Harry Potter, at the age of one, was delivered on the doorstep of his aunt and uncle's house by Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Hagrid.  His parents had just been murdered by an evil wizard and the death curse placed on Harry had gone wrong.  They were giving him to his aunt and uncle to raise even though they were not wizards themselves.  Because the Dursleys (Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia) did not like witches and wizards, they raised Harry without the knowledge that his parents were magical.  They also raised him in contempt and caused him to live in a small closet under the stairs.  On Harry's cousin Dudley's birthday, they all go for a trip to the zoo.  After Dudley taps on the glass at the snake house, Harry tells the snake he knows what it's like to be caged.  When Dudley sees the snake awake he shoves Harry out of the way at which point the glass to the cage disappears and Dudley falls in.  Harry is sent to his "room" when they get home.
      A letter arrives for Harry but, when Dudley tells Uncle Vernon about it he destroys it.  Later more letters arrive and eventually so many do that they are overrun by them.  Uncle Vernon takes Harry and his family to an abandoned shack on an island.  Hagrid, a very large man, appears at the island and tells Harry that he is a wizard and that he has been accepted to Hogwart's, a school for magical learning.  He also tells Harry the truth about how his parents died and how he got the scar on his forehead.  Hagrid takes Harry to London to a place called Diagon Alley.  Here he gets access to his parents wealth at Gringott's Bank.  They also stop by another vault to pick up a package for Hogwart's.  He uses some of this to buy his school supplies which include books, a cauldron and a wand.  Hagrid get his Hedwig, an owl, as a present.  Hagrid then gives Harry his tickets for the Hogwarts Express before he has to leave on further business.
      Uncle Vernon takes Harry to the station to meet the train.  Harry cannot figure out how to get to Platform 9 3/4 when he meets the Weasleys.  They help him get onto the train.  He gets to know Ron Weasley and meets Hermione for the first time.  When they get to the school they are met by Hagrid and all of the first years students are taken across the lake by boat to the school.  Inside the school Professor McGonagall tells them about the school and then they are sorted into houses (either Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw) by the Sorting Hat.  Then they are welcomed by the headmaster Dumbledore and they have a feast.  They are shown to their rooms by the house prefects for their first night at Hogwarts.  The first day of school Harry finds that he is a bit of a public figure with the students.  He learns also that Gringotts was broken into just after he and Hagrid were there.
       Gryffindor and Slytherin have flying lessons together under Madam Hooch.  Neville Longbottom gets injured when his broom takes off with him on it.  Draco finds his Remembrall and Harry and Draco have an argument about it.  Draco throws it and Harry chases after it.  McGonnogal sees him and suggests that he be made the new Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.  Draco later challenges Harry to a wizard's duel.  Draco then weasels out of it and tells Filch hoping that Harry will be caught and expelled from school.  Harry, Ron and Hermione get away from Filch but in the process meet a three-headed dog.  Escaping him, they make it back to their rooms.
      Harry get a gift and when he opens it it is a Nimbus 2000 broom, top of the line.  He goes to Quidditch practice and learns the rules of game from .  Hermione overhears Ron talking bad about her after she does well in charms class.  She goes to the girl's restroom.  Professor Quirrell runs into the dining hall and announces that a troll is loose in the school.  Harry and Ron go to get Hermione when the troll attacks her.  They are able to save her from the troll and Hermione tells the professorsshe's to blame in order to keep them from getting into trouble.  Harry sees that Professor Snape's leg in bleeding and this causes him to think that he had ulterior motives when the troll was loose.
      Harry plays in his first Quidditch match against Slytherin when someone jinxes his broom.  Hermione sees Professor Snape mouthing some words.  She goes and sets fire to his robes and the jinx is lifted.  Harry catches the snitch and wins the game for Gryffindor.
      Harry, Ron and Hermione start searching the library for facts on Flamel after Hagrid accidentally lets him name out during a conversation.  School gets out for the Christmas Break when Ron teaches Harry wizard chess.  Harry gets an invisibility cloak for Christmas.  He tries uses it one night and winds up finding the Mirror of Erised in which he sees his mother and father with him in the mirror.  Professor Dumbledore finds out and warns him about it.
      Gryffindor beats Hufflepuff even with Professor Snape refereeing when Harry grabs the snitch after only five minutes.  Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Hagrid and find out that he has a dragon egg.  Since the dragon is illegal in England, Charlie Weasley, Ron's brother, agrees to have it sent to him in Romania.  Norbert, the dragon, is shipped off from the tallest tower but Harry and Hermione are caught by Filch on their way back to their rooms.
      Harry, in letting loose the dragon, loses Gryffindor 150 points after Draco Malfoy informed on them.  Ron, Hermione, Draco and Harry serve detention with Hagrid who takes them into the Forbidden Forest.  They are looking for a wounded unicorn.  Harry finds it dead with a dark shape drinking its silvery blood.  Harry is rescued from this dark shape by a centaur.
      Hagrid accidentally tells Ron, Hermione and Harry how to calm Fluffy, the three-headed dog that is guarding the Sorcerer's Stone.  They try to warn Professor Dumbledore who is not on the grounds any more.  Taking matters into their own hands they decide to go after the stone themselves.  They use the invisibility cloak to put Fluffy to sleep but he is already asleep to a self playing harp.  They go into the trapdoor and have to get past strangling plants which they overcome with a charm, a flying key puzzle which Harry solves, a wizard chess game which Ron is able to win and potions which Hermione finds the answer.  Harry has to leave Ron and Hermione after the chess game.  He then discovers that Quirrell is after the Sorcerer's Stone.  He has been serving Voldemort and Professor Snape is actually innocent of everything.  Professor Quirrell attempts to use the Mirror of Erised to get the stone but the stone appears in Harry's pocket instead.  Voldemort discovers this and reveals himself to Harry.  He has attached himself to the back of Professor Quirrell's head.  He then tells the professor to kill Harry but when he touches Harry he turns to ashes.  Harry passes out and comes to in a hospital bed.  Dumbledore explains some things about how he was able to overcome Quirrell.
      It looks as though Slytherin is about to win the house cup but due to last minute awards Gryffindor wins.

Harry woke early the next morning.  Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.

"It was a dream," he told himself firmly.  "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards.  When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."

There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.

And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking.  But he still didn't open his eyes.  It had been such a good dream.

Tap.  Tap.  Tap.

"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."

He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him.  The but was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.

Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him.  He went straight to the window and jerked it open.  The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up.  The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.

"Don't do that."

Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.

"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly.  "There's an owl -"

"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.

"What?"

"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper.  Look in the pockets."

Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets - bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags... finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.

"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.

"Knuts?"

"The little bronze ones."

Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it.  Then he flew off through the open window.

Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.

"Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."

Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them.  He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.