Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)

by J.K. Rowling

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

I have always loved this line!

The cat didn’t move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered.

Put-Outer,

Breadcrumbs

‘You flatter me,’ said Dumbledore calmly. ‘Voldemort had powers I will never have.’

Breadcrumbs

‘Young Sirius Black lent it me.

Breadcrumbs

‘To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!’

The mantra

Harry leapt into the air – he’d trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat – something alive! Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realised that the big squashy something had been his uncle’s face.

Heheheh

‘Harry – yer a wizard.’

One o’ the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore’s the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn’t dare try takin’ the school, not jus’ then, anyway.

Breadcrumbs

‘They say there’s dragons guardin’ the high-security vaults.

Breadcrumbs

‘Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it’s easy enough.

I keep forgetting it

I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter … After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great.’

He didn’t know what he was going to – but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.

Poor Harry!

‘It’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa,

The line that launched memes

But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

Use it well, the note had said. He had to try it, now.

The impulsiveness of an 11 year old receiving a gift!

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.

Hermione did a sort of jig. ‘Malfoy’s got detention! I could sing!’ ‘Don’t,’ Harry advised her.

‘SO WHAT?’ Harry shouted. ‘Don’t you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort’s coming back! Haven’t you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won’t be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He’ll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn’t matter any more, can’t you see? D’you think he’ll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor win the House Cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I’ll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there. It’s only dying a bit later than I would have done, because I’m never going over to the Dark Side!

It likes the dark and the damp –’ ‘So light a fire!’ Harry choked.

Quick thinking in a sticky spot

Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things which are worst for them.’