The following day, Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley in London to shop for school supplies. Their first stop is the wizarding bank, Gringotts, where Harry is shown to his family vault and realizes that his parents have left him with a comfortable fortune of wizarding gold. During their trip to the bank, Hagrid makes a stop at Vault 713 and removes a mysterious package: Hogwarts business for Dumbledore, he explains. After the bank, Harry visits Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions for his plain black school robes and Flourish and Blotts for his magical school textbooks, as well as other shops for parchment and potion ingredients. Hagrid buys Harry a snowy owl as a birthday present, and Harry decides to name her Hedwig. Their last stop in Diagon Alley is Ollivander’s, where Harry purchases a magic wand that contains a matching core to the evil Voldemort’s wand.
A month later, Harry leaves Little Whinging to catch the Hogwarts Express, which leaves King’s Cross Station from Platform Nine and Three-quarters. At first, he is uncertain how to access the wizard platform, but he receives help from Molly Weasley, who shows him how to reach the train. While on the train, Harry befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, two first-year students with their own insecurities about entering Hogwarts: as the youngest of five brothers who have achieved success at Hogwarts, Ron worries about distinguishing himself, while Hermione is anxious about her background as a Muggle-born. Harry also meets Neville Longbottom, a slightly dopey first-year with a pet toad named Trevor, and Draco Malfoy, an unpleasant student who arrogantly offers to advise Harry on who to be friends with.
When the train arrives at Hogwarts, the students immediately file into the dining hall to be “sorted,” or assigned to one of the four houses of Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Harry worries that he will be sorted into Voldemort’s old house, Slytherin, and he makes a special request to the Sorting Hat to be assigned to any other house. The Sorting Hat considers carefully but ultimately places Harry (as well as Ron and Hermione) in Gryffindor House.
As the school year begins, Harry receives more attention than he ever has before, especially when the other students catch sight of his lightning bolt-shaped scar. Although most of his classes are enjoyable, Professor Snape, the potions instructor, seems determined to dislike Harry, and Harry notices that his scar seems to prickle whenever Snape glares at him. After their first potions lesson, Harry and Ron decide to visit Hagrid at his cottage near the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid inadvertently reveals that Vault 713, the Gringotts vault containing the mysterious package, was broken into shortly after Harry and Hagrid’s visit to Diagon Alley.
During their first flying lesson, Neville breaks his wrist and must be taken to the hospital wing by the instructor. Malfoy grabs Neville’s Remembrall—forgotten after his injury—and flies into the air with it. Harry flies after Malfoy to retrieve Neville’s toy and, when Malfoy throws the Remembrall to the ground, makes a spectacular dive to catch the Remembrall mere inches from the ground. Professor McGonagall observes Harry’s skilled flying and, instead of punishing him for breaking the rules, sets him up to play Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Malfoy arranges a midnight duel with Harry to settle the score, and Ron, Hermione, and Neville accompany him to make sure that he stays out of trouble. The four accidentally enter a forbidden corridor and come across a three-legged dog standing guard over a trapdoor. They leave the corridor quickly, but not before Harry has concluded that the dog is guarding the mysterious package from Vault 713.