Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone By J. K. Rowling chapter one the Boy Who Lived

 

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble 
 
OTHER EQUIPMENT 
 

1 wand 
 

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) 
 

1 set of glass or crystal phials 
 

1 telescope set 
 

1 brass scales 
 

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad 
 
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN 
BROOMSTICKS 
“Can we buy all this in London?” Harry wondered aloud. 
“If yeh know where to go,” said Hagrid. 
Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, 

---

he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier 
on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow. 
“I don’t know how the Muggles manage without magic,” he said as they climbed a broken-down 
escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops. 
Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind 
him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere 
that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary 
people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really 
shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the 
Dursleys had cooked up? If Harry hadn’t known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he 
might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was 
unbelievable, Harry couldn’t help trusting him. 
“This is it,” said Hagrid, coming to a halt, “the Leaky Cauldron. It’s a famous place.” 
It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn’t pointed it out, Harry wouldn’t have noticed it 
was there. The people hurrying by didn’t glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on 
one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn’t see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, 
Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could 
mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside. 
For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, 
drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat 
was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low 
buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and 
smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, “The usual, Hagrid?” 
“Can’t, Tom, I’m on Hogwarts business,” said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry’s 
shoulder and making Harry’s knees buckle. 
“Good Lord,” said the bartender, peering at Harry, “is this — can this be —?” 
The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent. 
“Bless my soul,” whispered the old bartender, “Harry Potter… what an honor.” 
He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. 
“Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back.” 
Harry didn’t know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was 
puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming. 
Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking 

---

hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron. 
“Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can’t believe I’m meeting you at last.” 
“So proud, Mr. Potter, I’m just so proud.” 
“Always wanted to shake your hand — I’m all of a flutter.” 
“Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can’t tell you, Diggle’s the name, Dedalus Diggle.” 
“I’ve seen you before!” said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle’s top hat fell off in his excitement. “You 
bowed to me once in a shop.” 
“He remembers!” cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. “Did you hear that? He 
remembers me!” Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for 
more. 
A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching. 
“Professor Quirrell!” said Hagrid. “Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at 
Hogwarts.” 
“P-P-Potter,” stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry’s hand, “c-can’t t-tell you how p-
pleased I am to meet you.” 
“What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?” 
“D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts,” muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he’d rather not 
think about it. “N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?” He laughed nervously. “You’ll be g-
getting all your equipment, I suppose? I’ve g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-
myself.” He looked terrified at the very thought. 
But the others wouldn’t let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes 
to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble. 
“Must get on — lots ter buy. Come on, Harry.” 
Doris Crockford shook Harry’s hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out 
into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds. 
Hagrid grinned at Harry. 
“Told yeh, didn’t I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin’ ter meet 
yeh — mind you, he’s usually tremblin’.” 
“Is he always that nervous?” 

---

“Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin’ outta books but then he 
took a year off ter get some firsthand experience… They say he met vampires in the Black 
Forest, and there was a nasty bit o’ trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of 
the students, scared of his own subject — now, where’s me umbrella?” 
Vampires? Hags? Harry’s head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the 
wall above the trash can. 
“Three up… two across…” he muttered. “Right, stand back, Harry.” 
He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. 
The brick he had touched quivered — it wriggled — in the middle, a small hole appeared — it 
grew wider and wider — a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for 
Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight. 
“Welcome,” said Hagrid, “to Diagon Alley.” 
He grinned at Harry’s amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over 
his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. 
The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons — All Sizes 
— Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them. 
“Yeah, you’ll be needin’ one,” said Hagrid, “but we gotta get yer money first.” 
Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked 
up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people 
doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they 
passed, saying, “Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they’re mad…” 
A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium — 
Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry’s age had their noses 
pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. “Look,” Harry heard one of them say, “the new 
Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —” There were shops selling robes, shops selling 
telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with 
barrels of bat spleens and eels’ eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, 
potion bottles, globes of the moon…
“Gringotts,” said Hagrid. 
They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing 
beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was — 
“Yeah, that’s a goblin,” said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. 
The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard 

---

and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were 
facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them: