The Boy Who Lived
*This post contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the Harry Potter Series.
Chapter Summary:
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much”
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone
The Dursley family prides themselves on being normal and fitting into society.
The Dursley’s are described as:
“He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Mr. Vernon Dursley, worked for a drill company named Grunnings. On his way to work one Tuesday he starts to see the strangest things. The first thing being a cat that seemed to be reading a map outside of his house.
Later in the day he sees people wearing the strangest cloaks and talking about the Potter family. This causes Vernon to pause as his wife’s estranged sister married into a Potter family. Surely, all these people can’t be talking about them?
When Mr. Dursley returns home he finds the cat in the same spot outside of his house.
On the news that night the reporter talks of owls flying around in the daylight and shooting stars lighting up the night. All of these odd occurrences leads Mr. Dursley to ask his wife Petunia if she thought all the strange things had to do with her sister’s “crowd”.
Petunia is immediately dismissive and does not want to talk about her sister and her family. He does get her to confirm that he sister’s sons name is Harry. A name that Vernon heard spoken by the odd groups of people.
After the Dursley’s went to bed, the cat remained outside unmoved.
A man appeared seemingly out of thin air and the cat remained unimpressed.
“He was tall thin, and very old judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore.”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Dumbledore puts out all of the lights on the street using a device from his cloak. He then turns his attention to the cat and greets her as Professor McGonagall.
“He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he 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. She, too was wearing a cloak, and emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun.”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The two begin to talk about the same event the Dursley’s noticed, calling them celebrations.
Professor McGonagall asks Dumbledore if the rumors are true and if You-Know-Who is gone. He confirms that it seems to be true and asks that she call him by his name and not be afraid to speak it. That name is Voldemort.
McGonagall does not want to and says that Dumbledore was the only one that You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. She then reluctantly says the name.
She then asks him if rumors are true in how Voldemort was stopped. She asked if Lily and James Potter are dead after Voldemort found them in Godric’s Hollow. He confirms. McGonagall then asks if Voldemort really wasn’t able to kill their son Harry and when he tried to kill the boy something happened that caused Voldemort to be gone. He confirms this as well but doesn’t offer any reason as to why it may have played out that way.
They then discuss that Harry is to be brought to his aunt and uncle’s house. McGonagall has reservations about this arrangement as she has been watching the Dursley’s all day.
He assured her that this is the best place for him. Here he will avoid the fame and notoriety that he will undoubtedly receive in their world.
A rumble is heard and a motorcycle lands from the sky driven by a large man named Hagrid.
“He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild- long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Dumbledore asked Hagrid where he had gotten the motorcycle. Hagrid told him that he borrowed it from Sirius Black.
Hagrid hands a baby over to Dumbledore. The baby has a lightning bolt scar across his forehead that will mark him forever that Voldemort attempted to kill him.
Harry is left on the Durlsley’s doorstep with a letter explaining the circumstances.
Dumbledore turns all the lights back on and the three depart.
*Spoiler reminder. If you do not want aspects of the Harry Potter series ruined for you, do not read below. Discussions about future stories and characters take place.
Character Introductions
Mr. & Mrs. Dursley
Vernon and Petunia Dursley are Harry Potter’s aunt and uncle. In the few pages we see of them we learn that they are not fans of Harry’s mother and father. This sets up how Harry is going to grow up in their household.
They also are described as hating anything that isn’t considered “normal”. The people congregating and celebrating in town are Mr. Dursley’s idea of not normal. However, to those people, Vernon Dursley is very much not normal.
Their horribleness will come later and be consistent throughout the series. However, right now they serve as the readers first examples of Muggles.
Professor McGonagall
Professor McGonagall is first introduced in her animagus form of a cat. The cat is the best way to get across her temperament to the reader in an introduction. She can be uptight but is extremely disciplined and focused. Just like a cat, if she likes you she can be kind and warm but if she doesn’t she doesn’t have the time of day for you.
The reader is not told her first name at this time as Dumbledore refers to her as Professor. This adds to her character. She is the embodiment of what you think an old school teacher is and Professor is a huge part of her identity.
Albus Dumbledore
Dumbledore is a mystical, powerful figure. He is described exactly as someone would describe a wizard. Just give him a point hat and that would complete the picture.
We are of course unaware of just how powerful and important Dumbledore is but we are given clues. McGonagall says that Dumbledore was the only one that Voldemort was ever afraid of. She also says that Dumbledore does wield the powers Voldemort does because he is too noble to do so. It gives an idea to the reader that this is a respectable member of the Wizarding community.
Hagrid
Hagrid is described exactly how he is for the rest of the series. He is a gentle giant (literally) who would do anything for those that he cares about.
Harry Potter
What we know so far of him is that he is “the boy who lived”. This chapter sets in motion Harry’s entire life and the prophecy he is to fulfill. It is tragic that at this moment Dumbledore knows that Harry is the boy spoken about in the prophecy. He knows that this small child will have to go through terrible things and sacrifice himself for the entire Wizarding World.
Terms Introduced
Muggle
Muggle refers to a non magical person. Vernon Dursley would call this a “normal” person. It is not meant to be a derogatory word and just a classification but throughout the series it can be used in a derogatory way with some characters.
Future Books
Godric’s Hollow
Harry’s family lived in Godric’s Hollow and had ties to it for years. This place isn’t mentioned again for sometime and if you were good enough when reading the first time to recognize it I applaud you because I certainly did not connect it until it was spelled out for me.
This is a Village of great importance not only because it is the place that Harry’s family was killed but also because it is the birthplace of Godric Gryffindoor, the home to Bathilda Bagshot and where Dumbledore spent his youth.
In The Deathly Hallows, the Village plays an important part for Harry getting closure about his past. It is also the place where they battle Voldemort’s snake Nagini when searching for information from Bathilda Bagshot.
Sirius Black
Blink and you miss it. When asked where he got the motorcycle from, Hagrid says he borrowed it from Sirius Black. The first time you read the series, this will mean absolutely nothing to you. After you read the series, your heartbreaks a little bit because you know what Sirius went through when he found out that his friends had died that night.
Sirius feels tremendous guilt that he did not stay the Potter’s secret keeper and instead had Peter Pettigrew take that responsibility. We also know that Sirius planned to kill Peter and gave his motorcycle to Hagrid as he knew he would be blamed for their deaths and wouldn’t need it anymore.
Dedalus Diggle
This is a minor character that is fully introduced in The Order of the Phoenix. He is briefly mentioned here when McGonagall suspects him of setting off shooting stars. He also pops up again a few times again in The Sorcerer’s Stone. Once, Harry mentions meeting a man that bowed to him randomly and then his identity is confirmed when his visits the Leaky Cauldron and meets Dedalus again.
We don’t even get a ton of information on this character but as his name is Dedalus I can assume he is a reference to the character from Greek Mythology. Perhaps he created those shooting stars for everyone to celebrate with as he is handy with inventions.
This chapter serves as a jumping off point for the whole series. Breadcrumbs for future events and characters are hidden and can be easily found when rereading the series.
The things that hits me the hardest in the is chapter are Dumbledore and Sirius Black.
As I mentioned above, Dumbledore received the confirmation that he needed the night Voldemort went after Harry. By doing this, Voldemort set the prophecy in motion. It is hard not to read this series over again and see Dumbledore in the same light. He is not just a whimsy powerful mentor. He has a goal and he is going to reach it.
With Sirius Black, this is the night that he finds out one of his closest friends caused the death of another friend. Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters and told Voldemort the location for their safe house. He is an emotional wreck and the only thing he sees is revenge. Everyone thinks that he is still the Potter’s secret keeper and that he is the traitor. His life is over regardless so he sets on his path to kill Pettigrew.
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