk to
worry about, but how do they get to and from King's Cross? For that
matter, how do the Weasleys usually do it when they don't rent a taxi
or have the use of Fudge's car?

Carol, who wonders if she's forgetting something or overlooking the
obvious