These are our summaries of the 17 chapters. (However, there is also a very
short review of the book as a whole.)
We included comments about things we found
worth mentioning because we deemed them extraordinarily funny, informative,
meaningful etc. Just use the links to find out who of us said what about
certain aspects, happenings, descriptions...
The first chapter starts with the Dursley family and especially with Mr.
Dursley who realises certain oddities in his surroundings. Owls are flying
around in broad daylight, cloak-wearing "weirdoes" are seeming to celebrate
something on the streets. And the name Harry Potter seems to be mentioned
all the time. Could it be that they are talking about the son of the weird
sister of his wife? What he doesn't know is that the whole wizarding world
that hides from the Muggles (the non-magic people) celebrate the defeat
of the great dark wizard Lord Voldemort who has been spreading terror in
the wizarding world for years. He was defeated somehow by the infant Harry
Potter after killing Harry´s parents. The orphan is brought to Dumbledore,
the famous wizard and headmaster of Hogwarts school of wizardry, who decides
to hand the kid over to the care of the Dursleys, Harry´s closest
relatives. With that "the boy who lived" starts. (Holger)
2 The Vanishing Glass
This chapter is about Dudley's birthday. He gets very many presents. Harry
asks his aunt how he got that lightning-shaped scar on his head but she
only says that his parents died in a car crash and he shouldn't ask questions.
Later they all go to the zoo. In the reptile house a snake "talks" to Harry
by winking and head-shaking and so on. At this time, Harry doesn't know
he is a wizard but still somehow he lets the glass between the snake and
Dudley and his friend vanish. Luckily
the snake doesn't kill anyone but everybody is in shock. (Bastian)
3 The Letters from No One
A short time before Harry's eleventh birthday, the Dursleys get a parchment
letter with a very detailed address
("Mr H. Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs" etc.) for Harry. Then the
Dursleys think that someone is spying on them and have a bad conscience.
They decide to give Harry a new room, Dudley´s old bedroom (Dudley
hates Harry even more for this). But the letters don't
stop coming in, just with the new, even more detailed "address". Mr
Dursley gets sick of it and baricades his house. Then he tells the whole
family to come with him. They first drive to a motel but there, on the
2nd day, a huge amount of letters still arrives. The Dursley continue to
flee and Mr Dursley buys something and won't say what it is. Then they
drive to the sea and borrow a small boat from an old man. They decide to
spend the night in a small hut on an isle because a storm is in the weather
forecast. Vernon Dursley thinks no one can reach them in a storm. (Tobi)
Later in the hut, there is a knock at the door and the Dursleys and Harry
are very afraid, because they can´t believe that someone could get
to them in the hut on the rock. Mr. Dursley takes his new weapon and says:"Who
is outside? I am armed!" But suddenly
the door crashes and a giant comes in.
This giant goes to Harry and wishes him a happy birthday. The giant´s
name is Hagrid and after he has made a great fire, Harry and Hagrid have
a nice meal. Hagrid tells Harry the
true story about his parents and tells him something about witchcraft and
wizardry, and he says that Harry is a wizard, too and that everybody knows
him and what happened with Voldemort when Harry was only a baby. At first
Harry doesn´t believe him. But Hagrid shows Harry the acceptance
letter from Hogwarts. When he gets angry at the Dursleys, he punishes Dudley
with a pig´s tail.
At last Hagrid gives Harry his black coat to use it as a blanket. (Axel)
5 Diagon Alley
Harry needs some equipment for his school. Diagon Alley is where wizards
and witches buy their equipment. At the beginning of this chapter Harry
and Hagrid go to Gringotts, the bank
in the wizarding world, to get Harry`s money which his parents left for
him. Gringotts is hundreds of miles underneath London and is guarded by
dragons and goblins. After they get his money from Gringotts they go to
Diagon Alley to buy magic things that were on the list for Hogwarts. There
is a special way to go to this Alley. After Hagrid
has opened this special door by tipping three times on a wall with his
magic umbrella, they buy things in different magic shops. When he has got
his equipment he must go back to the Dursleys´. (Marco)
Only one more month Harry has to pass with the Dursleys , then it is time
for him to leave the world of the Muggles by train. Uncle
Vernon takes him to the station. The train leaves London on 1 September
at 11 o'clock from platform nine and three-quarters.
To come to this platform Harry has to walk straight into the barrier between
platform nine and ten. But he doesn´t
know about this until an unknown family
tells him. He doesn't smash into the barrier - he arrives at platform nine
and three quarters. Harry seats himself in an empty compartment of the
train. Ron Weasley, also a first year student, sits next to Harry and the
two talk about their lives and eat sweets. Ron tells Harry about his rat
called Scabbers and about his big family and his brothers, who all went
to Hogwarts before him and whose equipment he has to use, and about Quidditch,
the most popular sports game in the wizarding world. They also meet Hermione
Granger, another new Hogwarts student. Then the train arrives at Hogwarts
and Hagrid comes to lead the first-years to the castle.
(Jessi)
7 The Sorting Hat
When the new pupils from Hogwarts arrive, they don´t know in which
house e.g. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin they will be
in. There is a big party and feast
for the students and the leader of the school, Albus Dumbledore,
welcomes the newcomers. They all are afraid, because they think they have
to do a test. But there is no test but a sorting
hat, that the pupils have to pull over. The sorting hat decides in
which house every pupil will be in. At least Harry is together with his
friend Ron in the house "Gryffindor".(Axel)
8 The Potions Master
This chapter is about Harry's first week in Hogwarts. At the beginning,
the story teller is talking about some teachers, the difficulties to come
from one room to an other in Hogwarts, and some lessons. After that, the
chapter is about the potion lesson, given by Snape who hates Harry for
some unknown reason. During these lessons, some things go wrong and it
gets very messy. After classes Harry goes to see Hagrid. When Harry is
there, he reads a strange article in the newspaper of the magic world,
"The Daily Prophet", about a Gringotts break-in at the same time when Harry
and Hagrid were there. When he wants to talk with Hagrid about that article,
he doesn't get an answer from Hagrid. (Bastian)
9 The Midnight Duel
Harry gets into trouble with his rival
Draco Malfoy, a mean Slytherin student. Draco steals the Remembrall
(a magic dictaphone shaped like a ball of glass) of Neville Longbottom,
a classmate of Harry´s. It´s Harry´s first flying lesson
when he successfully tries to get the Remembrall
back - while flying on the broomstick. McGonnagall sees him flying
and tells Harry to follow her. Harry is frightened and thinks he will get
into big trouble. But surprisingly she just wants him to become a member
of the Quidditch team of Gryffindor. Back in school Malfoy asks him if
he was taking his last meal and then Harry doesn't quite realize what is
going on, but Ron and Draco have just made a verbal pact that Harry and
Draco should meet in the trophy room for a duel. But at midnight there
is nobody there except Harry, Hermione and Ron. They accidentally knock
a suit of armor over and Filch and Mrs. Norris are behind them, but after
a while Filch fortunately thinks that it was Peeves the ghost who was making
trouble. They try to escape, use the
wrong door, see Fluffy, the three-headed
dog, for the first time and run away again. They get back to the bedrooms
without any problems and are happy about it. (Tobi)
10 Hallowe´en
The next morning comes. Harry can
hardly keep his mind on his lessons, because a new broomstick is lying
under his bed waiting for the first Quidditch practice. Ron and Harry enter
the Great Hall for the Halloween feast and start getting worried about
Hermione because they hear about a troll being in the castle. They leave
their house members and lock the troll up in the girls´ toilet and
are all happy until they hear Hermione screaming because she is in the
same room with the monster. They have no other chance than going back and
fight the troll. They cope very well and knock it out finally. Of course,
this doesn´t stay unnoticed for long, so Snape, Quirrel and Professor
McGonagall turn up in an angry mood. But when Hermione tells them that
it´s all her fault, they are quite pleased with the two boys saving
the girl. And from now on, the three of them become very close friends.(Cathrin)
11 Quidditch
Harry's first Quidditch match
is in November. Harry can get through all his homework with Hermione´s
help. A day before the match Harry sees Snape's wounded leg and so he is
sure that the Potion Master was hurt when trying to steal the Philosopher's
Stone. The whole school comes to watch the Quidditch match. At first Harry
hasn't much to do but then he sees the Snitch, but Higgs from Slytherin
does too. Harry is faster but he is fouled. However, after this situation
something unusual happens. Harry's broomstick is out of control. Hagrid
says that only real Dark Magic could do this with a broomstick and so Hermoine
runs trough the crowd towards Snape, knocking Prof. Quirrell over by accident
on the way. She sets Snape's robe on fire because he is staring at Harry
and Hermione thinks he has something to do with Harry's broomstick and
gets him sidetracked. Harry regains control over his broomstick and he
catches the Snitch with his mouth. Gryffindor wins. Hagrid doesn`t believe
that Snape is the one who wants to steal whatever is hidden at Hogwarts
but he tells Harry that the three-headed dog's name is Fluffy and a man
called Nicolas Flamel has to do with the secret. (Andy)
12 The Mirror of Erised
One day in mid-december, after the first Quidditch match, Harry and his
friends want to find out whether Snape has stolen the mysterious thing
which is guarded by Fluffy. On his way to the library where Harry wants
to find out about Flamel, Madame Pince sees him and tells him to get out
of the forbidden section of the library. In the holidays Ron teaches Harry
to play wizard chess. At christmas he gets a very valuable cloak, an Invisiblity
Cloak that used to belong to his father. However, he doesn´t know
where it comes from. In the night Harry uses his cloak and goes to the
forbidden section of the library. He looks for an interesting book and
sees a large black and silver volume. He opens it but it falls out of his
hand. He hears footsteps and sees Filch. In a moment of panic he runs away
and comes to a halt in front of a tall suit of armour. He sees Snape coming
around and opens a door on his left and is standing in an empty room. He
sees a magnificent mirror as high as the ceiling. He looks into it and
sees
his parents looking and smiling at him. On the next day Harry shows
Ron the Mirror of Erised. When Harry goes back by himself for a third time,
Albus Dumbledore is already in the room waiting for him. He explains to
him that the Mirror of Erised shows you what you desire.
(Stefan)
13 Nicolas Flamel
The Christmas holidays go by without Harry, Ron or Hermione finding out
anything about Nicolas Flamel. Then the term starts again and Harry has
to spend lots of time practising Quidditch. Finally one day Harry sees
the name of Nicolas Flamel again on the back side of a chocolate frog card.
And a few minutes later the three know what is special about Nicolas Flamel:
He is the one person who owns the only Philosopher´s Stone. Because
of this they come to the conclusion that this stone is hidden in the castle.
- The next Quidditch game is won by Harry and the Gryffindor team. After
the game while all Gryffindors are celebrating, Harry sees Snape going
towards the Forbidden Forest where he meets Quirrel. Harry, who is flying
on his broomstick above them, can hear the two speaking about the Philosopher´s
Stone. He is sure that Snape wants to know from Quirrel how to come to
the Stone. After Harry is back in the castle, he tells Ron and Hermione
everything he found out. (Jessi)
14 Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
Hermione, Ron and Harry are still trying to find out about the Philosopher's
Stone, when they meet Hagrid. After
a quick talk, Hagrid shuffles off, hiding something behind his back. Soon
the trio finds out what it is, when they visit the gamekeeper. It is very
hot in his hut and Hagrid is very proud, when he tells why. There is a
dragon
egg lying in the fire and it starts hatching a day later. It is a Norwegian
Ridgeback, which Hagrid can't keep forever. So they send it off to Ron's
brother, who is studying about Dragons. And when they are all happy that
everything is over, they get caught by Filch and are all
into trouble again. - Hagrid also tells them that four of the Hogwarts
teachers all did different enchantments to protect the Stone. (Cathrin)
15 The Forbidden Forest
For getting caught by Filch in the astronomy tower at 1 o´clock in
the morning, Neville, Harry and Hermione get detention. They have to go
to the Forbidden Forrest with Hagrid because there is something in the
Forrest which hurts unicorns. They go in two groups. The first consists
of Malfoy, Neville and Hagrid's dog Fang. Harry and Hermione go with Hagrid.
After a while Harry and Hagrid meet two centaurs, but they only say something
about the stars. Suddenly Malfoy and Neville send red sparks and Hagrid
runs to them, leaving Harry and Hermione alone. But actually nothing has
happened to the first group and Hagrid comes back with them and sends Harry
with Malfoy and Fang deeper into the Forest. After half an hour Harry finds
a dead unicorn and a hooded figure which is drinking his blood. The figure
wants to attack Harry but a centaur helps him and so the figure runs away.
The centaur brings Harry back to Hagrid and the others and tells him that
the blood of a unicorn keeps you alive even if you are an inch from death,
but you will have a cursed life. Harry thinks that the figure was Voldemort
and that Snape wants to steal the Philisopher's Stone for him. With the
Stone Voldemort would be able to come back. Back at school he talks with
Ron and Hermione about what happened this evening. (Andy)
16 Through the Trapdoor
Harry, Ron and Hermione are busy with exams and don´t even waste
one thought about the philosopher´s stone at all. And after all Fluffy,
Hagrid´s three-headed dog, is guarding it. But while talking to Hagrid
one day they come to realize that the thief already knows how
to get past Fluffy.
They have to act now! Dumbledore is out of reach and they don´t trust
any other teacher to do the job. They have to take matters into their own
hands. They enter the third floor, lure Fluffy into sleep with a flute
and enter the trapdoor. They face a menacing plant trying to strangle them.
But with Hermione´s knowledge
and Harry´s courage (and Ron´s
humor) they pass it.
Next they have to catch a winged key out of the air with broomsticks; there
Harry´s experience as a seeker comes in handy. Behind the next door
Ron fights for them against life sized chess figures. With the final move
Ron sacrifices himself to let the others pass by. The next test is about
potion and logical sense, where Hermione is good. She has to find the two
right potions out of 7 to get through a ring of flames to come to the stone
and also to get back. Harry takes the potion to be able to go to the stone,
while Hermione takes the other one to be able to go back and get help.
Now Harry walks through the fire to meet his ultimate enemy.
(Holger)
17 The Man with two faces
It is Quirrell who is there, not Snape. Quirrell that he wanted to kill
Harry during the Quidditch game and Snape really saved Harry then. Quirrell
and Harry are now standing in front of the Mirror of Erised and Quirrell
tells Harry that the Mirror is the key to finding the stone. However, he
doesn´t know how the Mirror works. A voice that comes from Quirrell´s
turban tells him to use Harry to find the stone, so Quirrell makes Harry
look into the Mirror and asks him what he sees. Harry actually sees himself
with the stone (because he that´s what he desires) and at that moment
feels the Stone drop into his pocket, but lies about this fact. The mysterious
voice tells Quirrell to unwrap the turban - underneath there is Voldemort´s
face. He has been sharing Quirrell´s body with him. He somehow knows
that Harry already has the Stone. Quirrell and Harry start to fight
and when Harry thinks it is all lost, he faints. He wakes up in the hospital
wing 3 days later. Dumbledore explains that he came back in time to save
Harry, that the Stone is now destroyed and that Voldemort hasn´t
been killed but has disappeared for now.(Stefan)
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