Harry Potter 1 - Plot
Before the start of the novel, Lord Voldemort, considered to be the most evil and powerful dark wizard in history, murders married couple James and Lily Potter but mysteriously disappears after attempting to kill their infant son, Harry. While the wizarding world celebrates Voldemort's downfall, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and half-giant, Rubeus Hagrid place the one-year-old orphan in the care of his surly and cold Muggle (non-wizard) aunt and uncle: Vernon and Petunia Dursley with their spoiled and bullying son, Dudley.
Ten years later while living in Four Privet Drive, Harry is tormented by the Dursleys, treated more as a slave than a member of the family. Shortly before his eleventh birthday, a series of letters addressed to Harry arrive but Vernon destroys them before Harry can read them, leading only to an influx of more letters. In order to evade the pursuit of the letters, Vernon first takes the family to a hotel and, when the letters arrive there too, he drives them all to a small island. On Harry's eleventh birthday at midnight, Hagrid bursts through the door to deliver Harry's letter and tells him what the Dursleys have kept from him: Harry is a wizard and has been accepted into Hogwarts. Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, a magically concealed shopping precinct in London, where Harry is bewildered to discover how famous he is among witches and wizards as "the boy who lived." He also finds that he is quite wealthy, since a bequest from his parents has remained on deposit at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Guided by Hagrid, he buys the equipment he will need for his first year at Hogwarts.
One of the many materials Harry needs to purchase for his upcoming year at Hogwarts is a wand. At the wand shop, he finds that the wand that suits him best is the twin of Voldemort's; both wands contain feathers from the same phoenix.[2] Harry also leaves with a new pet (and birthday gift from Hagrid), an owl he names Hedwig. A month later, Harry leaves the Dursleys' home to catch the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross railway station. There he meets the Weasley family, who show him how to pass through the magical wall to Platform 9¾, where the train that will take them to Hogwarts is waiting. While on the train, Harry quickly befriends Ron Weasley, who tells him that someone tried to rob a vault at Gringotts. They discuss the upcoming school year, which Harry is both anxious and excited for. During the ride, they meet Hermione Granger, who is later to become one of their best friends. Harry also makes an enemy on this trip, fellow first-year, Draco Malfoy. Draco, accompanied by his dim-witted companions Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, offers to advise Harry, but Harry dislikes Draco for his arrogance and prejudice and rejects his offer of "friendship".
Before the term's first dinner in the school's Great Hall, the first-years are allocated to houses by the Sorting Hat. While Harry is being sorted, the Hat suggests that he be placed into Slytherin which is known to house potential dark witches and wizards, but when Harry objects, the Hat sends him to Gryffindor, Slytherin's rival house. Ron and Hermione are also sorted into Gryffindor. Draco is sorted into Slytherin house, which his family has been traditionally sorted into for many years. During the meal, Harry catches Professor Severus Snape's eye and feels pain in the scar Voldemort left on his forehead.
After a terrible first Potions lesson with Snape, Harry and Ron visit Hagrid (groundskeeper of Hogwarts), who lives in a cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. There they learn that the attempted robbery at Gringotts occurred the day Harry withdrew money from his vault. Harry remembers that Hagrid had removed a small package from the vault that had been broken into.
During the first years' first broom-flying lesson, fellow Gryffindor Neville Longbottom breaks his wrist and is rushed to the infirmary by their instructor. Draco takes advantage to throw the forgetful Neville's fragile Remembrall, which Neville dropped because of his accident, high in the air. Harry gives chase on his broomstick, catching the Remembrall inches from the ground. Unbeknownst to Harry, Professor McGonagall, who is head of Gryffindor house, has witnessed his performance on his broom. She dashes out and appoints him as the new Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
When Draco tricks Harry and Ron, who are accompanied by Neville and Hermione, into a midnight excursion, they accidentally enter a forbidden corridor and find a huge three-headed dog. The group hastily retreats, and Hermione notices that the dog is standing over a trap-door. Harry concludes that the monster is guarding the package Hagrid retrieved from Gringotts.
After Ron criticises Hermione's ostentatious proficiency in Charms, she hides in the girls' toilet, crying. At the Halloween Feast, Professor Quirrell reports that a troll has entered the dungeons. While everyone returns to their dormitories, Harry and Ron rush to warn Hermione, who was not at the feast to hear the announcement. The troll corners Hermione in the toilet but Harry and Ron clumsily save her. Afterwards, Hermione takes the blame for the battle and becomes a firm friend of the two boys.
The evening before Harry's first Quidditch match, he sees Snape receiving medical attention from Filch for a bite on his leg caused by the three-headed dog. During the game, Harry's broomstick goes out of control, endangering his life, and Hermione notices that Snape is staring at Harry and muttering. Concluding that Snape is responsible for Harry's out-of-control broom, she dashes over to the Professors' stand, knocking over Quirrell in her haste, and sets fire to Snape's robe. Harry regains control of his broom and catches the Golden Snitch, winning the game for Gryffindor. Hagrid refuses to believe that Snape was responsible for putting Harry in danger, but lets slip that he bought the three-headed dog (named Fluffy) and that the monster is guarding a secret that belongs to Dumbledore and a wizard named Nicolas Flamel.
When Christmas break arrives, Harry and the Weasleys remain at Hogwarts, while Hermione goes back home. One of Harry's presents, from an anonymous donor, is an Invisibility Cloak that belonged to his father and also a flute by Hagrid. Harry uses the Cloak to search the library's Restricted Section for information about the mysterious Flamel, and he happens to find a room containing the Mirror of Erised, which shows him his parents and several of their ancestors. Harry becomes addicted to the Mirror's visions, choosing to spend time with his 'family', rather than his friends at Hogwarts, until he is rescued by Professor Dumbledore, who explains that it only shows the viewer what he most desperately longs for.
When the rest of the students return for the next term, Draco plays a prank on Neville, and Harry consoles Neville with a sweet. The collectible card wrapped with the sweet identifies Flamel as an alchemist. Hermione soon discovers that he is 665 years old and possesses the only known Philosopher's Stone, from which an elixir of life can be extracted. A few days later, Harry notices Snape sneaking towards the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. There he half-hears a furtive conversation about the Philosopher's Stone between Snape and Quirrell. Harry concludes that Snape is trying to steal the Stone and Quirrell has helped prepare a series of defences for it, which was an almost fatal mistake.
The three friends discover that Hagrid is raising a baby dragon in violation of wizarding law, and arranges to smuggle it out of the country around midnight. Draco, hoping to get them into trouble, informs Professor McGonagall. Although the dragon is safely sent away, they are caught outside of their dormitory. Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Neville are punished and assigned the task of assisting Hagrid with saving a badly injured unicorn in the Forbidden Forest. They split into two parties and venture off into the Forest where Harry and Draco come across a hooded figure drinking the blood of an injured unicorn. Aware of their presence, the figure approaches the boys but Harry is rescued by a centaur named Firenze, who offers to give him a ride back to the school. The centaur tells Harry that drinking a unicorn's blood will save the life of a mortally injured individual, but at the price of having a cursed life from that moment on. Firenze suggests that it was Voldemort who drank the unicorn's blood in order to gain enough strength to make the elixir of life (from the Philosopher's Stone), and regain full health by drinking it.
A few weeks later, Harry learns from Hagrid that the dragon egg was given to him by a hooded stranger who had asked him how to get past Fluffy, which Hagrid had admitted was easy: music sends it to sleep. Realizing that one of the Philosopher's Stone's defenses is no longer secure, Harry goes to inform Dumbledore, only to find that the headmaster has just left for a meeting in London. Harry concludes that Snape faked the message that called Dumbledore away and will try to steal the Stone that night. Harry decides that they must protect the stone themselves in Dumbledore's absence. Covered by the Invisibility Cloak, the trio enter Fluffy's chamber, where Harry sends the beast to sleep by playing the flute, which was sent by Hagrid to Harry as a Christmas present. After lifting the trap-door, they encounter a series of obstacles, each of which requires special skills possessed by one of the three, and one of which requires Ron to sacrifice himself in a life-sized game of wizard's chess.
Despite their reluctance to leave Ron behind, Harry and Hermione arrive at a room with a series of potions of varying sizes and colors. After Hermione figures out the riddle provided, she instructs Harry on which potion to drink. Harry swallows the liquid, allowing him to safely pass through a magical fire and enter the final room, while Hermione returns to collect Ron and notify Dumbledore of the night's events.
In the final room, Harry, now alone, finds Quirrell who admits that he had tried to kill Harry at his Quidditch match against Slytherin. He also admits that he let the troll into Hogwarts. This means that Snape had been trying to protect Harry all along, and had not been trying to kill him. Quirrell is one of Voldemort's followers and, after failing to steal the Philosopher's Stone the first time, he allowed his master to possess him so that he could get the stone for himself. This however, proves a difficult task because the only other object in the room is the Mirror of Erised, which will not reveal to Quirrell where the Stone is. At Voldemort's bidding, Quirrell makes Harry stand in front of the Mirror. The Mirror shows Harry finding the stone. Quirrell removes his turban, revealing the face of Voldemort on the back of his head. Voldemort/Quirrell tries to grab the Stone from Harry, but fails to do so. After the long struggle, Harry passes out. He awakes in the school hospital, where Dumbledore explains to him that he survived because his mother sacrificed her life to protect him, and neither Voldemort nor Quirrel could understand the power of love. Voldemort left Quirrell to die and is likely to return by some other means. The Stone has now been destroyed. The school year ends at the final feast, during which Gryffindor wins the House Cup. Harry returns to the Dursleys' for the summer holiday, but does not tell them that under-age wizards are forbidden to use magic outside of Hogwarts.
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