Illustration Jonny Duddle © Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Join us aboard the Hogwarts Express, as we visit one particular compartment where a group of future best-friends are about to meet.

Now that you've listened to the extract, here's a few observations about Harry, Ron and Hermione's first meeting.

Introducing Hermione Granger

When we first meet the bushy-haired Hermione Granger aboard the Hogwarts Express, she makes quite the first impression! Immediately, she regales Harry and his new friend Ron all about the spellbooks she's already read and what lessons she's looking forward to.

Poor Harry, who had only discovered he was a wizard a mere couple of weeks ago, suddenly realises just how much Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is going to teach him. Would you be as scared as Harry? Or more excited, like Hermione?

As for Hermione, we realised immediately that here was a future student who simply loved learning! We also learn that her parents aren't magical - in fact, they are Muggle dentists. Despite this, Hermione seems to know everything about the wizarding world already. But you'll soon learn that this character is quite extraordinary.

So, what did you first think of Hermione when we first meet her? Was she too hard on Harry and Ron, or do you admire how over-prepared for Hogwarts she was?

"Are you sure that's a real spell?"

During their meeting, Ron tries to turn his pet rat Scabbers yellow with magic. Unfortunately, the spell doesn't seem to work... probably because his mischievous twin brothers Fred and George taught him this one. When we get to Hogwarts, you'll learn about all sorts of spells that wizards and witches learn, but this definitely isn't one of them! You'll also learn that Ron's brothers do enjoy playing pranks on him...

What spell would you want to learn how to do?

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Join us next week where we'll be listening to another pivotal soundbite from the first Harry Potter story. You can go back and listen to last week's extract here.

To learn more about the audio books, visit Pottermore's official website, where all the Harry Potter books are available.

The first Harry Potter audiobook is also available to stream free on Alexa from Audible beginning on June 23rd and throughout the month of July by simply saying: “Alexa, read Harry Potter Book One.”