Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
aka
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Facts and Statistics
- Original British title: The Philosopher's Stone
- First U.S. Printing, October, 1998
- First British Printing, 1997(?)
- Started writing - 1990
- ISBN 0-590-35340-3
Book One Awards:
- Nestlé Smarties Book Prize - Gold Medal 9-11years, 1997
- Birmingham Cable Children's Book Award 1997
- Young Telegraph Paperback of the Year 1998
- British Book Awards - Children's Book of the Year 1997
- Sheffield Children's Book Award 1998
- FCBG (Federation of Children's Books Group) Children's Book Award - Overall winner and for Longer Novel Category, 1997
SUMMARY OF BOOK 1
Who Is Harry Potter?
The Dursleys, Vernon, Petunia, and their son, Dudley, are a very ordinary family. One night, their nephew, a very unordinary infant named Harry Potter, is left at their doorstep with a note asking them to care for him. As Harry grows up, he is told that his parents have died in a car crash and constantly remind him that he is lucky they were willing to take him in. However, Harry's parents were actually killed by a very powerful Dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, who was, in turn, destroyed when he tried to kill Harry too. Harry survived - but still has a lightning scar on his forehead from the attack - and is completely unaware that he is very famous for having defeated the Dark Lord.
Because Mr. and Mrs. Dursley become extremely upset with abnormal events, and resent having to care for Harry, they treat him as an unwanted step child, making him sleep in a closet under the stairs. Dudley, who is larger than Harry in both directions, likes the arrangement, and is happy to bully his cousin around. On occasion, if bullied too much, really odd "accidents" happen, such as the glass disappearing from a reptile exhibit when Dudley and his friend knock Harry over to get a better look. Harry is punished severely for these "incidents," although he does not seem to have control of them.
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Harry's 11th Birthday
Although his cousin, Dudley, is treated to the zoo and receives many presents, the Dursleys never celebrate any of Harry's birthdays. However, instead of giving him no gifts, they give Harry old socks or anything that would make him feel worse than no gift at all. A letter arrives for Harry just prior to his eleventh birthday - addressed to him in his closet under the stairs, but Uncle Vernon does not let him see it and moves Harry to Dudley's spare bedroom so he will not receive more mail. However, the letters keep coming through doors, windows, and the chimney - freaking out the Dursleys so badly that Uncle Vernon brings them all to a cabin on a remote island.
At the stroke of midnight, Hagrid the giant somehow appears at the cabin, wishing harry happy 11th Birthday, and personally delivering Harry's letter - which is an invitation to attend Hogwarts, the most prestigious school for wizards. Hagrid, who is the Gamekeeper at Hogwarts, tells Harry the truth about his parents and his scar, and takes Harry to get his school supplies. Harry has to learn about so many things he never knew existed including that non-magical people are referred to as "Muggles." He learns about Diagon Alley, a street in London with all wizarding shops, about the Daily Prophet wizarding newspaper, about sending letters via Owl Post, and about the wizarding bank run by goblins, called Gringotts. At Gringotts, Harry finds out his parents had left him mounds of gold Galleons, and then visits a high-security vault where Hagid runs an errand for the school headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, picking up a small package.
They go to buy Harry his magic wand, but Mr. Ollivander has trouble finding one that is compatible with Harry. The one that finally works happens to have a tail feather taken from the same phoenix as the wand used by Lord Voldemort. Hagrid buys Harry a snowy white owl as a Birthdat present, that Harry names Hedwig.
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The Trip to Hogwarts
Even though his letter said the Howarts Express is to leave from Track 9 3/4, Uncle Vernon has never heard of any such track, but is perfectly delighted to leave Harry stranded at the station. As it is about time for the train to leave and Harry is panicking, the red-haired Weasleys arrive and show him how to walk through the barrier between tracks 9 and 10 to get to Platform 9 3/4. On the train, Harry meets Ron Weasley who has a pet rat called Scabbers, Hermione Granger, who is Muggle-born, and a mean, snobby boy name Draco Malfoy. He also discovers that wizards have cool wizard candies such as "Chocolate Frogs," which contain trading cards of famous witches and wizards. He pulls a Dumbledore card which states that he is considered to be the "greatest wizard of modern times," and is famous for his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel.
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The Sorting
Upon arriving at Hogwarts, a "Sorting Hat" sorts the first year students into one of four houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin) - based on their character and personal values. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are placed in Gryffindor House, headed by Professor Minerva McGonagall who can transfigure into a cat, while the snobby Draco ends up in Slytherin.
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The Student Wizards
During classes, the other students keep gawking at Harry and his scar, and Harry has a difficult time adjusting to the attention. The potions teacher, Professor Severus Snape, head of Slytherin House, seems to hate Harry (triggering pain in his scar), and constantly gives him a hard time - as do his students.
One of his teachers, Professor Quirrell, wears a funny turban and stutters, while another teacher, Professor Binns, is actually a ghost who never stopped teaching long enough to notice that his body had died.
Harry and Ron visit Hagrid in his cabin where Harry sees a news story in the Daily Prophet about a break-in at Gringotts. It had happened on July 31st (the day they were there) but says that nothing was taken - as the vault had been emptied earlier that day,
During flying lessons, Draco takes Neville's glass rememberall, jumps on a broom, and flies off with it. Harry flies after him, and when Draco purposely drops it in the air, Harry dives and catches it only a foot off the ground. When Professor McGonagall sees him make the catch, she gets special permission for him as a first-year to have a Nimbus 2000 broom and to become the "Seeker" on their house Quidditch team.
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Fluffy
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville are tricked into a "midnight duel" with Draco. As they run from getting caught by Filch, the caretaker, they hide themselves in a corridor which they had not realized was the "forbidden corridor" - containing a giant, ferocious, three-headed dog, standing guard over a trap door.
Harry wins his first Quidditch match against the Slytherins, even though he catches the Snitch in his mouth. After the game, Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit Hagrid who tells them that the three-headed dog, "Fluffy," belongs to him, but that they should stay out of issues concerning Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel (who they are now determined to find).
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Christmas
For Christmas, Harry is astounded to discover that he has received a pile of presents from his friends - along with a mysterious gift of an "Invisibility Cloak," that the anonymous note says used to belong to his father, and to "use it well."
When Harry gives Neville a Chocolate Frog, Neville hands Harry the Dumbledore trading card from it, on which Harry sees the reference to Nicholas Flamel. Hermione looks him up and finds out that he is the owner of the "Sorcerer's Stone," which produces the "Elixir of Life" - making the drinker immortal. They deduce that Dumbledore has hidden the Sorcerer's Stone under Fluffy.
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Norbert
Hagrid tells them that a number of the professors have cast spells to protect the stone. Harry overhears Snape asking Quirrell if he yet knew how to get past Hagrid's dog, and Harry is concerned that Snape is pressuring the other teachers to find out how to get to the stone.
While at Hagrid's cabin they see he has acquired a dragon's egg, which is illegal. He hatches it in his cabin, naming it Norbert, but as the dragon becomes uncontrollable, Ron's brother Charlie sends some friends to sneak it off before Hagrid gets into trouble.
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The Plot Thickens
Harry is helping Hagrid track a wounded unicorn in the Forbidden Forest. Upon finding its body, he sees a hooded figure drinking the unicorn's blood as his scar blinds him with pain.
Hagrid remembers that he let slip to the person who gave him the egg that music will subdue Fluffy. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to tell Dumbledore what they know and what they suspect, but are told that he is "conveniently" been called off to London. They realize that someone wanted him out of the way so that the stone could be stolen that night and they decide to get to the stone first.
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The Quest
Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the forbidden corridor, they put Fluffy to sleep with the flute Hagrid gave Harry for Christmas, and they drop through the trap door.
The first enchantment guarding the stone is Professor Sprout's "Devil's Snare" vines. The next room is done by Professor Flitwick, and contains hundreds of flying keys - only one of which opens the exit. The third room contains a chess set that Professor McGonagall has transfigured into life-size living chessmen who will only allow the winners of a game to pass. Professor Quirrell's room contains a troll. Snape's room has a wall of flames obstructing both the entrance and the exit doors. To safely pass, one must drink from one of seven bottles - some of which are safe, some are poisonous, and only by solving a riddle can the drinker choose the right bottle.
The final room has Professor Dumbledore's enchantment, and that is where they and the thief would need to go to find the Sorcerer's Stone.
--- PLOT ENDING NOT COVERED ---
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