Home to Hogwarts and the Next Generation: September First Nineteen Years Later

Enjoy these word games based on that special day in the wizarding world – September 1st, when  students board the Hogwarts Express back to Hogwarts!

Happy September 1st! Every year on this day, Harry Potter fans make time to join their friends on an imagined journey back to Hogwarts. We keep in touch with hashtags like #HomeToHogwarts or #HogwartsExpress, tweeting about the fun on entirely imagined trips aboard the Hogwarts Express and posting pictures of our home-cooked start-of-term feasts.. This year, 2017, is extra-special, because this is the day from the Deathly Hallows chapter, “Nineteen Years Later”, when 11 year old Albus Severus Potter heads off to Hogwarts as a first year.

Albus is Harry and Ginny’s son, and he is joining his older brother, James Sirius, and fellow first year and cousin, Rose Granger-Weasley. The time is nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts, when the Death Eaters were defeated and Voldemort finally died for good. It is so important that J.K. Rowling put this chapter at the end of the book: with this glimpse of nineteen years later, we can see that these war-ravaged people could heal, and build families, and send their children off to their same beloved school.

Lets start with memories of Harry’s first trip to King’s Cross Station and his very first ride aboard the Hogwarts Express!

Crossword puzzle: Harry’s First September First

Travel in Harry’s memories of his very first trip home, to Hogwarts. The fun of this game is in the clues – they are mostly book quotes (sometimes shortened) or feelings shared by fans. And remember what Jo says: “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home”. Play now right here on this page, online at the game site, or play offline by clicking the print button.

Harry Potter: Harry’s First September First » crossword maker

Word Finder: Harry’s First September First

In this game stuffed with words, travel in Harry’s memories of his first September First: getting through Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, riding on the Hogwarts Express, seeing Hogwarts for the first time, making friends, getting sorted, eating the delicious feast, and finally falling to sleep in his four-poster bed. Each time you play, the words will shuffle between dozens of words so the game is always new!  Play on this page or online at the game site.

Harry Potter: Harry’s First September First Word Search » ProProfs Online word search

Two years ago, J.K. Rowling joined in the September 1st twitter celebration by tweeting out an entire narrative of first-year James Sirius Potter being initiated into Hogwarts. Apparently, James takes right after his uncles Fred and George Weasley, and created good-natured havoc from the start. We may be in for an incredible treat this year, because this is THE year, the year at the end of Deathly Hallows when we see the old school friends arrive at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to see their kids off.

During the intervening two decades, the Potters and Weasleys have obviously become an incredibly close family. But there is some darkness: young Albus Severus carries the old wizarding struggles in his very name, as if Gryffindors and Slytherins are still considered adversaries in a fight between light and dark. There has been healing, but humans change slowly, and those perceptions still exist. Albus frets over which House he will be placed in, sure that it will be Slytherin, separating him from his Gryffindor family. Harry helps him accept this possibility in an incredibly tender way. And Albus gets on the train a happier boy, soon to make new friends, maybe even with Draco’s son, Scorpius.

Crossword puzzle: Harry Potter Nineteen Years Later

Join the Weasley and Potter families to send the next generation off to Hogwarts.  The clues are designed to help you remember the very brief glimpse we were given of this day in Deathly Hallows. Play here on this page, online at the game site, or click the print button to play offline.

Harry Potter: Nineteen Years Later » Online Crossword

Word Finder: Harry Potter Nineteen Years Later

Find the family names, worries, and joys of Albus and the rest of the next generation as they head off to Hogwarts. These words are from both the Deathly Hallows book and the movie.  Each time you play, you will get a new set of words. Play right here on this page, or at the game site.

Harry Potter: Nineteen Years Later Word Search » word search generator

Next: The world is dark so here are some lighter Harry Potter moments

Enjoy your #HomeToHogwarts Day! I’ll save a slice of treacle tart just for you!