Books

J.K. Rowling Got Her #BackToHogwarts Tweet Wrong

by Emma Oulton

If you were on social media bright and early this morning, you might have seen J.K. Rowling make a pretty slip-up. Usually the Queen of all things Harry Potter canon, J.K. Rowling got the dates wrong in her #BackToHogwarts tweet — by a whole year. Today is September 1st, which we all know is the first day of term at Hogwarts. Young witches and wizards across the U.K. are currently traveling up the country on the Hogwarts Express, including James Sirius Potter, who's returning for his second year at the school of witchcraft and wizardry. His younger brother Albus, on the other hand, has another year to wait — which J.K. Rowling somehow forgot.

In her tweet this morning, which she has since deleted, J.K. Rowling said "If you're at King's Cross, the Potter, Granger-Weasley and Malfoy families are there too. Albus Severus starts school today. #19YearsLater." Fans got very excited imagining the opening scene of The Cursed Child playing out at King's Cross right now, and I fell for it along with everyone else — until eagle-eyed fans pointed out that this wasn't quite true. Albus's first day, which we see in the Deathly Hallows epilogue, takes place September 1st 2017. Whoops.

After her devoted fans corrected her, J.K. Rowling admitted her mistake. With all the Cursed Child hype going on, it's easy to understand how she got ahead of herself — but nothing gets past true Potterheads. Albus Severus, we'll see you on Platform 9 and 3/4 next year.