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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 Prisoner of Azkaban

By j.k. rowling.

Many reviews have lauded 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' for being one of the best Harry Potter books ever written, especially for its bold shift from children's storytelling to elements of gritty realism.

Article written by Mohandas Alva

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

‘ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ‘ is one of the most well-received books in the entire series. Its movie adaptation, ‘ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ‘ is certainly the most critically acclaimed Harry Potter movie ever made. While the latter may be due to the skillful directing prowess of Alfonso Cuarón, there is no denying that the book is popular solely because of how well Rowling established herself as a writer with a confident voice that can explore dark and gritty boundaries in the plot without fearing rejection of the manuscript.

While the concept of Harry Potter and the world of magic in itself is very interesting, it is the later books, starting from ‘ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ‘ that showed the true potential of this series as not just a children’s book series, but also as a series that children would grow up loving and learning crucial lessons of life from.

Blind Spots of the Law

One of the most essential ideas that this book address is the nature of law and its fallibility. It is very clear from the occurrences of this book that the law doesn’t always protect the innocent. Instead, it sometimes just looks for the easiest explanation that fits into its idea of who the culprit is and just claims judgment. Sometimes, the actual culprits easily escape trial, and the innocent are punished.

Sirius Black, as it is eventually found out, is not at fault at all, and is grieving the deaths of two of his closest friends, when he is arrested and placed in the Azkaban prison for betraying these friends and being a supporter of Voldemort . Furthermore, he is also accused of killing Peter Pettigrew, the very person who actually betrayed Lily and James Potter and beat a hasty retreat.

The law doesn’t seem to care or listen to anything Sirius has to say, neither do the closest people to Sirius, who are hoodwinked by the authoritative nature of the law to believe that he must be guilty. This is the blind spot of the law that it cannot always protect the innocent, not if they are made to look guilty.

Another place where this problem arrives is when Buckbeak is accused of attacking Draco Malfoy and sentenced to death. Clearly, it was Draco Malfoy’s fault, as is evident from his actions. He was told to not insult the Hippogriff and to approach it slowly, but he ridiculed it and made fun of it. Furthermore, despite being only slightly bruised, he made a big deal out of his injury, involving his powerful father to speak in favor of sentencing Buckbeak to death. Eventually, the law complied. Not only because of Malfoy’s father but also because of his preconceived notions about animals being dangerous. This again is a blind spot of the law that J. K. Rowling has boldly addressed in this book.

Fear and the Dementors

Fear, in any of its forms, is one of the most unsettling and undesirable emotions. It makes us feel very vulnerable and helpless, and we usually try to avoid it whenever we are faced with something that induces it. In the story of ‘ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ,’ the dementors are creatures that feed on people’s joy and hope, making them weaker and more vulnerable with time. The dementors are a very apt and clever metaphor for depression and perpetual sorrow, something that Rowling intended when she wrote this book.

When Rowling wrote this, she was suffering great loss from the sudden death of her mother, and the periods of sorrow that kept coming back and made it difficult to live were what led to the creation of dementors in the plot. Dementors represent a dark force that takes away all that is happy and the ability to be happy again and leaves behind fear, doubt, and sorrow.

The only way to overcome the dementors is to cast a Patronus, which in essence, is an imprint or projection of what makes our ‘self’ happy and worth living for. There are always going to be difficulties and struggles in life, but recalling the moments that we crave to go back to or memories that made us really happy helps us focus on what to be grateful for and what to hope for instead of what to fear. This is one of the best ways to triumph over fear.

Friendship and Betrayal

A very strong theme to touch upon in a children’s book, betrayal of friendship is a sad and undesirable but very real effect. Friendship is a very strong bond of mutual reciprocation that keeps one happy, strong, and content in life. Friendship, as has been addressed in the first two Harry Potter books, can be a great thing because until Harry met Ron and Hermione, or even Hagrid, he didn’t have any friends, and he really enjoys his life after he met them.

In ‘ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ,’ Rowling delves deeper into the trope of friendship by also bringing in the rare case of betrayal. Although friendship is a pure bond based on trust, there are times when this bond is broken by people who do not understand the true meaning of friendship.

Rowling uses the example of Peter Pettigrew to illustrate this harsh reality, warning young readers to understand these complexities instead of ignoring them and getting hurt later. Peter betrayed both James and Lily and eventually got them killed. Furthermore, when confronted by Sirius, he made it look like he got killed and escaped, leaving Sirius to take his place as the culprit of all the crimes Peter committed.

What are some symbols in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?

There are several significant symbols in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Some of them include the dementors who represent fear, the grim , which could signify irrational fears that scare us despite no real threat being there. Another symbol is the time turner worn in a necklace form which could represent the immense value of time.

How did Peter Pettigrew escape from Sirius Black?

When Sirius Black confronted Peter for betraying James and Lily Potter, he loudly claimed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters for the onlookers to see, but when Sirius tried to catch him, he used an explosive curse that ended up killing twelve muggles , leaving a crater on the road and diverted everyone enough for him to turn into his rat form and easily escape without being noticed.

How did Remus Lupin become a werewolf?

Remus Lupin is a very interesting and likable character in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. When he was a boy, he was bitten by another werewolf called Fenrir Greyback and therefore turned into a werewolf.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - One of the best Harry Potter Books

Book Title: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Book Description: 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' stands out for weaving complex themes into a children's narrative, skillfully incorporating motifs like time travel and rebellion.

Book Author: J.K. Rowling

Book Edition: First Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Bloomsbury Publishing

Date published: July 8, 1999

Illustrator: Cliff Wright

ISBN: 978-0-7475-4225-6

Number Of Pages: 422

• Writing Style
• Lasting Effect on the Reader

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Book Review

‘ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ is one of the best Harry Potter books ever written because it incorporates a multitude of themes and ideas into a children’s novel and makes it a way bolder book than the others. Its ability to still be a children’s book but impart some grounded realities of life into the reader makes it quite an exceptional and skilfully written book. Its plot makes use of several interesting motifs including time travel, imprisonment, revenge and rebellious rule-breaking.

• It is a very strongly written book with a lot of life lessons for children.
• It teaches both about friendship as well as how to make good friends without hesitating to highlight the latter.
• It has several key plot lines making it more engrossing for the reader.
• It may be very gritty and dark for some readers, especially considering the first two books which were way more mild.
• It has some plot holes which might reduce its credit as a contender for a great book.
• It is still a one sided account of the enmity between the Marauders and Snape, making it very biased for the reader.

Summon your wit and wisdom—our Harry Potter Trivia Quiz awaits you! Do you have the knowledge to claim the title of Master Witch or Wizard? Take the challenge now!

1) Which spell is used to open the Marauder's Map?

2) What is the core ingredient of the wand owned by Harry Potter?

3) What was the last Horcrux to be destroyed?

4) In which Harry Potter book does Harry first speak Parseltongue?

5) Who was the Peverell brother that owned the invisibility cloak?

6) What does the incantation "Obliviate" do?

7) Which object is NOT one of the Deathly Hallows?

8) What is the name of the goblin who helps Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into Gringotts?

9) Who originally owned the Elder Wand before Dumbledore won it?

10) What is the name of Harry Potter's pet owl?

11) Who is the Half-Blood Prince?

12) What creature is Aragog?

13) What form does Hermione Granger's Patronus take?

14) What is Dumbledore's full name?

15) What is the name of the goblin-made object that is supposed to bring its owner prosperity, but also brings them into conflict with goblins?

16) What does the Mirror of Erised show?

17) What animal represents Hufflepuff house?

18) What are the dying words of Severus Snape in both the book and the film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"?

19) What is the name of the train that takes students to Hogwarts?

20) In the "Order of the Phoenix," who is NOT a member of the original Order of the Phoenix shown in the old photograph that Moody shows Harry?

21) What is the effect of the Cheering Charm?

22) Which creature can transform into a person's worst fear?

23) Which character is killed by Bellatrix Lestrange in the Battle of Hogwarts?

24) What is the name of the book Hermione gives to Harry before his first ever Quidditch match?

25) Which potion did Hermione brew in her second year that allowed her, Ron, and Harry to assume the identities of Slytherins?

26) What potion is known as "Liquid Luck"?

27) Who teaches Herbology at Hogwarts?

28) What specific type of dragon does Harry face during the Triwizard Tournament?

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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.

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Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Explores the Power of Time

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By Michiko Kakutani

• Aug. 1, 2016

J. K. Rowling’s magical seven-volume Harry Potter series is the ultimate bildungsroman, tracing that young wizard’s coming of age, as he not only battles evil but also struggles to come to terms with the responsibilities, losses and burdens of adulthood. In the course of those books, we see a plucky schoolboy, torn by adolescent doubts and confusions, grow into an epic hero, kin to King Arthur, Luke Skywalker and Spider-Man.

Now, in a play set 19 years later, we get to see how this legendary hero has settled into middle age as a civil servant in London, working at the Ministry of Magic. More important, we get to see Harry as a father — and his teenage son Albus’s efforts to cope with the suffocating expectations that come with having a famous father. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is about the journey Albus takes while growing up, and the roles he and his best friend, Scorpius (Draco Malfoy’s son), play when dark forces, perhaps in league with Voldemort, once again threaten the fate of the planet.

This book version of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is the script of the hit play that just opened in London , and even though it lacks the play’s much-talked-about special effects, it turns out to be a compelling, stay-up-all-night read.

Written by the playwright Jack Thorne (and based on an original story by Ms. Rowling, Mr. Thorne and the director John Tiffany), the play picks up where the last novel, “ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ” (2007), left off, and it flashes forward to Albus’s later years at Hogwarts. The script is missing the fully imagined, immersive amplitude of Ms. Rowling’s novels, but she did such a remarkable job in those volumes conjuring a fictional universe that this play nimbly sustains itself simply by situating its canny story line in that world and remaining true to its characters and rules.

As in the books, the suspense here is electric and nonstop, and it has been cleverly constructed around developments recalling events in the original Potter novels — scenes from the Triwizard Tournament in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the penetration of the Ministry of Magic by Harry, Ron and Hermione (using Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves) in “Deathly Hallows”; and a visit to Godric’s Hollow in that same volume. As a bonus, fans are also given a scattering of interesting new insights into Harry, Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Dumbledore, like Sirius Black, is one of several father figures to Harry, and the Oedipal father-son dynamic is central to “Cursed Child,” much the way the Luke Skywalker-Darth Vader relationship is central to the “Star Wars” films. There are growing tensions not only between Harry and Albus but also between Draco and the insecure Scorpius, who, we learn early on, is actually rumored to be Voldemort’s secret son. Much to Harry’s dismay, Albus quickly bonds with Scorpius over their respective father issues and the fact that both of them are outcasts at Hogwarts (where Albus is startled to find himself sent by the Sorting Hat into the House of Slytherin).

Albus resents being the son of “the Chosen One,” and he’s increasingly filled with anger at the expectations placed on him. And though Albus has a lot in common with young Harry — feelings of being an outsider and a desire to prove himself — he is increasingly at odds with his father, whose worried, overprotective parenting fuels antagonism between them.

“Cursed Child” savvily intuits that Harry’s traumatic youth — losing his mother and father as an infant, growing up with the dreadful Dursleys, and then having to lead a yearslong war against Voldemort — might well have taken a psychological toll, at the very least left him awkward about expressing emotion and deeply afraid of further loss.

Although readers will miss Ms. Rowling’s endlessly inventive imagination, which was continually elaborating the universe she had created in the books, Mr. Thorne has a visceral understanding of the dynamics and themes at work in those novels: the complicated equation between destiny and free will, the pull between duty and love, and the role that loneliness and anger can play in fueling hate. As in those books, the forces of light (kindness, empathy, inclusion) are arrayed against the forces of darkness (fear, rage and an authoritarian will to power) that are threatening to rise again after years of peace — a dynamic, many readers can appreciate, with particular resonance today.

The power of time is central to Ms. Rowling’s books — even as her narratives hurtle forward with an irresistible momentum, Harry’s understanding of Voldemort and himself involved excursions into the past. And the same is true of “Cursed Child.” In the Potter books, journeys in time or space were aided by wondrous devices like the Pensieve and the Portkey. In “Cursed Child,” the key instrument is a Time-Turner, similar to the one Hermione used in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” to squeeze extra classes into her schedule and to save Hagrid’s imperiled hippogriff Buckbeak.

Here, a Time-Turner is used with consequences that will remind some readers of the movie “Back to the Future,” and others of the classic Ray Bradbury story “A Sound of Thunder,” in which a careless time traveler journeys to the days of the dinosaurs and accidentally steps on a butterfly, thereby altering the rest of time.

In this case, it is not giving away too much of the plot of this absorbing and ingenious play to simply recall Dumbledore’s words in “The Prisoner of Azkaban”: “The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed.” And time travel, like the art of fiction writing, affords the possibility of imagining ominous alternate futures and amazing and harrowing alternate worlds.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this review misspelled the name of a device referenced in the Harry Potter books. It is Pensieve, not Pensixreve.

How we handle corrections

Follow Michiko Kakutani on Twitter: @michikokakutani .

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Parts One and Two

By Jack Thorne, based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Mr. Thorne.

327 pages. Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $29.99.

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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.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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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

See also [ ]

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (soundtrack)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (character index)
• Harry Potter At Home
• Harry Potter
• 1 Tom Riddle
• 2 Harry Potter
• 3 List of spells

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

Harry Potter’s Tom Felton looks back at the highs and lows of stardom

“ Beyond the Wand ,” Tom Felton’s self-portrait of child stardom and adulthood aimlessness, follows beats not unlike the arc of his Harry Potter performances. As Slytherin bully Draco Malfoy, Felton delivered a requisite amount of sneering during the eight-movie series’ early installments, then cast a more nuanced spell in the last few films. Such is the rhythm of the 35-year-old actor’s memoir, subtitled “The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard”: After offering many a rote recollection from the saga, he summons his demons and delves deeper in the final pages.

That introspection, about Felton’s more recent struggles with drugs and alcohol, elevates what otherwise would be a diverting but disposable tome of Harry Potter trivia. Still, if you don’t know a horcrux from a hippogriff, feel free to move along — “Beyond the Wand” should only be assigned reading for Hogwarts completists.

Harry Potter’s Bonnie Wright discusses her career pivot

That’s partially because Felton liberally pulls from the wizarding lexicon, referring to his parents and three older brothers as his “Muggle family” and recalling how Harry Potter props “miraculously apparated” inside one mischievous sibling’s bag. But it’s mostly because Felton’s on-set observations feel painstakingly curated. Although he has little to say about the Harry Potter filmmakers (aside from original director Chris Columbus) and dances around touchier matters (such as co-star Jamie Waylett’s arrest and franchise exit), Felton does drop endearing tidbits about the movies’ parade of British acting royalty.

Michael Gambon is the subject of a charming story from the filming of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” when he and Felton shared a smoke between takes of Dumbledore’s death scene. Felton also recounts Hagrid actor Robbie Coltrane’s playful streak, and marvels at Jason Isaacs for being able to flip a switch from the heinous Lucius Malfoy to his gentler real-life persona. An anecdote in which Felton draws Alan Rickman’s ire by trampling on his flowing robes amuses, as does the disarming thought of the Snape actor lining up for lunch on set. “I was rather intimidated by Alan from day one,” Felton writes. “But seeing him wait patiently, in full Snape mode, for his sausage sandwich took the edge off just a little.”

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When it comes to being cast as Draco and rocketing to global fame, Felton is self-aware about his good fortune and cautions that he was “born enthusiastic rather than talented.” He’s more generous toward his youthful cohorts, lauding Daniel Radcliffe for playing Harry with dedication to his craft and portraying Rupert Grint as an easygoing goof with a big heart — not unlike Ron Weasley. But he has the most to say about Hermione Granger actress Emma Watson, whom he acknowledges had to navigate altogether different terrain in a world that unfairly sexualizes female stars. Dutifully, if vaguely, he addresses their long-standing dating rumors: “I’ve always had a secret love for Emma, though not perhaps in the way that people might want to hear.”

For a book so dominated by Harry Potter — down to the chapter titles, which are chock full of Easter eggs — it’s Felton’s experiences outside the Wizarding World that make “Beyond the Wand” worth reading. His brothers come across as colorful characters whose ribbing went a long way toward keeping Felton grounded. (The story of one brother overindulging on champagne at the premiere of “The Borrowers,” Felton’s first film, is a riot.) And Felton’s disastrous audition alongside Anthony Hopkins for the 2012 film “Hitchcock” is deliciously cringeworthy.

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When Felton finally opens up on his personal struggles, the change in tone isn’t entirely unexpected. Earlier, he alludes to the uneasy burdens of being a teen star — including receiving a death threat when he was 15 — while also citing his problems with tutoring and a few brushes with the law. As Felton details his post-Harry Potter life in Southern California, grinding through the audition circuit, he paints a striking picture of a well-adjusted actor beaten down by Hollywood’s superficiality.

Takeaways from HBO Max’s Harry Potter reunion

“Beyond the Wand” finds greater purpose when Felton explains how he fell into his drinking habits, and chronicles the intervention that shook his world. His experience sneaking out of rehab and wandering the Pacific Coast Highway, trying to find his way back to his neighborhood bar on foot, is especially distressing. “Just as we all experience physical ill-health at some stage in our lives, so we all experience mental ill-health too,” he writes. “There’s no shame in that. It’s not a sign of weakness. And part of the reason that I took the decision to write these pages is the hope that by sharing my experiences, I might be able to help someone else who is struggling.”

Ultimately, the hook of Felton’s memoir is his perspective on living a one-in-a-billion experience. Yet “Beyond the Wand” is most insightful when Felton translates his tale into something more universal. Sure, the “boy who lived” was never Draco’s moniker — but considering his eventful existence, it suits Felton just fine.

Thomas Floyd is a writer and editor for The Washington Post.

Beyond the Wand

The magic and mayhem of growing up a wizard.

By Tom Felton

Grand Central Publishing. 304 pp. $28.

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Blog – Posted on Tuesday, May 28

All the harry potter books in order: your j.k. rowling reading list.

Of all the zeitgeist-defining fiction to come out of the past twenty years, perhaps none has been more universally beloved than the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. An incredibly imagined fantasy bildungsroman , it follows the eponymous boy wizard as he attends the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and contends with his destiny to fight the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Fortunately, he always has clever, loyal friends Ron and Hermione by his side — plus the invaluable mentorship of eccentric but wise Hogwarts headmaster, Dumbledore.

As fellow Potterheads will know, it’s virtually impossible to rank these books from best to worst, since each one is brilliant in its own way. That’s why we’ve decided to simply present all the Harry Potter books in order of chronology/publication, hitting the highlights for longtime fans to happily reminisce… and to help budding fans get a taste of the series’ genuine magic .

Here’s a quick catalog of the series, so that you know what you’re in for:

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997)

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

8. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016)

And then the accompanying “Hogwarts library” texts:

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
• Quidditch Through the Ages (2016)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2016)

As well as Rowling's "Pottermore Presents" series and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplays:

• Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide (2016)
• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists (2016)
• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroisim, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies (2016)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: the Original Screenplay (2016)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — The Original Screenplay (2018)

Without further ado, let's dive in!

Psst — ever wonder what career you'd have in the wizarding world? Take our Potterhead-proofed quiz below to find out!

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The main Harry Potter books in order

1. harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , the book that started it all (understatement of the century), Harry Potter discovers his true identity in the wee hours of his eleventh birthday: he is a wizard, famous in the magical world for having vanquished the evil Lord Voldemort when he was only a baby. This revelation, delivered by a gruff, hairy giant named Hagrid, sets Harry on a fantastical (if also often frightening) journey of a lifetime.

He meets bosom buddies Ron and Hermione aboard the Hogwarts Express, and is soon sorted with them into Gryffindor: the house of the intrepid and brave. However, Harry also makes plenty of enemies at Hogwarts, most notably the arrogant Draco Malfoy and the nasty potions master, Snape (both affiliated with Slytherin house). And from battling a troll on Halloween to his first exhilarating Quidditch match — not to mention the novel’s climax , in which Harry goes up against Voldemort for the second time in his young life — there’s never a dull moment in the first year of his new adventure.

Sorcerer’s Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone , as it’s titled outside of the US) also perfectly balances exciting action with touching emotion, as Harry finds a true family in Ron and Hermione after years of misery with the Dursleys. Indeed, the book’s small, moving moments — such as Harry being floored by a gift from Ron’s mother, or Hermione’s tearful declaration at the end about “books and cleverness” — are just as magical as the spells themselves.

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Harry and friends return to Hogwarts with a bang — the bang of a flying Ford Anglia as it crashes into the Whomping Willow, that is. After being spotted by Muggles and narrowly avoiding expulsion, you’d think that the rest of Harry’s second year would be smooth sailing in comparison… right?

Wrong. When the school caretaker’s cat is found petrified (essentially paralyzed and comatose, but technically still alive) along with a bone-chilling message that “the Chamber of Secrets has been opened,” fear and suspicions start to arise — and of course, only worsen when students start getting petrified too. Nobody can figure out who the culprit is, only that he refers to himself as “the Heir” and seems to be on the warpath.

But as our young heroes know well by now, if you want a mystery solved right, you have to do it yourself. Which they do — through a combination of Polyjuice potion brewing, mysterious flashbacks provided by a sentient journal, and a truly horrific excursion to see a giant spider called Aragog. The book culminates in a visit to the titular chamber, which lies underneath Hogwarts and contains yet another deadly threat that Harry must face.

But of course, this being an early Potter book, it’s not all din and danger. Comic relief comes in the form of moronic, egocentric professor Gilderoy Lockhart, and toilet ghost Moaning Myrtle — who, in true Rowling fashion, ends up being key to the central plot twist of the story.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The third book in the series introduces Sirius Black, a deranged mass murderer who’s just escaped from the wizard prison of Azkaban. As a result, swarms of Dementors — dark, faceless beings that “suck the soul” out of their victims and serve as the guards of Azkaban — infiltrate Hogwarts to patrol for Black, who’s supposedly after Harry next. To make matters worse, our normally steadfast hero has a bad reaction to the Dementors, which cause him to faint on a train and even lose a critical Quidditch match.

Again, though, it’s not all doom and gloom. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban also features Professor Remus Lupin, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and a school friend of Harry’s late father. Lupin and Harry quickly forge a father-son-like relationship themselves, and Lupin teaches Harry the Patronus Charm (powered by one’s happiest memories) to protect himself from Dementors.

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione are squabbling even more than usual over their respective pets, Crookshanks the cat and Scabbers the rat. But what seems like a lighthearted subplot turns out to be a major factor in one of the biggest twists of the series , revealed in the last few chapters… and which naturally involves Black and Lupin as well. Oh, and hippogriffs and time traveling, in case that wasn’t enough to sell you on it.

Besides the sheer brilliance of plotting in this book, Rowling also presents some interesting commentary with the Dementors, which symbolize depression and force Harry to grapple with his past trauma. Indeed, though Goblet of Fire is widely identified as the “transition point” into the darker themes of the series’ latter half, Prisoner of Azkaban is definitely where those themes begin to take root.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

There’s quite a bit to unpack in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , so we’ll dive right in: after attending an eventful Quidditch World Cup with Hermione and the Weasley family, Harry returns to Hogwarts for his fourth year of school. It’s bound to be an exciting one, as Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament, in which students from three major wizarding academies will compete. However, only students aged seventeen or older are eligible for the competition, which means Harry is safe for once… or so he thinks, until the ceremonial Goblet of Fire selects him as the fourth Triwizard Champion for no discernible reason.

What follows is a nonstop sequence of thrills, landmarked by the challenges of the tournament — in which the contestants must tackle menacing dragons, malevolent mermaids , and a maze full of potentially fatal tricks and traps. But even between the challenges themselves is plenty of riveting drama, especially with Rita Skeeter (a slimy reporter trying defame Harry and friends), Mad-Eye Moody (the kids’ new D.A.D.A. teacher), and Hermione’s most recent social justice cause (rights for house elves, naturally). And as anyone who’s read it will know, the GoF finale is unprecedented in terms of dark, difficult material, signaling a definitive shift for the series in a more mature direction.

Indeed, for all those wondering whether Rowling could change gears from the relatively lighthearted adventures of the previous three books into a darker and even more elaborate fantasy-thriller, this book proved her undeniably capable. But once again, GoF is not devoid of laughs and simple charm. The Yule Ball is a hilarious glimpse into the all-too-familiar teenage angst of dating and school dances, and the subplot with Ron being jealous of Harry’s constant spotlight is particularly well done. Yes, even in all the grandeur, Rowling never loses sight of what’s true to life — Goblet of Fire demonstrates this most aptly.

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix gets political in big way: despite Voldemort’s revival at the end of GoF , the Ministry of Magic continues to deny all rumors and refuse to take action, worried that they’ll upset the public. This means the real adults have to take a leaf out of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s book and start fighting him themselves, through an underground vigilante group called the Order of the Phoenix.

But the Order can’t do much about Dolores Umbridge, the newly instated and highly sadistic Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, who perpetuates the Ministry’s lies about Voldemort. When Harry openly defies her in class, she retaliates by giving him chronic detention — during which he must write lines with a “blood quill” that carves the words into the back of his hand. Despite this torment, he and the rest of the class do not acquiesce to Umbridge, and establish a secret defense organization for themselves called “Dumbledore’s Army.”

On top of all that, Harry keeps having frequent, harrowing visions of Voldemort when he’s asleep, and must take Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape to prevent them. This is a different kind of torture, with Snape forcing entry into Harry’s private memories at every lesson and relishing the opportunity to cause him pain. Of course, Snape’s own twisted motivations are revealed when Harry gains access to his memories — one of which is a bitter altercation with Harry’s father.

Even the most diehard HP fan will admit that Order of the Phoenix is a hard one to get through. From watching Harry suffer in such a myriad of ways, to that devastating climax in which he loses one of the few people he’s come to love and trust, OotP is no walk in the park. Yet it’s this strife and despair that makes it such an authentic, powerful narrative — and, trite as it sounds, Harry’s pain ultimately makes him stronger and more determined to defeat Voldemort than ever.

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Things take a turn for the expository in this penultimate installment, which sees Harry learn all about Voldemort’s family and “origin story,” so to speak. Dumbledore gives Harry these lessons to prepare him for a grand future battle with Voldemort, presumably in the vein of keeping his enemies closer. What Harry doesn’t know is that Dumbledore is planning something even bigger — a plan that he, Harry, becomes more inexorably entangled in with each passing day.

At the same time, Harry suspects Malfoy (always a nefarious character) to be colluding with Voldemort, and begins obsessively tracking him on the Marauder’s Map. But each new lead just seems to be a wrong turn, and Harry grows increasingly frustrated with the lack of evidence when he knows that Malfoy is guilty. His only good luck, funnily enough, is in potions class. After receiving a secondhand textbook filled with tips and tricks from the mysterious “Half-Blood Prince,” Harry shines under the tutelage of their new potions professor Slughorn. Hermione, meanwhile, is jealous of Harry’s newfound academic success, and attempts to uncover the Prince’s identity to prove he’s crooked.

Speaking of petty drama, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince also gives the fun, silly sixteen-year-old stuff its due. Ron and Hermione’s chemistry amps up to eleven, with constant bickering over their respective romances. (Ron memorably snogs Lavender Brown with such gusto that it “looks like he’s eating her face.”) Meanwhile Harry’s falling for Ginny, Ron’s sister, and battling his inner demons about whether to ask her out. All this falls to the wayside after yet another epic finale, but it’s another nice reminder of how human and relatable the characters are .

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

To be fair, the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows aren’t as quotidianly miserable as the events of OotP — at least we know the characters are suffering for a greater purpose. But that doesn’t stop this from being, as you might expect, the darkest book in the series. From the corrupting influence of a locket that causes Ron to abandon his friends, to the tragic prophecy that Harry uncovers through more of Snape’s past memories, this book truly tests the reader’s tolerance for beloved characters in distress. (Don’t even get us started on the Battle of Hogwarts bloodbath .)

But Deathly Hallows is also a masterpiece, wrapping up thousands of pages’ worth of deeply intricate story plotting, character development, and booming thematic resonance in a satisfying manner. Indeed, J.K. Rowling has said she wrote the last pages of Deathly Hallows before Sorcerer’s Stone was even completed — evidence of just how carefully the series was planned.

8. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

While not part of the original seven-book series, Cursed Child and the accompanying stage play have become a generally accepted addition to the Harry Potter canon. This 336-page text picks up where the Deathly Hallows epilogue left off, with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy sending their unfortunately named kids off to Hogwarts — Harry’s son Albus and Malfoy’s son Scorpius serve as our protagonists this time around. Upon arrival at Hogwarts, the boys are both sorted into Slytherin and forge an unlikely friendship, which naturally causes tension between Albus and Harry over the next few years.

After a fight with his father, Albus overhears Cedric Diggory’s father Amos asking Harry to use a more powerful version of a Time Turner (which features prominently in PoA ) to go back in time and rescue his son. When Harry refuses, Albus enlists Scorpius to help him save Cedric, with the aid of Diggory’s niece Delphi. However, as anyone who’s seen Back to the Future can attest, messing with timelines is never a good idea… especially in the wizarding world. Things are further complicated by the fact that Delphi is not who she says she is, and may have sinister ulterior motives when it comes to rewriting history.

Between the multiple timelines and various versions of the same characters, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child can definitely be a bit confusing at times — and its somewhat far-fetched plot twists and questionable consistency with Rowling’s established world have led some Potter fans to decry it. But at the end of the day, it’s still another piece of the magical puzzle that we’ve all enjoyed putting together so much: this once-in-a-lifetime literary experience that transcends culture and generations.

The “Hogwarts library” texts

Fantastic beasts and where to find them.

Can't get enough of the fantastical creatures that fill Harry Potter 's pages? You're in luck. As detailed by J.K. Rowling (who writes as famed Magizoologist Newt Scamander), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the definitive compendium to the magical beasts that roam the wizarding world. You'll find some familiar companions — such as the Hippogriff, the Basilisk, the Hungarian Horntail — but you'll also discover many, many new creatures to befriend. This is the text that inspired the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie trilogy, so if you're looking to catch up on the source, this is where to start!

Quidditch Through the Ages

Or maybe it's J.K. Rowling's smash-hit sport, Quidditch, that tickles your fancy. Today, Quidditch is an actual sport played at over 100 colleges in the United States — such is the strength of the grip that it's exerted on our public imagination. But if you're interested in the academic side of Quidditch, Rowling's got you covered with Quidditch Through the Ages , which will tell you all that you ever wanted to know about the history and rules behind Quidditch.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of five fairy wizarding tales, told by, well, Beedle the Bard! Professor Dumbledore bequeathed these age-old tales to Hermione Granger, and they (particularly "The Tale of Three Brothers") turned out to be instrumental in helping Harry Potter crack the clues given to him in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now it's your chance to read them for yourself. Though the stories in this book all have a magical twist, the themes at their cores still resonate with what we associate with fairy tales: friendship, the everlasting strength of love, and the magic that each one of us possesses.

Even more Wizarding World extras 🎁

Hogwarts: an incomplete and unreliable guide.

Sourced from the short reads on Pottermore.com and gathered into one book for easy reading, Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide gives you all of the background information that you might want to know about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardly. Ever been curious about what the Hufflepuff common room looks like (it was never described in the books themselves)? Did you ever wonder about the origins of Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters? Here's the book that will provide all of the answers.

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists

Not everything about Hogwarts and the Wizarding World is bright and shiny — indeed, the series has birthed some of most memorable villains in literature, from Dolores Umbridge to Lord Voldemort himself. Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Potergeists (also collected from JK Rowling's writings on Pottermore.com) delves deeper into this darker side of Harry's universe: in particular, it'll walk you through the politics of wizards and the backstories of Hogwart's villains, like Profess Umbridge.

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies

Now let's go to the flip side and read about some of the most heroic figures who stand tall in the Wizarding World! In Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroisim, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies , we get the pleasure of revisiting our favorite professors (especially Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin) and discovering their backstories.

The Fantastic Beasts screenplays

Unless you've been living under a rock this entire time, you've probably heard of the two new Wizarding World movies that have hit Hollywood in the past few years. Led by actor Eddie Redmayne and an all-star ensemble cast, the Fantastic Beasts films tell the story of Newt Scamander, Albus Dumbledore, and the dark battle against Gellert Grindelward in the blackened days before Lord Voldemort entered the scene.

Of course, you can choose to simply watch the continuation of the Wizarding World on-screen — but reading the screenplays of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: the Original Screenplay and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — The Original Screenplay  will undoubtedly give you that extra level of depth and insight into the characters.

So what's the recommended reading order (versus the chronological reading order)?

Fortunately, Harry Potter isn't one of those series like Star Wars has a sprawling number of canon novels, film novelizations, reference books, and comics to read. Instead, it's a finite universe — which makes catching up on it much easier. We recommend reading the main series chronologically so that you can see Harry and his friends grow up. Then — if you're still thirsting for more of the Wizarding World — you can see where your interests most strongly lie (whether it's in magizoology or Quidditch, for instance), and start again there.

If you still haven’t read Harry Potter , just know that it’s never too late to start — and even for those who have, you’re never too old to go back and relive the magic. ⚡

Can't get enough? Check out our list of the 20 best books like Harry Potter , or 60 best fantasy books for kids ! (Naturally, HP makes the list.)

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The latest book reviews and book news, harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone: book review.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone novel by J. K. Rowling

A novel that needs no introduction is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling. It is the novel that has shaped the lives of millions of readers and is still one of the most read novels today! Keep reading to find out why this novel and series is as popular as it is.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Summary

On his eleventh birthday, Harry Potter finds out he is a wizard and will be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before then, Harry did not even know that magic was real or that he was famous. As Harry learns about his past and his parents who died protecting him, he prepares to embark on a new journey.

Harry arrives at Hogwarts and becomes friends with two of his classmates Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. The trio all are members of house Gryffindor and help each other pass the first year at Hogwarts. But as they find out throughout the course of the year, they will face many challenges and enemies.

Suspicious activity at Hogwarts like a three-headed dog guarding a trap door and a troll somehow entering and attacking Hogwarts makes the trio suspicious. Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon discover Professor Dumbledore is hiding something at Hogwarts and someone is trying hard to steal it. As the first years try to manage the workload, they must also stop whoever is after the secret artifact before it is used by the dark forces at the school.

Originally published as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the United Kingdom in 1997, within the first six months of release, the children’s book took off. When Scholastic bought the U.S. rights, Scholastic’s Arthur Levine believes that the title wouldn’t work for American readers. After some discussion, the novel’s title was changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone which was suggested by Rowling.

Rowling went on to say that she wished she hadn’t changed it but since it was her first novel, she didn’t have as much leverage. The title change was not necessary and makes it a bit confusing for some people. The good thing is that that is the only novel where that happened. Maybe Scholastics should give readers a little bit more credit.

I was first introduced to the Harry Potter world by the movies. As a kid, I was always intimidated but the size of the Harry Potter novels and did not believe I would be able to read a book that big. It was later on in my life that I tackled bigger novels and even later when I finally read the Harry Potter novels.

I fell in love with the novels wholeheartedly. The writing is great, the characters are wonderful, and the overarching plot and how everything connects was done perfectly. One thing the movies never did well was showcase Harry’s struggle of not having a family and his loneliness. In the novel, we see how they affect Harry’s state of mind and acting out because of those feelings, something the movies don’t do that well.

This novel and the whole Harry Potter series should be read by every reader in my opinion. Not everyone has to like it but reading it and finding that whether you do or not should be a test given to everyone. It will get a lot if children into reading and that is always a great end result. Expect reviews for all the novels in the series in the coming months!

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Share this:, 27 thoughts on “ harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone: book review ”.

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In the first paragraph u wrote eep instead of keep… XD

Thanks I’ll fix it now 🙂

I used to be a huge fan of the movies but never read the books. It’s always interesting to hear the differences. Good to know that the book expands on the characters a bit more!

The entire series ends differently in the books than in the movies. the boom ending in Deadly Hallow makes much more sense.

My daughter made sure all her copies were the the UK versions

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these series made a reader out of me, thanks for sharing 🙂

Thanks for reading! 👍

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I also saw the movies first. It wasn’t until after “The Goblet of Fire” film came out that I started reading the books. But I read the 4th one first, and the rest out of order, until “The Deathly Hallows” book was released. Not too long ago, I started rereading the 1st “Harry Potter” novel, and picked up on some new details and moments that I’d missed before, including some dark ones.

Rereading them now and there’s a lot that you realize that you missed. Rowling thought it all out!

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I love Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone also known as. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

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The cover was good, but I read a little, and I thought that if I read more it would be more interesting. Well, beyond interesting, but my new favorite book!

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Every Harry Potter In Order (And & How Long Their Runtime Is)

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• The Harry Potter books faced accusations of promoting witchcraft, leading to bans in some places.
• The series was criticized for being anti-family and containing references to the occult.
• The Wizarding World continues to face controversies, now mostly due to J.K. Rowling's views.

The Harry Potter book series is one of the most popular and beloved ones, but it has faced various controversies over the years, to the point where the books were banned in some parts of the world. Back in 1997, readers all over the world traveled to the Wizarding World in the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone , the first entry in what would become a series of seven novels chronicling Harry’s time at Hogwarts and his battle against Lord Voldemort. The Harry Potter books became a worldwide phenomenon, making way for a media franchise.

The world of Harry Potter came to life between 2001 and 2011 with the film adaptations of the books, expanding its already extensive fanbase. Despite the massive success of the books and their film adaptations, the universe of Harry Potter hasn’t been safe from controversies and backlash, some more serious than others. Among the first controversies surrounding the Harry Potte r series were the attempts to ban the books for different reasons, though that didn’t stop their increasing popularity and success.

While the story of Harry Potterhas ended, it seems like the end is nowhere in sight yet for The Wizarding World. Let's look at every movie so far.

The Harry Potter Book Series Was Accused Of Promoting Witchcraft

The themes in the harry potter books led to different accusations.

Different religious groups accused the Harry Potter books of promoting witchcraft and religions such as Wicca, which, to them, made them unsuitable for children.

The main theme in the Harry Potter books is, obviously, magic , an element found in many other fantasy novels, most notably J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings universe. However, mixing magic and fantasy in books aimed at a young audience didn’t sit well with some groups. Different religious groups accused the Harry Potter books of promoting witchcraft and religions such as Wicca, which, to them, made them unsuitable for children. The Harry Potter books are some of the most challenged in the United States , and according to the American Library Association , this has happened in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2019.

The Harry Potter novels were also accused of being anti-family and anti-authority due to Harry’s relationship with the Dursleys.

The Harry Potter books have also been accused of referencing the occult , Satanism, violence, and containing real spells and curses, with supporters of the books explaining they have little resemblance to occultism and the “witchcraft” in it is merely fictional, though it does seem to have some Christian subtext. The Harry Potter novels were also accused of being anti-family and anti-authority due to Harry’s relationship with the Dursleys, completely ignoring how the latter were abusive to Harry and that the novels have other, healthier representations of family (though not in the traditional way, which can be controversial to some).

All these led to many efforts in different parts of the world to ban the Harry Potter novels, and in the case of the United States, these led to legal challenges, such as allowing the books to be held in public schools violating the separation of church and state. Various schools (mostly religious ones) banned the Harry Potter books at some point , while others tried but ultimately failed.

The World of Harry Potter Has Faced Other Controversies Over The Years

The harry potter universe continues to be controversial for different reasons.

In addition to the above-mentioned controversies, the Harry Potter world has also faced other issues. J.K. Rowling has been accused of plagiarism and has also been plagiarized on many occasions, but the Wizarding World currently faces other, different, and more serious controversies. Rowling’s comments on transgender people have sparked a lot of debate from both sides, to the point where many actors from the Harry Potter books have stepped in to show their support for transgender people and the LGBT community, while others have supported Rowling and her opinions.

The legacy of Harry Potter is a complex one, as it’s not just its massive success in literature and film but also the many debates, bans, and controversies it has faced over the years. As the world of Harry Potter keeps expanding, its legacy grows, and, unfortunately, it’s unlikely it will be safe from more controversies.

Source: American Library Association.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a multimedia franchise about an orphaned boy who enrolls at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family, and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world. Adapted from the novels, Harry Potter is an eight-episode film saga that follows the journey of Harry Potter and his friends, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley, as they navigate the tricky world of growing up, school life, and magic. Starting from year one and moving to their seventh year, the films chronicle the students' time at Hogwarts while unfurling a sinister plot that centers around the unsuspecting Harry. With the return of the dark wizard, Voldemort, the students and professors at Hogwarts will fight to carry on as the world around them may change forever. Harry Potter has expanded beyond the world of its films and novels with several video games, a spin-off film series titled Fantastic Beasts, and even attractions at Universal Studios.

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, Book 4) Paperback – May 2, 2023

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Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream). He wants to find out about the mysterious event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal - even by wizarding standards.

And in this case, different can be deadly.

• Book 4 of 7 Harry Potter
• Print length 752 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 3 - 6
• Dimensions 5.2 x 1.8 x 7.5 inches
• Publisher Scholastic Inc.
• Publication date May 2, 2023
• ISBN-10 1338878956
• ISBN-13 978-1338878950
• See all details

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About the author.

J.K. Rowling is the author of the enduringly popular Harry Potter books. After the idea for Harry Potter came to her on a delayed train journey in 1990, she plotted out and started writing the series of seven books and the first was published as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the UK in 1997. The series took another ten years to complete, concluding in 2007 with the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows .

To accompany the series, J.K. Rowling wrote three short companion volumes for charity, Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , in aid of Comic Relief and Lumos, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard , in aid of Lumos. She also collaborated on the writing of a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , which was published as a script book.

Her other books for children include the fairy tale The Ickabog and The Christmas Pig , which were published in 2020 and 2021 respectively and have also been bestsellers. She is also the author of books for adults, including a bestselling crime fiction series.

J.K. Rowling has received many awards and honors for her writing. She also supports a number of causes through her charitable trust Volant and is the founder of the children’s charity Lumos.

To find out more about J.K. Rowling visit jkrowlingstories.com.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Inc.; Reprint edition (May 2, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 752 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1338878956
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1338878950
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8+ years, from customers
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 6
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 1.8 x 7.5 inches
• #74 in Children's Friendship Books
• #96 in Children's Fantasy & Magic Books
• #117 in Children's Action & Adventure Books (Books)

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About the author

J.k. rowling.

J.K. Rowling is the author of the enduringly popular, era-defining Harry Potter book series, as well as several stand-alone novels for adults and children, and a bestselling crime fiction series written under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

The Harry Potter books have now sold over 600 million copies worldwide, been translated into 85 languages and made into eight blockbuster films. They continue to be discovered and loved by new generations of readers.

Alongside the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling also wrote three short companion volumes for charity: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in aid of Comic Relief, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, in aid of her international children’s charity, Lumos. The companion books and original series are all available as audiobooks.

In 2016, J.K. Rowling collaborated with playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany to continue Harry’s story in a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which opened in London, and is now thrilling audiences on four continents. The script book was published to mark the plays opening in 2016 and instantly topped the bestseller lists.

In the same year, she made her debut as a screenwriter with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Inspired by the original companion volume, it was the first in a series of new adventures featuring wizarding world magizoologist Newt Scamander. The second, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, was released in 2018 and the third, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was released in 2022.

The screenplays were published to coincide with each film’s release: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - The Original Screenplay (2016), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay (2022).

Fans of Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter can find out more at www.wizardingworld.com.

J.K. Rowling’s fairy tale for younger children, The Ickabog, was serialised for free online for children during the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020 and is now published as a book illustrated by children, with her royalties going to her charitable trust, Volant, to benefit charities helping alleviate social deprivation and assist vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.

Her latest children’s novel The Christmas Pig, published in 2021, is a standalone adventure story about a boy’s love for his most treasured thing and how far he will go to find it.

J.K. Rowling also writes novels for adults. The Casual Vacancy was published in 2012 and adapted for television in 2015. Under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, she is the author of the highly acclaimed ‘Strike’ crime series, featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott. The first of these, The Cuckoo’s Calling, was published to critical acclaim in 2013, at first without its author’s true identity being known. The Silkworm followed in 2014, Career of Evil in 2015, Lethal White in 2018, Troubled Blood in 2020 and The Ink Black Heart in 2022. The series has also been adapted for television by the BBC and HBO.

J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard Commencement speech was published in 2015 as an illustrated book, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination, sold in aid of Lumos and university-wide financial aid at Harvard.

As well as receiving an OBE and Companion of Honour for services to children’s literature, J.K. Rowling has received many other awards and honours, including France’s Legion d’Honneur, Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award and Denmark’s Hans Christian Andersen Award.

J.K. Rowling supports a number of causes through her charitable trust, Volant. She is also the founder and president of Lumos, an international children’s charity fighting for every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the world.

www.jkrowling.com

Image: Photography Debra Hurford Brown © J.K. Rowling

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[Opinion] New Book Answers the Question, "What if Harry Potter went to an HBCU in the South?"

“What if Harry Potter went to an HBCU in the South?” When LaDarrion Williams posed this question on Twitter back in 2020, he had no idea that it would completely change the trajectory of his career. But in a recent interview with the AP, Williams talks about the tweet that turned into a three-book deal.

The playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker wanted to start a conversation about the lack of diversity in the fantasy space. And the overwhelming response he got to his tweet sent him on a path to develop his idea into something bigger.

Williams said he originally wrote the story as a TV pilot. And after receiving donations from as far away as New Zealand, he snuck onto the campus of UCLA to shoot a short film. But to his surprise, the studios weren’t biting.

“I thought I had it all. I thought I had the viral tweet, the short film , I had the script, I had the idea. I thought Hollywood was going to give me a multimillion-dollar offer. I was humbled very quickly with that. No calls were coming. I struggled to get meetings with different production companies and showrunners and studios. Nobody wanted to meet with me. I was really confused and fell into a deep depression,” he said.

Feeling like he’d failed himself and everyone who supported his project, Williams was ready to give up until a friend suggested he turn his idea into a book. He did, but the offers still weren’t rolling in – that is, until he got a call in January 2023 that changed everything.

“I was driving for Uber, and I got a call from my agent who said we got a three-book deal,” he said.

“Blood at the Root,” the first book in the series dropped May 7. It introduces readers to Malik, a 17-year-old from Alabama with magical powers who gets accepted into Caiman University, a magical HBCU. Williams says he was very intentional about making sure his main character was a Black male with a softer side.

“I want people to get to know him. The way he speaks, the way he thinks,” he said. “He extends the love he didn’t have as a child to his foster brother. I wanted to create all of that through the lens of magic.”

While Williams is looking forward to sharing his book series with the world, he hasn’t ruled out the idea of bringing his story to the big screen.

“I want to recreate that moment when “Black Panther” dropped, and everybody was just buzzing about it. I want to do that for television. I want that for Black kids,” he said.

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‘Harry Potter’ Star Tom Felton on Playing Gandhi’s Vegetarian Friend in New Series and Life After Draco Malfoy: ‘Even Without the Blonde Hair,’ Fans ‘Still Seem to Recognize Me’

By Naman Ramachandran

Naman Ramachandran

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“ Harry Potter ” star Tom Felton is currently filming the series “ Gandhi ,” where he plays Josiah Oldfield, the future Mahatma’s friend in London.

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Felton, who is not a vegetarian in real life, prepared for the role of Oldfield through a lot of reading and consultation with his 93-year-old grandfather, who he describes as being “very wise in history, so he knew exactly who Oldfield was.”

“Most of my research has been on the spot, literally live with the director. That’s the best thing about working with not only an Indian crew, but someone that knows a lot more about it than than Wikipedia,” Felton says. On getting the body language of the character right with few images available, Felton says that shooting at real locations dating back to Oldfield’s era helped him slide into the period, as did the costumes.

Felton has worked with crews around the world and loved working with an Indian group. “It’s just remarkably calm, efficient like I’ve never seen before. Something that will usually take twice as long takes half the time, but everyone seems to just be very calm and chilled about it,” Felton says. “But more importantly, they understand English banter, as I would call it. So within day one or day two, we’re already insulting each other in a very friendly way.”

Next up for Felton is another period piece, “Canyon of the Dead,” where he and Abigail Breslin play pioneering American archaeologists Ann Axtell and Earl Morris, respectively. “She was the first female archaeologist to publish in North America. And she was shunned a little bit and it was even made to be put under children’s literature, because the idea of a woman being a bonafide archaeologist back then wasn’t thought of, so it’s another maverick story,” Felton says. The film is being sold at the Cannes Film Market later this month.

The actor has also completed a Kazakhstan-shot sci-fi film currently known as “Project Darwin.” While he’s not at liberty to reveal too much, Felton says that the film is “relevant to today’s society” and that his character “was very fun to play, and he goes through a big change for half of the film to the second half and that was quite challenging.”

It has been nearly 13 years since the release of the last “Harry Potter” film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” but Felton still gets stopped on the street by fans. He played Draco Malfoy, arch rival to Daniel Radcliffe’s Potter.

“Even without the blonde hair, they still seem to recognize me. But quite delightfully, everyone that says ‘hello,’ is always polite, even to the bad guy,” Felton says. “And I find it amazing that ‘Harry Potter’ spread so far across the world, such as India and Japan. Everywhere seems to have known of it. Now there’s a whole new generation of Potter fans — a lot of fans that approach me are 13-14-15, and they weren’t even born when the first book was written. So to see it being passed down generation to generation is really cool. Something that I’m very proud of.”

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