The Dursleys are a well-to-do, status-conscious family living in Surrey, England. Eager to keep up proper appearances, they are embarrassed by Mrs. Dursley’s eccentric sister, Mrs. Potter, whom for years Mrs. Dursley has pretended not to know. On his way to work one ordinary morning, Mr. Dursley notices a cat reading a map. He is unsettled, but tells himself that he has only imagined it. Then, as Mr. Dursley is waiting in traffic, he notices people dressed in brightly colored cloaks. Walking past a bakery later that day, he overhears people talking in an excited manner about his sister-in-law’s family, the Potters, and the Potters’ one-year-old son, Harry. Disturbed but still not sure anything is wrong, Mr. Dursley decides not to say anything to his wife. On the way home, he bumps into a strangely dressed man who gleefully exclaims that someone named “You-Know-Who” has finally gone and that even a “Muggle” like Mr. Dursley should rejoice. Meanwhile, the news is full of unusual reports of shooting stars and owls flying during the day.

That night, as the Dursleys are falling asleep, Albus Dumbledore, a wizard and the head of the Hogwarts wizardry academy, appears on their street. He shuts off all the streetlights and approaches a cat that is soon revealed to be a woman named Professor McGonagall (who also teaches at Hogwarts) in disguise. They discuss the disappearance of You-Know-Who, otherwise known as Voldemort. Dumbledore tells McGonagall that Voldemort killed the Potter parents the previous night and tried to kill their son, Harry, as well, but was unable to. Dumbledore adds that Voldemort’s power apparently began to wane after his failed attempt to kill Harry and that he retreated. Dumbledore adds that the baby Harry can be left on the Dursleys’ doorstep. McGonagall protests that Harry cannot be brought up by the Dursleys. But Dumbledore insists that there is no one else to take care of the child. He says that when Harry is old enough, he will be told of his fate. A giant named Hagrid, who is carrying a bundle of blankets with the baby Harry inside, then falls out of the sky on a motorcycle. Dumbledore takes Harry and places him on the Dursley’s doorstep with an explanatory letter he has written to the Dursleys, and the three part ways.

Ten years have passed. Harry is now almost eleven and living in wretchedness in a cupboard under the stairs in the Dursley house. He is tormented by the Dursleys’ son, Dudley, a spoiled and whiny boy. Harry is awakened one morning by his aunt, Petunia, telling him to tend to the bacon immediately, because it is Dudley’s birthday and everything must be perfect. Dudley gets upset because he has only thirty-seven presents, one fewer than the previous year. When a neighbor calls to say she will not be able to watch Harry for the day, Dudley begins to cry, as he is upset that Harry will have to be brought along on Dudley’s birthday trip to the zoo. At the zoo, the Dursleys spoil Dudley and his friend Piers, neglecting Harry as usual. In the reptile house, Harry pays close attention to a boa constrictor and is astonished when he is able to have a conversation with it. Noticing what Harry is doing, Piers calls over Mr. Dursley and Dudley, who pushes Harry aside to get a better look at the snake. At this moment, the glass front of the snake’s tank vanishes and the boa constrictor slithers out onto the floor. Dudley and Piers claim that the snake attacked them. The Dursleys are in shock. At home, Harry is punished for the snake incident, being sent to his cupboard without any food, though he feels he had nothing to do with what happened.

Punished for the boa constrictor incident, Harry is locked in his cupboard until summer. When finally free, he spends most of the time outside his house to escape the torments of Dudley’s cohorts. Harry is excited by the prospect of starting a new school in the fall, far away from Dudley for the first time in his life. One day, Uncle Vernon tells Harry to fetch the mail. Harry notices a letter bearing a coat of arms that is addressed to him in “The Cupboard under the Stairs.” Uncle Vernon grabs the envelope from him and shows it to his wife. Both are shocked. They force Dudley and Harry to leave the kitchen in order to discuss what to do. The next day, Uncle Vernon visits Harry in the cupboard. He refuses to discuss the letter, but he tells Harry to move into Dudley’s second room, previously used to store Dudley’s toys.

The next day, another letter comes for Harry, this time addressed to him in “The Smallest Bedroom.” Uncle Vernon becomes alarmed. Harry tries to get the letter, but Uncle Vernon keeps it from him. The following morning, Harry wakes up early to try to get the mail before anyone gets up, but he is thwarted by Uncle Vernon, who has slept near the mail slot waiting for the letters. Though Uncle Vernon nails the mail slot shut, twelve letters come for Harry the next day, slipped under the door or through the cracks. Soon letters flood the house, entering in impossible ways. Uncle Vernon continues to prevent Harry from reading any of them. Enraged, Uncle Vernon decides to take everyone away from the house, but at the hotel where they stay, a hundred letters are delivered for Harry. Uncle Vernon decides on even greater isolation. On a dark, stormy night, he takes the family out to an island with only one shack on it. Inside, Vernon bolts the door. At midnight, as it becomes Harry’s birthday, there is a loud thump at the door.

The thump is heard again. A giant smashes down the door. Uncle Vernon threatens the giant with a gun, but the giant takes the gun and ties it into a knot. The giant presents Harry with a chocolate birthday cake and introduces himself as Hagrid, the “Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.” Hagrid is disturbed to find out that the Dursleys have never told Harry what Hogwarts is. Vernon tries to stop Hagrid from telling Harry about Hogwarts, but to no avail. Hagrid tells Harry that Harry is a wizard and presents him with a letter of acceptance to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Vernon protests that he will not allow Harry to attend Hogwarts. Hagrid explains to Harry that the Dursleys have been lying all along about how the boy’s parents died. Harry learns that they did not die in a car crash, as he had always thought, but were killed by the evil wizard Voldemort. Harry does not believe he could be a wizard, but then he realizes that the incident with the boa constrictor was an act of wizardry. With Uncle Vernon protesting, Hagrid takes Harry from the shack.

Harry wakes up in the company of Hagrid and realizes that the preceding night was not a dream. The two set off to London to shop for Harry’s school supplies. Harry is concerned about the money required, but Hagrid assures him that his parents left behind plenty of funds for him at Gringotts, the wizards’ bank run by goblins. Their first stop in London is at the Leaky Cauldron, a pub where all the patrons recognize Harry and are both nervous and honored to have the opportunity to meet him. They head out to the street, where Hagrid taps on a brick wall, and a small street called Diagon Alley opens before them. Hagrid explains that Harry will buy what he needs for school here. They go to Gringotts, where they are escorted down to Harry’s safe. Inside, they view the piles of silver and gold that Harry’s parents left him. Hagrid explains the complex wizard monetary system, which is composed of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. Hagrid fills a small bag with money. He then takes Harry to another vault, number 713, which is empty except for a grubby little package that Hagrid picks up and hides in his clothes, warning Harry not to ask about it.

Hagrid then takes Harry to be fitted for his uniform. In the store, he encounters a snobbish and unlikable boy who will also be starting Hogwarts in the fall. The snobbish boy talks highly about grand old wizard families, and Harry begins to worry about whether he is cut out to be a wizard. But Hagrid reassures Harry, telling him that he will learn all he needs to know and that there are many Muggle students at Hogwarts. After buying the required books and ingredients for potions, Hagrid and Harry then head to the wand store. Mr. Ollivander, the store owner, makes Harry try a number of magic wands, telling him that it will be clear when he has the right one. Harry tries out many wands. Finally, he picks up one made of holly and phoenix feather, and sparks shoot out from it—this is clearly the right wand. Ollivander tells Harry that the only other wand containing feathers from the same phoenix belonged to Voldemort and had been used to give Harry his lightning-bolt forehead scar.

Harry’s last month with the Dursleys is unpleasant. The day before he is due to leave, Harry asks Uncle Vernon to take him to the train station. Uncle Vernon agrees to take him but ridicules him for saying he is to leave from track nine and three quarters, as is marked on the ticket Hagrid gave him. The following day, Harry arrives at the station and stands between tracks nine and ten, wondering with increasing alarm how to find track nine and three quarters. Finally, he overhears some people mention Hogwarts; it is a family of red-haired children who seem to be bound for the academy. He asks the mother for help, and she tells him to walk through the barrier between tracks nine and ten. Harry does so, and he is astonished to find the train to Hogwarts on the other side. Harry boards it.

On the train, Harry is introduced to Fred and George Weasley, twins who are returning to school, and to their brother Ron, another student who will be starting at Hogwarts. Ron introduces Harry to such details of wizard life as Quidditch (a game a bit like soccer, but played on broomsticks), Famous Witches and Wizards cards (collectible items like baseball cards), and Every Flavor Beans. One of the cards bears the picture of Albus Dumbledore. Ron, who comes from a poor family, cannot afford the pastries sold on the train, so Harry buys a lot with his newfound wealth and shares them with Ron. Harry also meets a somewhat annoying, overachieving girl named Hermione Granger and sees again the unpleasant boy from the uniform shop, whose name is Draco Malfoy. All the students have heard of Harry, and Harry is not sure how to respond to his fame. Arriving at the station, the newcomers are led onto boats in which they sail to the castle of Hogwarts.

Harry’s acquisition of his magic wand is a key symbol of his new identity. It symbolizes his fate, as he does not choose the wand he wants, but is chosen by it, just as he is chosen by fate to be a wizard. His own will and preference do not matter; his wizardry is beyond personal choice. The wand also connects Harry to his past and to his future. The storeowner remembers clearly the wands he once sold to Harry’s mother and father, which were made of willow and mahogany, respectively. These details give Harry a more concrete view of his parents than he has ever had (foreshadowing the family photos that Hagrid later gives Harry). Furthermore, because Harry’s wand is similar to the wand that Voldemort used to give Harry his lightning-bolt scar, this wand directly connects him to the trauma of losing his parents, a loss that changed his life. Yet the future is suggested as much as the past; it is clearly foreshadowed that the wand and the wand’s twin, which is in Voldemort’s possession, will be used in a final, climactic standoff between good and evil. Finally, the wand is a symbol of Harry’s new hero status—it is as though Harry is to redeem the world’s goodness. As Voldemort’s ultimate rival, Harry is set up as Voldemort’s potential equal. This hero status is evident on the shopping trip and on the train, where Harry’s new acquaintances are all aware of his fame. The magic wand, still unused but potentially powerful, is a fitting emblem of Harry’s immense and untapped skill.

The new students are greeted at the castle door by Professor McGonagall, who tells them they will soon be sorted into their houses. All Hogwarts students live in one of four residences: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Each house has its own team for Quidditch, a game that resembles soccer on broomsticks. The houses are in a yearlong competition with one another to acquire the most points, which are earned by success in Quidditch games and lost for student infractions. As the students enter Hogwarts, ghosts appear in the hallway. The students are led to the Great Hall, where the entire school waits for them. They see a pointy hat on a stool. When the students try on the hat, it announces the house in which they are placed. Harry becomes very nervous. He has learned that he does not care for Slytherin house, as the students in it are unpleasant and Voldemort once belonged to Slytherin. Finally, it is Harry’s turn to wear the hat. After a brief mental discussion with the hat in which it tries to suggest Slytherin to him, the hat places Harry in Gryffindor. Harry is pleased to find that he is joined in Gryffindor by Ron and Hermione. Draco Malfoy is placed in Slytherin.

Everyone sits down to a grand feast to begin the year. Harry is overwhelmed by the variety of luscious food served. Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington, the resident ghost of Gryffindor (popularly known as Nearly Headless Nick because of a botched decapitation), introduces himself to the first-year students and tells them he hopes they will win the house championship this year. Over dessert, the discussion turns to the children’s upbringings. A student named Neville tells how his family thought he was a Muggle until he survived a fall from a window. Harry glances around the room and notices a few of the teachers talking to one another. One of them stares malevolently at Harry, who immediately feels a sharp pain in his forehead scar. Harry finds out that this man is Professor Snape, who teaches Potions. After dessert, Albus Dumbledore, the head of Hogwarts, gets up to make his welcome speech. He adds a few warnings about staying away from the Forbidden Forest and avoiding the third-floor corridor on the right side of the school. Everyone sings the school song and goes off to his or her house.

Harry finds life at Hogwarts unfamiliar and strange. Everyone talks about him, and an adult always seems to be around when he is doing something wrong. Harry finds all the classes interesting, with the exception of the History of Magic. In the first Transfiguration class (where students are taught how to turn one thing into another), only Hermione is able to make any progress at turning a match into a needle. Harry is relieved to see that others are just as lost as he is.

During breakfast the first Friday, Harry’s owl, Hedwig, who delivers mail, arrives with a tea invitation from Hagrid. Later, in his Potions class, Harry discovers that Professor Snape really does not like him, mocking Harry as “our new celebrity” and then humiliating Harry for his ignorance of herbs. Harry brings Ron with him to Hagrid’s shack for tea. Harry and Ron are disconcerted by Hagrid’s huge and fierce-looking dog, Fang, but discover that he is gentle. Hagrid tells Harry that he is overreacting to Snape’s treatment, asserting that Snape would have no reason to hate him. Harry happens to notice an article from the wizard newspaper detailing a break-in that occurred at Gringotts bank in a vault that had been emptied earlier in the day. He realizes that it happened on his birthday, the day he and Hagrid went to Gringotts. Furthermore, he remembers that Hagrid emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, taking a small package with him as he left. Harry leaves Hagrid’s, his mind filled with questions.

Family origins continue to be important in these chapters. During dessert at the welcome banquet, Harry’s new classmates discuss their pasts, and Harry is told that some of the students are not from wizard families. The father of a boy named Seamus is a Muggle, and for a long while Neville’s parents thought Neville was a Muggle. Hermione comes from a purely Muggle family. Yet these variations are of no importance at Hogwarts, which is an equal-opportunity wizards academy. The students of mixed or Muggle backgrounds are accepted on equal footing with the more illustrious wizards’ offspring like Draco Malfoy. Indeed, having magic in the family is no guarantee of being exceptional or even rich. Ron Weasley, Harry’s first friend at Hogwarts, is the child of a family with a very strong magic tradition, but Ron cannot even afford snacks on the train ride to school. Learning that family origins are not as important as talent and hard work at Hogwarts allows Harry to break away once and for all from the snobbish class-dominated world of the Dursleys.

Rowling continues to show that while Harry has great potential, he is ordinary in some ways. He is not an expert wizard; rather, like his peers who are just starting out at Hogwarts, he must learn how to use magic. And like any student, he sometimes has trouble in his classes, does not like all of his teachers, and gets annoyed by students who know how to do everything perfectly. The fact that he is flawed makes it easier for us to relate to him.

Harry is upset by news that the Gryffindors will have flying lessons with the Slytherins, because he does not want to spend more time with his Slytherin enemy Draco Malfoy. Madam Hooch leads the class, gently sending the new fliers off the ground. Neville has an accident and breaks his wrist. Madam Hooch takes him to the hospital, telling everyone to stay on the ground while she is away. Malfoy notices a magic ball belonging to Neville, picks it up, and begins to fly around with it. Harry goes after Malfoy, who throws the ball in the air. Harry catches it spectacularly and lands safely back on ground. Just then, Professor McGonagall arrives, reprimanding Harry and ordering him to follow her. But instead of punishing him, McGonagall introduces him to Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, explaining that Harry will make an excellent Quidditch player.

At dinner, Harry excitedly tells Ron about joining the Quidditch team but tells him that Wood wants it to be a secret. Malfoy comes over with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle and teases Harry about getting in trouble earlier. The tension grows and Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizard’s duel. Harry accepts, in spite of Hermione’s attempt to dissuade them from breaking the school rules. As Harry and Ron sneak out later that night, Hermione tries to stop them but gets locked out of the dorm and must tag along. Neville, wandering around lost, also joins them. They arrive at the trophy room, the site of the duel, but Malfoy is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, they hear Argus Filch, the school caretaker, and his cat, Mrs. Norris, enter the room. They begin to hide and then run away. Not sure where they are going, they accidentally end up in the forbidden area on the third floor, staring at a large and scary three-headed dog. The children manage to get back to their dorm safely, though they are terrified. Hermione reprimands Harry but stirs his curiosity by pointing out that the dog was standing on a trapdoor.

The next morning, Harry and Ron are discussing what the dog could be guarding when the mail arrives. Harry receives a first-class broomstick, along with a note from Professor McGonagall summoning him to Quidditch practice. Malfoy tells Harry that first-year students are not allowed broomsticks. When he tries to report Harry to Professor Flitwick, Flitwick just expresses admiration for Harry’s talent. Harry later meets Oliver Wood to learn the basics of Quidditch. On Halloween, Flitwick begins teaching his students how to make things fly. Only Hermione succeeds; Ron, offended by her air of superiority, makes a nasty comment that Hermione overhears. Harry notices her running off in tears.

Harry and Ron arrive at the Halloween feast to hear Professor Quirrell, the teacher of Defense against the Dark Arts, give a terrifying announcement about a twelve-foot troll in the building. As the prefects lead the students back to their dorms, Harry realizes that Hermione does not know about the troll. They head off to warn her and come upon the troll. Unwittingly, they lock it in the girls’ bathroom only to realize that Hermione is trapped in there with the troll. Using teamwork and magic, the three of them manage to knock out the troll. Professor McGonagall finds them and begins to scold the boys. Hermione interjects that Harry and Ron were looking for her. She then lies, saying that she went to face the troll herself and that Ron and Harry had been trying to save her from it. At this point, Hermione becomes their friend.

The Quidditch season begins, and Harry is about to play in his first match against Slytherin. To prepare, Harry borrows a book entitled Quidditch Through the Ages from Hermione. Professor Snape discovers Ron, Harry, and Hermione out with the book one evening and confiscates it from Harry on the feeble pretext that library books may not be taken outside. Harry’s suspicions of Snape continue to grow. Harry notices that Snape is limping. Going off to retrieve the book from Snape, Harry overhears Snape talking to Argus Filch about the three-headed dog, which makes Harry even more suspicious.

The next morning, the Quidditch match begins. Harry plays the position of Seeker, which means he must capture a little object called the Golden Snitch. He spots it and is flying toward it when the Slytherin Seeker pushes him out of the way and is penalized. Later in the game, Harry’s broom begins moving uncontrollably. Hagrid comments that only dark magic could make a broomstick so hard to manage. Hermione notices that Snape is staring at Harry and muttering to himself. As the Weasley twins try to rescue their teammate Harry, Hermione rushes over to Snape, sneaks behind him, and sets his robe on fire. Suddenly, the spell on Harry’s broom is broken and Harry is once again in control. He starts speeding toward the ground and lands, catching the Snitch.

Hagrid takes Harry back to his hut with Hermione and Ron, who tells Harry that Snape was putting a curse on his broomstick. Hagrid does not believe this charge, asking why Snape would try to kill Harry. Harry tells Hagrid about Snape getting injured by the dog in the third-floor corridor. Hagrid involuntarily reveals that the three-headed dog, Fluffy, is his, and that what the dog is guarding is a secret known only to Albus Dumbledore and a man named Nicolas Flamel.

Christmas is approaching. Malfoy teases Harry about having to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday as he does not have parents. Harry, however, is looking forward to spending Christmas away from the Dursleys, especially because Ron is also staying at Hogwarts. The day before vacation, Hermione tears Ron and Harry away from a conversation with Hagrid to look in the library for more information about Nicolas Flamel. The librarian catches Harry prowling around the restricted-books section of the library and kicks him out.

On Christmas day, Harry and Ron awaken to presents, though Harry’s are fewer. Harry receives candy and a knitted sweater from Ron’s mother. He also receives an invisibility cloak accompanied only by an anonymous note telling him that the cloak once belonged to Harry’s father. That night, after a satisfying Christmas dinner and after Ron has fallen asleep, Harry tries on his invisibility cloak. Unseen, he is able to go to the library’s restricted-books section. But one of the books starts screaming when he opens it, so he quickly leaves. He passes Filch and hides in an old classroom marked with an inscription that includes the word “Erised.” Inside stands an old mirror. Harry looks in the mirror and sees many people standing behind him, but when he turns around in the room, he sees no one. Suddenly, he recognizes that two of the people in the mirror are his dead mother and father. He tries to speak to them, but they can only communicate by waving. Harry lingers there a while but eventually returns to his room.

The next night, Harry brings Ron with him to the mirror room. Ron does not see Harry’s parents in the mirror, but instead sees himself holding a Quidditch cup. Mrs. Norris, Filch’s prowling cat, notices them. On the third night, Ron is afraid of being caught and does not want to go back, so Harry returns alone. There he finds Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore explains to Harry that the mirror displays the deepest desire of whoever looks into it. Harry is relieved to find that Dumbledore is not angry.

Harry’s growing intimacy with Dumbledore is an important development. At the beginning, Dumbledore is a rather abstractly presented grand person whom we glimpse from afar when he gives the students a welcome speech the night of their arrival. But when Dumbledore comes upon Harry in the mirror room, the old wizard and the young boy are alone for the first time in the story, conversing privately, and we see a more human side of Dumbledore. There is an increasing sense that Dumbledore cares about Harry as an individual, as there is no mention of him having a private audience with any other Hogwarts student. Even more important, Dumbledore surprises Harry at a very intimate moment of self-exploration, when Harry is examining his soul’s deepest desires. Dumbledore’s explanation of the mirror and gentle advice that Harry not consult it anymore show that the great wizard is a wise psychologist, as well as almost a father figure for Harry.

Dumbledore continues to be a protective force for Harry. His advice to refrain from looking in the Mirror of Erised stems from his understanding that the mirror’s powerful images might overwhelm the young Harry. In contrast to Snape, who mocks Harry’s celebrity status without hesitation, Dumbledore understands that Harry is a still a little boy with emotional needs. The later revelation that Dumbledore is the one who gives Harry’s father’s invisibility cloak to Harry reinforces his fatherly role. Finally, with Harry’s discovery that the secret of Nicolas Flamel’s identity is actually in his own possession the whole time, in a collector’s card in his pocket that depicts Dumbledore, we feel even more strongly that Dumbledore occupies a very personal and intimate place in Harry’s life.

As Easter approaches, Hermione begins to worry about exams, while Harry and Ron merely try to keep up with the tremendous amount of homework assigned. One day, Hagrid comes upon them studying in the library. They bombard him with questions about the Sorcerer’s Stone. He invites them to come and talk to him later but says he does not promise that he will reveal anything. They visit Hagrid’s hut later, and Hagrid tells them he does not know what else is guarding the stone besides the three-headed dog. He does tell them which teachers cast spells to guard the stone. He adds that he will never give out any information on how to bypass the dog.

Hagrid shows the students a dragon egg that he won in a poker game the previous night. Dragons are illegal, but Hagrid wishes to raise one anyway. Later, Harry gets a note saying the dragon egg is hatching. Excitedly, he and his friends rush over to Hagrid’s to watch the dragon’s birth. The children realize that Hagrid must get rid of this dragon, which Hagrid names Norbert, before he grows too big. They decide to write to Charlie, Ron’s older brother, who is studying dragons in Romania. Charlie agrees to help them and arranges for them to meet some of his friends to take the dragon away. The plan is set for the children to meet Charlie’s friends at midnight one Saturday atop the tallest tower of the castle. They take the invisibility cloak and sneak up carrying Norbert. Charlie’s friends come and take the dragon away. As they descend from the tower, they forget to wear the invisibility cloak, and Filch catches them.

Filch takes Harry, Hermione, and Ron to Professor McGonagall’s office to be punished. She accuses them of concocting the whole dragon story to lure Malfoy out of bed and get him into trouble. As punishment, McGonagall deducts fifty points from Gryffindor for each of the three wrongdoers. Harry is horrified that his house will lose 150 points. When the bad news is circulated the next morning, Harry quickly falls from his pedestal as Quidditch star. He considers resigning from the Quidditch team, but Wood convinces him that doing so would be useless.

Harry resolves not to get involved in any more suspicious activities, but a week later he overhears a conversation in which Quirrell appears to give in to someone, presumably Snape, as if Snape is pressing him to do something. Harry and his friends try to figure out what to do, but they cannot come up with a plan of action. Harry, Hermione, and Neville are told to report to Hagrid that night for their detention. When they show up, they are surprised to find that detention will be held in the surrounding Forbidden Forest. Malfoy, who has also been given detention, objects to being forced outside like a servant.

Hagrid points to some traces of unicorn blood on the ground and explains that they will be going into the forest to find out what has been harming the animals. They split up into two groups: Harry and Hermione with Hagrid, Neville and Malfoy with Hagrid’s dog, Fang. They penetrate deep into the forest. Harry sees signs that the other group is in trouble, but Hagrid discovers that Malfoy has merely been playing tricks on Neville. Hagrid sends Harry off with Malfoy, taking Neville along with himself. Harry and Malfoy come across a mysterious cloaked figure drinking the blood of a recently killed unicorn. Malfoy and Fang run away, leaving Harry alone. A centaur named Firenze rescues Harry and carries him back to Hagrid. On his way back, Harry learns that the cloaked figure was Voldemort and that he was drinking unicorn blood to sustain himself until he could obtain the Sorcerer’s Stone.

The year-end examinations go off without a hitch, although Harry fears that Voldemort will burst through the door at any second. While he is a guest at Hagrid’s, Harry learns that while drunk and playing cards, Hagrid revealed to Voldemort that anyone can get past the three-headed guard dog, Fluffy, by playing music to him. Harry and his friends rush to find Dumbledore to tell him this news, but they run into McGonagall, who informs them that Dumbledore has been called off to London by the Ministry of Magic. Harry convinces Hermione and Ron that they need to grab the stone that night. As they are heading out, Neville tries to stop them. Hermione immobilizes him with a spell, and they proceed.

When they reach Fluffy, Harry, Hermione, and Ron notice a harp by his feet and realize that someone has already passed by Fluffy. Harry plays a flute he has brought, putting Fluffy to sleep and allowing his gang to go through the trapdoor. They land on some sort of plant with twisting tendrils that wrap around Harry and Ron. Hermione gets out immediately and uses fire from her wand to stave off the plant. Next, they encounter a large locked door in a room full of birds that are actually keys. Harry uses his Quidditch skills to catch the right bird and unlock the door. They then must play a violent game of chess in which each of them is a chess piece. Ron masterfully leads them through the game, but he must allow himself to be captured—and severely beaten—by the opposing queen to win. Harry and Hermione then come upon a series of potions and a logic puzzle. Hermione figures out which potions to drink and then goes back to help Ron and Harry move forward to find the stone.

Harry lies, telling Quirrell that he sees himself in the mirror winning the house cup for Gryffindor. Voldemort tells Quirrell that Harry is lying. Wishing to speak directly to Harry now, Voldemort tells Quirrell to unwrap his turban. Harry is shocked to find Voldemort’s face on the back of Quirrell’s head—Voldemort is a shape-shifter and has been using Quirrell’s body. Voldemort tries to persuade Harry to give him the stone, which he knows is in Harry’s pocket. He tells Harry to join him rather than resist and be killed like his parents. Harry refuses and Voldemort orders Quirrell to seize Harry. Quirrell tries, but each time he grabs for Harry, his hand blisters as if burned. Harry grabs Quirrell, putting him in tremendous pain; meanwhile, the pain in Harry’s forehead scar is steadily increasing. As the struggle intensifies, Harry feels himself losing hold of Quirrell and falling.

When Harry regains consciousness, Dumbledore is standing over him. Harry starts telling Dumbledore that Quirrell has the stone, but Dumbledore tells him to relax. Harry realizes that he is in the hospital. He asks Dumbledore again about the stone and Dumbledore tells him that he arrived just in time to save Harry from Quirrell. Dumbledore adds that he spoke with Nicolas Flamel and they decided to destroy the stone. He explains also that Quirrell could not touch Harry because Harry was protected by his mother’s love. Dumbledore also reveals that it was he who left the invisibility cloak for Harry and explains that there was enmity between Snape and Harry’s father, much like the enmity between Malfoy and Harry. Furthermore, Dumbledore explains how Harry ended up with the stone; Harry was the only one who wanted to find the stone for itself rather than for what the stone could obtain.

Harry gets out of his hospital bed to go to the end-of-year feast. The dining hall is decorated in Slytherin colors to celebrate Slytherin’s seventh consecutive win of the championship cup. Dumbledore rises to speak and announces that in light of recent events, more points need to be given out. He awards Ron and Hermione fifty points each and Harry sixty points for their feats in getting to the stone. Gryffindor thus pulls into a tie with Slytherin. Dumbledore then adds that Neville has been awarded ten points for learning bravery. Gryffindor pulls ahead into first place, thus winning the house cup.

When school grades finally arrive, Harry and Ron do well, and Hermione is at the top of the class. They all pack and head to the train station to go back to their homes. Harry, Hermione, and Ron say their good-byes for the summer and Harry heads home, eager to use a little magic on Dudley Dursley.

The wisdom of limiting one’s desires is revealed at the end, when Dumbledore tells Harry that, for Nicolas Flamel, dying will be a pleasant experience of relief, “like going to bed after a very, very long day.” Dumbledore’s earlier advice to Harry to refrain from looking in the Mirror of Erised becomes relevant here, as Dumbledore suggests that while it is important to reflect on one’s deepest desire, it is also important to keep that desire in perspective and perhaps even to limit it. Eternal life—the very thing promised by the Sorcerer’s Stone and the very thing many have been desiring—might not be as valuable as those seeking it have thought. Flamel is close to achieving immortality, and yet he prefers to die. Dumbledore points out that living forever could actually become tiresome, and that the desire for it may be misinformed.

While Flamel and Dumbledore ultimately understand that eternal life may not be such a good goal, Voldemort’s fatal flaw is that he is misinformed about what is important in life but is never able to realize it. Voldemort lives for his own desires, but as we discover toward the end, he is not really living at all: he does not even have his own body, but must live by stealing others’ bodies (again, one meaning of the French word vol is “theft”). But Voldemort lacks more than a body; he lacks a soul as well. Living by desire, he has no real life. Nor does he have any love, as Dumbledore explains to Harry. Love is the one thing that Voldemort cannot understand, which is why he is burned by the traces of motherly love on Harry’s body. The greatest lesson learned throughout this adventure may be that love for others is more valuable than the pursuit of one’s own desires (which is really nothing more than love for oneself).