Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Summary | Plot Summary

Harry Potter is the young "Wizard who Lived" in this imaginative tale of wizards, witches, and magic. Voldemort, AKA "you-know-who," is a dark wizard who kills Harry Potter's parents, vanishes, and loses his powers after trying to kill Harry. Infant Harry is left orphaned and carries with him a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result of the attack on him. This scar distinguishes him from other wizards and people.

Directly after the death of his parents, Harry is sent to live with his non-magical, or Muggle, aunt, uncle, and cousin, the Dursleys. The Dursleys are not happy with this arrangement; his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were never fond of his parents and, in fact, did everything they could to avoid them. Therefore, they make Harry's life with them for the following 10 years an absolute misery, providing him with only the absolute necessities and nothing more. He is forced to sleep in a small pantry under the stairs and is forced to wear his much larger cousin's hand-me-downs.

Harry's life seems bleak and without hope until a mysterious letter arrives for him one day that frightens the Dursleys so much they allow him to have their son Dudley's "extra bedroom" to sleep in. It is on the dawn of Harry's eleventh birthday that he finds out that he is a wizard, and he has been summoned to attend Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. Harry is in for quite a shock because he had no previous knowledge of his magical history or abilities. His aunt and uncle had decided that it was in their best interests to not tell him. This news is very offensive to the magical, umbrella-wielding giant who has been sent to fetch Harry by Dumbledore, the school's headmaster. Hogwarts' headmaster, it turns out, is the very same wizard who sent Harry to live with his extended family 10 years earlier.

A year of adventure, knowledge, and magic ensues as Harry makes friends for the first time in his life, battles dark forces, and learns about his true magical background and the legendary lightning bolt scar on his forehead. He ultimately must return to the Dursleys at the end of the school term for his own protection, but he is renewed with a bright hope for the future. He also has his second year at Hogwarts to look forward to, making life with the Dursleys a little more tolerable and his life a little more magical.