HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE CHAPTER 1 SUMMARY - Part 1

How It All Goes Down

The Boy Who Lived

• The book begins by introducing Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, and their baby son Dudley. They live on Privet Drive and try to act as normal as possible. However, we soon learn that the Dursleys are hiding something.
• What they're hiding is the Potter family; Mrs. Potter is Mrs. Dursley's sister, and the Dursleys try to pretend the Potters don't exist.
• The narrator says that they don't realize how unusual this particular day is going to be – they don't see an owl fly past the window. But as Mr. Dursley leaves for work, he thinks he sees a cat reading a map, just for a second.
• Mr. Dursley tries to forget about it, but then notices that there are people all around wearing cloaks. He thinks it's weird, and puts his mind towards work. At work that day, he doesn't look out the window, so he doesn't see the massive groups of owls flying about, which would strike anyone else as unusual.
• During his lunch break, he ventures outside and sees a bunch of people in cloaks again. He overhears them talking about the Potters and gets really freaked out.
• He almost calls his wife to talk about it, but then tries to convince himself that the cloak people probably weren't talking about his relatives.
• On his way out of the office that evening, he bumps into a man wearing a violet cloak. The man tells him that You-Know-Who is gone and calls Dursley a Muggle. Mr. Dursley doesn't understand any of this, but it freaks him out all the same. When he gets home he sees that same cat outside his house.
• That evening, he and his wife act normally. They hear on the news that the country is overcome with owls and that the sky is full of shooting stars.
• Mr. Dursley asks his wife about the Potters, because he thinks they might be connected with all the weird happenings, but she hasn't heard from them. As they're going to bed, he sees that cat outside again. He falls asleep thinking about how the Potters shouldn't bother them.
• Outside, the cat waits until almost midnight, when a thin old man in a cloak appears: Albus Dumbledore.
• Dumbledore takes something out of his pocket, which looks like a cigarette lighter. He uses it to put out all the lights on the street. Then he walks over to the cat, which has transformed into Professor McGonagall. He knew it was her even when she was still a cat.
• He asks her why she wasn't getting happy with the others. She says that she was worried about how risky everyone was acting and that the Muggles might notice something.
• Dumbledore says it's been eleven years since they felt like this. They talk about how the Muggles can't find out about them, before confirming that You-Know-Who is definitely out of the picture.
• Dumbledore eats lemon drops and says they should call You-Know-Who by his real name, Voldemort.
• McGonagall says he's the only one who can say that, because Voldemort's only ever been scared by Dumbledore. She wants to talk about what really happened and how he was actually defeated.
• She asks about the rumor that the Potters are dead, but their little boy, Harry, is still alive. Dumbledore confirms that it's true.
• McGonagall says that Voldemort was defeated when he tried to tried to kill Harry and couldn't – that it stopped his power from working somehow.
• Dumbledore says they'll never know how it happened, checks his mysterious watch, and says Hagrid's late. He says they're going to leave Harry with his family, the Dursleys, and McGonagall says they're despicable. Dumbledore counters that they're the only family Harry has left, and he'll be safest with them, even though they're unlike the magicians and his parents. He's written them a letter to explain.
• McGonagall tells him that Harry's going to be a superstar, and Dumbledore says it's better for him to grow up modest and humble.
• They're interrupted by Hagrid's arrival on a motorcycle. Hagrid is a gigantic man, but he's carrying baby Harry very carefully.
• Harry is a tiny, black-haired baby with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
• Hagrid says goodbye to the baby and starts crying.
• Dumbledore leaves Harry on the doorstep with a letter. The three magic people look really sad. As they vanish into the night, Dumbledore wishes him good luck.
• The baby sleeps, as magic people think of him and toast his welfare.
• It's about ten years later, and the Dursleys' home looks the same. The Dursleys treat their son Dudley way better than they do Harry, who sleeps in a cupboard under the stairs.
• Harry's aunt Petunia wakes him up from a dream he remembers having before, about a motorcycle that flies. She tells him to get cracking and make breakfast for Dudley's birthday.
• The house is full of presents for Dudley, who's fat and lazy. Harry, in contrast, is tiny and thin, and wears glasses. He doesn't know much how he got the scar on his forehead, beyond his aunt telling him he got it in the car crash that killed his parents.
• Harry makes eggs for the Dursleys, who all meet in the kitchen. Dudley throws a fit because he only sees 36 presents; his parents have to appease him by promising him other presents later.
• Their neighbor, Mrs. Figg, calls and says she can't watch Harry for the day. It means that Harry's going to get to go with the Dursleys on this birthday outing, instead of being left behind as he usually is. Although Dudley pretends to cry in the hope of keeping Harry from joining them on their trip to the zoo, the Dursleys are worried about leaving Harry alone in the house. He gets to go with them and Dudley's friend's family to the zoo.
• Mr. Dursley warns Harry not to do anything suspicious at the zoo, and Harry promises he won't. Sometimes, though, suspicious stuff just happens, and there's nothing Harry can do about it. For example, when Petunia cut off Harry's hair, it grew back overnight, and when she tried to make him wear one of Dudley's old sweaters, it gets smaller and smaller until he can't even put it on. Once he found himself on the school roof when he was outrunning Dudley and his friends, but can't figure out how he got up there in the first place.
• On their drive to the zoo, Harry shares his dream about the flying motorcycle. Mr. Dursley yells at him that that's impossible.
• At the zoo, Dudley and his friend get better treats than Harry, and Harry stays slightly away from them so that they won't bother him.
• Everything's going fine through lunch, until they get to the reptile house. Dudley calls the largest snake boring, because it's just sleeping. Harry goes over to look at it after Dudley moves away.
• The snake looks up and winks at Harry, and they have a conversation. Harry asks it where it's from, and the snake points to the sign that says Brazil. The snake's never been to Brazil, though, because it was born in captivity.
• Someone yells for Dudley and Mr. Dursley to come look at the snake, and in his rush to get over, Dudley pushes Harry out of the way. Piers and Dudley are looking at the snake through the glass when suddenly the glass vanishes. The snake escapes and makes a run for it.
• After the panic at the zoo subsides, they all leave, and Piers says that Harry was talking to the snake. That's enough for Mr. Dursley to get really angry and punish Harry by sending him to his "room" with no food.
• Later, Harry's lying down and thinking in the dark about how it's been so awful to live with the Dursleys. He doesn't remember much about how his parents died, except for a strange green light. He misses them and has fantasies about escaping from the Dursleys. Sometimes strangers seem to know him, but they always disappear.
• Harry's punished because of the escaping snake through the rest of the school year. Even though it's summer, he's still tormented by Dudley and all of his friends from school. The bullies like to chase Harry and are always trying to hunt him down. Harry can't wait for the fall, when he'll start at a different school from Dudley. Dudley will be going to Mr. Dursley's old private school, while Harry's going to be attending the local public school.
• Mrs. Dursley takes Dudley to buy his school uniform, and the Dursleys act super proud of Dudley; Harry thinks it's hilarious.
• The next day, he sees Mrs. Dursley dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes gray for him to wear at school, and worries about how mock-able he'll look.
• They're not paying much attention to him when the mail arrives.
• For the first time ever, the mail includes something for Harry. The letter is on beautiful paper, addressed to him in his bedroom, and has a great wax seal.
• He delivers the rest of the mail to the Dursleys, and is starting to open his letter, when Mr. Dursley snatches it from him and refuses to give it back. When he sees what's written there, he totally freaks out and shows it to his wife. Despite Harry asking for his letter, which belongs to him, the Dursleys won't give it back. He and Dudley squabble and get kicked out of the room.
• They listen in and hear the Dursleys worrying that they're being spied on and deciding to ignore the letter. Mr. Dursley says he won't have it.
• Later that day, Mr. Dursley tells Harry he's burned the letter, but thinks he should move into Dudley's second bedroom instead of sleeping under the stairs.
• While Harry would usually have been so excited to get out of his cupboard, all he can think about is his missing letter.
• The next day, Dudley can't believe that Harry's still in his second bedroom. He goes to get the mail and finds another letter for Harry. Harry and Mr. Dursley make a mad dash for the letter and they all tussle until Mr. Dursley grabs the letter. He sends Harry to his room. Although Harry's upset not to have this letter, he hopes whoever's sending them will keep doing so.
• Harry gets up really early the next morning and sneaks downstairs. He wants to meet the postman and get the mail before everyone else does. As he moves to the door he steps on something that screams. He realizes his uncle got there first to keep him from getting the mail. Mr. Dursley tells him to go make tea. While he's gone, the mail arrives.
• There are three letters addressed to Harry, and Mr. Dursley tears them all up, before nailing the mail slot shut.
• The next day, twelve letters arrive for Harry; the day after that, 24 letters come.
• The day after that, Sunday, Mr. Dursley is relieved because the mail isn't scheduled. But letters start flying into the house, coming through the chimney and fireplace. He freaks out and orders everyone to pack.
• They all rush to the car and drive around aimlessly for a whole day, before stopping at some hotel outside a city.
• The next morning, the hotel's owner tries to deliver a letter to Harry, but Mr. Dursley keeps him from getting it. They go on the move again, seemingly without a direction or destination. Harry realizes the next day will be his eleventh birthday.
• Mr. Dursley directs them to an isolated shack, surrounded by water. It's cold and miserable, and a storm rages around outside. Mr. Dursley is sure they won't get any letters there.
• The Dursleys divide the available blankets and beds amongst the three of them. Harry's left to sleep on the floor with only a small coverlet. He can't fall asleep and thinks about how his birthday is coming.
• At midnight, as it turns into Harry's birthday, there's a tremendously loud knocking at the door.
• The knocking wakes them all up. Mr. Dursley aims a gun at the door and yells. The door's smashed in by a giant man, who stomps in, asks for a cup of tea, and tells Dudley to scoot over. Then he says hello to Harry and tells him he looks like his parents.
• Mr. Dursley tells him to leave. The giant just tells him to zip it and breaks Dursley's gun. Then he wishes Harry a happy birthday, and even gives him a cake.
• He says he's Hagrid, groundskeeper at Hogwarts. He lights a real fire in the fireplace and produces all the elements for a solid meal out of his pockets. Everyone else has had little to eat and is really hungry, but Mr. Dursley says they shouldn't eat anything he tries to give them.
• Harry eats and asks Hagrid more about who he is. Hagrid says he should know about Hogwarts. When Harry says he doesn't, Hagrid is shocked and amazed.
• He yells at the Dursleys, saying that it was one thing that Harry couldn't get his letters, but to keep him from knowing about Hogwarts was really bad.
• When Hagrid finds out that Harry doesn't know anything about his parents, he gets even angrier with the Dursleys, who are very frightened.
• Hagrid reveals to Harry that his parents inhabited a separate world, where they were famous, and that Harry's famous too. Mr. Dursley tries to keep Hagrid from saying any more, but of course it doesn't work. Hagrid's even angrier when he finds out that the Dursleys never gave Harry the letter Dumbledore left with him.
• He tells Harry he's a wizard, and probably will be a good one when he receives some training. He finally gives Harry his letter.
• Harry reads a letter on stationary from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, signed by Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. The letter says Harry's been accepted to the school and gives him a list of supplies to get; it also says he should confirm his acceptance with an owl by the end of July.
• When Harry asks what it means by owl, Hagrid remembers something, and pulls an owl out of his coat. He writes a short letter to Dumbledore, saying he's given Harry his letter, gives this new letter to the owl, and releases it into the storm.
• Mr. Dursley says Harry's not leaving, but Hagrid says Muggles can't stop it. Harry asks what Muggles are, and Hagrid says they're non-magic people.
• Harry asks whether the Dursleys knew he was magic. Mrs. Dursley lets loose, yelling that he's just like her freaky abnormal sister and it's her sister's own fault she got blown up.
• Blown up? Harry is shocked because he always thought his parents died in a car crash.
• Hagrid's even angrier, if possible, and says Harry of all people should know the story of what really happened.
• Hagrid says he's not really the right person to tell Harry, but someone should, so… He says a wizard in their world, named Voldemort, went bad twenty years ago in a quest for power. He killed anyone who went against him. The only safe place in the world was Hogwarts. Voldemort visited their house ten years ago when Harry was just a baby. The evil wizard was determined to either get Harry's parents to join him, or to destroy them.
• This makes Hagrid cry. He continues that Voldemort killed Harry's parents. Voldemort tried to kill Harry too, but couldn't. The scar on Harry's forehead is from an evil curse Voldemort tried to put on him. Harry's famous because he's the only person who ever survived when Voldemort wanted him dead.
• Mr. Dursley says this is all BS, but Hagrid cuts him off.
• Harry asks what happened to Voldemort, and Hagrid says they don't know – no one's seen or heard from him in ten years. They're not sure if he died, lost power, or what. All they know is that somehow Harry helped defeat him.
• Harry doesn't understand how he could really be a wizard. Hagrid tells him that those weird things that kept happening, which he couldn't explain, were proof of his talent.
• Mr. Dursley says he's not going to a stupid school like Hogwarts, and he's not paying for it.
• Hagrid is furious that Mr. Dursley would insult Hogwarts and Dumbledore. He says Harry's been signed up since he was born. In his anger, Hagrid casts a spell that gives Dudley a pig's tail.
• The three Dursleys are so frightened by this that they run to the other room and hide.
• Hagrid asks Harry to keep that a secret, since he's not really supposed to do magic. He reveals that he went to Hogwarts, but was expelled. He tells Harry to go to sleep, because they have a lot of work to do the next day.
• The next morning, when Harry wakes up, he tells himself that it was all a dream about a giant arriving and revealing that he was a wizard. He hears a tapping and thinks it's his aunt. He wishes the dream were real, opens his eyes, and finds himself in the desolate room with Hagrid.
• An owl arrives carrying a newspaper; it drops off the newspaper and starts pecking at Hagrid's coat.
• Hagrid tells Harry the owl needs to be paid and to give it money from the coat's pockets. Harry finds wizarding money and pays in Knuts.
• Hagrid says that they have to get going to buy Harry's school supplies, and Harry gets worried about not having enough money for school, especially since Mr. Dursley said he wouldn't finance it.
• Hagrid reassures Harry, telling him that his parents left him money. It's all kept safe in the Gringotts bank. This is a goblin bank, and Hagrid says Gringotts and Hogwarts are the most secure places in the world. Dumbledore's given Hagrid a task to accomplish there.
• Harry and Hagrid leave the hut, and get in the dilapidated boat the Dursleys rowed over in. Hagrid admits he flew there, but isn't really supposed to be doing magic. They agree to keep it a secret if Hagrid helps the boat go a little faster.
• On their boat ride, Hagrid tells Harry that the bank is protected by spells and dragons. Hagrid also explains about the Ministry of Magic – its primary purpose is to keep wizardry and magic secret.
• After they make it to shore, they get a lot of weird looks as they go to catch a train to London. Hagrid confesses he'd like a dragon of his own.
• On the train, Harry reviews the list of supplies. He'll need a uniform, including robes, a hat, and cloak, and several textbooks. He'll also need a wand and some other magic stuff.
• When they get to London, Harry's still a little confused about how they'll be able to buy these supplies, but Hagrid knows where to go. Harry's worried until they get to a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. He realizes that it doesn't seem as though anyone else can see it at all.
• Inside when Harry and Hagrid walk in, everyone stops and stares. They welcome Harry and every single person wants to shake his hand.
• One of the people Harry meets is Professor Quirrell. Quirrell has a terrible stutter and seems super frightened. He's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
• Finally, Hagrid extracts them, saying they need to go shopping, and they go into the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron. He explains to Harry that Quirrell is super smart, but hasn't been the same since he did fieldwork and had some bad experiences.
• Hagrid taps on a brick wall, which opens, and the two go through it into Diagon Alley as the wall closes behind them.
• They pass an interesting-looking Cauldron shop, but Hagrid says they need to get Harry some cash before they can do any damage. They walk past an Owl Emporium, a broomstick store, and some other interesting stuff before they get to the bank.
• They walk under door with a poem inscribed on it that warns against stealing.
• Inside, goblins are everywhere, working.
• Hagrid produces a key (after much searching) to Harry's safe and a letter from Dumbledore about getting something out of a specific vault.
• The goblin Griphook is summoned to lead Harry and Hagrid inside the bank. Hagrid says he absolutely can't reveal what Dumbledore's sent him to the bank to get.
• They get in a railway cart; it takes them through a bunch of underground passages and also past an underground lake.
• Harry's vault is full of magic money. He realizes the Dursleys couldn't have known about it. Hagrid helps him pick some out, Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts.
• Then they go to the other vault, passing over a ravine. This vault unlocks by goblin touch. It's empty except for a small parcel, which Hagrid scoops up. They go back upstairs and out of the bank.
• Harry's kind of overwhelmed by how much money he has. Hagrid's feeling sick from riding in the goblin railway cart. He goes back to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink and sends Harry to Madame Malkin's robe shop.
• Madame Malkin helps him get fitted into Hogwarts robes next to another boy also going to Hogwarts. The boy makes Harry think of Dudley; he talks about his parents and having a broom, then mentions Quidditch and the different Houses at Hogwarts. Harry doesn't know what he's talking about.
• Hagrid appears outside and the boy criticizes him. Harry stands up for him, and the boy asks about his parents. When Harry says they're dead, the boy doesn't seem apologetic, but just asks if they were "[their] kind." He says Hogwarts should be kept for wizarding races and asks Harry his name. Before Harry can answer, Madame Malkin says he's done.
• Hagrid brings Harry ice cream. They shop for quills while Harry asks Hagrid about Quidditch. Hagrid says it's difficult to say what it is, but it's similar to football played with broomsticks. And extra balls.
• Hagrid says there are four houses at Hogwarts, including Hufflepuff and Slytherin, and that You-Know-Who was a Slytherin.
• They go to Flourish and Blotts to buy his books. Hagrid reminds Harry you're not supposed to work magic around Muggles. Then they buy cauldrons and scales, and they also go to the Apothecary's.
• Hagrid tells Harry he'll get him an Owl for a birthday present. Harry's overwhelmed and gets a lovely snowy owl.
• Then they go to Ollivanders for his wand.
• The wand shop is tiny and seems extra magical. Mr. Ollivander remembers Harry's parents and the kinds of wands they chose. He knows the wand that caused Harry's scar, and he remembers the wand he sold to Hagrid – which shouldn't be used any more, since Hagrid was expelled. (But it might be in Hagrid's umbrella.)
• Mr. Ollivander measures Harry all over, and then Harry tries a bunch of different wands. None of them seem to work. Finally he tries one made of holly and phoenix feather, which feels magical in his hand.
• Mr. Ollivander calls it "curious," though, and says that it's linked to the wand that caused Harry's scar. He says that Harry may do great things. Harry's kind of creeped out by this, but they pay and leave.
• They go back to the Leaky Cauldron and then into regular, non-magic London. They get a snack before Harry's train comes. Harry thinks it was a great birthday, but is also worried. People are treating him like he's "special" and famous, but he doesn't understand any of it.
• Hagrid reassures him, saying he'll learn and figure it all out at Hogwarts; then, he puts him on a train back to the Dursleys', and says he'll see him on September 1st for the start of term at Hogwarts.