WIZARD NEWS EXCLUSIVE

by Marjorie Dawson, Wizard News UK Correspondent

I have just travelled up on the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Fort William, Scotland and onward into Hogwarts Country. As we sat breakfasting in the restaurant car enjoying the kind of countryside many of you will have seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I got talking to a member of the staff (who wishes to remain anonymous).

We swept across the misty and desolate Rannoch Moor to Fort William through a sweeping horseshoe curve of track as my informant having spotted my Harry Potter t-shirt, badges etc., told me that there was a strong rumour that the line from Fort William to Mallaig was to be closed for a week at the end of September. This, of course, is the line famously used for filming, most memorably, the scary scene with Dementors in the Prisoner of Azkaban.

He said that they might be filming the 'dragon scene' which led to much conjecture on our part about whether this is Harry's Dragon task or Harry following Hagrid to see the dragons before the task. As the countryside is full of magnificent green sweeping mountains our first bets were on the former.

A further report with pictures on our trip on the 'Harry Potter' stream train will follow early next week.

Published August 27, 2004

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