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It appears that a sizeable number of Hogwarts students must be using King's Cross. So wizards are always traveling to and from the platform 9 3/4 at the start and end of the term of Hogwarts:

Harry's trip:

Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig.

Also, the Weasleys are described:

The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him -- and they had an owl.

So how is it possible that no muggle ever notices the people 'disappearing' through the wall?

What's the probability that no one wonders about this 'weird' looking lot, with their trunks, owls, other pets, broom stick and where they disappear to?

HitchHiker
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    This is the British railway system. It is just not done to comment upon the weird. Keep your upper lip stiff and pretend it never happened. – Chenmunka Aug 09 '15 at 15:21
  • I remember Hogwarts and other places like Quidditch stadiums usually have muggle-repelling charms, but considering all the muggles in King's Cross the answer to this question must be something slightly different. – Ixrec Aug 09 '15 at 15:43
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    In a world where this barely raises an eyebrow, having an owl doesn't even rate a second glance – Valorum Aug 09 '15 at 16:04
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    @Richard - yeah, but dude, that's Japan. That doesn't count, maaan. – Davor Aug 09 '15 at 23:08
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    The answer by Richard seems correct, but @Chenmunka's comment deserves its upvotes. As part of a friend's movie prosthetics project, I was made up in very realistic horror mask, flesh hanging off, even rotting, as if from a terrible accident. I wore it to work in London the next day, 1hr by train. NOBODY made any comment, looked at me directly, or spoke to me about my apparent seeping injuries, though I'm sure most were aware: most were positioned to keep me in line of peripheral sight. If I'd cried for help, they'd have been there; but since I sat quietly, they did not intrude. – Dewi Morgan Aug 10 '15 at 03:57
  • In addition to @Chenmunka answer people are surprsingly 'good' at noticing things without any additional magic involved like not noticing people in gorilla suits and so on. – Maja Piechotka Aug 10 '15 at 07:23
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    Them! Don' listen properly, do they? Don' look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don'. – DavidS Aug 10 '15 at 08:27
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    There is definitely a comment on society from JKR in this, deliberately reflecting @Dewi Morgan's point. It may seem unrealistic, but it's actually the truth that people ignore all sorts, or go home and talk about it for hours but don't say anything at the time (at least the people commuting in and around London). – ThruGog Aug 10 '15 at 09:12
  • Muggle do have noticed : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Platform_Nine_and_Three_Quarters#/media/File:Platform934-2014.JPG – Archemar Aug 10 '15 at 10:12
  • Whenever you ask a question like that, a wizard did it. – AJFaraday Aug 10 '15 at 10:26
  • @Vaishnavee: Your edit to the title doesn't make sense. Muggles don't see platform 9 3/4, so it's not about disappearing from it; it's about disappearing to platform 9 3/4 from platform 10, or reappearing on platform 10 from platform 9 3/4. – chirlu Aug 10 '15 at 11:36
  • oh well as we know the platform and that the people are disappearing, that's why the question arises I think,that's why 9 and 3/4 – HitchHiker Aug 10 '15 at 11:39
  • Because they have an SEP field. (sorry, tried to link the acronym, but couldn't get it formatted correctly.) – LindaJeanne Oct 09 '15 at 13:13
  • As a certain Minister for Magic questions the Muggle PM: would he repeat what happened in his office? Well similar here unless of course there were many more who see it but you have to remember that we all are engrossed in what we’re doing. And who would worry about others when they are travelling even if only for some hours? Not many and they might believe it was their mind playing tricks on them. – Pryftan May 13 '18 at 21:00

2 Answers2

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You have to be discreet about it. If you're not discreet enough, nearby wizards will memory-spell any muggles who noticed you going through.

From the Pottermore article on Kings Cross Station;

On the whole, this has worked well, although there have been minor problems over the ensuing years, such as witches and wizards who have dropped suitcases full of biting spellbooks or newt spleens all over the polished station floor, or else disappeared through the solid barrier a little too loudly. There are usually a number of plain-clothed Ministry of Magic employees on hand to deal with any inconvenient Muggle memories that may need altering at the start and end of each Hogwarts term.

And

Harry had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky bit was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn’t visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn’t hurt, but it had to be done carefully so that none of the Muggles noticed you vanishing.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 5 (The Whomping Willow)

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Valorum
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  • I presume the barrier is only in use a few days a year too. No other trains go from there do they? – ThruGog Aug 09 '15 at 15:57
  • @ThruGog - There's mention of other magical trains and other magical platforms. It's reasonable to assume that the platform is in semi-regular usage. – Valorum Aug 09 '15 at 15:59
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    If this is the case, why didn't one of those plain clothed officers help Harry and Ron when they couldn't go through the barrier in Book 2? They dropped all their belongings quite loudly – user13267 Aug 10 '15 at 02:41
  • @user13267: Because it's the movie industry? – Robert Harvey Aug 10 '15 at 03:03
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    It's the same in the book – user13267 Aug 10 '15 at 03:11
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    @user13267 - Presumably Dobby distracted them. – Valorum Aug 10 '15 at 05:41
  • @Richard That very good point, or the fact that it's not really their job to help troublesome lost kids, but to watch the Muggles closely and carefully. – ThruGog Aug 10 '15 at 09:15
  • The very fact that the kids were lost was the cause for attracting muggles, if they would just let the kids pass though then they wouldn't be able to cause more distractions – user13267 Aug 10 '15 at 10:20
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    @user13267 wasn't the train leaving at that very moment? Those Ministry people were probably leaving as well, happy after another day of boredom. "These kids didn't make it.. oh well, my shift is over, I'm not paid to deal with their crap, GOODBYE" – Petersaber Aug 10 '15 at 11:18
  • They might also think that the weird antics of two 12 year olds would not cause much suspicion and know not to, as Molly said, "Whip your wands out for everything!" – ThruGog Aug 10 '15 at 11:22
  • @user13267 They are not there to help wizards through the wall. They are there to deal with memories of the muggles who observes wizards going through the wall. So when Harry and Ron creates a scene they get far to busy doing their actual job to do the courtesy of helping Harry. – Taemyr Aug 10 '15 at 11:37
  • +1 for using Pottermore as your (very correct) source! :P – Slytherincess Aug 10 '15 at 12:31
  • @ThruGog See how well that went didn’t they? You know when a certain car takes flight... – Pryftan May 13 '18 at 21:03
  • I think it is also worth noting what Stan Shunpike said about muggles: "they don't notice anything, do they" (AFAIR). Sudden changes are not readily noticed by real-life humans. It is called change blindness. See also the famous door experiment (via NOVA special) and the Amazing Color-Changing Card Trick. – Dúthomhas May 14 '18 at 03:31
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Probably for the same reason they don't notice the Knight Bus, as explained by Stan Shunpike in Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter Three:

"How come the Muggles don't hear the bus?" said Harry.

"Them!" said Stan contemptuously. "Don' listen properly, do they? Don' look properly either. Never notice nuffink, the don'."

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