The most evil and
powerful dark wizard in history, Lord Voldemort, murdered married couple
James and Lily Potter but mysteriously disappeared after failing to
kill their infant son, Harry. While the wizarding world celebrates
Voldemort’s apparent downfall, Professor Dumbledore, Professor
McGonagall and half-giant Rubeus Hagrid place the one-year-old orphan in
the care of his surly and cold Muggle uncle and aunt, Vernon and
Petunia Dursley, with their spoiled and bullying son, Dudley.
Ten years later while living at number Four Privet Drive, Harry is
tormented by the Dursleys, treated more like a servant than a member of
the family and forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs. Shortly
before his eleventh birthday, a series of letters addressed to Harry
arrive, but Vernon destroys them before Harry can read them, leading
only to an influx of more letters. To evade the pursuit of the letters,
Vernon first takes the family to a hotel, and, when the letters arrive
there too, he hires a boat out to a small island. On Harry’s eleventh
birthday at midnight, Hagrid bursts through the door to deliver Harry’s
letter and tells him what the Dursleys have kept from him: Harry is a
wizard and has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry. Hagrid takes Harry to a hidden London street called Diagon
Alley, where he is startled to discover how famous he is among the
witches and wizards, who refer to him as «the boy who lived.» He also
finds that his parents’ inheritance is waiting for him at Gringotts
Wizarding Bank. Guided by Hagrid, he buys the equipment he will need for
his first year at Hogwarts and receives a pet owl.
A month later, Harry leaves the Dursleys’ home to catch the Hogwarts
Express from King’s Cross railway station. There he meets the Weasley
family, who show him how to pass through the magic wall to Platform 9¾,
where the train that will take them to Hogwarts is waiting. While on the
train, Harry meets two fellow first years, Ron Weasley, who immediately
becomes his friend, and Hermione Granger, with whom the ice is a bit
slower to break. Harry also makes an enemy of yet another first-year,
Draco Malfoy. Draco offers to advise Harry, but Harry dislikes Draco for
his arrogance and prejudice and rejects his offer of «friendship».
At Hogwarts, the first-years are assigned by the magical Sorting Hat to
houses that best suites their personality. While Harry is being sorted,
the Hat suggests that he be placed into Slytherin which is known to
house potential dark witches and wizards, but when Harry objects, the
Hat sends him to Gryffindor. Ron and Hermione are also sorted into
Gryffindor. Draco is sorted into Slytherin, like his whole family before
him.
Harry starts classes at Hogwarts School, with lessons including
Transfiguration with Head of Gryffindor, Minerva McGonagall, Herbology
with Head of Hufflepuff, Pomona Sprout, Charms with Head of Ravenclaw
Filius Flitwick, and Defence Against the Dark Arts with Quirinus
Quirrell. Harry’s least favourite class is Potions, taught by Severus
Snape, the vindictive Head of Slytherin who seems to loathe Harry.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione become far more interested by extracurricular
matters within and outside of the school, particularly after they
discover that a huge three-headed dog is standing guard over a trapdoor
in a condemned corridor. They also become suspicious of Snape’s
behaviour and become convinced that he is looking for ways to get past
the trapdoor.
Harry discovers an innate talent for flying on broomsticks and is
appointed as Seeker on his House’s Quidditch team, a wizards’s sport
played in the air. His first game goes well until his broomstick wobbles
in mid-air and almost throws him off. Ron and Hermione suspect foul
play from Snape, whom they saw behaving oddly. For Christmas, Harry
receives an invisibility cloak from an anonymous source and begins
exploring the school at night and investigating the hidden object
further. He discovers the Mirror of Erised, in which the viewer’s sees
his deepest desires becoming true.
Thanks to an indiscretion from Hagrid, Harry and his friends work out
that the object kept at the school is a Philosopher’s Stone, made by an
old friend of Dumbledore named Nicolas Flamel. Harry is also informed by
a centaur he meets in the forest that a plot to steal the Philosopher’s
stone is being orchestrated by none other than Voldemort himself, who
would use it to be restored to his body and come back to power. When
Dumbledore is lured from Hogwarts under false pretences, Harry and his
friends fear that the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor
themselves.
They encounter a series of obstacles, each of which requires unique
skills possessed by one of the three, and one of which requires Ron to
sacrifice himself in a life-sized game of wizard’s chess. In the final
room, Harry, now alone, finds Quirrell, who admits that