Harry potter

• Harry Potter


  A boy whose parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord's curse when Harry was a baby, and which he somehow survived
• Harry Potter's life


  • Letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter
  • Decade-old secret revealed to him
  • Escapes from unbearable Muggle guardians to Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments
  • Stumbles into a sinister adventure when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor
  • Hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers which could be valuable, dangerous, or both
• The Times: 'Funny, imaginative, magical ... Rowling has woken up a whole generation to reading. In the 2020s, thirty-something book-lovers will know each other by smug references to Diagon Alley and Quidditch'
• Sunday Telegraph: 'This is a terrific book'
• Scotsman: 'Has all the makings of a classic ... Rowling uses classic narrative devices with flair and originality and delivers a complex and demanding plot in the form of a hugely entertaining thriller'
• James Naughtie: 'And you thought wizardry was for children. Harry Potter will make you think again. He casts his spells on grown-ups too'
• Sunday Times: 'Full of surprises and jokes; comparisons with Dahl are, this time, justified'
• Titles available in the Harry Potter series (in reading order)

  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

  
• Titles available in the Harry Potter series (in Latin)


  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

  
• Titles available in the Harry Potter series (in Welsh, Ancient Greek and Irish)


  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

  
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• Mrs Dursley: 'thought ... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... her lot.'
• Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips


  Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name 'Potter'
• Mr Dursley decided he didn't dare


  Instead he said, as casually as he could, 'Their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?'
• Mrs Dursley: ''I suppose so,' said Mrs Dursley stiffly.'
• Mrs Dursley: ''Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me.''
• Mr Dursley didn't say another word on the subject

  as they went upstairs to bed
• While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom


  Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden
• The cat was still there


  It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something
• Mr Dursley was wondering

  Could all this have anything to do with the Potters?
• Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind


  His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley
• How very wrong he was
• The cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness
• It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive
• It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead
• It was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all
• A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching


  Appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground
• The man's name


  Albus Dumbledore
• Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome


  He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something
• Dumbledore looked up suddenly at the cat


  The sight of the cat seemed to amuse him
• Dumbledore


  1. Flicked open a silver cigarette lighter

  2. Held it up in the air and clicked it

  3. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop

  4. Clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness

  5. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him

  6. Slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat
• Dumbledore didn't look at the cat


  After a moment he spoke to it
• Dumbledore: ''Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.''
• The cat had gone


  Instead Dumbledore was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes
• Professor McGonagall: ''How did you know it was me?''
• Dumbledore: ''My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly.''
• Professor McGonagall: ''You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day,''
• Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily


  as she said 'Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right. You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news.'
• Professor McGonagall jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window


  'I heard it. Flocks of owls ... shooting stars ... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense.'
• Dumbledore: ''You can't blame them. We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.''