Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the Harry Potter series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday, when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school, and with the help of his friends, he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents, but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.

The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by children and other awards in the US. The book reached the top of the New York Times list of best-selling fiction in August 1999 and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated into at least 73 other languages, and has been made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it the second best-selling book of all time.

Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Rowling's imagination, humour, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed. The writing has been compared to that of Jane Austen, one of Rowling's favourite authors; Roald Dahl, whose works dominated children's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter; and the Ancient Greek story-teller Homer. While some commentators thought the book looked backwards to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as overcoming obstacles like bullies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, along with the rest of the Harry Potter series, has been attacked by some religious groups and banned in some countries because of accusations that the novels promote witchcraft under the guise of a heroic, moral story. Other religious commentators have written that the book exemplifies important viewpoints, including the power of self-sacrifice and the ways in which people's decisions shape their personalities. The series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis and marketing.

Plot

Harry Potter has been treated abusively by his aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley and bullied by their son Dudley since the death of Harry’s parents ten years prior. This changes on his eleventh birthday, when a half-giant named Rubeus Hagrid delivers a letter of acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after Vernon and Petunia destroyed previous ones. Harry learns his parents, wizards James and Lily Potter, were murdered by the most evil and powerful dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, and Harry was sent to the Dursleys as a baby. Voldemort lost his powers after failing to kill Harry, going into exile and making Harry famous among the hidden magical community.

Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, a hidden London street, introducing him to the wizarding world. Harry discovers his parents left him a fortune at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He also receives a pet owl, Hedwig, school supplies, and a wand. A month later, Harry catches the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross railway station's secret Platform 9¾. On the train, he befriends fellow first-year Ronald Weasley, meets Hermione Granger, who the two initially dislike, and makes an enemy of first-year Draco Malfoy.

At Hogwarts, a magical Sorting Hat assigns the first-years to four Houses - Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw - that best suit their personalities. Ron tells Harry about Slytherin's reputation of housing dark wizards. Harry rejects the Hat's offer of Slytherin, which Draco joins, and is sorted into Gryffindor with Ron and Hermione.

Harry discovers he has a talent for flying on broomsticks and is recruited into his House's team for Quidditch as a Seeker. Harry dislikes the school's Potions master, Severus Snape, who favours Slytherin while seeking to fail Harry. Malfoy tricks Harry and Ron into risking expulsion by leaving their rooms at night. Hermione joins them, after failing to stop them, and, realising Malfoy's ruse, they run away, and discover a huge three-headed dog standing guard over a trapdoor in a forbidden corridor. Ron and Harry later save Hermione from a troll during the school's Halloween celebrations, and the three become best friends. Coupled with Snape's recent leg injury and behaviour, the event prompts Harry, Hermione, and Ron to suspect Snape of trying to enter the trapdoor.

Fearing the boys' expulsion, Hermione forbids them from investigating, directing Harry's attention to his first Quidditch game. His broomstick attempts to throw him off while mid-air, and Snape's strange behaviour during the match leads Hermione to suspect that he had jinxed Harry's broom. Christmas arrives and Harry receives an anonymous gift - his father's invisibility cloak. Using it to explore the school, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows what the viewer most desires.

The trio find a newspaper report about an attempted robbery of a Gringotts vault—one that Hagrid had visited when helping Harry. They work out that the object kept under the trapdoor is a Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality and the ability to turn any metal into pure gold. Harry is also informed by the centaur Firenze that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore himself. When the school's headmaster Albus Dumbledore is lured from Hogwarts under false pretences, Harry, Hermione and Ron fear that the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor.

They encounter a series of obstacles, which force Ron and Hermione to stay behind while Harry goes ahead. Harry finds Quirinus Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, who reveals he had tried to kill Harry by jinxing his broom and letting a troll into the school, while Snape had been trying to protect Harry. Voldemort, whose face has sprouted on the back of Quirrell's head, is using Quirrell to attain the Philosopher's Stone. Harry is forced to stand before the final obstacle, the Mirror of Erised. It recognises Harry's lack of greed for the Stone and deposits it into his pocket. Quirrell attempts to seize the stone and kill Harry, but his flesh burns on contact with him. Harry's scar suddenly hurts and he passes out.

Days later, he awakens in the school's infirmary, where Dumbledore explains Harry's survival against Voldemort is due to a protective charm on Harry left by his mother's sacrificing her life for him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn on contact with Harry, and he was abandoned to die by Voldemort. Dumbledore reveals he sent Harry the invisibility cloak, while the Stone has been destroyed. The school year ends with the final feast, during which Gryffindor wins the House Cup. Harry returns to Privet Drive for the summer, anticipating the holidays after neglecting to tell the Dursleys that the use of spells is forbidden by under-aged wizards.

Main characters

• Harry Potter is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a "scrawny, black-haired, green eyed and bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard." She developed the series' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there.Apart from the first chapter, the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry's eleventh birthday. Voldemort's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead, which produces stabbing pains whenever Voldemort is present. Harry has a natural talent for Quidditch and became the first person in a century to get on their team in their first year.
• Ronald Weasley is Harry's age and Rowling describes him as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him."He is freckled, red-haired and quite tall. He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth born of seven children. Although his family is quite poor, they still live comfortably and happily. His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizards Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher's Stone.
• Hermione Granger, the daughter of an all-Muggle family, is a bossy girl who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term. Rowling described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble, she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll, and her magical and analytical skills play an important role in finding the Philosopher's Stone. She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.
• Neville Longbottom is a plump, diffident boy, so forgetful that his grandmother gives him a Remembrall, to remind him if he forgets something. Neville's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight. Despite his timidity, Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement or if he thinks it is right and important.
• Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, with tangled black hair and beard, was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand was snapped in half (resulting in him never to use a wand again), however Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school's gamekeeper, a job which enables him to give lavish affection, care and even pet names (such as Norbert the dragon) on even the most dangerous of magical creatures. Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry, Ron and, later, Hermione, but his carelessness makes him unreliable.
• Professor Albus Dumbledore, a tall, thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt, is the headmaster of Hogwarts, and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears. Dumbledore, while renowned for his achievements in magic, shrugs off praise, though he is aware of his own brilliance. Rowling described him as the "epitome of goodness".
• Professor Minerva McGonagall, a tall, severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun, teaches Transfiguration, and is able to transform herself into a cat. She is Deputy Headmistress, and Head of Gryffindor House and, according to the author, "under that gruff exterior" is "a bit of an old softy".
• Petunia Dursley, the sister of Harry's mother Lily, is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours. As a muggle, she regards her magical sister as a freak and tries to pretend that she never existed.
• Vernon Dursley, the husband of Petunia Dursley, is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual.
• Dudley Dursley is an overweight, spoiled bully and Harry's cousin.
• Draco Malfoy is a slim, pale boy who speaks in a bored drawl. He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch, and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard – and wizards who do not share his views. His parents had supported Voldemort, but changed sides after the dark wizard's disappearance, claiming they had been bewitched. Draco avoids direct confrontations, and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble.
• Oliver Wood is Harry's Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
• Professor Quirrell is a twitching, stammering and nervous man who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar, but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires. Quirrell wears a turban to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort, whose face appears on the back of Quirrell's head.
• Professor Severus Snape, who has a hooked nose, sallow complexion and greasy black hair, teaches Potions, but would prefer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape favours pupils in Slytherin, his own House, and seizes every opportunity to humiliate others, especially Harry. Several incidents, beginning with the shooting pain in Harry's scar during the start-of-term feast, lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is aiding Voldemort.
• Argus Filch, the school caretaker who knows the school's secret passages better than anyone else except, perhaps, the Weasley twins. His cat, Mrs. Norris, aids his constant hunt for misbehaving pupils.

Other members of staff include the dumpy Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, the tiny and excitable Charms teacher, and Head of Ravenclaw House, the soporific History of Magic teacher, Professor Binns, a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death; and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch coach, who is strict, but a considerate and methodical teacher. The poltergeist Peeves wanders around the castle causing trouble wherever he can.

In the book, Rowling introduces an eclectic cast of characters. The first character to be introduced is Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard",and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him.During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him".Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".

Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. The headmaster of Hogwarts is the powerful, but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant. Rowling described him as "epitome of goodness".His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, who according to the author "under that gruff exterior" is "a bit of an old softy",the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family, and the sinister Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell is also featured in the novel.

The main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate^[and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who becomes disembodied when he tries to kill baby Harry. According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, the character of Voldemort was created as a literary foil for Harry, and his backstory was intentionally not fleshed-out at first:

The basic idea... Harry, I saw Harry very very very clearly. Very vividly. And I knew he didn't know he was a wizard. [...] And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. [...] When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. [...] And—so—but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since.