Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

This article is about the book. See Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film) or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) for other formats. HP1 also refers to the suppressor of variegation protein which organises heterochromatin.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first volume in a planned series of seven books written by English author J. K. Rowling, and featuring Harry Potter, a young wizard. The book was first published on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury in London, and has also been made into a film of the same name. This is also the most popular of the books by far, selling an estimated 17 million copies in the US and almost 70 million worldwide.

Both the book and the motion picture were released in the United States with the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, citing the reason that most Americans in the target age group would not be as interested in something containing the word "philosopher" as they would "sorcerer", thus hurting sales. Scholastic, the book's US publisher, also "translated" the original book into American English. The spelling as well as many words and expressions were changed. This led to criticism by many readers. The New York Times ran an article titled "Harry Potter, Minus a Certain Flavour" on July 10, 2000, which heavily criticised Scholastic's decision to Americanise the US Harry Potter editions.

Whatever the reasons for or effects of the change, demand for the Harry Potter series grew very rapidly among young readers, who seemed to be undaunted by the increasing length and complexity of the volumes.

Translations

Main article: Harry Potter in translation

Plot overview

Wizards Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall meet at Number Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, in suburban Surrey following recent events in the wizarding world. Lord Voldemort, the most powerful and fearsome Dark wizard ever known, has been defeated. Unfortunately, Lily and James Potter were his two final victims. However, their infant son, Harry, somehow survived Voldemort's killing curse and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead is the only apparent side-effect. Harry instantly becomes a legend in the magical world, known as "the Boy who Lived," but Dumbledore wants him to be raised away from any undesirable fame and attention.

Rubeus Hagrid, gamekeeper of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry meets Dumbledore at Privet Drive with baby Harry, who is then left in the reluctant care of his only living family, his mother's Muggle (non-magical) sister Petunia Dursley, her husband Vernon and their spoiled son Dudley. The Dursleys disdain the wizard world and conceal knowledge of Harry's magical abilities from him, claiming his parents were killed in a car crash. The Dursleys neglect and mistreat Harry, who is forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs.

Shortly before Harry's eleventh birthday, owls begin delivering letters to the Dursleys house. Denying Harry access to them but unable to stop the deliveries, his aunt and uncle hide on a small island with their son and nephew. But Hagrid finds them and hand delivers a letter to Harry inviting him to study magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He tells Harry about his parents and introduces him to the magical world. At The Leaky Cauldron pub they meet the new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher (Prof. Quirrell). From there, they enter Diagon Alley, the wizard business district in London where Harry purchases school supplies. Hagrid tells Harry that Lord Voldemort murdered his parents. Although Voldemort is gone, his lingering evil legacy continues to create such intense fear that few dare speak his name aloud. When Harry buys a wand from Mr. Olivander, he tells Harry it is the "brother" to Voldemort's wand—their wood cores contain a tail feather from the same phoenix. Harry also meets Draco Malfoy, a young wizard from a wealthy family who is also starting Hogwarts. But Malfoy's elitist manner and insulting remarks about Hagrid offend Harry.

Soon, Harry leaves for school from Platform 9¾ at King's Cross railway station, London. There he meets Ron Weasley, a boy from a poor but loving wizard family who is impressed by Harry's scar but unintimidated by his reputation. Harry also meets Hermione Granger, a witch who also grew up in a muggle family and is a bit of an annoying know-it-all. Upon arriving at Hogwarts, all new students are sorted into one of the four school houses by the the Sorting Hat, once the property of Godric Gryffindor, a school founder. Each house has specific characteristics: Slytherin is filled with ambitious, cunning people who may use any means to get what they want; Ravenclaw is home to those with sharp minds that value intelligence and wit; Gryffindor houses those who are daring and brave; and Hufflepuff is characterised by fairness, honesty and hard work. While Harry is being sorted, the sorting hat declares Harry difficult to place and considers placing him in Slytherin. Harry wishes hard for Gryffindor and, hearing his thoughts, the hat places him there, along with Ron and Hermione. The arrogant Draco Malfoy, who by now is openly contemptuous of Harry and his friends, is sorted into Slytherin.

After performing extraordinarily well during his first broomstick flying lesson, Harry is drafted onto his house's Quidditch team, becoming the youngest Seeker in a hundred years. At Christmas, Harry receives an Invisibility Cloak, which once belonged to his father. Using it to explore the castle at night, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows him surrounded by his long-gone parents and family. Dumbledore later advises him to no longer seek out the mirror, which will be moved, because it only shows what one desires, not what is real.

Harry and Ron initially dislike the bossy Hermione. Ron teases her, and she retreats to the girl's bathroom crying. When a troll enters the castle, Harry and Ron go to warn her, but the creature is already in the bathroom. Ron magically knocks it out with its own club. When the professors arrive on the scene, Hermione claims it was her fault, preventing the boys from getting into trouble. The three then become friends.

A three-headed dog, christened Fluffy by Hagrid, guards a trapdoor in a forbidden corridor of Hogwarts. The students speculate about what it is guarding, deciding it must be the legendary Philosopher's Stone, which can produce an elixir of eternal life. The stone was created by Nicolas Flamel. Harry, Ron, and Hermione come to believe that Severus Snape, the sinister Potions master and Head of Slytherin House, is trying to steal it in order to restore Lord Voldemort to power.

Believing the theft of the Stone is imminent, Harry, Ron and Hermione go through the trapdoor to get to it first. They negotiate the security system set up by the school's staff, and Harry makes it to a chamber. There he finds that Professor Quirrell, a stuttering and seemingly meek person, not Snape, is attempting to steal the Stone, and realise Snape was trying to protect Harry from harm all along. Harry confronts Quirrell and survives a second encounter with Lord Voldemort, who has been possessing Quirrell (notably appearing as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell's head). Quirrell is fatally injured in the confrontation, his skin burned and blistered by Harry's touch, who finally faints. Voldemort's spirit then abandons its broken host, leaving Quirrell to die. During Harry's recovery, Dumbledore reveals to him that Harry's mother died to protect Harry. Her sacrifice of pure love provided Harry an ancient magical protection from Voldemort's destructive spells. Dumbledore also reveals that the Stone will be destroyed to prevent future attempts by Voldemort to steal it. Dumbledore says that Flamel has enough elixir to set his affairs in order, but he will die.

At the end of the year, Harry leaves Hogwarts having made close friendships with Ron, Hermione and even Hagrid, as well as learning more about his own hidden talents and growing in self-esteem. He returns to the Dursleys knowing there are people who care for him. Template:Endspoiler

Missing text

As with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the American version of the book has retained text edited out of the British version. According to the author's website:^[1]

Anybody who has read both the American and British versions of 'Philosopher's Stone' will notice that Dean Thomas's appearance is not mentioned in the British book, whereas in the American one there is a line describing him (in the chapter 'The Sorting Hat'). This was an editorial cut in the British version; my editor thought that chapter was too long and pruned everything that he thought was surplus to requirements.

The missing text follows, highlighted in bold:

And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. (US Edition p. 122)

This edit also created a minor incongruency in the American edition. Since Dean Thomas's mention had been edited out of the British edition, it is mentioned that "there were only three people left to be sorted". However, in the American edition, Dean Thomas, Lisa Turpin, Ron Weasley and Blaise Zabini were all sorted after this statement was made.

Editions

• Dutch Edition
  Dutch Edition
• French Edition
  French Edition
• Indian Edition (Hindi)
  Indian Edition (Hindi)
• German Edition
  German Edition
• Japanese Edition
  Japanese Edition
• UK Adult Edition
  UK Adult Edition
• US Edition
  US Edition

External links

• Mythological structure of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone from MonoMyth.org
• Background information and storylines from the Harry Potter Lexicon