Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

J.K. Rowling's global phenomenon "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" introduces one of literature's most enduring coming-of-age journeys. For the first ten years of his life, orphaned **Harry Potter** lives in misery inside a cupboard under the stairs at 4 Privet Drive with his cruel aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, and their spoiled son Dudley. Told that his parents died in a mundane car crash, Harry has no explanation for the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead or the strange events that occasionally happen around him.

Everything changes on Harry's eleventh birthday when the giant Hogwarts gamekeeper, **Rubeus Hagrid**, tracks the Dursleys down to a storm-lashed hut on a rock in the sea to hand-deliver Harry's acceptance letter to **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**. Hagrid reveals the truth: Harry's parents, Lily and James Potter, were brave wizards murdered by the dark wizard **Lord Voldemort**. When Voldemort tried to kill infant Harry, his killing curse rebounded off Harry's scar, stripping Voldemort of his body and making Harry famous throughout the wizarding world as "The Boy Who Lived."

Entering the magical world through Diagon Alley and Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Harry boards the Hogwarts Express and forms an unbreakable bond with two fellow first-years: the loyal, big-hearted **Ron Weasley** and the brilliant, rule-abiding **Hermione Granger**. Sorted into Gryffindor House—after consciously asking the Sorting Hat *not* to place him in Slytherin—Harry discovers his natural talent as the youngest Quidditch Seeker in a century and finds the first true home and family he has ever known under the watchful wisdom of Headmaster **Albus Dumbledore**.

Beneath the wonder of magical classes, however, danger stirs inside the castle. Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that a three-headed dog named Fluffy is guarding a trapdoor on the third floor protecting the **Philosopher's Stone**—a legendary alchemical substance created by Nicolas Flamel that turns metal into gold and produces the Elixir of Life. During Christmas, Harry also discovers the **Mirror of Erised**, which shows the viewer's deepest heart's desire, prompting Dumbledore's timeless warning that *"it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."*

Suspecting Potion Master Severus Snape of trying to steal the Stone to restore Voldemort, the trio braves a series of trials tailored to each friend's unique strengths (Hermione's logic, Ron's sacrificial chess strategy, and Harry's flying skill). In the final chamber, Harry is shocked to find not Snape, but the stuttering Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher **Professor Quirrell**, who carries Lord Voldemort's parasitic face on the back of his head. Because Harry wants to *find* the Stone out of selflessness rather than *use* it for greed or immortality, the Mirror of Erised places the Stone in Harry's pocket, and Lily Potter's sacrificial love—living in Harry's very skin—defeats Quirrell.