(Audiobook read by Stephen Fry, loved his narrating voice a lot)
Well, I enjoyed the Potter books much more when I first read them years ago, I don’t remember but I guess it was twenty years ago or something more. Now, I’m too grown-up to fully enjoy the magic and the descriptions without getting irritated at ‘adult stuff’, like the absurdity of the school for example.
Also, I now found it so very sad… so sad, really, the beginning almost had me in tears.
Anyway, on with the book in details.
The first chapter is all about the Dursley family, how Vernon dislikes anything eccentric and his wife Petunia pretends she doesn’t have a sister anymore and she has never seen her nephew Harry. Their baby son Dudley seems to be a spoiled bully already. At night, Dumbledore and McGonagall wait for Hagrid - who arrives flying Sirius’ motorbike - to bring them Harry, the son of James and Lily Potter, recently killed. Minerva does not agree, but Dumbledore says that leaving Harry with his family is the best choice they have, and that it’ll be alright, he’ll be safe, he left the Dursley a letter and they’ll be able to explain it all to Harry… (knowing the story already, I found this very very sad…)
Poor child Harry has to endure his cousin being a bully and hitting him a lot, unless he can escape. He can never leave the house, aside for school, he only has Dudley’s old clothes and eats what they leave for him. When they want to take Dudley and one of his bully friends to the zoo and there’s nobody to watch Harry, they have to take him. Suddenly Harry thinks he’s talking to a snake, and all of the sudden the glass disappears and the snake scares Dudley a lot. They get very angry with him. He is forbidden from asking any kind of questions.
Harry never gets mail, but finally a letter arrives for him, addressed to the cupboard under the stairs where they have him sleep. Vernon takes it away from him, and they keep coming, and Vernon tries to burn them all, and to lock all doors and windows but they keep coming, so they take the car and he drives a lot, stops at a hotel but the letter arrives there too, so they drive some more and stop at an old broken house at sea.
Harry is cold and hungry, and in ten minutes it’ll be his eleventh birthday. Harry still hopes and dreams, and when midnight strikes there’s a boom, someone’s knocking! The knocks are like booms. Vernon has a rifle. The door is broken down, then the giant man puts it back and asks for tea…
Hagrid smiles at Harry and says he looks like his dad but has his mother’s eyes, then he bends Vernon’s rifle and says Happy Birthday to Harry, giving him a broken box with a large chocolate cake inside. Hagrid introduces himself, lights the fire with magic and sits. Makes tea and food, Harry is very hungry. He knows nothing about Hogwarts and magic stuff, and Hagrid is shocked and tells him everything he can, about being a wizard and about Voldemort.
The Dursley knew how his parents died, but kept it hidden to beat the magic out of him. Vernon still protests, and Hagrid gives Dudley a pig tail.
Harry thinks it’s all a dream and doesn’t want to wake, but it’s real, and he’s happy.
Hagrid, with his pink umbrella, takes Harry away. They go to London, to the Leaky Cauldron where they meet people and prof Quirrel, then he touches a wall and they are in Diagon Alley. They go to Gringotts underground first, for Harry’s money and for Hogswarts business.
They need to buy his stuff, first his uniform. He meets a pale boy very snob that reminds him of Dudley. Then his books and cauldron. Hagrid buys him an owl as a gift, then it’s time of his wand. Ollivander is not very nice, i think. When all is finished, he goes back to the Dursley.
They ignore him all August, then they take him to the station and leave him there. He asks around, starts to panic, then he meets a family. The twins find out who he is and tell Ron, who then sits with him. He says that in his family they are all wizard, apart from a relative nobody speaks about…. what about that???
They meet Neville, crying because he lost his toad, and Hermione, who is very bossy. Draco arrives with his bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle, and offers his hand, but Harry refuses. Malfoy acts very snobby again.
They arrive at Hogwarts, meet McGonagall (someone not to cross). Harry is scared it’ll be a test, then they see ghosts about (fat friar was hufflepuff), then they go in… the hat sings a son about how Griffindors are brave at heart, about daring and chivalry. Hufflepuff are just and loyal, patient and true, and unafraid of toil. Ravenclaw are ready of mind, have wit and want to learn. Slitherin are cunning and will go to any means to achieve their ends.
Harry feels like none of them.
Hanna Abbot is a Hufflepuff, Susan Bones too, Terry Boot is a Ravenclaw, Lavender a Griffindor, Bulstrode a Slitherin, Justin Finch-Fletchley a Hufflepull, Finnigan a Griffindor like Granger - Ron groans, not happy about it. Harry is worried he’ll be thrown out. Neville falls, and after a long time is a Griffindor. Malfoy is immediately a Slitherin. Finally Harry’s name, and there are many whispers. Apparently it’s a difficult choice, the hat sees plenty of courage, not a bad mind, talent and a thirst to prove himself… at which point Harry keep praying “not Slitherin” so the hat says “better be Griffindor”. After the sorting ceremony, the tables fill with food, plenty of it. The Dursley didn’t exactly starve him, but he could never eat all he wanted because Dudley hate most of it.
Harry sees Quirrel talking to Snape and his scar hurts.
Seamus says his dad is a muggle and knew nothing of his wife being a witch until after the marriage. Neville says his wizard family thought he had no magic and tried a lot to make it happen, he was almost drowned and he almost died falling from a great height, but luckily he bounced - showing he had magic - and then he got his letter.
The first potion lesson is horrible, Snape aims at the new celebrity, it’s only nice to Malfoy and very unfair to Potter. He takes 2 points from Griffindor. In the afternoon, he has tea with Hagrid and Ron. Harry wonders why Snape hates him.
Malfoy is more hateful than Dudley. It’s their first flying lesson, and he’s happy to see Malfoy got the position on the broom wrong. Malfoy wants to put Neville’s remembrall on a tree but Harry flies after him. Malfoy throws it and Harry catches it. McGonagall sees him and bends the rule to have him play Quidditch as the new seeker.
At meal, Malfoy challenges him to a duel at midnight. Hermione, very interfering, wants to stop them. Locked outside the dorm, she goes with them. Neville is found asleep on the floor because he forgot the password, so he goes with them - since the fat lady was gone from the painting.
Malfoy is not there. Filch arrives, so they hide. Harry leads them away and they arrive on the third floor. Neville makes a noise so they run. Later they meet Peeves who yells on them, so they run away again. They are in the forbidden corridor, and they see a room with a three-headed dog. They run away again, to their dorm. Hermione noted the dog was standing on a trapdoor and complains “we could have been killed or worse expelled”. Putting things together, Harry knows the dog must be guarding what was almost stolen at Gringotts but taken by Hagrid before the theft.
Harry starts Quidditch training, and two months go by. Hermione hears Ron saying that everybody hates her, and cries all day locked in a bathroom. When Quirrell warns them all about a troll, Harry remembers her and they hurry to help. In the girls bathroom, they hear her scream and run to help. Harry jumps on it, she’s terrified, Ron uses “wingardium leviosa” on the club and knows the troll out. McGonagall is furious with them but Hermione lies saying she went after the troll and they saved her. The boys are speechless. From this moment on, they are friends.
It’s November, and after weeks of training there will be Harry’s first Quidditch match, against Slytherin. Hermione helps him with homework. Snape is limping and Harry suspects him (he suspects it was caused by the three headed dog).
The Slytherin seeker is called Terence. Suddenly Harry’s broom moves strangely, out of control, and he’s dangling off it… Hermione suspects too so she looks at Snape and sees him muttering, so she goes to him, knocks down Quirrell then set Snape’s robes on fire.
Harry gets the snitch in his mouth, still counts, so they win, 170 to 70.
They tell all to Hagrid but he won’t believe Snape would do that. During the chat, he mentions Nicholas Flamel.
For Christmas Harry will stay at Hogwarts. The Weasley too, Ron’s parents are in Romania.
They research Flamel but find nothing. It’s the Christmas holidays… and Harry’s got presents!!! One from Hagrid, and Mrs Weasley made him a jumper. Ron unhappy because his jumper is always maroon. Hermione gave him chocolate. Last, he finds… the invisibility cloak.
There is no name, only a note saying that it belonged to his father before he died. “Use it well”, the note says…
There’s a feast and they can play with the snow, and it’s Harry’s best Christmas ever.
Harry uses the cloak that night, to go to the restricted section of the library… but then a book shrieks so he runs. He goes in a room to escape Filch. He sees a mirror, but it doesn’t simply reflects his image. Harry sees at least ten people. His parents and family. The next night he goes with Ron. Ron sees himself older and Head Boy, winning the house cup, and the Quidditch cup, being a Quidditch captain…
Ron tells him not to go again, but Harry can’t resist and he goes. Dumbledore sees him and he explains that the mirror shows one’s deepest desire. Dumbledore says he sees socks, because no-one gives him socks, only books…
Neville was hexed by Malfoy and Hermione helps with the counter-curse, and Harry says that Neville is worth twelve Malfoys and that there’s a reason if the hat put him in Gryffindor, making him smile.
Harry gives Neville his last chocolate frog and Neville gives him the card, and finally Harry finds the name Flamel in Dumbledore’s card. Hermione has a book that says of Flamel’s work in alchemy, the “only known maker of the philosopher’s stone”, which “will transform any matter into pure gold, it also produces the elixir of life, which will make the drinker immortal”.
So Hermione says that the three headed dog must be guarding the stone, that Flamel asked Dumbledore to keep it safe because they are friends…
The next Quidditch game will be very important, but Harry is very worried because Snape will be the referee. They are all scared but Harry plays anyway.
Nobody was ahead of Slytherin in nearly seven years or something. Harry feels better when he hears that Dumbledore is watching, because he won’t let Snape kill him… while he plays, Ron fights with Malfoy because Malfoy was insulting Neville Harry and Ron, and Neville helps fighting Crabbe and Goyle… then Harry wins after only five minutes. Harry is happy, very proud for something he has really done. He’s about to put his broom away when he sees Snape going to the forbidden forest, so he follows him. Snape has a secret meeting with Quirrell, and he thinks that Snape wants Quirrel to help him get the stone…they think there are other things protecting the stone, and Snape wants Quirrel to help him with that, so Quirrel must resist…
Since Snape hasn’t the stone yet, they think Quirrel is stronger than they thought and standing up to him, so Harry smiles at him and Ron stops other guys from making fun of him. Hermione starts nagging about exams in ten weeks. They need to pass their exams to get into second year. The Easter holidays are passed studying. They meet Hagrid in the library and realise he was reading about dragons, but keeping dragons is illegal. Hagrid says both Quirrel and Snape put some of the protection for the stones.
Hagrid calls them when the egg hatches. Malfoy finds out about it, so harry convince them to send Norbert the dragon to Charlie in Romania. They’ll send it off at midnight, but Malfoy found out that too, very probably, so they must be careful.
Malfoy tries to catch them but is caught by McGonagall and given detention. They are under the invisibility cloak. Harry and Hermione because Ron is in the infirmary. They give Norbert to Charlie’s friends.
They are caught by Filch because they left the cloak at the tower. They lose 150 points, and also the chance at the house cup. All Gryffindors hate him but Ron. Harry, Hermione and Neville also have detention, with Malfoy. Filch takes them to Hagrid and they enter the forbidden forest, investigating what is hurting unicorns. Harry then finds a dead unicorn and a strange figure drinking its blood, but a centaur called Firenze comes to help him and lets him ride him until they meet the others (where’s Malfoy and Fang the dog now?)
harry tells the others and realises that Voldemort is trying to stay alive drinking unicorn blood, until he can drink the elixir of life and come back.
Finished their exams, Harry finally realises what he had missed. Who gave Hagrid the dragon egg?
They ask Hagrid, and realise that after drinking a lot, he told a complete stranger that with a bit of music you can put Fluffy to sleep.
They go out that night to stop Snape from taking the stone. Neville tries to stop them but Hermione casts a petrificus totalus on him and off they go together with the cloak that appeared back in his bed.
They rush to the third floor, and there’s a harp there, Snape passed already! Harry plays the flute Hagrid gave him for Xmas, and Fluffy sleeps. Ron and Hermione open the trapdoor, but there’s a dark fall so Harry volunteers. Hermione plays the flute and they jump, then she jumps, and they land on a plant, the devil’s snare, and it starts trapping them, so Hermione uses magic fire on it (so ‘Snape’ didn’t kill it? or maybe the fire only stops it for a little while??)
Then there’s a room full of flying keys. There are brooms and they fly and catch it together. Next room, there’s a big chessboard. Ron takes charge and they take the place of three pieces who move out of the way. Ron sacrifices his own piece (himself) so they can win and move on.
(so far: Hagrid with fluffy, Sprout with the devils snare, Flitwick with the keys, McGonagall with the chessboard, it leaves Snape and Quirrel’s traps-protections)
Next is a troll, already knocked-out. Next, a series of potions, and a roll of paper with a riddle with clues. It’s a game of logic, and Hermione says wizards have no logic, so it’s difficult for many of them.
She solves it and she drinks the one to be able to go back, so she gets Ron and a broom and go owl Dumbledore. Harry drinks another and goes forward. There’s someone there, but it’s not Snape.
It was Quirrel. Quirrel tells him that Snape was always trying to save his life while he himself tried to kill him.
Quirrel says Snape hates him because he hated Harry’s father, but that he never wanted to kill him.
The next protection is the mirror of Erised, and a voice says “use the boy” so Harry looks and sees the stone in his pocket and then feels it there. Then Voldemort gets angry, so Quirrel takes his turban off and in the back of Quirrel’s head there’s Voldemort’s face. Voldemort knows it’s in Harry’s pocket and tries to get him, to get Quirrell to kill him, but he gets hurt when he touches Harry, so Harry sticks to him so he can’t curse. His scar aches.
Harry wakes after 3 days in the hospital wing with Dumbledore. He says: the stone was destroyed, and Quirrel nearly killed him but Dumbledore was on time to save him.
He answers some questions, not all of them of course, and tells him that his touch hurt because he’s protected by the great love of his mother who died for him, and that he was the one who gave him the cloak.
Harry tells all to Ron and Hermione, then Hagrid comes crying for putting him in danger, then gives him a book with pictures of his parents at school :’(
At the feast, the hall is decorated for Slytherin, who won the house cup for seven year in a row.
Gryffindor was in fourth place, but Dumbledore gives Ron for the best chess game 50points, to Hermione for her use of logic, 50points, to Harry for outstanding courage 60 points, and now they have the same points as Slytherin, then Dumbledore adds that: “it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends” and he gives Neville 10 points, just enough so that Gryffindor wins.
Exam results: they all passed, and Hermione is the first in her year. They all go back home, and at the station Ginny yells when she sees Harry, then they all see the Dursleys, but Harry smiles: they don’t know I’m not allowed to do magic at home…
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