book report harry potter and the philosopher's stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

By j.k. rowling.

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Summary

The novel opens with a description of the Dursley family, a middle-class family that lives in Little Whinging, Surrey. Vernon and Petunia Dursley are constantly worried that someone will find out about Petunia’s decidedly “unDursleyish” witch sister, Lily, and their worries are justified when Lily’s infant son, Harry, is left on their doorstep. Lily and her husband, James Potter , had been murdered by the dark wizard, Voldemort , but when Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, his power somehow broke. Harry becomes the only living person ever to survive the killing curse, and the only sign of his encounter with Voldemort is a unique lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Because Harry does not have any other living relatives, Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, decides to leave him with the Dursleys until he is old enough to attend Hogwarts.

After ten years, Harry has grown to become a pale, skinny boy with black hair that sticks up all over the place and bright green eyes. From a young age, Harry is told that his parents were killed in a car crash but has no other information about them, not even a photograph. Harry’s cousin Dudley dominates the household, bullying Harry with his gang of friends and being spoiled rotten by Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. While Dudley has two bedrooms– one for his bed and one for all of his broken toys – Harry is relegated to the small cupboard under the stairs. Although he strives to avoid attracting attention, Harry cannot deny that strange things often happen around him. Once Aunt Petunia cut off all of his hair in a fit of frustration, and it grew back to its original length in time for school the next day. Another time, Harry was being chased by Dudley’s gang and suddenly found himself on the kitchen roof.

On Dudley’s eleventh birthday, Harry accompanies the family and Dudley’s best friend, Piers Polkiss , to the zoo. While Harry is in the reptile house, the glass front of the boa constrictor cage suddenly vanishes. Harry is unable to explain the incident, but Uncle Vernon blames him anyway and restricts him to the cupboard under the stairs until the summer holidays. One day, mysterious letters begin to arrive for Harry. Uncle Vernon refuses to let Harry read the letter but tells him that it was addressed to him by mistake. Over the next few days, more and more of the letters arrive in the house, but Uncle Vernon keeps Harry from intercepting any of them. In an extreme effort to escape from the letters, Uncle Vernon takes the family to a desolate shack on an island on the night before Harry’s eleventh birthday.

As the clock strikes midnight and Harry wishes himself a silent “Harry Birthday,” there is a loud bang on the door and Hagrid enters. Hagrid introduces himself as the Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts and then explains that Harry is a wizard who has been admitted to Hogwarts in order to study magic. Harry discovers that the Dursleys have always been aware of his magical abilities but have attempted to stifle them and make him “normal.” Moreover, Harry learns the truth about his parents’ murder by Voldemort.

The following day, Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley in London to shop for school supplies. Their first stop is the wizarding bank, Gringotts, where Harry is shown to his family vault and realizes that his parents have left him with a comfortable fortune of wizarding gold. During their trip to the bank, Hagrid makes a stop at Vault 713 and removes a mysterious package: Hogwarts business for Dumbledore, he explains. After the bank, Harry visits Madam Malkin ’s Robes for All Occasions for his plain black school robes and Flourish and Blotts for his magical school textbooks, as well as other shops for parchment and potion ingredients. Hagrid buys Harry a snowy owl as a birthday present, and Harry decides to name her Hedwig . Their last stop in Diagon Alley is Ollivander’s, where Harry purchases a magic wand that contains a matching core to the evil Voldemort’s wand.

A month later, Harry leaves Little Whinging to catch the Hogwarts Express, which leaves King’s Cross Station from Platform Nine and Three-quarters. At first, he is uncertain how to access the wizard platform, but he receives help from Molly Weasley , who shows him how to reach the train. While on the train, Harry befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger , two first-year students with their own insecurities about entering Hogwarts: as the youngest of five brothers who have achieved success at Hogwarts, Ron worries about distinguishing himself, while Hermione is anxious about her background as a Muggle-born. Harry also meets Neville Longbottom , a slightly dopey first-year with a pet toad named Trevor , and Draco Malfoy , an unpleasant student who arrogantly offers to advise Harry on who to be friends with.

When the train arrives at Hogwarts, the students immediately file into the dining hall to be “sorted,” or assigned to one of the four houses of Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Harry worries that he will be sorted into Voldemort’s old house, Slytherin, and he makes a special request to the Sorting Hat to be assigned to any other house. The Sorting Hat considers carefully but ultimately places Harry (as well as Ron and Hermione) in Gryffindor House.

As the school year begins, Harry receives more attention than he ever has before, especially when the other students catch sight of his lightning bolt-shaped scar. Although most of his classes are enjoyable, Professor Snape , the potions instructor, seems determined to dislike Harry, and Harry notices that his scar seems to prickle whenever Snape glares at him. After their first potions lesson, Harry and Ron decide to visit Hagrid at his cottage near the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid inadvertently reveals that Vault 713, the Gringotts vault containing the mysterious package, was broken into shortly after Harry and Hagrid’s visit to Diagon Alley.

During their first flying lesson, Neville breaks his wrist and must be taken to the hospital wing by the instructor. Malfoy grabs Neville’s Remembrall—forgotten after his injury—and flies into the air with it. Harry flies after Malfoy to retrieve Neville’s toy and, when Malfoy throws the Remembrall to the ground, makes a spectacular dive to catch the Remembrall mere inches from the ground. Professor McGonagall observes Harry’s skilled flying and, instead of punishing him for breaking the rules, sets him up to play Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Malfoy arranges a midnight duel with Harry to settle the score, and Ron, Hermione, and Neville accompany him to make sure that he stays out of trouble. The four accidentally enter a forbidden corridor and come across a three-legged dog standing guard over a trapdoor. They leave the corridor quickly, but not before Harry has concluded that the dog is guarding the mysterious package from Vault 713.

On Halloween, the faculty is alerted of a wayward troll in the school and escort the students back to their houses. Harry and Ron sneak away to find Hermione, who is in the girl’s bathroom and missed the warning. After inadvertently locking the troll in the girl’s bathroom with Hermione, Ron and Harry knock the troll unconscious. Hermione takes the blame for the battle, and the three become fast friends. During Harry’s first Quidditch match, his broom is jinxed by a mysterious source. Hermione and Ron assume that Snape is jinxing Harry after Hermione sees Snape muttering to himself. She sets Snape’s robes on fire in time for Harry to regain control of his broom and win the game with a spectacular catch.

Harry stays at Hogwarts with Ron over the Christmas holidays and spends time playing wizard’s chess and researching Nicolas Flamel , who Hagrid accidentally mentioned in connection with the package from Vault 713. On Christmas morning, Harry is surprised to receive numerous presents, including a rare invisibility cloak. The note accompanying the cloak says that it belonged to Harry’s father. That night, Harry decides to try out his invisibility cloak and comes across a large mirror in the middle of a room. When he looks in the mirror, he sees his dead parents and other unknown relatives staring back at him. The next night, Harry rushes back to the room to see his family in the mirror and is surprised by Professor Dumbledore , who has been waiting for him. Dumbledore explains that the Mirror of Erised reveals the deepest desires of a person’s heart but cannot give truth or knowledge. Dumbledore also tells Harry that the mirror will be moved to a new location the following day, and Harry should not try to find it again.

After the holidays end, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally discover the identity of Nicolas Flamel: he is the only known maker of the Sorcerer’s Stone, which produces the elixir of life. They realize that the three-headed dog is guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Harry begins to suspect that Snape is planning to steal it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione also discover that Hagrid is raising an illegal dragon that was given to him by a mysterious stranger in a bar in exchange for information about the three-headed dog. Harry and Hermione decide to smuggle the dragon to Ron’s brother, Charlie, who works with dragons in Romania, but are caught just after handing off the dragon to one of Charlie’s friends.

As punishment for disobeying school curfew, Harry and Hermione (as well as Malfoy and Neville, who were also out of bed at the time) are sent into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid to locate a wounded unicorn. When the group splits into two, Harry and Malfoy come across the body of the unicorn just as a hooded figure crawls toward it and starts to drink its blood. Malfoy screams and runs away, but Harry is frozen in place by an agonizing pain that is suddenly spreading from his scar. As the hooded figure moves toward him, a centaur gallops in front of Harry protectively and the figure disappears. The centaur suggests that the hooded figure was Voldemort and that he drank the unicorn’s blood in order to stay alive until he can steal the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry decides to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone before Voldemort can. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sneak off to the forbidden corridor and get past the three-headed dog by lulling it to sleep with music. Once through the trap door, they land on Devil’s Snare, the first of several challenges put in place by the Hogwart’s teachers. As the plant’s snake-like tendrils threatened to strangle Ron and Harry, Hermione uses magical fire to repel the plant and break them free. The next challenge is to pass through a room filled with hundreds of small flying keys. Harry flies on a broomstick to find the silver key that matches the lock on the door and finally snatches it out of the swarm. The door opens to reveal a giant wizard’s chessboard. An expert chess player, Ron takes the lead in this challenge and ultimately sacrifices himself in order to allow Harry and Hermione to reach the next challenge. When Harry and Hermione step into the next room, they are instantly surrounded by flames and faced with a complex riddle of poisonous potions. Hermione rationally solves the riddle and gives Harry the potion needed to travel to the next room and the final challenge while she returns to help Ron.

In the final chamber, Harry is surprised to find neither Snape nor Voldemort, but Professor Quirrell , the meek-tempered teacher of Defense against the Dark Arts, and the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell reveals that he, not Snape, has been Voldemort’s servant all along: Quirrell jinxed Harry’s broom during the Quidditch match and drank the unicorn’s blood in the Forbidden Forest. Now, in the final challenge, Quirrell needs only to retrieve the Sorcerer’s Stone from within the Mirror of Erised. He asks his master for help, and Harry hears a disembodied voice speak from within Quirrell, telling him to use Harry to get to it. Quirrell stands Harry in front of the mirror and orders him to tell him what he sees. Determined to keep the Stone from falling into Voldemort’s hands, Harry lies and tells Quirrell that he sees himself winning the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor. He then actually sees himself holding the Sorcerer’s Stone and putting it in his pocket. Realizing that the Stone is now in his pocket, Harry tries to stall for time until he can escape. Quirrell removes his turban and reveals Voldemort’s face emerging from the back of his head. Voldemort speaks directly to Harry, taunting him about the death of his parents, and then orders Quirrell to kill him. When Quirrell tries to touch Harry, his skin blisters and, though Harry is in excruciating pain from his scar, he forces the contact with Quirrell. With Voldemort’s screams of anger echoing in his head, Harry finally passes out.

When Harry wakes up, he finds himself in the hospital wing with Dumbledore. Dumbledore found Harry just in time to keep Quirrell from killing him, though Voldemort escaped once again. Dumbledore explains that Quirrell was unable to touch Harry’s skin because of his mother’s love: when Lily Potter sacrificed herself for him, she left Harry with an ancient magical protection. He knew that only Harry would be able to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised because, unlike Quirrell and Voldemort, Harry wanted to find the Stone but did not want to use it. Although Voldemort was not destroyed, Harry’s actions have kept him from regaining power for now.

At the end of the year banquet, the members of Slytherin House are celebrating their victory of the House Cup for the seventh straight year. Unexpectedly, Dumbledore awards last-minute points to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, which gives Gryffindor the edge over Slytherin. Harry considers it to be the best night of his life and returns to spend the summer with the Dursleys content in the friendships that he has made at Hogwarts.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Who is the only person Voldemort is afraid of?

Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, is Voldemort's only feared enemy.

What does Hagrid bring for Harry when he first time meet?

When Hagrid first meets Harry Potter he brings him a cake and a letter inviting him to attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.The cake is a special treat for Harry's eleventh birthday,and the letter explains that Harry is a Wizard and...

Harry Potter Short Questions

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Study Guide for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (also Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) study guide contains a biography of J.K. Rowling, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• Character List

Essays for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (also Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

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Wikipedia Entries for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

• Introduction
• Development, publication and reception
• Style and themes

• In My Own Words
• Younger Readers

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

When mysterious letters start arriving on his doorstep, Harry Potter has never heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

They are swiftly confiscated by his aunt and uncle.

Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a strange man bursts in with some important news: Harry Potter is a wizard and has been awarded a place to study at Hogwarts.

And so the first of the Harry Potter  adventures is set to begin.

Publishers: UK Print – Bloomsbury US Print – Scholastic eBook –  Pottermore Digital Audiobook – Pottermore UK Illustrated – Bloomsbury US Illustrated – Scholastic UK MinaLima edition – Bloomsbury US MinaLima edition – Scholastic

Privacy Overview

A review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone By J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone By J. K. Rowling Bloomsbury Pub Ltd Paperback: 224 pages, Feb 2000, ISBN-13: 978-0747532743

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling is a book about bravery and courage. As Professor Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, says “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”

I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it for muggles aged eleven and up. This is the first in the seven book Harry Potter series. I think readers must read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone before reading the other books in the series, as this book sets the scene for the Harry Potter world.

As the title suggests, the main character in this book is Harry James Potter, also known as the boy who lived. The book follows Harry in his first year at Hogwarts, where he meets Hermione Jean Granger, a genius, and Ronald Bilius Weasley, a red head with six siblings.

When he was just a baby, Harry’s parents were killed by a Dark Arts wizard named Voldemort. Voldemort also tried to kill Harry but failed, leaving Harry with a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead, and giving him the title the boy who lived. On the night of his parents’ death, Harry was placed on the doorstep of his aunt and uncle, the Dursley’s, much to their displeasure.

“Harry – yer a wizard” Harry was told on his eleventh birthday. With this news, he left the Dursley’s grasp for Hogwarts.

Harry, Ron and Hermione discover that in a room in the Forbidden Corridor on the third floor at Hogwarts, covered by spells and curses, lays the one and only Philosopher’s Stone – a stone that can transform any metal into pure gold and also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. During his time at Hogwarts, Harry develops the feeling that his potions teacher Professor Snape hates him, and has a gut feeling that Snape will try and steal the stone. One night, Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak up to the Forbidden Corridor to get the stone before Snape does. The trio pass through challenging obstacles. In the end, Harry has to finish the mission on his own and to his surprise, it’s not at all what he expected.

The theme of this story is magic and mystery. Nothing is as it seems, with changes at every turn.

This book is unlike any other; J. K. Rowling has opened the door to a whole new world of reading. Those readers who enjoy the Scarlet and Ivy series by Sophie Cleverly should also enjoy the Harry Potter series.

About the reviewer: Cleo was Commended in the 2019 Hunter Writers’ Centre/Compulsive Reader Review competition. She is in Grade 6 and her favourite subjects are novel study, reading groups and writing. Cleo has participated in the Premier’s Reading Challenge since she started school. Cleo plays as the Goal Shooter and Goal Attack in her local netball team, which she loves. Cleo’s dream is to have a dog and she is yet to know what she wants to be in the future.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the first in the series of Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling. It was published in the U.S. as  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone a year after being published in the UK.

First British printing: July 1, 1997, Bloomsbury Books

First American printing: September 1, 1999, Scholastic, Arthur A. Levine Books U.S. illustrations by Mary GrandPré, 1998

• day by day calendar of events in the book
• differences between the British and American versions
• edits and changes to the text

Reader’s Guide to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone:

Follow the links for chapter-by chapter guides with notes and commentary

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived

In which we meet the Dursleys and learn of the peculiar happenings surrounding the arrival of Harry Potter on their doorstep including a conversation between Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall.

Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass

In which is related the sad circumstances under which Harry has lived for the past ten years and of a trip to the zoo that goes awry.

Chapter 3: The Letters from No One

In which Dudley gets his new uniform and a letter arrives for Harry, which Uncle Vernon destroys – prompting a veritable deluge of letters over the next few days. Uncle Vernon then attempts to outrun the delivery of the letters and eventually takes his family to an abandoned hut on an island in the ocean.

Chapter 4: The Keeper of the Keys

In which Hagrid arrives at the hut and informs Harry that he is a wizard and has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry also learns the truth about the deaths of his parents and the origin of the scar on his forehead, much to the chagrin of his uncle.

Chapter 5: Diagon Alley

In which Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley in London to retrieve his inheritance and buy his school supplies, including a wand and Hedwig, a snowy owl. At the same time Hagrid gets a secret package from Gringotts vault 713, Harry meets Draco Malfoy, and Hagrid gives Harry his tickets for the Hogwarts Express.

Chapter 6: The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

In which Uncle Vernon takes Harry to King’s Cross Station and leaves him there. Harry meets the Weasleys, who help him get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters and settled on the train. Here he gets to know Ron and meets Hermione as the train rumbles to Hogwarts. Upon reaching the school they are met by Hagrid and the First Years are taken by boat to the castle.

Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat

In which Professor McGonagall tells the first-years a bit about the school and they are sorted into houses by the Sorting Hat. Then Dumbledore welcomes then, they have a feast and find their dormitory for their first night at Hogwarts.

Chapter 8: The Potions Master

In which Harry is pointed out and stared at by everyone in the school as he starts his first day of classes and meets his teachers, visits Hagrid and learns about the Gringotts break-in.

Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel

In which Gryffindor and Slytherin have flying lessons together, Neville injures himself on his broom, and Harry and Draco fight it out on brooms over Neville’s Remembrall, resulting in Harry being made Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Later, Draco challenges Harry to a wizard’s duel but instead of dueling he tells Filch in hopes of Harry being caught and expelled. Harry and his friends evade Filch and after encountering Fluffy, the three-headed dog, are safely back in their dormitory.

Chapter 10: Hallowe’en

In which Harry receives a Nimbus 2000 broom, learns the rules of Quidditch and begins to practice. On Hallowe’en Hermione masters levitation in Charms class but the remarks of a jealous Ron send her in tears to the girls’ bathroom, where she is trapped with a troll. Harry and Ron run to her rescue and defeat the troll. Hermione tells a lie to keep them out of trouble and the three become friends.

Chapter 11: Quidditch

In which Snape takes Harry’s book, leading to Harry seeing Snape’s injured leg. Harry’s first Quidditch match against Slytherin in which someone jinxes his broom but he catches the Snitch and wins anyway. Hagrid later lets a secret slip.

Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised

In which Harry, Ron and Hermione start searching the library for facts on Flamel, the school empties for Christmas, Ron teaches Harry wizard chess, Harry gets his father’s invisibility cloak for Christmas, tries it out at night and finds the Mirror of Erised, sees his family and is cautioned by Dumbledore.

Chapter 13: Nicolas Flamel

In which Harry learns that Snape will referee the next Quidditch match, Flamel is found, Gryffindor wins over Hufflepuff when Harry grabs the snitch after only five minutes.Harry follows Snape into the Forbidden Forest where he meets Quirrell and they speak of the Philosopher’s Stone.

Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback

In which Hermione starts revising, the teachers pile on extra homework, Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Hagrid, discover he has a dragon’s egg, and later watch it hatch. As the dragon grows, it becomes harder to hide the illegal pet, until Charlie Weasley agrees to have it sent to him in Romania. Norbert is shipped off from the tallest tower, but Harry and Hermione are caught by Filch on their way back to their dorm.

Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest

In which Harry’s popularity slips when his escapades lose his house 150 points, he overhears another conversation, and they serve detention with Hagrid who takes them to the Forbidden Forest in search of a wounded unicorn, which they find dead. Harry is rescued from Voldemort by a centaur.

Chapter 16: Through the Trapdoor

In which the students begin their exams, Hagrid lets slip how to control Fluffy, Harry, Ron and Hermione try to warn Dumbledore but he has been summoned away. Fearful that Snape is about to make his move to get the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to go after it themselves. Under the invisibility cloak they make their way to Fluffy, put him to sleep and go down the trapdoor, past plants, chessmen, and potions.

Chapter 17: The Man with Two Faces

In which Harry discovers it is Quirrell who is after the Stone and serving Voldemort, not Snape. Quirrell tries to use the Mirror of Erised to find the Stone but it gives it to Harry. Voldemort knows this and as part of Quirrell orders the professor to kill Harry, who blacks out in the struggle. He awakes in a hospital bed and hears many things from Dumbledore. At the end of year banquet Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup.

Original Bloomsbury cover art:

Original Scholastic cover art:

The U.S. cover was painted by Mary GrandPré. It shows Harry about to catch the Snitch, with other Quidditch players in the far distant background. Hogwarts castle appears behind Harryand the columns through which he is flying, and Fluffy’s three vicious heads are visible in an opening in the castle wall. In the distance the forest’s pointed pine trees mirror the pointed towers of the castle, while a unicorn gallops by. It is this image of Harry — wearing a striped Muggle shirt, jeans, and trainers and with a simple cape to indicate robes, that is most familiar to fans, at least in the U.S. There are patterns in the columns, but they are very difficult to make out. If they are supposed to be actual images of things, they are too distorted to be recognizable.

Title pages:

Pertinent text from the title pages:

First published in Great Britain in 1997 Copyright Text Joanne Rowling 1997 Copyright cover illustration Thomas Taylor 1997

Frontispiece (US edition):

Calendar and Dates

The story starts on 1 November 1981, then jumps to 1991, where we follow Harry through his first year at Hogwarts and to his journey back to London at the end of June, 1992.

Dedication: For Jessica, who loves stories, For Anne, who loved them too; And for Di, who heard this one first.

Jessica is Rowling's daughter, Anne is her late mother, and Di is her sister.

Interesting facts and notes

Facts and trivia:

The title refers to a stone sought after by alchemists, a stone which was reputed to turn other metals into gold and to grant immortality.

The U.S. title is changed to  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Comments by Rowling about the book:

Q: Do you rewrite a lot? A: A huge amount. Only once have I sat down, written something end to end, and let it stand. That was the chapter inPhilosopher's Stone when Harry learns to fly. I remember vividly - the old story we've heard a million times - my daughter fell asleep, it was a beautifully sunny day, I sat in a café, and wrote that chapter from beginning to end. And I think I changed two words. That's very unusual for me (Nr).

Q: Do you have a favorite passage from one of your books? A: Hard to choose. I like chapter twelve of Sorcerer's Stone (The Mirror of Erised), and I am proud of the ending of Goblet of Fire (Sch2).

Why is the name different in the U.S.?

Q: Does it bother you that in America they changed the names of your books? A: They changed the first title, but with my consent to be honest. I wish I hadn't agreed now but it was my first book, and I was so grateful that anyone was publishing me I wanted to keep them happy (CR).

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1997 Gold Medal 9-11 years, FCBG Children's Book Award 1997 Overall winner and Longer Novel Category winner, Birmingham Cable Children's Book Award 1997, Young Telegraph Paperback of the Year 1998, British Book Awards 1997 Children's Book of the Year, Sheffield Children's Book Award 1998, Whitaker's Platinum Book Award 2001

Characters Introduced

• Malfoy family

From the Web

Pensieve (comments).

Tags: beginnings friendship learning return surprises

Editor: Steve VanderArk

• October 31st, 1981 : Defeat of Voldemort; James and Lily Potter are killed
• July 29th, 1991 : A barrage of letters drives the Dursleys from their home
• July 31st, 1991 : Hagrid arrives at the hut-on-the-rock
• July 31st, 1991 : Harry's first visit to Diagon Alley
• July 31st, 1991 : Harry and Hagrid visit Gringotts
• July 31st, 1991 : Hagrid buys Harry his owl, Hedwig
• July 31st, 1991 : Failed attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone
• September 1st, 1991 : Harry's first Hogwarts Express journey
• September 1st, 1991 : Harry Potter is Sorted into Gryffindor
• September 6th, 1991 : Harry and Ron visit Hagrid
• September 6th, 1991 : Harry's first potions class
• September 12th, 1991 : Gryffindors and Slytherins have their first flying lesson
• September 12th, 1991 : Neville breaks his wrist during flying lessons
• October 31st, 1991 : The Halloween Feast and the Mountain Troll
• November 8th, 1991 : The trio notices Snape limping
• November 8th, 1991 : Filch helps Snape bandage his wound
• November 9th, 1991 : Quidditch match: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin (1991)
• December 25th, 1991 : Harry receives the Invisibility Cloak
• December 25th, 1991 : Harry's first Christmas dinner at Hogwarts
• December 25th, 1991 : Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised
• February 22nd, 1992 : Quidditch match: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff (1992)
• April, 1992 : Norbert hatches
• circa May 9th, 1992 : Charlie's friends take Norbert
• June, 1992 : The Trio follow Quirrell through the trap door
• June, 1992 : The room full of winged keys
• June, 1992 : Harry confronts Quirrell, defeats Voldemort
• June, 1992 : Quidditch match: Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw (1992)
• June 8th, 1992 : Dumbledore visits Harry in the Hospital Wing
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

• View history

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling . The book was first published on 26 June 1997 [1] by Bloomsbury in London and was later made into a film of the same name .

The book was released in the United States under the name Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because the publishers were concerned that most American readers would not be familiar enough with the term " Philosopher's Stone ". However, this decision led to criticism by the British public who felt it shouldn't be changed due to the fact it was an English book.

• 1 Dedication
• 2 Book description
• 3.1 Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived
• 3.2 Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass
• 3.3 Chapter 3: The Letters from No One
• 3.4 Chapter 4: The Keeper of the Keys
• 3.5 Chapter 5: Diagon Alley
• 3.6 Chapter 6: The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters
• 3.7 Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat
• 3.8 Chapter 8: The Potions Master
• 3.9 Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel
• 3.10 Chapter 10: Hallowe'en
• 3.11 Chapter 11: Quidditch
• 3.12 Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised
• 3.13 Chapter 13: Nicolas Flamel
• 3.14 Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
• 3.15 Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest
• 3.16 Chapter 16: Through the Trapdoor
• 3.17 Chapter 17: The Man with Two Faces
• 4 List of spells first introduced
• 5 List of deaths
• 6 Behind the scenes
• 8.1 English-language
• 8.2 Translations (cover based on Scholastic's)
• 8.3 Translations (alternative cover)
• 8.4 Illustrated Editions
• 8.5 20th Anniversary Editions
• 9 Film adaptation
• 10 Notes and references
• 11 See also

Dedication [ ]

" For Jessica, who loves stories, for Anne, who loved them too, and for Di, who heard this one first"

The book is dedicated to three female relatives of the author J. K. Rowling : Jessica, her eldest daughter, Anne, her late mother, and Di, her sister.

Book description [ ]

Cover of the US edition, by Mary Grandpré

" Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He's never worn a Cloak of Invisibility , befriended a half-giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys : his horrible aunt and uncle and their abominable son, Dudley . Harry's room is a tiny Cupboard Under the Stairs , he hasn't had a birthday party in ten years, and his birthday present is his uncle's old socks.

But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger. A letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports , and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him... if Harry can survive the encounter."

"Until now there's been no magic for Harry Potter. He lives with the miserable Dursleys and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny closet beneath the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in ten years. Then a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger. A letter with an invitation to an incredible place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he finds not only friends, flying sports on broomsticks, and magic in everything from classes to meals.

Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy - until he is rescued by a beetle-eyed giant of a man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch, and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason, Harry Potter is a wizard!"

Harry Potter as a baby

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived [ ]

Vernon and Petunia Dursley , of Number Four Privet Drive (in Little Whinging , Surrey ), are proud to say they are perfectly normal. They are the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just don't hold with such nonsense. Vernon is the director of a drill-making firm called Grunnings , and Petunia keeps house and raises their one-year-old son Dudley .

On Tuesday, 1 November 1981 , the Dursleys begin the day by gossiping about their neighbours while Petunia wrestles the disagreeable Dudley into his high chair. None of them notice a large tawny owl flying past their window, but Vernon does see a tabby cat reading a map and a street sign outside their house. He forces himself to forget the cat, but upon arriving in town, he notices large groups of people wearing cloaks. He eavesdrops on them and hears them talking about "the Potters and their son Harry. " Vernon finds this horrifying because the Potters are his in-laws, and he and Petunia wouldn't want anyone to find out about them.

When he leaves work at the end of the day, he bumps into a small man wearing a cloak, but when he tries to apologise, the man hugs him and tells him that even muggles like him should be celebrating today because "You-Know-Who" has been defeated.

Vernon returns home to find the cat still waiting there, and it only gives him a stern look when he tries to shoo it away. The news is full of unexplained owl sightings and fireworks displays, and Vernon nervously asks Petunia if she has heard from her sister recently. Petunia is upset but tells him that she hasn't heard from her sister and that their nephew's name is "Harry." Vernon's heart sinks. He finds it difficult to fall asleep that night but eventually manages it.

After the Dursleys fall asleep, Albus Dumbledore appears in the middle of Privet Drive and siphons away the light from the street lamps with his Deluminator . He greets the cat, who has spent all day waiting outside, as " Professor McGonagall ," and the cat turns into a human woman. They discuss the deaths of James and Lily Potter at the hands of Lord Voldemort at the Potter cottage in Godric's Hollow and how their infant son Harry Potter miraculously survived the attack while Voldemort has seemingly died.

Rubeus Hagrid arrives riding a flying motorbike and transporting Harry. He hands him over to Dumbledore, who leaves the sleeping baby and a letter to the Dursleys on the doorstep of Number Four. The three wizards are distraught about leaving the orphaned baby with his relatives, but they only give themselves a moment to mourn before they force themselves to leave. Hagrid says he will return the motorbike to its owner, young Sirius Black ; McGonagall resumes her cat form and slinks around the corner at the other end of the street, and Dumbledore restores the lights to the streetlamps and bids Harry farewell before vanishing without a trace.

Harry rolls over inside his bundle of blankets, and his tiny hand closes on the letter as he sleeps on. He does not know that he is special and famous, that he will be woken up the next morning by his aunt's scream when Petunia opens the front door to put out the milk bottles, that he will be spending the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley, or that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country are toasting, "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!"

Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass [ ]

Dudley counting his presents

Ten years have passed since the Dursleys have awoken to find Harry Potter lying on their doorstep, and Privet Drive and the Dursleys' house have not changed since that day. The only difference is the vast number of pictures of Dudley Dursley throughout his life displayed on the walls. There is no sign that Harry Potter lives there, as he is forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs , a very cramped space with many spiders. Petunia comes to Harry's door one morning and wakes him with a shrill voice. Harry is trying to think about the dream he has been having. It was about a flying motorbike , and he believes he has had the same dream before. Aunt Petunia tells him to make some bacon; she wants everything perfect for Dudley's 11th birthday. Harry dresses into a pair of Dudley's old clothes and enters the kitchen, where the table is covered in Dudley's presents.

Harry has jet-black hair and green eyes. Tape holds his glasses together because Dudley has smashed them many times. What distinguishes Harry from others the most is the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. He often wonders how he got it, and the Dursleys have told him it was from the car crash that killed Harry's parents. Harry doesn't know much more about this accident because the Dursleys' first rule is not to ask questions. Dudley comes into the kitchen and begins to count his presents, only to find 36, which he angrily recalls is one fewer than the year before. Aunt Petunia states that they will buy him two new gifts while they are out. Vernon tells Petunia that their neighbour, Arabella Figg , has broken her leg and cannot take care of Harry while they are at the zoo . They can't think of anyone else who can take care of him, so Harry has to go with them.

Dudley is allowed to take a friend to the zoo and chooses his friend Piers Polkiss . Piers comes to the house with his mother . A half-hour later, Harry sits in the car with Dudley, Piers, Vernon, and Petunia. On the way, a motorbike overtakes them, and Vernon complains about them. Harry remarks that he has dreamed about a flying motorbike, and Vernon snappily reminds him that motorbikes do not fly. Harry thinks about all the strange things that have happened to him: he once jumped onto the school chimney and mysteriously grew all of his hair back the morning after a haircut. At the zoo, Dudley and Piers find the animals boring. Harry is left to watch a Boa constrictor as it sleeps, and when Dudley tries to make it move, it wakes up but still doesn't move. The snake begins to move after Dudley and Piers slink away. Moments later, Harry speaks to the snake and finds it miraculously understands him. Upon realising that it is now moving, Piers calls Dudley and Vernon back to the snake's exhibit. Dudley pushes Harry out of the way (he lands "hard on the concrete floor") and presses his face against the glass. Harry becomes angry, and somehow the glass vanishes , and the snake gets out, scaring Dudley and Piers. As the snake slithers away, Harry thinks he hears it speak back to him. Piers tattletales on Harry that he had been talking to the snake, and Uncle Vernon sends him to his cupboard –with no meals for a week as cruel punishment.

Chapter 3: The Letters from No One [ ]

Hundreds of letters arriving at the fireplace

Since the boa constrictor escaped from the zoo, Harry was locked in his cupboard for the longest time ever. It's the beginning of the summer holidays when Harry is finally allowed out. Even though he is not at school, Harry still can't escape Dudley and his gang , who regularly visit the house. To keep out of their way, Harry usually wanders around Privet Drive . He is glad, however, that Dudley and Piers are going to Smeltings Academy while Harry will attend Stonewall High . One day during the summer, Harry is told to get the post for Uncle Vernon. When Harry goes to get the mail, there are three letters: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister , who is on holiday in the Isle of Wight, a letter that looks like a bill, and a letter for Harry. Harry takes the letter, studies the yellow parchment it is made of, and then reads the address:

Mr H. Potter

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

4, Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Harry can't believe it. He has never had a letter in his life. On the back is a wax seal with a Lion, a Snake, a Badger and an Eagle surrounding an H . Harry returns to the kitchen and gives Uncle Vernon the other two letters as he sits down and starts to open the letter. Dudley soon sees that Harry has a letter, and Uncle Vernon snatches it from him to read it with Aunt Petunia . Uncle Vernon tells Harry and Dudley to get out of the kitchen, so they both go and stand in the hall. The two fight over who gets to look through the keyhole. Dudley wins, so Harry resorts to looking through the gap between the floor and the door. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are discussing the seal on the back. Uncle Vernon says that they should just ignore it.

Later, when Harry is in his cupboard, Uncle Vernon comes in and says that he has burned the letter and that they are moving him up to Dudley's second bedroom . Slightly surprised, Harry moves all of his things up to the bedroom, wishing he had his letter. The next morning at breakfast, Dudley is asked to get the post by Uncle Vernon. After banging things all the way down the hall with his Smeltings stick, Dudley calls out that another letter is addressed to Harry, this time in '''The Smallest Bedroom''' rather than '''The Cupboard Under the Stairs'''. Both Harry and Uncle Vernon rush to the hallway in an attempt to get the letter. After a minute of confused fighting, Uncle Vernon emerges, clutching the letter in his hand.

Determined to see what his letter says, Harry creeps down the stairs early the following day and approaches the door. He is going to camp there until the post arrives, and then he will finally get to read his letter. When he reaches the door, however, he stands on Uncle Vernon - who has had the very same idea. Every day, letters appear addressed to Harry, doubling in number. Eventually, so many letters arrive that Uncle Vernon resorts to nailing shut the letterbox. But they begin to appear in the strangest places: under the door, squeezed through the window, and Aunt Petunia even finds some while cracking open eggs . Finally, they get attacked by thirty or forty letters being fired out of the fireplace. Despite the sender's efforts, Harry still does not manage to get his hands on one of the letters long enough to read it, and a furious Uncle Vernon states that they are leaving the house. They get into their car and leave ten minutes later.

They travel for miles until they eventually stop in front of a gloomy hotel on the brink of the city. However, Vernon's attempts to shake the sender off are unsuccessful, as more letters come for Harry to the hotel the next morning. Again, they return to the car and finally stop to get on a boat that takes them to an island with a small hut . Harry remembers that the next day will be his eleventh birthday. Harry can't sleep with the raging storm outside when they get there, so he counts down the time until his birthday. When Dudley's watch turns to the next day, there is a loud knocking at the door - something wants to get in...

Chapter 4: The Keeper of the Keys [ ]

Rubeus Hagrid enters the cabin

There is another loud boom on the door, and Dudley wakes up, thinking it is a cannon . Uncle Vernon comes through with a rifle, with Aunt Petunia cowering behind him. The door is blasted off its hinges and hits the floor. A giant enters and fixes the door into its frame. The giant asks for coffee and sits on the couch beside Dudley, scaring him away to hide behind Aunt Petunia. The giant turns his eyes to Harry and greets him, saying he hasn't seen him since he was a baby. He says Harry looks like his father but has his mother 's eyes. Uncle Vernon tells him to leave, but the giant merely grabs the gun, ties into a knot and throws it away. The giant presents Harry with a birthday cake . Harry asks the giant who he is, and he says he is Rubeus Hagrid , the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . Hagrid makes a fire and cooks some sausages. He is shocked to discover that Harry knows nothing about Hogwarts. He gets angry at the Dursleys for not telling him anything about his parents' world, his world. Harry has no idea what's going on. Hagrid tells Harry his parents are famous and that he's a wizard , despite Uncle Vernon forbidding him. Hagrid gives Harry the letter that he has been craving. It tells him that he has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and that term begins on 1st September .

Hagrid takes out parchment and a quill and writes a letter to Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore , explaining he has given Harry the letter. Uncle Vernon tells Hagrid that Harry won't be going, but the giant knows that a great Muggle like him can't stop Harry from going to Hogwarts. Uncle Vernon reveals he knew that Harry's a wizard, and Aunt Petunia tells Harry that her sister, Harry's mother, was a witch . Petunia said another wizard killed them, and Harry screams that Petunia said they got killed in a car crash. Hagrid is as outraged as Harry is that the Dursleys have lied that much. He sits down and tells Harry that a Dark wizard named Lord Voldemort killed Harry's parents and tried to kill Harry too. But the spell he used backfired, only leaving Harry his scar . Hagrid tells him that he brought Harry from the ruins of the house and brought him to the Dursleys' house on 4 Privet Drive . Uncle Vernon says it's a load of rubbish and tries to persuade Harry that whatever happened to his parents was deserved anyway, but Hagrid pulls an umbrella out of his coat and threatens Uncle Vernon. Harry asks what happened to Voldemort, and Hagrid tells him he vanished and hasn't been seen since.

Harry doubts he is a wizard until Hagrid asks if he ever made anything he couldn't explain happen when he was angry or scared. When Uncle Vernon makes the mistake of mocking Dumbledore, Hagrid swishes the umbrella in Dudley's direction, and Dudley sprouts a curly pig's tail . Hagrid asks Harry not to mention it at Hogwarts because Hagrid isn't allowed to do magic since he was expelled. Hagrid takes off his coat, and Harry sleeps under it for the rest of the night, waiting for the day ahead.

Chapter 5: Diagon Alley [ ]

Ollivander's Wand Shop

When Harry wakes the following day, he tries to tell himself that what happened the previous night had all been a dream and that Hagrid taking him to a school for wizards called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had never happened. But when he opens his eyes, Hagrid has fallen asleep on the couch, and he discovers that it has all happened. He hears a tapping noise coming from the window and lets in an owl . The owl drops a newspaper on Hagrid's lap and begins to claw Hagrid's coat. Hagrid tells Harry to pay the owl, so Harry does what he says, and the owl leaves. Hagrid tells him they have to go and buy his things, but Harry worries because he hasn't got any money. Hagrid tells him his parents didn't leave him without money and that their first stop is Gringotts , the wizard's bank. He explains that goblins run it and that "you'd be mad to try and rob it". Hagrid says Dumbledore also needs something from Gringotts, so Hagrid has to go get it.

They step outside the hut and step into their boat. Hagrid uses a bit of magic to speed things up for them. Hagrid says there are enchantments guarding the vaults in Gringotts. Gringotts is all under London ; you would die of starvation trying to get out. Hagrid begins to read the Daily Prophet and mutters that the Ministry of Magic is messing things up as usual. Harry wonders what the Ministry of Magic does, and Hagrid explains that they handle everything to do with magic. He says they wanted Dumbledore for Minister , but Cornelius Fudge got the job. As they pass through London, people often stare at Hagrid due to his size and his pointing out things that Muggles are brilliant at inventing. Harry asks if there are Dragons guarding Gringotts. Hagrid says yes and mutters that he would like a dragon. Harry takes out his list and reads it out. It says he needs a set of robes , a pointed hat , dragon hide gloves, and a winter coat. There is a list of his books and stationary equipment. Hagrid leads them both into a pub called the Leaky Cauldron Harry did not notice was there. It is dark and shabby, and everyone greets Hagrid as he enters. When people see Harry, many shake his hand, including Doris Crockford and Dedalus Diggle . A man with a turban approaches them, and Hagrid introduces Harry to Quirinus Quirrell , the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. They talk for a bit then Hagrid steers them out a back door into a small enclosed area with a few barrels. Hagrid takes out his umbrella and taps bricks with it, counting an order. Once he is done, a hole appears in the brick wall, slowly getting bigger, until the wall disappears entirely, revealing a crowded street with people wearing robes everywhere with shops left and right. Hagrid tells Harry the street is called Diagon Alley .

While walking down the street, Harry is trying to look everywhere around him, taking in as much as possible. At the end of Diagon Alley is a huge snowy white building: Gringotts Bank. A warning echoes as they enter, telling them to rob at their own risk. Harry and Hagrid go up to a Goblin and explain they need to take some money out of Harry's vault. The Goblin asks for Harry's key, and Hagrid presents it after sorting through many other keys. The Goblin calls upon another Goblin named Griphook to take them down to the vault. Hagrid also states they must be taken down to remove the You-Know-What in Vault 713 . Griphook takes them to Harry's vault, where there is a large amount of money piled up there that Harry owns. There are Bronze Knuts , Silver Sickles , and Gold Galleons . Harry and Hagrid take some money for Harry's list, then leave Gringotts. Hagrid has to stand for a bit as the cart rides that takes them to the vaults make him feel sick . Griphook then takes them to Vault 713, where Hagrid removes a grubby little package but can't tell Harry what it is.

Hagrid goes for a drink at the Leaky Cauldron while Harry gets his uniform at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions . Madam Malkin stands him on a stool next to a pale-faced boy who is also getting measured for his robes. The boy starts to talk about Quidditch , including his plan to smuggle in his broomstick and houses called Slytherin and Hufflepuff . When the boy learns that Harry is there with Hagrid, he asks him what happened to his parents. He is unsympathetic about their deaths and only expresses relief that they were both wizards because the other kind shouldn't be allowed in.

When Harry leaves, he asks Hagrid about what the boy said, and Hagrid explains that there are four houses at Hogwarts, Quidditch is a game played on brooms, and blood status doesn't matter. They continue shopping until all Harry needs is his wand and (Hagrid insists) a birthday present.

In Ollivanders , the wand shop, Mr Ollivander puts Harry off with his creepy demeanour while discussing the wands purchased by Hagrid, Harry's parents, and Voldemort. Ollivander touches Harry's scar and apologises for the fact that he sold the wand that caused it. Ollivander gives Harry a wand and tells him to give it a wave. Harry does so, but it isn't suitable for him, so Ollivander takes it back. Harry tries many wands, but none work well enough for him. Eventually, he picks up a wand ( holly, eleven inches, phoenix feather core, 'nice and supple' ) and feels warmth in his fingers. Ollivander states that it is very curious that Harry should be destined for that wand when its brother gave Harry his scar. Hagrid takes Harry to get something to eat in the Muggle world, but Harry is worried that he isn't going to fit in at Hogwarts as everyone expects great things from him.

For Harry's birthday, Hagrid buys Harry a snowy owl named Hedwig . Hagrid provides Harry with a train ticket , giving him the date, time, and location to catch the Hogwarts Express and tells Harry that if he ever needs anything, he is to write a letter, and Hedwig will know where to find him. Harry catches a train back to the Dursleys.

Chapter 6: The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters [ ]

Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card

Harry's last month with the Dursleys is both relieving and depressing. His aunt and uncle pretend that Harry isn't there, and Dudley has become so scared of his cousin that he refuses to be anywhere near him. Harry keeps to himself in the smallest bedroom with Hedwig for company as he reads through his new books.

The day before he is due to leave, Harry asks Uncle Vernon to take him to King's Cross Station . Uncle Vernon agrees to take him but ridicules him for saying he is to depart from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, as is marked on the ticket Hagrid gave him.

The next day, the Dursleys abandon Harry at the station. He stands between Platforms Nine and Ten , wondering how to find Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. He is stumped for a while until he overhears Molly Weasley using the word "muggles" and asks her for help. She tells him to run through the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten, which he does, and he is astonished to find the train to Hogwarts on the other side of the station.

Mrs Weasley's twin sons, third-years Fred and George Weasley , help him lift his trunk onto the train before recognising him as Harry Potter, and their younger brother Ron , a first-year, asks to sit with him.

Harry and Ron bond over their anxiety about Hogwarts (particularly Ron's successful older brothers and his sad rat Scabbers ), and Harry buys a lot of sweets for them to share. Ron introduces Harry to elements of the wizarding world like Quidditch , Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans , and Famous Witches and Wizards cards . One of Harry's cards bears the picture of Albus Dumbledore .

Harry also meets an annoying, overachieving girl named Hermione Granger , a boy named Neville Longbottom who has lost his toad, Trevor, and the unpleasant boy from Madam Malkin's, whose name is Draco Malfoy , and his friends Crabbe and Goyle .

Harry is offended by Draco's bigotry and rudeness, especially when directed at Ron, and he rejects his offer of friendship and advice. The five boys almost fight, but Scabbers bites Goyle and drives them off.

The Hogwarts Express arrives at Hogsmeade Station , and Hagrid escorts the first years across the Lake in boats, where they catch their first glimpse of Hogwarts.

Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat [ ]

Peeves, dropping stuff over the new first-year students

The new students are greeted at the castle door by Professor Minerva McGonagall , who tells them they will soon be sorted into their houses. All Hogwarts students live in one of four residences: Gryffindor , Hufflepuff , Ravenclaw , or Slytherin , with each house having its own team for Quidditch . The houses are in a yearlong competition with one another to acquire the most points, which are earned by success in Quidditch games and given by teachers for academic achievement and lost for student infractions, in order to win the House Cup awarded at the end of the year.

The first-years wait in an antechamber while McGonagall checks to see whether it is time yet. The Hogwarts ghosts glide into the room by mistake while debating whether to offer Peeves another chance.

The students are led to the Great Hall , where the entire school and a battered old hat on a stool are waiting for them. When the students try on the Sorting Hat , it announces the house in which they are placed. Harry becomes very nervous. He has learned that he does not care for Slytherin house, as the students in it are unpleasant and Voldemort once belonged to Slytherin. Hermione is Sorted into Gryffindor, much to Ron's displeasure. Finally, it is Harry's turn to wear the hat. He quietly says to himself "not Slytherin, not Slytherin!" The Hat is intrigued by this.

After a brief mental discussion with the hat in which it tries to suggest Slytherin to him, the hat places Harry in Gryffindor. Harry is pleased to find that Ron joins in Gryffindor with him. Draco Malfoy is placed in Slytherin.

Everyone sits down to a grand feast to begin the year. Harry is overwhelmed by the variety of luscious food served. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington , the resident ghost of Gryffindor (popularly known as Nearly Headless Nick because of a botched decapitation), introduces himself to the first-year students and tells them he hopes they will win the house championship this year. Over dessert, the discussion turns to the students' upbringings. A student named Neville Longbottom tells how his family thought he was a Squib until he survived a fall from a window. Another student, Seamus Finnigan , talks about how his father, a Muggle, was shocked when he found out his wife (Seamus' mother) was a witch. Harry glances around the room and notices a few of the teachers talking to one another. One of them, while speaking to Quirrell, stares malevolently at Harry, who immediately feels a sharp pain in his forehead scar. Harry asks Percy the prefect who he is, and finds out that this man is Professor Severus Snape , who teaches Potions . After dessert, Dumbledore gets up to make his welcome speech. He adds a few warnings about staying away from the Forbidden Forest and avoiding the 3rd-floor corridor on the right side of the school before sending everyone off to bed in their Common rooms . On the way, the Gryffindors run into Peeves , a Poltergeist , and upon arriving, meet the Fat Lady who lets them into Gryffindor Tower after Percy gives her the password. Harry has trouble sleeping due to the dream he has. In it, he is wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which is demanding him to transfer to Slytherin. He refuses, and the headwear becomes heavier on his head. Malfoy and Snape appear laughing at him, then the dream ends with a flash of green light that causes Harry to wake up at midnight and fall asleep again, forgetting about it immediately afterwards.

Chapter 8: The Potions Master [ ]

A Potions book

Harry finds life at Hogwarts unfamiliar and strange. Everyone talks about him, and an adult always seems to be around when he is doing something wrong. It is hard to find his way to classes due to the hundred and forty-two changing staircases and tricky doorways. The people in the Hogwarts portraits have been no help to him, for they ignore some students and visit each other, nor have the ghosts, who always scare Harry when they glide through a door he is trying to open. Only Nearly-Headless Nick points new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves is worth two locked doors and a tricky staircase whenever Harry runs into him when late for class. Even worse than Peeves if anyhow possible is the school caretaker Argus Filch , who both Harry and Ron get on the bad side of on their very first morning, when he finds them trying to force their way through a door which turns out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds Third-floor corridor . He threatens to lock them in the dungeons, but the two boys are luckily rescued by Quirrell, who is passing by.

All the classes become very interesting to Harry, with the only exception being History of Magic , taught by Professor Binns , and he learns that there is a lot more to magic other than waving his wand and saying a few funny words. In his first Transfiguration class on Thursday, Professor McGonagall transfigures her desk into a pig and then back again while explaining how Transfiguration itself is some of the most complex and dangerous magic to be learned, and anyone who will get caught messing around with it will have to be banned from the class. The entire class is very impressed, but soon realise that they are not going to be changing furniture into animals. Only Hermione is able to make any progress at turning a match into a needle, for which McGonagall gives her a rare smile, but Harry is relieved to see that his peers are just as lost as he is. When the time comes to transition to Defence Against the Dark Arts class (the class everyone is looking forward to) every morning, the lesson turns into more of a joke, as Quirrell keeps going on with stories about his travels in the year prior, such as when he had ward off a vampire in Romania (who he is afraid will come back and get him), and when he had earned his turban from an African prince for saving him from a troublesome zombie .

During breakfast on the first Friday, Hedwig arrives with a tea invitation from Hagrid. Later, in his Potions class, Harry discovers that Professor Snape hates him, mocking Harry as "our new celebrity" and then humiliating Harry for his ignorance of potion-making materials. Harry brings Ron with him to Hagrid's shack for tea. Harry and Ron are disconcerted by Hagrid's huge and fierce-looking dog, Fang , but discover that he is gentle. Hagrid tells Harry that he is overreacting to Snape's treatment, asserting that Snape would have no reason to hate him. Harry happens to notice an article from the wizard newspaper, the Daily Prophet , detailing a break-in that occurred at Gringotts bank in a vault that had been emptied earlier in the day. He realises that it happened on his birthday, the day he and Hagrid went to Gringotts. Furthermore, he remembers that Hagrid emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, taking a small package with him as he left. Harry leaves Hagrid's, his mind filled with questions.

Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel [ ]

Harry and Ron entering the Gryffindor common room

Harry has been at Hogwarts for around two weeks when he finds out that the Gryffindors will have flying lessons with the Slytherins , much to his disliking. Harry does not want to spend more time with Malfoy than he has to. However, Harry finds that he is quite a natural at flying. Madam Hooch leads the class, gently sending the new fliers off the ground. Neville has an accident when his broom runs amok and breaks his wrist. Madam Hooch takes him to the Hospital Wing telling everyone to stay on the ground while she is away. Malfoy notices a Remembrall belonging to Neville, picks it up, and begins to fly around with it. Harry goes after Malfoy, who throws the ball in the air. Harry catches it spectacularly and lands safely back on the ground. Just then, Professor McGonagall arrives, reprimanding Harry and ordering him to follow her. But instead of punishing him, McGonagall introduces him to Oliver Wood , captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team , and makes him the Gryffindor team's new Seeker.

At dinner, Harry excitedly tells Ron about joining the Quidditch team but tells him that Wood wants it to be a secret. Malfoy comes over with his cronies Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle and teases Harry about getting in trouble earlier. The tension grows and Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizard's duel. Harry accepts, in spite of Hermione's attempt to dissuade them from breaking the school rules. As Harry and Ron sneak out later that night, Hermione tries to stop them but gets locked out of the dorm (the Fat Lady has gone for an evening stroll) and must tag along. Neville also joins them, as he has forgotten the password to the common room and ended up sleeping on the floor outside. They arrive at the Trophy Room , the site of the duel, but Malfoy is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, they hear Argus Filch and his cat, Mrs Norris , enter the room. With it obvious that Malfoy tricked them, they begin to hide and then run away. Not sure where they are going, they accidentally end up in the forbidden area on the third floor, staring at a large and scary three-headed dog . The children manage to get back to their dorm safely, though they are terrified. Hermione reprimands Harry, but stirs his curiosity by pointing out that the dog was standing on a trapdoor.

Chapter 10: Hallowe'en [ ]

Troll in the dungeon

The next morning, Harry and Ron are discussing what the dog could be guarding when the mail arrives. Harry receives a Nimbus 2000 , a racing broomstick, along with a note from Professor McGonagall summoning him to Quidditch practice. Malfoy tells Harry that first-year students are not allowed broomsticks. Malfoy then tries to report Harry to Professor Flitwick who just expresses admiration for Harry's talent having heard from McGonagall. Harry later meets Oliver Wood to learn the basics of Quidditch, including the various positions on a standard Quidditch team and the implements used in the game. Oliver explains Harry's role as a Seeker : his job is to avoid other players and catch the Golden Snitch . A Quidditch game cannot end until the Snitch is caught, making the Seeker the most important player on a team. On Hallowe'en, Flitwick begins teaching his students how to make things fly, using the Wingardium Leviosa spell. Only Hermione succeeds; Ron, offended by her air of superiority, utters a nasty comment that Hermione overhears. Harry notices her running off in tears.

Harry and Ron arrive at the Hallowe'en feast to hear Professor Quirrell , the teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts , burst in and give a terrifying announcement about a twelve-foot troll in the building. As the prefects lead the students back to their dorms, Harry realises that Hermione does not know about the troll. They head off to warn her and come upon the troll. Unwittingly, they lock it in the girls' bathroom only to realise that Hermione is trapped in there with the troll. Using teamwork, magic, and a lot of luck, the two of them manage to knock out the troll. Professor McGonagall finds them and begins to scold the boys. Hermione interjects that Harry and Ron were looking for her. She then lies, saying that she went to face the troll herself and that Ron and Harry had been trying to save her from it. At this point, Hermione befriends them.

Chapter 11: Quidditch [ ]

Gryffindor vs Slytherin Quidditch match

As November begins, so does the Quidditch season, and Harry is about to play in his first match against Slytherin. To prepare, Harry borrows a book entitled Quidditch Through the Ages from Hermione. Professor Snape discovers Ron, Harry, and Hermione out with the book one evening and confiscates it from Harry on the pretext that library books may not be taken outside of the school, which Harry believed to be a feeble excuse. Harry's suspicions of Snape continue to grow. Harry starts to notice that Snape is limping. Going off to retrieve the book from Snape, Harry overhears Snape talking to Argus Filch about the fact that the three-headed dog has attacked him, leaving a cut on his leg, which makes Harry even more suspicious.

The next morning, the Quidditch match begins. Harry spots the Golden Snitch early in the game and is flying toward it when the Slytherin Captain pushes him out of the way and is penalised. Later in the game, Harry's broom begins jerking uncontrollably. Hagrid comments that only Dark magic could make a broomstick so hard to manage. Hermione notices that Snape is staring at Harry and muttering to himself, signs of casting a curse. As two of Harry's teammates, the Weasley twins, try to rescue Harry in the air, Hermione rushes over to Snape in such a hurry that she knocks Quirrell over, sneaks behind Snape, and sets his robe on fire. Suddenly, the spell on Harry's broom is broken and Harry is once again in control. He starts speeding toward the ground and lands, catching the Snitch in his mouth and nearly swallowing it.

Hagrid takes Harry back to his hut with Hermione and Ron, who tells Harry that Snape was putting a curse on his broomstick. Hagrid does not believe this, asking why Snape would try to kill Harry. Harry tells Hagrid about Snape getting injured by the dog in the third-floor corridor. Hagrid involuntarily reveals that the three-headed dog, Fluffy , is his, and that what the dog is guarding is a secret known only to Albus Dumbledore and a man named Nicolas Flamel .

Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised [ ]

Harry observing the Mirror of Erised

Christmas is approaching. Malfoy teases Harry about having to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday, as he does not have parents. Harry, however, is looking forward to spending Christmas away from the Dursleys, especially because Ron is also staying at Hogwarts, as Mr and Mrs Weasley are going to visit Ron's older brother Charlie in Romania. The day before the holidays, Hermione tears Ron and Harry away from a conversation with Hagrid to look in the library for more information about Nicolas Flamel. The librarian, Madam Pince , catches Harry prowling around the restricted-books section of the library and kicks him out.

On Christmas Day, Harry and Ron awaken to presents, though Harry's are fewer. Harry receives a flute from Hagrid, a 50 pence coin from the Dursleys , some fudge and Chocolate Frogs from Hermione, and a knitted jumper from Ron's mother. He also receives an Invisibility cloak accompanied only by an anonymous note telling him that the cloak once belonged to Harry's father and to "use it well." That night, after a satisfying Christmas dinner and after Ron has fallen asleep, Harry tries on his Invisibility Cloak. Unseen, he is able to go to the library's restricted-books section. But one of the books starts screaming when he opens it, so he quickly leaves. He passes Filch and hides in an old classroom as Filch is getting Snape to help him search the corridors. Inside stands an old mirror in a gold frame with the inscription "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi" ("I show not your face, but your heart's desire"). Harry looks in the mirror and sees many people standing behind him, but when he turns around in the room, he sees no one. Suddenly, he recognises that two of the people in the mirror are his dead mother and father . He tries to speak to them, but they can only communicate by waving. Harry lingers there a while but eventually returns to his room.

The next night, Harry brings Ron with him to the mirror room. Ron does not see Harry's parents in the mirror but instead sees himself holding the Quidditch Cup . Mrs Norris, Filch's prowling cat, notices them. On the third night, Ron is afraid of being caught and does not want to go back, as he does not trust the mirror, so Harry returns alone. There he finds Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore explains to Harry that the mirror, which is known as the Mirror of Erised , displays the deepest desires of whoever looks into it. Harry is relieved to find that Dumbledore is not angry. However, he warns Harry that men have wasted away and been driven mad before the mirror and informs Harry that the mirror will be moved to a new location and tells him not to go looking for it. When Harry asks what Dumbledore sees in the mirror, his answer is "himself holding a pair of socks."

Chapter 13: Nicolas Flamel [ ]

Harry finds it hard to forget the image of his parents. Quidditch practice continues on even harder and it is revealed that Snape will referee the next match. Malfoy performs a leg-locker curse on Neville, and to cheer him up, Harry tells Neville he is "Worth twelve of Malfoy." Harry suddenly remembers that he read the name Nicolas Flamel on a chocolate frog card, which reminds Hermione that she had seen the name in a book she picked up from the library, and the team discover that he was a famous alchemist who is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone , whose powers include turning any metal to gold and producing the Elixir of Life , a potion that can make the drinker immortal.

Severus Snape entering the Forbidden Forest

The Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff Quidditch match arrives and Snape, who referees the match, is predictably biased, while on the stands Ron and Neville get into a scuffle with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle after Malfoy made some rude comments towards the players of their house's team as well as both of them. Harry catches the snitch and wins the match under five minutes, though Ron did not see this due to fighting Draco Malfoy, and Neville is sent to the hospital wing due to the injuries he sustained from fighting both Crabbe and Goyle. Later, Harry notices and follows Snape into the Forbidden Forest by broomstick where he meets Quirrell and they speak of the Philosopher's Stone . Harry thinks that Snape is trying to force Quirrell to help him get the stone so he can get rich, to the alarm of both Ron and Hermione who fear Quirrell will talk.

Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback [ ]

Norbert, newly hatched

Harry, Ron and Hermione meet with Hagrid, who confirms the Stone is being kept at Hogwarts. Hermione charms him into talking about the enchantments used to guard it: Fluffy, the three-headed dog, is Hagrid's, along with enchantments from Professors Sprout , Flitwick , McGonagall , Quirrell , and Snape . After this, Harry complains about the high temperature in Hagrid's hut, only to discover he has a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon egg, which he names Norbert once it has hatched. Malfoy, who has been spying then, discovers the dragon. To solve the problem, they convince Hagrid to send the dragon off to Ron's brother Charlie. Ron's hand is bitten by the dragon, and he is sent off to Madam Pomfrey. Harry and Hermione smuggle Norbert in a crate up to the tallest tower under Harry's Invisibility cloak and on the way they see Professor McGonagall hauling Malfoy away to detention for being out of bed at night and speaking "lies" about Harry and a dragon. They pass the crate off to Charlie's friends , and head back down the stairs, where they meet up with Filch, realising too late they have left the Invisibility Cloak behind.

Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest [ ]

Firenze, the centaur

Filch takes Harry and Hermione to McGonagall's office , where they meet Neville. McGonagall, very disappointed, takes 50 points each from the three of them and gives them all detention, which they will serve with Malfoy. Their popularity with the other students suffers because of this. A week or so before exams, Harry hears Professor Quirrell, sounding as if he is being threatened. So, Harry heads to the library to tell Ron and Hermione. They are convinced Snape was threatening Quirrell and means to steal the Stone soon, and Hermione suggests they go to Dumbledore. Harry refuses, saying that they have no proof.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville receive notes from Professor McGonagall telling them their detention will begin at eleven that night. Filch takes them out to the Forbidden Forest , where Hagrid awaits to take them in to do a bit of investigating. Hagrid shows them some silver unicorn blood and says they need to find the unicorn that is hurt. They split up, with Hagrid taking Harry and Hermione, and Neville and Malfoy going with Fang . Hagrid encounters a few centaurs , named Ronan and Bane , but gets no useful information from them. Suddenly, Hagrid sees red sparks in the air, signalling the other party is in trouble. He runs for them and returns, scolding Malfoy for startling Neville into sending up the sparks. Hagrid switches Harry and Neville, sending Harry off with Malfoy instead. They eventually find the dead unicorn and see something drinking its blood. Malfoy screams and runs with Fang, leaving Harry, who is saved from the figure by a centaur, named Firenze , who tells Harry that unicorn blood can keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but curses you with a half-life in the process. He then reveals that the person who was drinking it was doing so to remain alive until they were able to drink the Elixir of Life and wants the Stone. He also asks Harry if he would not know anyone who has been waiting for years to regain power and Harry realises that the mysterious figure was a weakened but still alive Voldemort .

Back in the common room, Harry tells Hermione and Ron Voldemort's in the forest and that Snape wants the Stone to help Voldemort restore his powers. Afterwards, going into his bed, Harry finds that his Invisibility Cloak has been returned to him.

Chapter 16: Through the Trapdoor [ ]

Fluffy the three-headed dog

After finishing their exams, Harry realises the suspicious coincidence in Hagrid wanting a dragon more than anything else, only to meet a stranger who had one to give him. He, Ron, and Hermione run to ask him about the man who gave Norbert to him, and he says he never saw his face because he kept his hood up. Hagrid also mentions that they talked about Hogwarts and Fluffy the three-headed dog. He also mentions that the stranger gave him drinks while getting information out of him. Hagrid lets it slip how to get past Fluffy, which sends Harry, Ron and Hermione off. They head for Dumbledore's office , only to see McGonagall, who tells them he has left for London. After Harry reveals that they know about the Stone, McGonagall insists no one could steal the Stone . The trio realise that Dumbledore has been lured away and that Snape's going after the Stone that night so they decide to head out that night to try to get it themselves. After Hermione curses Neville in a Full Body-Bind Curse for refusing to allow them to leave, they head up to the third-floor room and start their intense trip into the seven Philosopher's Stone Chambers . They find the door ajar, and a harp on the floor. Harry plays the flute Hagrid got him for Christmas, and Fluffy goes back to sleep. They head down through the trapdoor. They land in Professor Sprout's room, full of Devil's Snare , which almost smothers them before Hermione lights a fire and drives it off.

The next room, Professor Flitwick's, holds a bunch of flying keys and some broomsticks. Harry finds a silver one with a broken wing that is different from the others and catches it, unlocking the next door with it. The next room is Professor McGonagall's, and has a large chessboard, for a game of Wizard's Chess that Ron helps them win, at the cost of having to sacrifice himself and getting knocked out. Harry and Hermione continue to the next room, Professor Quirrell's, where they find an unconscious troll laying on the floor. Lastly, they enter Professor Snape's room and find seven potions in bottles along with a roll of paper giving clues on which one to drink to continue, noting that three bottles have poison, two have nettle wine, one will send the drinker back, and the other will let the drinker move forward into the next room. Hermione tells Harry that it is a test of logic and not magic wherein most wizards fail. She solves the puzzle, and at Harry's instruction, drinks the one that will allow her to head back through the purple flame, while Harry drinks the one to head into the black flame and into the final room, where he is surprised at whom he sees.

Chapter 17: The Man with Two Faces [ ]

Professor Quirrell removing his turban

It is Quirrell whom Harry sees in the room, not Snape. Harry, astonished, hears Quirrell tell him that, next to Snape, no one would expect him to try to steal the Stone and that Snape was actually protecting Harry. Harry notices the Mirror of Erised , and Quirrell stops to examine it, saying it is the key to getting the Stone. To distract him from the Mirror, Harry questions Quirrell, who says he is serving Lord Voldemort , and although Snape hated Harry because of his father, he never wanted Harry dead. He explains how Snape and Harry's father went to school together when they were younger, and how it was there where their hatred against each other started. Quirrell asks for help from his master to get the Stone , and a snake-like voice tells him to use the boy. Harry is told to look into the Mirror. He sees his reflection pull the Stone out of his pocket and put it back in, and Harry feels it drop into his own pocket. He tells Quirrell that he sees himself shaking hands with Dumbledore, after winning the House Cup for Gryffindor. The snake-like voice tells Quirrell Harry is lying and Quirrell takes his turban off to show Harry what lies on the back of his head. As Quirrell turns around, Harry is shocked to see another face where the back of Quirrell's head should be. The face has red eyes and a snake-like slit where the nose should be. Harry realises this is the face of Voldemort and Voldemort demands Harry give him the Stone. Harry refuses and runs, but Quirrell seizes him. However, the contact with Harry's skin burns Quirrell and causes him to have boils all over the area in which Harry touched him. Harry grabs Quirrell's face, then his arm, and holds on, with the blinding pain in his head building, until he feels the arm wrenched away before he blacks out.

He awakes in the hospital wing with Dumbledore there, telling him Quirrell did not succeed at getting the Stone, and indeed the Stone has been destroyed. In spite of this, there are other ways in which Voldemort can return. He cannot be killed, and he left Quirrell to die. Dumbledore explains the reason why Quirrell could not touch Harry was because Harry's mother had died to save him, protecting him with her love . Harry also told Dumbledore about what Quirrell mentioned to him earlier regarding Snape hating Harry due to hatred for his father . Dumbledore responds that Snape was only grudgingly protecting Harry this year to pay off a debt he owed due to James Potter saving his life during their Hogwarts years. Harry then receives a visit from Ron and Hermione, who reveal that Slytherin came in first for the House Cup and, with Harry unable to play in the championship Quidditch match, Ravenclaw easily won the match, before Madam Pomfrey forces them out. Hagrid shows up later and gives Harry a book of photos of his parents and family.

The following day, at the end of term feast, Dumbledore awards some last-minute points for the recent events. He gives Ron and Hermione fifty points each, and Harry sixty, which places them in a tie with Slytherin for first place. Dumbledore then recognises that while it is hard to stand up to enemies, it is even harder to stand up to friends as Neville did, and he awards Neville 10 more points, which was the most house points Neville had ever gotten. This puts Gryffindor in the lead and the winners of the House Cup, to much rejoicing from everyone but the Slytherins. Not only were Gryffindor students happy, but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were happy to see Slytherins downfall. Soon, their trunks are all packed, and they take the Hogwarts Express back towards the muggle world. Harry, Ron and Hermione all say their goodbyes before heading home.

List of spells first introduced [ ]

List of deaths [ ], behind the scenes [ ].

• J. K. Rowling came up with the idea for the book after the train she was on (which was returning to London) was delayed for four hours.
• Scholastic published in November 2000 a Collector's Edition that includes a pen-and-ink drawing by J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter at no.4 Privet Drive (which was then published on Pottermore) with a unique note. A 10th Anniversary Edition featuring a drawing and a note about Severus Snape by J.K. Rowling was also published by Scholastic in 2008.
• To mark the 20th anniversary of first publication, Bloomsbury Publishing published four House Editions of the book in 2017. The 20th Anniversary Editions each feature the individual house crest on the jacket and sprayed edges in the house colours. New extra content includes fact files, profiles of favourite characters and line illustrations exclusive to each house. [3]
• A first edition of the book containing hand drawings and annotations (with a total of 43 personal additions: 20 original illustrations as well as comments scrawled in the margins) by J.K. Rowling was sold at an auction for £150,000 in 2013. [4] [5] It has been on exhibit at the Edinburgh's Writers' Museum since Thursday, 8 December 2016. [6] [7]
• This was the only book to be written during the time the events in the books were taking place.
• This is the only book in the series to be released before the defeat of Lord Voldemort on 2 May, 1998.
• This book and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are the only two books in the series to not have a chapter title named after the title of the book.
• For Chapter 5, sitting under a tree in a local park in Edinburgh , J. K. Rowling came up with the passage which was the introduction of Ollivanders . [8]

Mistakes [ ]

Editions [ ], illustrated editions [ ].

Jim Kay was commissioned to do the full coloured illustrated edition, with all editions in over twenty languages using the same cover art. The book covers are only of slight variations due to title, text placements, and publisher's logos. The illustrated edition features over 100 full-colour illustrations. [9] MinaLima Design was also hired to design an illustrated version.

20th Anniversary Editions [ ]

In February 2017, Pottermore announced that to celebrate of 20 years of Harry Potter, Bloomsbury had made four new special covers each for both paperback and hardback. Created by Levi Pinfold , he made unique covers for each of the Hogwarts houses. [10] These editions will include fact files and profiles of favourite characters and will be available for a limited period only. [11]

Film adaptation [ ]

The book was adapted into a film, starting the Harry Potter film series. The film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had its premiere on November 4th, 2001 in United Kingdom and on November 14th in the United States. It then had its wide release in both countries on November 16th. Chris Columbus is the director and Daniel Radcliffe , Rupert Grint , and Emma Watson starred in the film.

Notes and references [ ]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bloomsbury. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Magical spells we first learned in the Philosopher's Stone
• ↑ http://www.harrypotter.bloomsbury.com/uk/bookshop/20th-anniversary-editions/
• ↑ "J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - with annotations" on theguardian.com
• ↑ "First edition of Harry Potter with annotations by JK Rowling fetches wizard £150,000 price" on independent.co.uk
• ↑ http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/entertainment/rare-first-edition-harry-potter-book-on-display-in-edinburgh-1-4309146
• ↑ "J.K. Rowling's Annotated Harry Potter Reveals How Quidditch Became a Thing" on time.com
• ↑ J.K. Rowling 2012 Interview – Harry Potter: Beyond the Page
• ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone illustrated edition on Amazon
• ↑ News: "Hogwarts house themed covers unveiled for Philosopher's Stone's 20th anniversary" at Pottermore
• ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – Gryffindor Edition

Themes and Analysis

Harry potter and the philosopher’s stone, by j.k. rowling.

J.K. Rowling explores some essential themes within Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. An analysis of this book sheds light on how well structured and carefully planned most of the plot points of this book are.

About the Book

Article written by Mohandas Alva

M.A. Degree in English Literature from Manipal University, India.

‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ‘  is a children’s book, but it has a lot of essential life lessons for readers of all ages . The world-building for this novel hooks the readers into staying engaged , and the third-person narration adds to the detailed storytelling ability of the book. Several themes that are crucial to a child’s development are tackled in this book. Themes like love, friendship, and life lessons to tell apart absolute good and evil form a major part of the wide roster of themes that reside in this book.

Table of Contents

• 1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Themes
• 2 Analysis of Key Moments in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
• 3 Writing Style and Tone
• 4 Analysis of Key Symbols in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone  Themes

Love and family.

One of the ‘standout’ themes of ‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, ‘ and by extension, the whole book series, is love. The very premise of Harry Potter surviving the killing curse of Lord Voldemort is based on the protection offered by Harry’s mother, Lily. By sacrificing herself to protect her son, she builds a strong magical shield around Harry, and Voldemort is destroyed by his very own curse as it rebounds.

Love is a recurring theme in the entire novel, and it dictates the dynamic of the plot. For instance, the lack of love from Harry’s foster family and his hatred towards them is in clear contrast to his desire to see his parents in the Mirror of Erised , which is fueled by love.

Although similar in many respects to love, friendship has a more nuanced role in ‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. ‘ Starting with Hagrid, who is Harry’s first friend in the book, Harry goes on to make several friends, including Ron and Hermione. Furthermore, the idea of making friends is also of major importance in ‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. ‘ 

When Harry meets Draco Malfoy for the first time in Madam Malkin’s shop, Harry has already formed an opinion of Draco, and during their second meeting, Harry rejects Draco’s hand at the friendship and remains loyal to the humble and kind-natured Ron. Harry says, “I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks.” which illustrates his confidence in making clear choices very early in this world he recently discovered. 

Another major theme in ‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ‘ is sacrifice. Harry Potter’s mother, Lily Potter, sacrifices her life to save him. Although Ron is partially responsible for Hermione being locked in with a mountain troll , Harry and Ron sacrifice their safety by choosing to save her from the troll and run towards danger knowingly. Hermione sacrifices her place in Hogwarts by saving both Harry and Ron from possible expulsion from Hogwarts and risking her own expulsion.

Finally, Ron sacrifices himself in the game of Wizard chess to facilitate safe passage for Harry and Hermione to protect the Philosopher’s Stone. While this being a children’s book allows for most of them to be unhurt despite sacrifice, all these choices to sacrifice themselves, made by the characters, involve accepting the possibility of death.

Courage and Bravery

An essential theme of ‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, ‘ bravery plays a major role throughout the narrative. For example, Neville Longbottom is scared and nervous in most parts of the book. He gets bullied severely, especially by Malfoy and his friends, Crabbe and Goyle. However, taking Ron’s word of ‘having to stand up for himself’, Neville gathers enough courage to fight Malfoy during the Quidditch match. He goes on to even stand up against his very friends, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, when they are on the verge of breaking school rules.

Bravery is also portrayed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they persevere amidst challenges and keep their goal to prevent the stealing of the Philosopher’s Stone always.

Although an obvious theme, magic is an essential theme and is crucial in the details that build the story world. The major fascination in this book comes from a wide array of magical nuances that would be helpful to have in the real world. Spells, enchantments, potions, magical beings, artifacts, and several other aspects that make the story of ‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ‘ a great read for children play an important role in building the imagination of the reader.

Spells like  Wingardium Leviosa , flying broomsticks, or Madam McGonagall’s transfiguration into a cat are all impossibilities in the real world but add to the fascinating attraction that makes this book a memorable one. It caters to the escapism and fantastical requirement of the reader, thereby creating a sort of ‘magic’ of its own.

Intelligence

Another minor yet important theme in ‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ‘ is intelligence. It is illustrated several times, starting with Hermione’s continuous application of her knowledge resourcefully with the spell Alohomora to open the door and her impressive application of logic amidst a stressful situation.

Ron’s intelligence in winning the game of Wizard Chess is another good illustration. Furthermore, the headmaster Dumbledore also plays a very clever role in showing Harry the mirror of Erised beforehand and using the subtle distinction between greed and need as a basis of his puzzle to retrieve the Philosopher’s stone.

Analysis of Key Moments in  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

• Harry Potter is safely brought to his Aunt’s House from the wreckage in Godric’s Hollow by Hagrid, and Dumbledore and Madam McGonagall place him on the doorstep.
• Harry Potter grows up to be eleven but is bullied by his cousin Dudley and ill-treated by his Aunt and Uncle.
• Harry encounters Hagrid, who conveys that Harry is a wizard and has been admitted to Hogwarts, to the dismay of his aunt and uncle.
• Harry buys all his things and visits Gringotts bank with Hagrid, who picks up a small package from there.
• Harry meets Ron and Hermione on the train to Hogwarts. Harry and Ron become friends.
• Harry, along with Ron and Hermione, is sorted into Gryffindor’s house.
• Harry learns how to fly and is selected as a seeker in his Quidditch house team.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville encounter a huge three-headed dog in a corridor that is forbidden for students.
• Harry and Ron fight a mountain troll and save Hermione. They all become friends.
• Harry wins the Quidditch match by catching the snitch but is almost knocked off his broom during the match. Hermione and Ron suspect Professor Snape.
• Harry is presented with the invisibility cloak . He also encounters the Mirror of Erised.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione find out about Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher’s Stone.
• Hagrid tries to tame a dragon and is unsuccessful. He is forced to send it to Romania with Ron’s brother’s friends.
• Harry, Hermione, Neville and Malfoy are sent with Hagrid for detention in the Forbidden forest. Harry comes across a cloaked figure who turns out to be Lord Voldemort.
• Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to go to the Philosopher’s Stone and protect it from Professor Snape, who they suspect are behind it.
• They make it through all the obstacles, and Harry alone enters the last room, where he finds out Professor Quirrell was the culprit. Further, Lord Voldemort resides in Quirrell’s head and is controlling him. Harry fights them and is victorious.
• Harry tells Professor Dumbledore about everything that happened. Later in the school feast, Dumbledore awards extra points to Gryffindor for their heroic actions. Gryffindor wins the House Cup.

Writing Style and Tone

‘ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ‘ is written with simple language and is easy to follow especially as it is a children’s book. The writing style is primarily in the basic third person without any evident experimental styles.

The tone of the novel is sometimes funny and even engaging. J. K. Rowling evokes humorous situations within the text by alluding to certain characters of the book whom Harry dislikes. Examples include Aunt Petunia, who is written as a nosy neighbor, Uncle Vernon as a rude, rule-following, and boring man, and his cousin Dudley as a spoilt brat who is pampered beyond repair by his parents.  

Analysis of Key Symbols in  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Mirror of erised.

The Mirror of Erised is where Harry first sees the reflection of his parents and the rest of his family. It is revealed to show the deepest desires of the viewer. It works as an important literary tool in portraying Harry’s deep desire to be reunited with his parents, whom he never had the chance to know. It also does the same with Ron, who is revealed to want to be more successful than all his elder brothers, shedding light on his plight as a young sibling overshadowed by successful elder brothers.

The Philosopher’s Stone

Being an extremely valuable magical artifact, the Philosopher’s stone can create the Elixir of Life , which would make its drinker immortal. This symbolizes absolute power and demonstrates Lord Voldemort’s drive to attain dominion over others with this power. Furthermore, the fact that Harry could get it out of the Mirror of Erised illustrates his pure and incorruptible intentions and cements Dumbledore’s faith in him further.

What does the Sorcerer’s Stone symbolize?

The Sorcerer’s Stone, in its essence, symbolizes power in this book. However, it is an essential plot device and helps differentiate good from evil. Voldemort seeks the Sorcerer’s Stone for his selfish purpose of coming back to life as the tyrant he always was. On the other hand, Harry frantically attempts to prevent Voldemort from getting it, as he wants the collective good and peace of the magical world to remain.

What is the message of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ?

There are several messages in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. However, the most important message in Harry Potter is that love and friendship triumph over anything, no matter how fear-inducing the obstacles may be. Another message in this book is also that taking action in the face of adversity despite fear is the true sign of bravery.

What is written on top of the Mirror of Erised?

The engraving on the top of the Mirror of Erised reads, “Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.” When one reads this backward, the sentence becomes more apparent – “I show you not your face, but your heart’s desire.” This is the very purpose of the mirror, and the engraving works as a clever stylistic device to create mystery in the reader’s mind till it becomes apparent.

About Mohandas Alva

Mohandas is very passionate about deciphering the nature of language and its role as a sole medium of storytelling in literature. His interests sometimes digress from literature to philosophy and the sciences but eventually, the art and craft of narrating a significant story never fail to thrill him.

The Harry Potter section of Book Analysis analyzes and explorers the Harry Potter series. The characters, names, terminology, and all related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros ©. The content on Book Analysis was created by Harry Potter fans, with the aim of providing a thorough in-depth analysis and commentary to complement and provide an additional perspective to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone review – 20 years on, it’s a nostalgic spectacular

The first film in the franchise is re-released into a very different world – but it’s as entertaining and exhilarating as ever

T he very first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or “Sorcerer’s Stone” for its release in the United States, where audiences were assumed to be unfamiliar with this alchemical term) is now re-released after 20 years, into a rather different world. Sadly, the actors who played the original Dumbledore, Snape, Uncle Vernon and Mr Ollivander – Richard Harris, Alan Rickman , Richard Griffiths and John Hurt – are no longer with us. The Harry Potter franchise itself is still a colossal commercial entity, an IP Shangri La, although its creator JK Rowling is now at the centre of an acrimonious gender politics debate – undreamed of in 2001 – and the world of children’s and YA fiction, which she almost singlehandedly revived all over the world, is strongly policed on just these issues.

It’s amazing and poignant to remember the sheer excitement of that HPATPS premiere in November 2001: I myself called it an “old-fashioned pre-September 11 news event”. Harry Potter emerged into cinemas as we were still all stunned by 9/11, but yet to see the retaliatory “war on terror”. This film, emerging four years after the original novel, marked the birth of a new consolatory pop culture myth, to rival Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, and the circumstances of its own arrival became mythic, from Rowling’s own early poverty to the snapping up of film rights.

Warner Bros had gambled on three cherubically young actors to carry the series through their own adolescence to its finale: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione and Rupert Grint as Ron. Opinions on the acting may divide here, and it was admittedly Robert Pattinson (playing Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire), who had the real career staying power. But I can’t think of these characters played by any other actors: the thought of the stories being remade or re-adapted with a different cast is heresy. I even grew to like Grint’s very broad, goofy acting, in which he was encouraged by director Chris Columbus at the outset. Radcliffe’s bespectacled moon face looks heartbreakingly unformed.

In the film we see Harry Potter coming to terms with his messianic purpose: he is released from his Dickensian incarceration in the Dursley household and sent for his first term at Hogwarts with its public-school/Oxbridge traditions. Harry learns how to play quidditch (like Tom Brown learning rugby) and he and his three pals are sorted into their various houses; they encounter the formidable teaching staff, including Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith), Professor Quirrell (Ian Hart) and Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) and then meet the challenge of a deadly assault on Harry.

And it’s still a very entertaining and spectacular movie, with a rush of nostalgia to go alongside the exhilaration of fun, even though some of the “flying” effects during the big quidditch match aren’t quite what we’re used to in 2021. “Wingardium Leviosa,” says the earnest, wide-eyed Hermione … and the story is airborne again.

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• Harry Potter (Books)
• Harry Potter (Film)
• Daniel Radcliffe
• Emma Watson
• Rupert Grint

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Narrated by Stephen Fry)

By: J.K. Rowling

• Narrated by: Stephen Fry
• Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
• 4.9 out of 5 stars 4.9 (49 ratings)

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Stephen Fry brings the richness of these magical stories to life in the original British recordings, available for the first time in the United States and Canada.

Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'. Treat your ears to a performance so rich and captivating you'll imagine yourself in the halls of Hogwarts. Wherever you listen, the unmistakable voice of Stephen Fry is guaranteed to guide you ever more deeply into this magical story and transport you to the heart of the adventure. Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin! Theme music composed by James Hannigan.

Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter stories never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new listeners.

About the Performer

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director, and all-around national treasure. Notable acting roles include his award-winning performance in Wilde , his iconic projects with Hugh Laurie such as A Bit of Fry and Laurie , Jeeves and Wooster , and Blackadder , and his memorable turns in blockbuster projects V for Vendetta , Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows , and The Hobbit series. His recent television credits include The Dropout for Hulu and The Sandman for Netflix. He can next be seen in the Netflix project Everything Now and season 3 of Apple’s The Morning Show . Stephen recently wrapped shooting the European feature film Iron Box opposite Lena Dunham, directed by Julia Von Heinz. As a proudly out gay man, he leads the award-winning Stephen Fry: Out There , which documents the lives of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender people around the world as part of his thirty-year advocacy of the rights of the LGBT community.

• Series: Harry Potter (Narrated by Stephen Fry) , Book 1
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Categories: Children's Audiobooks

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What listeners say about Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Narrated by Stephen Fry)

• 5 out of 5 stars 4.9 out of 5.0

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Audible.com reviews, amazon reviews.

• Overall 5 out of 5 stars
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars
• Story 5 out of 5 stars

Stephen does 9.5/10

Love Stephen Fry. I’d give his reading of this a 9.5/10. Jim Dale reading I’d give 10/10. But this is still a fantastic reading.

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I'm so happy!

I am so happy that the Stephen Fry readings of the Harry Potter books are now available on Audible in the United States. I get a lot of pleasure from and admire the quality of Stephen Fry's audiobook performances. Harry Potter and Stephen Fry are a great combination. With this said I do want to say that I have enjoyed multiple listenings of the Dale Hill performances. There is nothing wrong with them at all. But Stephen Fry readings are always particularly good. I snapped the first three up as soon as I saw the advertisement that they are available. I have wanted to find out what Fry's version would sound like and it doesn't disappoint. I am totally happy with volume one and will now continue on to volume two.

1 person found this helpful

• Alex Sumner

Several years ago I purchased the Stephen Fry narrated HP CD set. As soon as I saw the SF version was finally available on US Audible I added the audiobooks to my library immediately. Rather than writing a new review, here is the one I left on Amazon explaining why it was worth the $$$ investment to be able to listen to SF: Coming in very late to the party here. I read the Harry Potter books years ago (and saw the movies), but I never explored listening to the audiobooks. Here in the US the only narrated version available is Jim Dale's. Listening to the audio samples hadn't inspired me to try them. I kept getting the strong sense I wouldn't enjoy it. The performance sounded like the voice characterizations were targeted for a child's humor. Now, there's nothing wrong with children's audiobooks being made for young listeners, but unfortunately that also limits the appeal for adult listeners. Happily there are some YA/children's audiobook gems out there where the narrator's performance makes the content entertaining for anyone listening to it. The story's communicated with depth and dimension, populated with vivid, well rounded characters and, weird as it sounds, it's also realistic. I know, I know, magic and all that, but still, it's like I'm listening to real people in a fantastic adventure. Tim Curry's performance on Garth Nix's Old Kingdom trilogy is a great example of this. I'd tell friends to check it out, the story's fascinating and has the best talking cat in it. If a cat could talk, _this_ is what it would sound like. Sardonic. Condescending. Soft, purring trills added to some dialog and screeching yowls when angry or alarmed. It's really, really good. The second book has a dog in it and it's voice is perfect too. Earthy. Pragmatic. The whole trilogy is a seriously fun listen with death, dire consequences and excitement. And every friend reacted: Um, yeah, talking animals? Is it a kids book? I don't know...sounds kind of young for me. So I've gifted Sabriel to several of them to overcome the 'kid's book' stigma and I can always tell if they've listened to it. Months (years) go by and suddenly they're OMG THAT WAS FANTASTIC! Do you have the next book? I point them to the recordings that are, thankfully, still available and haven't been redone by someone else. (A couple of other gem audiobooks in the children's genre in my audio library are Ironman: The Gauntlet, by Eoin Colfer, narrated by Ari Fliakos and The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, narrated by Christina Moore. I highly recommend giving them a listen.) Now back to the Harry Potter CDs. Before I sank $$$ into getting this CD set I researched the whole debate about who the fans thought did it better, Jim Dale or Stephen Fry? Listening to audio samples from both audio versions (and then exact section comparisons when the CDs arrived), imho it's SF, because his performance captures not only vivid realism he also adds dimension to the story, enriching the content and making it so much more than I could imagine. I'm going to pick Mr Durnsley to illustrate the difference between JD's interpretation of the character and SF's interpretation of the character. It was immediately apparent JD voices Mr Durnsley as a comical buffoon. From the first book he's a big meanie in Harry's life. Scary, but not that scary. Not immediate. He's like a cartoon. I think this is why I never pursued listening to the audiobooks. I couldn't articulate it at the time, but it feels like the story's been limited. Like this is something a parent would want for their young children. A non-threatening villain. Something that doesn't cause nightmares. (Which is probably a great thing for them. My parents regretted letting me watch The Wizard of Oz with my older sisters when I was four, because the Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys disrupted both our nights for quite a while afterwards.) SF, on the other hand, voices Mr Durnsley as a large, domineering, angry man as soon as the character's introduced. He's a three dimensional person with no softening or funny caricaturizations. Listening to the story I was surprised at being aware of his size compared to Harry. The menace of him just sitting at the kitchen table. It connected with long forgotten personal experiences as a kid, when I had to sit near an adult that intimidated me. In book 2 when Mr Durnsley bursts into Harry's bedroom after Dobby makes too much noise? Wow. Mr Durnsley looming over Harry and raging at him put me right there on the bed beside him being screamed at. Serious unpleasant flashback to my childhood. Something I hadn't felt in decades. I could totally identify with Harry's trembling after Mr Durnsley left the room, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness to do anything to stop Mr. Durnsley's actions. I was seriously psyched! If SF made every book in the series this vivid the purchase was worth every penny. His performance was definitely enhancing the story beyond my imagination, because I don't remember experiencing any of this when I read the books. I think I was impatient Harry wasn't figuring out how to escape from his bedroom. As an adult I missed what it was like to be a child in this situation. I was all, just blow this guy off and get out of there already! But listening to SF? I was eleven again, overmatched and helpless to change things, with the belief that I had no say and adults could do whatever they wanted to me. When the Weasley brothers show up to free Harry afterwards? I was suffused with relief and felt joy and uncoiling tension during The Burrow section, making me very aware of the Weasley's genuine kindness. When Harry gets bitten and hurls the gnome out of the garden? There's no description of its travel time or huge projection arc. Fred and George's comments, delivered with perfect timing and just the right amount of surprise and pleasure makes that image incredibly vivid. And hilarious. (I also had a much greater appreciation for JK Rowling's wry wit and deft turn of phrase while listening to SF.) The fear and repression experienced at the Durnsley's versus the laughter and relief at the Weasley's really highlighted the subtlety and depth of SF's performance for me. In the later books SF's nuanced changes to Harry's dialog reflected his growing maturity and developing attitude (cockiness) due to the many ordeals he'd survived at school. Being yelled at by Mr Durnsley? Pfft. He'd experienced worse. _Now_ Mr Durnsley comes off as a buffoon during their exchanges. SF's narration has Mr Durnsley gradually transform through the books, showing us a man who enjoys terrorizing the weak, to being powerless when faced with a boy that can't be bullied and then how he's always been perceived in the adult world; as a blowhard that tucks tail when challenged. That's some spectacular voice work by SF! Ron was much more well rounded too, surprising me. Again, SF presented him as a person from the first word, capturing how a younger brother would act and feel at home and at school following in the footsteps of his older brother's achievements. The enhancements SF made to his dialog, showing his shallowness and resentment as well as his depth of character made Ron very 'real'. SF does this with everyone in the books. They're changing and growing through each story, instead of being the same from book to book. I love when a narrator captures this kind of dimension in their performance. Like...in Book 6's opening. I was caught completely by surprise to be up close and personal with the UK Prime Minister. As the scene progressed it had me grinning, then laughing out loud. Omg. SF's performance is _fantastic_. He deftly adds layer upon layer to the scene, not only recapping what's occurred in the story so far, but also lampooning the very full of himself PM. I had to recollect who was in office at the time these books were published and it made what was happening even more hilarious as the witty, pointed, unable to extricate himself from the public evisceration progressed. I'd even go so far as to say this is my favorite scene in all the books and that's saying something, because there are many, _many_ fabulous moments throughout the stories, but this one, with SF's oh so dry delivery, subtle and scathing, taking the PM to task, pinioning him and slicing away till he's left filleted by the close was an absolute joy to listen to! JD's version misses all that, presenting a straightforward comical interaction without sly digs or political undertones. Of course everyone's tastes are different and certain things are more appealing to listeners. During my research I read a concise description of the difference between the two versions: JD's better for the funny parts and SF's better for the serious parts. That pretty much sums it up. I liked that the Durnsley household was a grim situation for Harry, that I felt it when a character died, was frustrated when injustice triumphed or experienced an involuntary clench of my stomach when Bellatrix corners Snape at the party. I was very, very aware of the fine line Snape was treading during her interrogation; admiring his nerve, understanding his motivations and hatred...yet still not liking him very much. Like I said earlier, the characters have depth and dimension. They come off as real people, warts and all. If you're into that? I strongly recommend getting SF's narration, because you'll have a seriously vivid listening experience from the first word to the last. SF's subtle, touching, nuanced performance not only puts you right there in the midst of the action, feeling fear and pain or heartache, it's also filled with dry wit and superb comedic timing that will have you laughing out loud.

5 people found this helpful

• Kindle Customer

Jim Dale's version was groundbreaking in the audio book field for his skill in representing so many different xharacters, but some of his voices just made me cringe, especially Hermione. This was an absolute joy to listen to, and I am looking forward to the rest.

2 people found this helpful

Way better narrator

now I've loved the Harry Potter series but I couldn't stand The old narrator Jim Dale his voice irritated me and put me to sleep I couldn't listen to it but Stephen fly is a perfect narrator for this series I've almost read the first book in one day because I'm so engaged and I love his voice

Excellent performance

Stephen Fry is so talented that I sometimes forgot he was performing all the parts.

• Overall 4 out of 5 stars
• Performance 4 out of 5 stars

The same great story, but with British flavor

Let me state that I love this series with Jim Dale's narration. I've listened to it millions of times and know each voice intimately. But I've always wondered about the Stephen Fry version. For one thing, it's the original. For another, there has been a silly online war from those who prefer one version over the other. So, let me give you the view from someone who thinks the war is a waste of time. If you loved the US Jim Dale version, you should be happy enough with the UK Stephen Fry version. Do I prefer many of the voices Dale gave to characters over Fry's? Yes. But that's mostly because I am used to them. There were also a couple voices I preferred in Fry's version. I loved the British'isms in Fry's version. I am American, but grew up with English Literature, so hearing the English equivalents to US terms made me smile. After all, that is the way they are supposed to be in the first place. So, the comparison war is silly and if you love HP, you will love it come to life in either Jim Dale or Stephen Fry's adaptation. If you prefer US terms, go with Jim Dale. If you love English terms, get the Stephen Fry version. Or, if you're like me and just simply love HP and want to hear it in any way possible, get both versions so you can listen to it in any way you choose.

35 people found this helpful

I’ve always been curious how Stephen Fry’s narration stacks up against Jim Dale’s. I’ve listened to the first two and now I know. Fry’s narration is excellent. But his character voices vary minimally. It’s a different listening experience. Jim Dale’s narration is superb. His voices are distinctive and many are excellent. People often complain about Hermione’s voice, and I admit it’s not perfect. I can now rank Dale’s narration over Fry’s. But it’s fun listening to Fry as it’s almost like listening to a new book series.

Stephen Fry narrating Harry Potter is perfection!

The narrators of the only two versions of the Harry Potter series previously available in the States were horribly off-putting to me. Check out the 3-minute samples and decide for yourself! I discovered that Stephen Fry had recorded the series but it wasn’t available stateside. So frustrating! I actually tried to gain access to these by changing my Audible membership to Great Britain but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. No need to jump through hoops anymore, the Stephen Fry narration is now available in North America! Enjoy!!!

• Stacie Bundy

Of course Harry Potter series is terrific! Im so glad to have this edition with Stephen Fry narrating. Really excellent job!

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Channel 4 lands prince andrew interviewer emily maitlis for general election coverage, ‘harry potter’ tv series due to hit max in 2026: everything we know about the cast, who’s creating it, what j.k. rowling says & more – update.

By Tom Tapp

Deputy Managing Editor

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UPDATED with latest : At its Max streaming event in April 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans . The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written by J.K. Rowling . See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.

What is the Harry Potter TV series about?

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Early reports had each season of the series focusing on one book in the Harry Potter book series, which consists of seven novels, but Bloys said the project would run for “10 consecutive years,” which would seem to defy the 1 season, 1 book assertion. For those who say Fantastic Beasts could be leveraged to provide 10 seasons over 10 years, WBD brass said specifically during the announcement that FB will not be a part of the series.

Whatever the case, Bloys promised that, as the company embarks on its new Harry Potter adventure, “We do so with the full care and craft of this franchise.”

Who Is creating the Harry Potter series?

It has taken a bit, given the initial announcement was in April 2023, but in recent months Warner Bros. invited a select group of creatives in to pitch ideas for what the series could be. They were Martha Hillier, Kathleen Jordan, Tom Moran and Michael Lesslie. Now, the streaming service and Warner Bros. Television have narrowed it to Jordan, Moran and newer addition Francesca Gardiner, sources said.

Deadline broke the news last month that Succession  writer  Francesca Gardiner  is among the finalists. Gardiner was a consulting producer on Seasons 3 and 4 of HBO’s  Succession . Before working on the Jesse Armstrong creation, she was an exec producer of HBO and BBC fantasy co- production   His Dark Materials  and was a co-exec producer of AMC’s  Killing Eve . She has also written on shows including Starz’s  The Rook  and Amazon’s  The Man In The High Castle.

Tom Moran is a British writer, who created Amazon series The Devil’s Hour , which starred Peter Capaldi. He also worked on Amazon sci-fi series The Feed and Rob Lowe cop drama Wild Bill .

It’s an interesting mix of Brits and Americans, most of whom have some experience working with streamers and many of whom have shepherded projects in the sci-fi/fantasy space.

We’ve heard that the group of writers were commissioned by Max to create pitches for a series reflecting their take on the IP. Rowling is understood to be involved in this pitching process. The trio will be able to hone in on their pitches for the next couple of months, with a decision on who gets the job expected in June. 

When will the Harry Potter series be released?

The series is expected to be on air in 2026, according to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

“We’ve not been shy about our excitement around Harry Potter,” Zaslav told Wall Street analysts on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “I was in London a few weeks ago with Casey [Bloys, CEO of HBO] and Channing [Dungey, chairperson of Warner Bros Television] and we spent some real time with JK and her team,” he enthused. “Both sides just thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great.”

Given the results on that earnings call, WBD needs Harry Potter’s magic sooner rather than later.

Ditto J.K. Rowling, whose production company posted a 74% drop in profits in 2022. That rebounded somewhat after the stage version of  Harry Potter  And The Cursed Child  proved to be a post-pandemic crowd pleaser. The author got a $10.5 million paycheck for it in 2023.

The success of the stage show demonstrates that there’s still an appetite for Hogwarts-related content. Likewise the massive hit that is Hogwarts Legacy, which became the bestselling video game of 2023 , moving 22 million units. (That’s fantastic, but for comparison Rowling’s seven bestselling  Harry Potter  books have moved 600M copies worldwide.)

At a Goldman Sachs conference last year, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made pointed out the need for more Hogwarts magic explicitly. Ignoring the Harry-less Fantastic Beasts films, the CEO insisted the boy wizard presents a huge opportunity, claiming that the IP has been “underused” of late.

“We haven’t done anything with Harry Potter for more than a decade,” he said, before going on to note that when one examines the performance of Warner Bros. over the last 20 years without accounting for it’s big three — Potter , Lord of the Rings and DC — the company’s performance is “relatively flat.”

Zaslav called that type of big-ticket IP “one of the big differentiators of this company.” And he seems to be counting on it to make a big difference.

“When you put those franchises in, it’s the best-performing studio in the world. We need to deploy our best capital, and we need to do it with the best creative people in the world,” he said.

How to watch the series

It will, of course, be on Max once the series is ready. The service has three price tiers: Max Ad Light, which goes for $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year and allows two concurrent streams; Max Ad Free will be priced at $15.99 a month, or $149.99 a year, and will also allow two concurrent streams; and Max Ultimate Ad Free which costs $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year, and allows access to four concurrent streams.

If you’re in Canada, WBD has struck a multi-year licensing agreement with Crave for the likes of  Harry Potter ,  Game of Thrones ,  the  DC  Universe and  HBO  content.

Which actors are starring in the series? Are any of the original Harry Potter stars returning?

There will be new actors playing the series’ main characters, but no one has been cast yet. Warner Bros. TV Group Chairman Channing Dungey said recently that that casting will come after they find a showrunner.

As for that, Warner Bros. is very likely looking to cast young actors, given that they’re proceeding through Rowling’s books in order. “The tricky part is the first two books, where the kids are on the younger end, around 11 or 12,” said Dungey of the casting process.

“We have been trying to be very close to the vest,” said Bloys. “We haven’t gone out to agencies. We have our own internal process where we’ve been thinking about people but we have not wanted to go out into the world. Now that the news is out there…we’ll start going out to the business.”

As for a return of any of the film franchise’s stars — like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson or Rupert Grint — never say never. It would certainly be a PR boost for the series and, while new actors will be cast in the primary roles, there are always flashforwards or the currently en vogue multiverse plot ploy that could create space for more familiar faces in the series.

But Daniel Radcliffe has said he is fine with sitting on the sidelines.

“My understanding is that they’re trying to very much start fresh and I’m sure whoever is making them will want to make their own mark on it and probably not want to have to figure out how to get old Harry to cameo in this somewhere,” Radcliffe told ComicBook.com . “So I’m definitely not seeking it out in any way. But I do wish them, obviously, all the luck in the world and I’m very excited to have that torch passed. But I don’t think it needs me to physically pass it.”

Another longtime Potter player who likely won’t be involved is David Yates, who directed the last four movies,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  (2007),  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince  (2009) and  Deathly Hallows Part One and Two  (2010 and 2011). In addition, Yates took on the  Potter  spinoff  Fantastic Beasts  trilogy. He says there has been no conversation about his involvement with the series. And it sounds like he’s ok with that.

“Huge affection and a lovely group of people I worked with,” Yates told Deadline . “But we haven’t had a conversation since we finished it.”

“It’s been about ‘Let’s just park it, and be done for a while,'” he said of the Potter franchise.

“Never say never, I would say, but I’m excited about moving on,” he said.

Your Hogwarts letter is here. Max has ordered the first ever #HarryPotter scripted television series, a faithful adaptation of the iconic books. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/3CgEHLYhch — Max (@StreamOnMax) April 12, 2023

Will J.K. Rowling be involved in the new Harry Potter TV series?

Yes. A deal for J.K. Rowling’s involvement in the series had been the biggest hurdle in its path to the screen: The author has creative control over any exploitation of her work. That agreement was finalized in 2023.

“Max’s commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I’m looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series,” said Rowling in a statement.

Since Warners launched its streaming service, there’s always been a goal to exploit Warners’ biggest franchise for streaming. Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, taking the reigns after the merger last year, met with Rowling several times in the UK. He’s even spoken up in support of the author, who has been involved in an ongoing controversy over her comments on transgender issues . Asked about the streaming event about those controversies, Bloys demurred.

“No, I don’t think this is the forum [to discuss that],” he said. “That’s a very online conversation, very nuanced and complicated and not something we’re going to get into.”

“Our priority is what’s on the screen,” Bloys continued. “Obviously, the Harry Potter story is incredibly affirmative and positive and about love and self-acceptance. That’s our priority — what’s on screen.”

As for how close the author will be to the series, Bloys said, “[Rowling] will be involved. She’s an executive producer on the show. Her insights are going to be helpful on that.”

The author’s involvement could prove a hurdle to having the principals from the films involved in the series. Relations between Rowling, Radcliffe and Emma Watson can’t be great, given the author recently said she was “bloody angry” over stances taken by trans rights activists, which she sees being in opposition to women’s rights.

Rowling claimed that “thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations.” Asked specifically whether she would forgive Radcliffe and Watson for their unabashed pro-trans rights stance on the issue Rowling replied, “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies.”

Bloys was clear, however, that WBD wasn’t entirely dependent on Rowling for the project.

“The TV show is new and we’re excited about that. But, remember, we’ve been in the Potter business for 20 years. This is not a new decision for us, we’re very comfortable being in the Potter business.”

How much will the series cost to produce?

“You know we make shows at this scale with House of the Dragon , Game of Thrones ,” said Bloys. “I imagine will be that scale or higher. The shorter answer is whatever it takes to make a quality show.”

Per Deadline reporting, House of the Dragon cost nearly $200 million and was the subject of HBO’s biggest marketing campaign ever, valued at over $100M in media spend (that’s a combo of ad spot value and hard cash shelled out). So fans can expect a similar outlay for the Potter series “or higher,” according to HBO/Max boss Bloys.

Will there be other Harry Potter-related projects?

“We’re free to do anything we want,” Zaslav has said, before hedging a bit. “Some areas we need to do with J.K., other areas we have the full ability to go forward. This is a full deployment on Max of Harry Potter. We can still develop other properties.”

Deadline understands that there may also be an opportunity for more than one of the above-mentioned writers to be involved and that Max is open to the possibility of developing more than one idea based on  Harry Potter.

How long has this been in the works?

Max and its then-parent company WarnerMedia  started exploring  a potential Harry Potter TV series a couple of years ago. At the time, Warner Bros. appointed Kids, Young Adult and Classics president Tom Ascheim to manage the Wizarding World and Potter franchises, which include theme parks, tours and the $9.1 billion-grossing theatrical library that spans the  Harry Potter  and spinoff  Fantastic Beasts  titles. Under that setup, Ascheim became WarnerMedia’s senior rep in its relationship with Rowling and her representatives, and exploratory conversations for a Max series got underway.

After the Discovery acquisition was completed a year ago, that unit was disbanded and  Ascheim exited the company . However, the importance of the   Harry Potter IP has only grown post-merger.

Zaslav spoke about his family’s own personal connection to the series.

“My wife and I, we read (the Harry Potter books) to each of our three kids,” said Zaslav, going off script at the Max announcement. “It’s really moving, for ten consecutive years, people will see  Harry Potter  on HBO; I mean it’s really something.”

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‘Harry Potter’ Series A Go With J.K. Rowling Executive Producing, Set For 10-Year Run On Max

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