The first book in the series that has become a phenomenon.
It starts quietly enough – with the perfectly-normal,
thank-you-very-much, Dursleys, who don’t need magic. Yet
whether they like it or not, magic enters their lives, for
on their doorstep, along with milk, they find the orphaned
baby Harry Potter.
Scarred by the wizard’s evil
spell that has killed his parents, Harry is sent to live
with these unpleasant, mean-spirited, and obnoxious
relatives. He is treated as the lowest of the low, locked
in the cupboard when he has to be kept out of the way, and
deprived of just about everything in favour of Dudley, the
Dursleys’ repulsive son.
Harry might start out as a
victim but he discovers that in another place, a parallel
magical world which leads from Platform 9 3/4, he is a
hero, because that scar has got rid of – temporarily, at
least – his parents’ murderer, to the benefit of good
witches and wizards everywhere. Nonetheless, Harry still
has to prove himself, for his survival has not impressed
everyone.
Owls come with messages and the Dursleys
can’t get rid of them. Hagrid arrives from Hogwarts School,
where Harry is to go for his introduction into this magical
world. Thwarting the Dursleys’ objections, Hagrid takes
Harry to that bewitching shopping mall, Diagon Alley. The
alley is chock-full of shops, which sell everything the
modern witch, and wizard needs. Here Harry visits
Gringotts, the goblin-banking centre, and he sees the piles
of gold, silver and bronze coins left to him by his
parents. There are twenty-nine bronze Knuts to a Sickle and
seventeen silver Sickles to a golden Galleon and Harry has
plenty of all denominations. He purchases books, a school
gown, the mysterious holly and phoenix wand, which is to
save his life in many circumstances – and one beautiful
snowy owl called Hedwig.
Then it is onto the
Hogwarts Express where he makes a new friend in Ron, and
soon-to-become friend in Hermione. He meets Neville who
always gets things wrong. The journey is enlivened by
chocolate frogs, Scabbers (Ron’s rat) and brings him into
conflict with his nemesis, Malfoy and Malfoy’s hangers-on,
Crabbe and Goyle.
With the arrival of the steaming
train at the station for the castle which is Hogwarts’
school, Harry’s new magical parallel life begins properly.
The Sorting Hat puts new students into one of four
houses. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville are selected for
Gryffindor, the house known for bravery, daring, nerve and
chivalry. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are put into Slytherin,
notorious for cunning and for close (if diabolical)
friendships.
Harry meets the staff, all of them
eccentric: there is Professor McGonagall, head of
Gryffindor; Professor Binns, a ghost who teaches the
History of Magic at its most boring; Professor Flitwick,
the tiny Charms teacher; Professor Quirrell, the new
Defence of the Dark Arts teacher and Professor Snape, the
Potions Master, head of Slytherin, who looses not
opportunity to ensure that no celebrity status attaches to
Harry Potter in his classes. And then there is the
unforgettable Albus Dumbledore, Head of Hogwarts and the
most powerful wizard of the time.
Harry is found to
be a superb broomstick rider and a brilliant Quidditch
player. Quidditch is a sport played on broomsticks between
the houses, and famous throughout the magical world for its
international tournaments. So Harry’s adventures continue.
An Invisibility Cloak enables him to explore the castle at
night and he finds the hypnotic Mirror of Erised where the
looker-on sees his or her deepest desires.
Yet
things are not as they seem and there are attempts on
Harry’s life. Harry and his friends learn of the powerful
Philosopher’s Stone that is hidden at Hogwarts for
safekeeping. It is of such vital significance that even the
Ministry of Magic is involved. The friends try to unravel
the mysteery. They suspect that Professor Snape is behind it
all, and they have to defy the rules if they are to solve
the puzzle and protect Harry. To do this they must find a
way past the guardian of the trapdoor (a huge, ferocious
three-headed dog), escape the snares of climbing plants,
break out through a room of flying keys, and outwit to-the-
death chessmen. At last, Harry, alone, is left to face, not
Snape but – You-Know-Who who killed his parents, in the
form of Professor Quirrell, the Defence of the Dark Arts
master. Quirrell has become the host body and the servant
of the evil wizard, whose very name is never uttered by
good witches and wizards. You-Know-Who is seeking the Stone
to enable him to grow back to full, independent life and
return to evil and villainy.
Whilst Harry’s luminous
loyalty, generosity, toughness and true bravery wins the
day, this is only the first of many confrontations that he
will have with the most evil, diabolical wizard of all
time; a wizard who through the next books is to grow in
influence and strength, defying the magical world that
Harry has entered and bringing the boy with the scar into
life-threatening, soul-searing conflicts which threaten to
overthrow everything that is good in that world of magic.
So, J.K.Rowling, it’s really “Thank You Very Much.”