#*underage

The incident earlier this year which resulted in Hogwarts’ temporary closure brought to light an issue which has been prevalent for many years: underage muggleborns living out of London struggle to get to the city. They manage, despite the costs and difficulties, for the few times a year they have to for school supplies and the Hogwarts Express, but this year some were expected to go into the Ministry every day for lessons. Fifth year students, due to take their OWLs, are fifteen or sixteen, making them underage, but it was still vital they made it to London every day should they want to study everything in time for their exams.

This left them with a couple of options: spend the entire time living with friends (either who had access to floo or who lived in London anyway); or commute every day. Muggle transport, for most, would be out of the question because they would end up spending too much of their day travelling. They cannot apparate or floo, unless they happen to live close to somewhere else on the floo network. The Knight bus has various issues, from its capacity, to the price (perhaps unmanageable for teenagers with no income), to the non-fixed timetable. As for portkeys - they seem the best option, but does the Ministry really need to spend so much of its time setting up portkeys for muggleborns to be able to move around the country? After all, even if they can authorise them easily, somebody of age needs to cast the spell to set it up.