Philosopher's Stone

"This is a story full of surprises and jokes; comparisons with Dahl are, this time, justified."


 * — The Sunday Times

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was first published on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury in London and was later made into a film of the same name.

The book was released in the United States under the name Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because the publishers were concerned that most American readers would not be familiar enough with the term "Philosopher's Stone". However, this decision led to criticism by the British public who felt it shouldn't be changed due to the fact it was an English book.

Plot
Harry Potter has been treated abusively by his aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley and bullied by their son Dudley since the death of his parents ten years prior. This changes on his eleventh birthday, when a half-giant named Rubeus Hagrid delivers a letter of acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after Vernon and Petunia destroyed previous ones. Harry learns his parents, James and Lily Potter, also wizards, were murdered by the most evil and powerful dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, and so Harry was sent to live with the Dursleys as a baby. Voldemort lost his powers after failing to kill Harry, forcing himself into exile and making Harry famous among the hidden magical community. Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, a hidden London street, introducing him to the wizarding world. Harry discovers his parents left him a fortune at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He also receives a pet owl, Hedwig, school supplies, and a wand. A month later, Harry catches the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross railway station's secret platform, Platform ​9 3⁄4. On the train, he befriends fellow first-year Ronald Weasley, meets Hermione Granger, whose snobbishness the two boys dislike, and makes an enemy of first-year Draco Malfoy, who mocks Ron's impoverished family.

At Hogwarts, a magical Sorting Hat assigns the first-years to four Houses - Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw - that best suit their personalities. Ron tells Harry about Slytherin's reputation of housing dark witches and wizards. Harry rejects the Hat's offer of Slytherin, which Draco joins, and is instead sorted into Gryffindor with Ron and Hermione.

Harry discovers he has a talent for flying on broomsticks and is recruited into his House's team for Quidditch as a Seeker. Harry dislikes the school's Potions master, Severus Snape, who favours Slytherin while seeking to fail Harry and his friends. Malfoy tricks Harry and Ron into risking expulsion by leaving their rooms at night, despite Hermione's efforts to stop them, and tells Filch, the school's caretaker, where they will be. Hermione joins them and, after realizing Malfoy's ruse, they run away. They discover a huge three-headed dog standing guard over a trapdoor in a forbidden corridor. A troll interrupts the school's Halloween celebrations. It enters the girls' bathroom, where Hermione is saved by Harry and Ron, and the three become best friends. Coupled with Snape's recent leg injury and behaviour, the event prompts Harry, Hermione, and Ron to suspect Snape of trying to enter the trapdoor.

Fearing the boys' expulsion, Hermione forbids them from investigating, directing Harry's attention to his first Quidditch game. His broomstick attempts to throw him off while mid-air. Snape's strange behaviour during the match leads Hermione to suspect that he had jinxed Harry's broom. Christmas arrives and Harry receives an anonymous gift - his father's invisibility cloak. Using it to explore the school, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer's deepest desires come true. The trio find a newspaper report about an attempted robbery of a Gringotts vault—one that Hagrid and Harry had visited when getting Harry's school supplies. They work out that the object kept under the trapdoor is a Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality and the ability to turn any metal into pure gold. Harry is also informed by a centaur named Firenze that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore himself and return to power. When the school's headmaster Albus Dumbledore is lured from Hogwarts under false pretences, Harry, Hermione and Ron fear that the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor.

They encounter a series of obstacles, each requiring unique skills possessed by one of the three. Ron and Hermione have to stay behind while Harry goes ahead. Harry finds Quirinus Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, who reveals he had tried to kill Harry by jinxing his broom and letting a troll into the school, while Snape had been trying to protect Harry. Voldemort, whose face has sprouted on the back of Quirrell's head, is using Quirrell to attain the Philosopher's Stone. Harry is forced to stand before the final obstacle, the Mirror of Erised, to get past it. It recognises Harry's lack of greed for the Stone and deposits it into his pocket. Quirrell attempts to seize the stone and kill Harry, but his flesh burns on contact with him. Harry's scar suddenly hurts and he passes out.

Days later, he awakens in the school's infirmary, where Dumbledore explains Harry's survival against Voldemort is due to a protective charm on Harry left by his mother's sacrificing her life for him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn on contact with Harry, and he was abandoned to die by Voldemort. Dumbledore reveals he sent Harry the invisibility cloak, while the Stone has been destroyed. The school year ends with the final feast, during which Gryffindor wins the House Cup. Harry returns to Privet Drive for the summer, anticipating the holidays after neglecting to tell the Dursleys that the use of spells is forbidden by under-aged wizards.