“To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!”

Quickly before I get into my first post, I want to thank the people who liked or read the introduction, especially considering I posted it at 2am my time on a Wednesday slash early Thursday. (Never mind that the Thursday in question is actually Valentine’s Day…)

Total accident, I swear.

Speaking of the day of love, I can’t think of a better way to spend it than curled up on my favorite couch with my laptop, my beat up copy of the Sorcerer’s Stone – the one I got signed by Mary GrandPré after seeing her and Brian Selznick speak at the New-York Historical Society – and a notebook. (It should be noted my brother is playing COD (COD? Fortnite? One of them. The one that goes pew-pew every ten seconds.) in the next room and it’s marginally distracting, but c’est la vie.

Onwards, we go.

The first chapter of the Sorcerer’s Stone starts us off in Privet Drive, but I’m sure you know that. I’m willing to bet this chapter in particular is one of the most read chapters ever, whether by kids or adults trying out Harry Potter or by aficionados combing through Rowling’s words with older eyes. To put it in perspective the quote at the beginning of this post is so incredibly well known, and it’s literally the last sentence. Rowling couldn’t have known how impacting Harry would be to us, the readers, but she did tell us right away how beloved he is to the wizarding world.

Let’s rewind a bit back to the start. We’re immediately introduced to “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive …” and for half a chapter, it almost seems like this story is about Vernon Dursley, the boring director at a drilling company, overwhelmed in ignorance as the world around him goes a little crazy. Correct me if I’m wrong (although I will realize as I go through the series), but this and the first chapter of OotP might be the only chapters not in Harry’s perspective. Getting Dursley’s pov makes for an interesting read, as he admits things that I’m sure he never would in real life (how he thought he saw a cat read a map, how scared he is to talk to his wife about her sister, how worried he was that he was right), and later when it shifts to McGonagall’s perspective, it provides us with an introduction to a beloved character that might be a little contradictory to how we remember her. She might have been up against a brick wall all day, stern and seemingly cold, but she shows her vulnerability (saying You-Know-Who instead of Voldemort; understanding right away that even though Harry lived, two very young people also died and feeling sadness over their deaths; and worrying about Harry staying with the Dursley’s). Professor McGonagall is so easily remember as this bad-ass, no bullshit woman who will stand up for what is right, but we should also remember she cares, truly cares, about Harry. (The biscuits come in book 5, but it’s one of my favorite moments of the series.)

Jumping ahead once more, even though it’s never mentioned in this chapter, we do in fact know it is either Halloween, 1981 or the next day, November 1st. It’s never explicitly stated whether James and Lily were killed Halloween morning or Halloween night – just that James was wandless and playing with Harry when Voldemort came.

I’m sure it won’t be a surprise if I admit I’m American, with my spelling and the whole Sorcerer’s vs. Philosopher’s thing, and thus, I’m not completely up-to-date with 1980’s England, especially since I was born in late 1991 in New Jersey. That being said, why did no one mention that it was either Halloween or the day after? Why wasn’t Petunia fitting Dudley into a pumpkin costume, or gossiping about how satanic the neighbors seemed last night? I realize that McGonagall mentions Dudley harassing Petunia for sweets, but was that because it was Halloween or was that just Dudley? (Although I do know that Halloween isn’t celebrated the same way it is here – there’s no trick or treating, but I’m sure there’s excitement. After all the Halloween Feast is huge at Hogwarts, and Harry doesn’t seem surprised by the fact Halloween is being celebrated… But I digress.) Why didn’t Vernon think the people in cloaks were dressing up, maybe still drunk from the night before? It makes me think that either Rowling only came up with the Halloween date later and it wasn’t planned that way at first, or that the Dursley’s think Halloween is so ingrained with “witches” that they don’t even want to acknowledge it, even in their own heads.

Going back to those people in cloaks, Dursley claims he has never seen people dress like that before, so that begs the question: did he ever even meet Lily and James? And yes, I know, in Pottermore, there is a horrendous meeting, but is that considered canon? Because if it is, surely, Vernon would have remembered James or Lily in cloaks. Petunia knows that Harry is called Harry so obviously there’s some correspondence between them, as limited as it may be. Of course, James and Lily could have been wearing Muggle clothing, but for it to not come up at all? I’m sure at one point early on Petunia would have complained about the fashion, since she’s such a gossip.

I don’t mean to call out these tiny, tiny discrepancies, and so I will stop dwelling on them – at least for this chapter. Instead, I want to highlight Rowling’s genius and present a section called:

Tiny, Insignificant Detail That Will Later Be Huge (Or Medium) (Or Small) Plot Points

• The Put-Outer, or as it later will be called, the Deluminator. (Honestly, I forgot it was even called the Put-Outer, I’m so used to calling it the Deluminator.) Obviously, this appears way, way down the line (as in book 7) but still it made it’s first appearance.
• Dedalus Diggle “Shooting stars down in Kent – I’ll bet that was Dedalus Diggle.” I’m sure he comes up again, but I don’t remember when so I’m marking him down just in case.
• “…Young Sirius Black lent it to me…” A Sirius mention right off the bat in the first chapter of the first book, and two books before we get any understanding as to who he is and why he was able to lend Hagrid his bike. Speaking of, I love that his only description is “young” – because he was. 21 years old, and his best friends are dead.

It’s the first chapter, so that’s all the small details I have so far; although, if there are any I missed, please let me know.

Speaking of which, I did noticed that I have missed two things every time I’ve read this chapter: the first being “We’ve had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.” and the second being Harry’s age.

Going back to the first point, I knew that the first wizarding war wasn’t something recently started, but I never connected that it had been going on for eleven years. In my head (and in most fanfiction), the war starts up in Lily and James’s later years, starting after the infamous “Mudblood” scene. But according to that line, a line later referred again when Dumbledore berates (that might be a strong word, but I’m not wrong) McGonagall about calling Voldemort by his name: “All this ‘You-Know-Who’ nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort.”, the first wizarding war, or at least Voldemort rising in power, actually started when James and Lily (and Sirius, Remus, Peter and Snape) were in their first year. If that’s the case, Lily and Snape were friends for nearly five years (while at Hogwarts) during a time where every day prejudice heightened. I had always thought they had a few years after they entered Hogwarts where they were able to be friends without that darkness looming, but apparently not.

Secondly, Harry’s age. Regardless if it’s the 31st of October or the 1st of November, Harry is a year and three months old here. Almost a toddler, but not quite. He’s not a baby, definitely not a newborn, although the movies would have you think so. It’s small, but I never, especially as a kid, thought about the difference in size and intelligence between a baby and a one year old. It’s minimal, but there is a difference. Just a random thought I had.

Wow, what a ramble. Hopefully that all made sense. It is the first chapter of the first book, so I did try to analyze it beyond what I would usually do in order to get something written. That being said, it’s a wonderful introduction to an incredible series. It shows us how boring and strict the Dursley’s are, how interesting and mysterious the Potter’s are (right from the start, we don’t get enough information about them, and unfortunately besides a few stories, the marauders are never truly delved into), as well as the dynamic between Dumbledore and McGonagall (how she only trusts him, how he is someone to be trusted – although he will later make the reader doubt that), and the way that Dumbledore takes the lead, shaping Harry’s life from the get-go (by placing him in the Dursley’s care) while withholding information – a motif that continues throughout the series.

Okay! Done! Hopefully you stuck with me. This isn’t too crazy serious, and it’s honestly just a dump of my thoughts, so sorry if it wasn’t the easiest to follow. I just really love Harry Potter.

I’ll leave you with my favorite quotes:

• “[Mr. Dursley] hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn’t approve of imagination.”
• “Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…”
• “You flatter me,” said Dumbledore calmly. “Voldemort had powers I will never have.”
• “After all he’s done…all the people he’s killed…he couldn’t kill a little boy? It’s just astounding…of all the things to stop him…but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?”
  “We can only guess,” said Dumbledore. “We may never know.”  (LIES!)
• “He’ll be famous — a legend — I wouldn’t be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!” 
  “Exactly,” said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. “It would be enough to turn any boy’s head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won’t even remember! Can’t you see how much better off he’ll be, growing up away from all that until he’s ready to take it?”
  Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, “Yes — yes, you’re right, of course. ” (I seriously think in this moment McGonagall remembered how arrogant James could be and was like, oh right.)

Harry may have been raised in the Muggle world, but McGonagall was right about one thing: Every child does know his name, and his name is Harry Potter, the boy who lived.