Raid on the Hogwarts Express

"Hey, losers. He isn't here."

- Neville Longbottom faces the Death Eaters

Shortly after the Death Eater take-over of the Ministry of Magic, they conducted a raid on the Hogwarts Express in order to capture Harry Potter. The Death Eaters stopped the train while en route to Hogwarts Castle, in Scotland on 1 September, 1997, but found nothing but other Hogwarts students, as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were (at the time) in hiding at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Prelude
"Effectively, [Voldemort] is the Minister, but why should he sit behind a desk at the Ministry? His puppet, Thicknesse, is taking care of everyday business, leaving Voldemort free to extend his power beyond the Ministry. Naturally many people have deduced what has happened: There has been such a dramatic change in Ministry policy in the last few days, and many are whispering that Voldemort must be behind it. […]"

- Harry Potter

During the height of the Second Wizarding War, on 1 August, 1997, Lord Voldemort's Death Eater managed to stage a "smooth and virtually silent" coup at the Ministry of Magic, by Imperiusing several high-ranking Ministry officials. Minister Rufus Scrimgeour was killed, and replaced by the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Pius Thicknesse, who was under Death Eater control.

There was a "dramatic change" in Ministry policy following the coup, so that it followed the Death Eaters ideology. Harry Potter, "The Boy Who Lived", was (under the premise of involvement in Albus Dumbledore's murder) decreed "Undesirable No. 1", the price on his head and wand reached, in late March of 1998, two-hundred thousand Galleons.

The raid


On 1 September, 1997, three male Death Eaters Apparated onto the railway tracks as the Hogwarts Express made its way through the British countryside heading towards Hogwarts Castle. One of them stopped the train with a wandless spell, then they boarded the student carriages. Crossing the aisles of the carriages, the Death Eaters were subject of the students stares and the odd comment "My father will hear about this", which they ignored. As they reached the end of the train, Neville Longbottom stood to face them, calling them losers and stating that, given the situation, Harry was not there going to Hogwarts.