The world of Harry Potter

Who doesn't know the saga "Harry Potter"? The story of a young human who survived the spell of Valdemort, a dark mage who covets immortality. The story mainly tells the confrontation between Harry Potter and Valdemort.

How did the saga come about?

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was published on June 30, 1997 and has been an extraordinary success both in England and around the world. Its author, J. K. Rowling, wrote most of the novel in a pub in Edinburgh during a dramatic period in her life. Her financial situation was dire, to say the least, and she was living with a daughter on government grants. The manuscript, after many attempts, was sponsored by a literary agent who faced several rejections from some of the major publishing houses in the UK, until Blomsbury agreed to publish it without imagining the incredible success it would have. The success of a book is a mystery for everyone, including insiders, but in this case, in addition to being a mystery, it is a truly singular fact because the author was unknown and because children's literature has rarely achieved worldwide success in such a short time. Currently, thanks to the royalties from her books, Rowling is the richest woman in England. The Harry Potter book series consists of 6 stories and "Philosopher's Stone" is the first one.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Harry Potter is one year old when Albus Dumbledore leaves him at the door of his uncles' house with a letter explaining that the child is an orphan and needs the loving care of his uncles. But in the uncles' house, Harry grows up unhappy and lonely, as he has to put up with all sorts of anguish from his cousin Dudley, a naughty and arrogant child, supported and protected by his parents. He is also opposed and observed with suspicion because of strange phenomena that see him as a protagonist, such as flying on the roof of the school to escape his cousin's friends or growing his hair back after they cut it. All of this continues until Harry is 11 years old. From that day on, Uncle's house is hit with an overwhelming number of letters addressed to him and all of them are quickly deleted by his relatives until a tall, bearded man named Rubeus Hagrid shows up and explains to Harry that he is in fact the son of two wizards, Lily and James Potter, who died ten years earlier murdered by Voldemort, a cruel and very powerful wizard.

Who is Voldemort in Harry Potter?

Voldemort was the dark lord of a reign of terror and was the perpetrator of many murders of wizards and ordinary people called Muggles by the wizards themselves. The night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, something changed. A force, in fact, protected Harry by bouncing Voldemort's magic off himself. The dark wizard, however, did not die but lost all his powers and disappeared. All that remains from that night is a scar on Harry's forehead that has made him famous throughout the wizarding community. Thus, Harry becomes aware of his past and his identity and also of the fact that he will go to Hogwarts: a school of magic.

Harry's adventures

Before leaving for school, Harry is taken to Diagon Alley, a mysterious street in London inaccessible to Muggles, where Harry can buy what he needs for the school year: only and exclusively magical materials. On his way to school, Harry meets some of his future classmates on a magical trail: the smart and wise Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley who will be his best friend, and his brothers Fred and George Weasley. He will also meet Draco Malfoy, an arrogant and naughty boy who will be his nemesis throughout the school year. Once they arrive at Hogwarts, a very old castle in the north of England, Harry and all the first-year students are subjected to the magical hat selection, which will divide them into four different families: Gryffindor, Corvoner, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Harry, Hermione and Ron end up in the Gryffindor house. Thus begins the school where Harry and his little friends are confronted with a series of unexpected subjects: Spells, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbalism, Astronomy, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Flying on Broomsticks. As the days go by, Harry deepens his friendship with Hermione and Ron, and with them, he has his first adventure. During a nighttime tour of the castle, conducted secretly by the teachers and guards, the three of them stumble upon a three-headed dog tucked away in a trap door. Having escaped danger, they learn from Hagrid that the dog is there to protect a very powerful philosopher's stone. In the days that followed, Harry came across a hooded being feeding on the blood of unicorns. The being pounces on the wizard who is saved in extremis by a centaur. Harry realizes that the being is Voldemort. Weeks of lessons, discoveries and magical games pass. Towards the end of the school year, the three wizards discover that one of their teachers, Snape, has found a way to get past the three-headed dog and into the wizarding school. They decide to stop him, follow him inside the trapdoor and face a series of tests before reaching the stone. Only Harry manages to reach the end of the path and discovers that it is not Snape who wants to steal the stone but another teacher, Raptor, who is in fact possessed by Voldemort. Harry manages to kill Raptor and make Voldemort a bodiless being once again. But the fight is so intense that the wizard faints. He wakes up a few hours later in the infirmary, where he finds the good-natured and intelligent face of the principal: the great wizard Dumbledore, who explains to Harry why Voldemort could not kill him. The reason is simple and mysterious, the wizard has a magical protection around him that his mother Lily left him before he was killed. But why does Voldemort want him dead? Dumbledore does not answer. He simply tells him that the stone has been destroyed for safety. Once he is healed, Harry is able to attend the end-of-year awards ceremony and experience the joy of winning the House Cup with his House of Gryffindor. His happiness is at an all-time high and even though he has to go back to his uncles for the vacations, he knows he has another school year ahead of him at Hogwarts.

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