Eve's space

• Harry Potter
• Ron Weasley and the rest of the Weasley family (Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and Ginny)
• Hermione Granger
• Rubeus Hagrid
• Minerva McGonagall
• The Marauders (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter)
• Lily Evans
• Other Gryffindors in Harry Potter's year (Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and at least 20 other unnamed students according to HP5, when Harry had an outburst in front of "30 other classmates")
• Other Gryffindor Quidditch team members (Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, Cormac McLaggen, and Demelza Robins)Ritchie Coote, Jack Sloper .

Hogwarts is the only known school of magic in the British Isles, training the children of the United Kingdom possessing magical abilities to become fully qualified witches and wizards. Its status is not discussed in great detail in the Harry Potter novels, but it is known to be a co-educational secondary boarding school taking children from ages 11 to 18. J. K. Rowling initially said there are about 1000 students at Hogwarts;^[2] She later suggested around six hundred, while acknowledging that this number was still inconsistent with the small number of people in Harry's year. She further explained that this had resulted from her creating only 40 characters for Harry's year.^[3]

There are two other schools of magic mentioned by name in the Harry Potter novels: one, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, is located in France, while the Durmstrang Magical Institute is assumed to be located in Northern Europe (since its uniform includes thick furs, and since the students found the British climate more appealing). The name of a possible school, the Salem Witches' Institute, suggests that it may be found in North America. This organisation is in fact only mentioned in relation to a number of middle-aged witches in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and J. K. Rowling has not confirmed if it is indeed a school of magic in the United States. Goblet of Fire also mentions an unnamed school in Brazil.

It is also possible for adults to study magic by distance learning, a method attempted by Argus Filch, as Harry inadvertently discovered in his second year that Filch was attempting to teach himself basic magic from a KWIKSPELL correspondence course in beginners' magic. ^[HP2] The pamphlet mentioned only adults: it is unknown if it offers services to children.

Management of the school is undertaken by the Headmaster, assisted by a Deputy Headmaster. The Headmaster is answerable to the twelve-member Board of Governors.

It is unclear how Hogwarts is funded, although there is no suggestion that students pay fees. Students are required to purchase their own textbooks, robes, and other supplies, however. Some financial aid is available for students: in the sixth book of the series, there is mention of a special fund for books or equipment for needy students.

The story opens with the unrestrained celebration of a normally-secretive wizarding world which for many years had been terrorised by Lord Voldemort. The previous night, Voldemort had discovered the refuge of the hidden Potter family, and killed Lily and James Potter. However, when he turned his wand against their infant son, Harry, his killing curse rebounded upon him. His body destroyed, Voldemort became a powerless spirit, seeking refuge in the undisturbed places of the world; Harry, meanwhile, was left with a distinctive lightning bolt scar on his forehead, the only physical sign of Voldemort's curse. Harry's mysterious defeat of Voldemort results in him being dubbed "The Boy Who Lived" by the wizarding world.

The following night, a wizard delivers Harry to what will be his residence for many years afterward. The orphaned Harry is subsequently raised by his cruel, non-magical relatives, the Dursleys who, in attempt to rid him of his magical powers, hide his magical heritage and give him severe punishments after several strange occurrences.

However, as his eleventh birthday approaches, Harry has his first contact with the magical world when he receives letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which are taken from him by his Aunt and Uncle before he has a chance to read them. On his eleventh birthday he is informed by Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, that he is in fact a wizard and has been invited to attend Hogwarts. Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life, which is mostly spent at Hogwarts, where he learns to use magic and brew potions. Harry also learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional obstacles as he struggles through his adolescence, Voldemort's rise to power and the Ministry of Magic's consistent denials of Voldemort's threat for a whole year.

For a detailed synopsis of the novels, see the relevant article for each book.

[edit] Universe

Hogwarts school, as it is shown in the films.

The wizarding world in which Harry finds himself is both utterly separate from and yet intimately connected to our own world. While the fantasy world of Narnia functions as an alternate universe and the Lord of the Rings’ Middle-earth as a mythic past, the wizarding world of Harry Potter exists alongside ours with many magical elements that are analogous to things in the non-magical world. Many of its institutions and locations are in towns, such as London, that are recognisable in the primary world. It is a fragmented collection of hidden streets, overlooked and ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles that remain utterly invisible to the non-magical population (known as "Muggles"). Wizard ability is inborn, rather than learned, although one must attend schools such as Hogwarts in order to master and control it. Since one is either born a wizard or not, most wizards are unfamiliar with the Muggle world, which appears odder to them than their world to us. Despite this, the magical world and its many fantastic elements are depicted very matter-of-factly. One of the principal themes in the novels is the juxtaposition of the magical and the mundane; the characters in the stories live normal lives with "normal" problems, for all their magical surroundings.

[edit] Recurrent elements

Blood purity: Wizards in general tend to view Muggles with a combination of condescension and suspicion; however, for a few, this attitude has evolved into bigotry. These characters tend to class those around them based on the number of magical ancestors they had, with "pure-blood" wizards (those with an entirely-magical bloodline) at the top of the hierarchy, "half-blood" wizards in the middle (those with both wizard and Muggle ancestry), and "Muggle-borns" (those with no magical ancestors) at the very bottom. Supporters of blood purity believe pure-bloods should control the wizarding world, and don't consider Muggle-borns real wizards. Some have even gone so far as to murder them or demand that they shouldn't be taught magic. Most blood-purity-believers are pure-blood themselves, though it should be noted that Voldemort, one of the most radical supporters of blood purity ever known, is himself half-blood. Also, very few, if any, true "pure-blood" families actually exist as many have intermarried into the Muggle-born population to stop from dying out. Many of these families have covered this up, however. One example of this is the removal of certain members on the Black family tree.^[HP5]

Owls: Owls are perhaps the most visible aspect of the Wizarding world. They appear at the start of the first novel, presaging what is to come, and play a very visible role in every novel following. They act as the principal form of communication among wizards (somewhat like carrier pigeons) and also as familiars. Harry has a snowy owl named Hedwig.^[HP1]

Quidditch: A spectator sport in the Wizard world, played up in the air on brooms, Quidditch is similar in style to polo and football. Harry is a great player at Hogwarts and has helped Gryffindor win a number of games. Harry is the Seeker for his team whose role is to try and catch the Golden Snitch.^[HP1] J.K. Rowling has stated that there will be no Quidditch matches in book 7, unlike all the previous books.^[15]

Houses: Like many boarding schools, Hogwarts is divided into four separate houses, named after the four Hogwarts founders, and students are sorted into their respective houses at the start of their first year. They are Gryffindor (which favours courage), Ravenclaw, (which favours cleverness), Hufflepuff, (which favours fairness and loyalty) and Slytherin (which favours ambition). Upon arrival, Harry, along with his friend Ron, and Hermione, who would later be their friend, are sorted into Gryffindor.^[HP1]

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of characters in the Harry Potter books

[edit] Structure and genre

A large portion of the narrative takes place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and focuses on Harry Potter's struggles against the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. At the same time, the series explores the themes of friendship, ambition, choice, prejudice, courage, growing up, love, moral responsibility, and the complexities of death and grieving, and are set against the expansive backdrop of a hidden magical world with its own complex history, diverse inhabitants, awe-inspiring creatures, unique culture, and parallel societies.

The novels are very much in the fantasy genre; however, in many respects they are also a Bildungsroman, a novel of education, set in Hogwarts, a British boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of magic. In this sense they are "in a direct line of descent from Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of British public school life".^[16] They are also, in the words of Stephen King, a "shrewd mystery tale".^[17], and each book is constructed in the manner of a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery adventure; the books leave a number of clues hidden in the narrative, while the characters pursue a number of suspects through various exotic locations, leading to a twist ending that often reverses what the characters had been led to believe. The stories are told from a third person limited point of view; with very few exceptions (such as the opening chapters of Goblet of Fire and Philosopher's Stone and the first two chapters of Half-Blood Prince), the reader learns the secrets of the story when Harry does. The thoughts and plans of other characters, even central ones like Hermione and Ron, are kept hidden until revealed to Harry.

[edit] Themes and motifs

Main article: Themes and motifs in Harry Potter

According to Rowling, a major theme in the series is the theme of death. She says:^[18]

The series pits good against evil, and love against death. Voldemort is continually seeking to avoid death and uses methods such as his attempted theft of the philosopher's stone and splitting his soul using horcruxes to achieve such an aim. This contrasts with Lily Potter's sacrifice of her life to save Harry from Voldemort. In the end it is her love for Harry which saves him from death, something that Voldemort does not appear to understand. The word 'Voldemort' itself has, amongst other meanings, connotations to death - in French and Catalan, Vol means Flight, de means of, and mort means death, so we can understand "Voldemort" as "The flight of the death". In Latin, mort also means death.

Prejudice and discrimination also feature prominently throughout the series. As Harry's education in the magical world continues he learns that there are wizards and witches who hate Muggles and view them as inferior because of their lack of magical ability. Furthermore, the magical world uses a system of designations, Muggle-born, half-blood, and pure-blood, to indicate a wizard's heritage. The more prejudiced within the magical community take these designations a step further, viewing them as a system of ranking to illustrate a wizard's worth, pure-bloods being the preferred wizards, and Muggle-borns (alternatively known by the slur "Mudblood") as the most despised. In addition to prejudices held for fellow humans, there is also discrimination against non-humans and even part-humans (commonly known by the offensive epithet, "half-breeds").

Another significant recurring theme is that of choice. In Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore makes perhaps his most famous statement on this issue: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."^[19] He confronts the issue again in Goblet of Fire, when he tells Cornelius Fudge that what one grows up to be is far more important than what one is born.^[20]

As it has been for many characters throughout the series, what Dumbledore termed the "choice between what is right and what is easy" has been a staple of Harry Potter's career at Hogwarts and his choices are among his character's most distinguishing traits from Voldemort's. Both he and Voldemort were orphans raised in difficult environments, in addition to sharing characteristics including, as Dumbledore points out, Voldemort's "own very rare gift, Parseltongue — resourcefulness, determination" and "a certain disregard for rules".^[19] However, Harry, unlike Voldemort, has consciously elected to embrace friendship, kindness, and love, where Voldemort knowingly chose to reject them.

While ideas such as love, prejudice, and choice are, as J.K. Rowling states, "deeply entrenched in the whole plot", the writer prefers to let themes "grow organically", rather than sitting down and consciously attempting to impart such ideas to her readers.^[21] Friendship and loyalty are perhaps the most "organic" of these, with their main conduit being the relationship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione, which allows these motifs to naturally develop as the three age, their relationship matures, and their accumulated experiences at Hogwarts test their trueness to each other. These ordeals become progressively difficult, keeping in line with the series' increasingly darker tone, and the general nature of adolescence. Along the same lines is the ever-present theme of adolescence, in whose depiction the author has been purposeful in her refusal to ignore her characters' sexualities and leave Harry, as she put it, "stuck in a state of permanent pre-pubescence".^[22]

Also recurring throughout Harry Potter are literary motifs, namely Rowling's frequent use of irony, satire, wordplay, and folklore. From the first page onward her writing has displayed an ingenuity in finding the absolutely right name for people, places, things, spells, etc., a strong grasp of irony. From the multilayered sobriquet "Voldemort" through the onomatopoetic "Grawp" (Hagrid's bestial giant half-brother) through the very knowing pun hidden in the killing spell Avada Kedavra, Rowling creates names that usually contain several meanings.

In 1990, J. K. Rowling was Origins and publishing historyon a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry simply "walked" into her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:

That evening, the author began the pre-writing for her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a semi-detailed plan that would include the plots of each of her seven envisioned books, in addition to an enormous amount of biographical and historical information on her characters and universe.

Over the course of the next six years, which included the birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and a move to Portugal, Rowling continued writing Philosopher's Stone. Eventually settling in Edinburgh, Rowling wrote much of the Philosopher's Stone in local cafés. Because she was unable to secure a place in a nursery for her daughter, she was her constant companion as she worked.

In 1996, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was completed and the manuscript was sent off to prospective agents. The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to Bloomsbury. After eight other publishers had rejected Philosopher's Stone, Bloomsbury offered Rowling a £3,000 advance for the publication of Philosopher's Stone.

Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when she began to write the Harry Potter books, the publishers initially targeted them at children age nine to eleven.On the eve of publishing, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name, in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), omitting her first name and using her grandmother's as her second.

The first Harry Potter book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury in July 1997 and in the United States by Scholastic in September of 1998, but not before Rowling had received a six-figure sum for the American rights – an unprecedented amount for a children's book. Fearing that American readers would either not understand the word "philosopher" or not associate it with a magical theme (as a Philosopher's Stone is alchemy-related), Scholastic insisted that the book be given the title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the American market.

Over nearly a decade Harry Potter has achieved much success due in part to positive reviews, Rowling's publisher's marketing strategy, but also due to word-of-mouth buzz among average readers, especially young males. The latter is notable because for years, interest in literature among this group had lagged behind other pursuits like video games and the Internet. Rowling's publishers were able to capitalise on this fervour by the rapid, successive releases of the first three books that allowed neither Rowling's audience's excitement nor interest to wane, along with quickly solidifying a loyal readership. The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to two editions of each Harry Potter book being released, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults. Moreover, the series is popular around the world in its many translations. Such was the global clamour to read the book that the English language edition of the series' fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, became the first English-language book ever to top the bookseller list in France