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harry potter - Do students wear muggle clothing while not in classes at Hogwarts (like they do in the films)?


In the Harry Potter films, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other students wear muggle clothing while not in classes at Hogwarts:


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban cast


Even "purebloods" like Draco Malfoy wear muggle clothes, albeit more expensive and distinguished ones:


Draco Malfoy suit


In the books, do students wear this kind of clothing while not in classes at Hogwarts?



Answer




No, basically never at Hogwarts. In the scene in The Prisoner of Azkaban that you have a picture of in the question, for instance, they were wearing robes. For example, after it's all happened and they're in the hospital wing and Dumbledore hints that they should use the Time-Turner, we have:



But Hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - p.288 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 21, Hermione's Secret



When they go to Hogsmeade at weekends they wear robes. For example, this was just after Harry had come back from Hogsmeade, when he had thrown mud at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy had seen his head in Hogsmeade when his invisibility cloak slipped off:



Harry followed him downstairs, trying to wipe his hands clean on the inside of his robes without Snape noticing.


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - p.208 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 14, Snape's Grudge




We also see them wearing robes during DA meetings, in the evenings after school (although they're in uniform for DA meetings in the films too):



'Well, my dad is very supporting of any anti-Ministry action!' said Luna Lovegood proudly from just behind Harry; evidently she had been eavesdropping on his conversation while Justin Finch-Fletchley attempted to disentangle himself from the robes that had flown up over his head.


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - p.350 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 18, Dumbledore's Army



And during the weekends. They go to see Grawp during the final Quidditch match of the season, which is during the last weekend of May. As they make their way through the forest:



It was a great struggle to keep up with Hagrid, what with branches and thickets of thorn through which Hagrid marched as easily as if they were cobwebs, but which snagged Harry and Hermione's robes, frequently entangling them so severely that they had to stop for minutes at a time to free themselves.


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - p.606 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 30, Grawp




Also they wear robes at Christmas. They took the Polyjuice potion on Christmas day:



His shoulders stretched painfully and a prickling on his forehead told him that hair was creeping down towards his eyebrows; his robes ripped as his chest expanded like a barrel bursting its hoops; his feet were agony in shoes four sizes too small ...


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - p.162 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 12, The Polyjuice Potion



In The Philosopher's Stone they even wore robes for most of the journey home on the Hogwarts Express:



And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ('I always hope they'll forget to give us these,' said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.


Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - p.222 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 17, The Man with Two Faces




In fact, Harry's so used to wearing robes, we get this little aside at St Mungo's, where they wore Muggle clothes in order to blend in on the journey into London:



(Harry wanted to stamp on Ron's foot, but that sort of thing is much harder to bring off unnoticed when you're wearing jeans rather than robes.)


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - p.454 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 23, Christmas on the Closed Ward



This is one of my pet hates about the film franchise, as it happens. Ruins the immersion.


They do, however, wear pyjamas to bed.


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