Cosy nights in the common room
We don’t know about you, but when the long nights start drawing in, we find there is nothing better than curling up with a good book (any Harry Potter will do) in front of a roaring fire. The Hogwarts common rooms, particularly the Gryffindor one, are the perfect place to do that. Just imagine sitting in one of the squashy armchairs, surrounded by the autumnal red and gold Gryffindor colours whilst drinking a Butterbeer – what could be better? Harry certainly found the common room to be an inviting space and spent plenty of chilly evenings tucked up there with Ron and Hermione. No matter whether they were doing homework, chatting or playing wizard chess – this space was always warm and welcoming.
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Autumn afternoons by the lake
The Hogwarts grounds in autumn must be quite something to behold. We can imagine that the trees – even the Whomping Willow – would be gorgeous at this time of year when the leaves changed from green to a variety of russet hues. But there is one particular spot where we would like to spend a crisp afternoon – the lake. With the autumn sunshine glistening on its surface, we would just be happy to stand and admire it… and play spot the giant squid. In Order of the Phoenix, Harry and Ron found that hanging out there on just such an occasion made doing homework much more bearable. Hermione had done hers (of course) so she spent a pleasant day knitting hats and scarves for the house-elves of Hogwarts.
The start-of-term feast
Every year when students arrived back at Hogwarts for the start of the autumn term, they were greeted with a glorious banquet (after the Sorting Ceremony had taken place of course). The spread that was laid out was enough to make anyone’s mouth water. There was everything from roast chicken to Yorkshire puddings to treacle tart and even a dish of, well, mint humbugs. It was a feast that was perfect for warming your heart and your stomach on a chilly autumn evening. We have a particular soft spot for Harry’s first ever banquet at the wizarding school. Finally, after going hungry at Privet Drive, he could eat as much as he wanted while taking in the surroundings of his brand-new home – Hogwarts.
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And the Hallowe’en feast… in fact all things Hallowe’en!
Autumn can only mean one thing and that’s Hallowe’en! And we couldn’t forget the Hallowe’en feast. This was another event in the autumn term that had more food than you can shake a wand at. In fact, we think the whole of Hallowe’en at Hogwarts would be absolutely brilliant – when there wasn’t a troll prowling around the dungeons or a Deathday party for Nearly Headless Nick which you were obliged to attend. The castle was the perfect setting for all the festivities with its ghosts, floating pumpkins and feast full of delicious treats. Did we mention the live bats? For Hallowe’en, thousands of live bats would swoop all around the Great Hall adding to the overall spookiness of Hallowe’en at Hogwarts.
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Strolling by the pumpkin patch
Pumpkins and autumn are the perfect pair – and not just for Hallowe’en. Hogwarts had an abundance of them with Hagrid as the proud owner of a bountiful pumpkin patch. And his pumpkins weren’t just any old pumpkins, they were mighty orange giants that swelled to the size of garden sheds – competition winning pumpkins if you ask us. We might have said pumpkin too many times... Anyway, during the autumn we would love nothing more than to stroll through the patch, wearing our cosiest Weasley jumper whilst sipping on a warming hot chocolate. Now that’s how you do autumn.
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