1. Terrace Dining Room (TDR) vs. the Great Hall
Students at Hogwarts enter their magnificent dining room, the Great Hall, through grandiose double doors. The Great Hall has an enchanted ceiling, which depicts however the sky looks outside. Moreover, plates of delicious food tend to magically appear on the tables and cover every inch of table space. In TDR, we occasionally have curly fries.
2. Tenleytown vs. Hogsmeade
The village of Hogsmeade is the nearby commercial area for Hogwarts students. There's Zonko's, the magical joke shop, the Honeydukes Sweetshop and pubs such as The Hog's Head and The Three Broomsticks. For holiday weekends, Hogwarts students travel to Hogsmeade to gallivant. With a brief shuttle ride to Tenleytown, we muggles fancy our Starbucks drinks, Best Buy gadgets and late-night parties at Guapo's.
3. Former President Ben Ladner vs. Lord Voldemort
Let's just say Ladner had his own "Chamber of Secrets" that even Harry Potter would have eventually found.
4. AU Campus Bookstore vs. Diagon Alley
Hogwarts students purchase their textbooks, personalized wands and other school necessities at Diagon Alley. It is a secret street that requires each student to tap a specific set of bricks on a wall located in London. There's no special way to access the campus bookstore, but judging from the cries of frustration heard there at the beginning of the semester, most of us would rather not enter it anyway.
5. AU Shuttle and Metro vs. Knight Bus and Hogwarts Express
The Knight Bus is a fully enchanted triple-decker bus that moves through the London streets at intense speeds. After all, with the AU shuttle service in mind, speed is much preferred. Another form of transportation for Hogwarts students is the Hogwarts Express, the train that transports students from London to Hogwarts. We are similarly metropolitan, traveling from D.C. to campus on a daily basis via the Metro.
