Summary: Harry is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His uncle tries to prevent his enrollment, but Harry is fetched by gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid, who takes him to London’s Diagon Alley for money and supplies (including his wand), and put on the train to Hogwarts. During the journey, Harry meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, soon to become his best friends. Ron recognizes Harry by a lightning-shaped scar on Harry’s forehead, the result of Voldemort’s attack.
At Hogwarts, children are sorted into four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Harry and his friends are sorted into Gryffindor, famed for its courage, while another new student, Draco Malfoy, is assigned to Slytherin. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore introduces the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell.
Professors Minerva McGonagall (head of Gryffindor) allows Harry to play Quidditch, a game like aerial soccer on broomsticks, although first-year students are generally prohibited from playing the game. Severus Snape, the head of Slytherin, appears to despise Harry; in turn, Harry and Ron hate Snape. The friendship of Harry, Ron, and Hermione is cemented at Halloween, as they defeat a troll.
Harry and his friends discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a forbidden corridor. After they learn that the dog guards the Sorcerer’s Stone, which grants immortality to its owner, the three friends target Snape, who they surmise plans to steal it. They calm the dog with music and solve a series of challenges, before Harry confronts and defeats Quirrell, who hosts the weakened Voldemort in his body and who had been seeking the stone to resurrect his master. The stone is destroyed.
