There are a lot of new words in this chapter.
You will understand some words because they are similar to German words or words from another language which are used in German.
You will recognize new words whose meaning is clear to you because you know other words of the same word family and you have learned some word building rules.
Sometimes you will know the meaning of a word because you have learnt a similar word in another foreign language.
There will certainly also be words whose meaning you don't understand, but which are not really important for an understanding of the text.
Sometimes the context in which a word appears will give you clues to it meaning.
Only look up a word in a dictionary if you can't really guess the meaning of it and it is important to understand the story.

List of words in chapter 1.

Answer see solution site

Summarize this chapter in four or five sentences

Summary see solution site

Harry buys school supplies and is introduced to wizard culture.

friendship - trust - self-discovery

Midas hoards gold. He was King of Phrygia. Bacchus promised that his wish would come true and wished that everything he touched would turn to gold.

1. Harry

   Harry asks Hagrid a lot of questions and they are answered. The people at Leaky Cauldron all seem to know Harry, which Harry is surprised at. He is greeted by everyone: the barman Tom, Doris Crockford, Dedalus Diggle and Professor Quirrell. Harry remembers Dedalus Diggle, who once bowed to him in a shop. Harry doesn't like the boy he meets at Madame Malkin's. Harry gets all his equipment in the stores. He is very happy with his wand.

2. Hagrid

   He has got a lot of strange things in his pocket and some wizard money. He takes Harry to Diagon Alley. First they go - fly - by boat, then by train. Then they hurry through the Tube and through the streets. Hagrid tells Harry that he would like to have a dragon. He takes Harry to Gringotts. Hagrid is trusted by Dumbledore to do Hogwarts business - he gets a grubby little package there and isn't allowed to tell Harry about it. The boy in the shop thinks Hagrid is a kind of vault but Harry says he is brilliant. Harry buys Harry an ice-cream. He explains to Harry what Quidditch is and what kind of houses Slytherin and Hufflepuff are. He buys Harry another birthday present: an owl. Later he brings Harry back to the train that will bring him to the Dursleys with an envelope - his ticket to Hogwarts in September.

3. Hagrid's owl

   It brings the newspaper to Hagrid. It attacks Hagrid's coat because he should get up and it is paid for bringing the paper.

4. Harry's owl

   It's a birthday present from Hagrid. It's snow-white.
   Info:
   Harry's owl is called Hedwig.

5. Harry's parents (mentioned)

   They left Harry a lot of money.

6. Goblins

   They run Gringotts. They wear a uniform of scarlet and gold. They are about a head shorter than Harry. They have pointed beards and long fingers and feet.
   Info:
   They speak Gobbledegook.

7. Dragons (mentioned)

   They guard the high-security vaults.

8. Voldemort (mentioned)

   He was in Slytherin House.

9. Dumbledore (mentioned)

   He was once wanted for Minister at the Ministry of Magic but he didn't leave Hogwarts.

10. Cornelius Fudge (mentioned)

    He got the Minister job instead of Dumbledore. He is a bungler. He pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, asking for advice.
    Info:
    He is the Minister of magic. He is very incompetent. He refuses to believe that Voldemort is coming back to power.

    The Ministry of magic was set up to regulate magic in the British wizarding world. It was mainly set up to stop Muggles from learning about the wizarding world. The headquarters are based in London. There are many departments that are in charge of different things.

11. Doris Crockford

    She shakes hands with Harry several times.
    Info:
    She is a witch that hangs out at the Leaky Cauldron.

12. Professor Quirrell

    He will be Harry's teacher at Hogwarts. He stammers and is pleased to meet Harry. He teaches "Defence Against the Dark Arts". He has to pick up a new book on vampires and looks terrified at the very thoughts. He is a "poor bloke" and has got a brilliant mind. He once met vampires in the Black Forest and has never been the same person since. He is scared of the students and his own subject.

13. Dedalus Diggle

    He is remembered by Harry, as he once bowed to him in a shop. He hangs out at Leaky Cauldron.

14. Griphook

    He is the goblin at Gringotts Bank and brings Hagrid and Harry to the vaults.

15. Madame Malkin

    She is a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve and owns a shop.

16. Mr Ollivander

    He is old and his pale eyes shine like moons.

17. A boy

    He has a pale, pointed face. He greets Harry. He has a bored, drawling voice. He wants to bully his father to get a broom and wants to smuggle it into Hogwarts. He strongly reminds Harry of Dudley. He will be in Slytherin. He thinks Hagrid is a servant. He calls him a sort of savage and he is against Muggle-born people.
    Info:
    He is Draco Malfoy.

1. The Leaky Cauldron

   It is a famous place for wizards. It is a tiny, grubby-looking pub and boarding house through which the witches and wizards gain access to Diagon Alley. It is very dark and shabby. Old women drink their sherry there. There are an old barman and people chattering. When you leave Leaky Cauldron through the bar you come into a small walled courtyard. When you tap a special brick in the wall three times you can get to the stores through a hole.

2. Diagon Alley stores:
   Info:
   It is a long cobbled street where the wizard shop and pubs are located. Muggles can't see the entrance, which is at the back of the Leaky Cauldron pub in London. So Diagon Alley is a secret place, never entered by Muggles. There you can buy the most incredible things. The currency is the wizard coin system.The stores are:
   • Apothecary
     This is a fascinating shop crammed with all sorts of interesting things. There are barrels of slimy stuff lined up on the floor and jars of all sorts of powders, and herbs. Bundles of feathers, fangs, and claws hang from the ceiling. The whole place smells very bad, a mixture of bad eggs and rotten cabbage.
     
   • Eeylops Owl Emperium
     Here you can get magic owls, rats and toads. According to the sign, they sell tawny, screech, barn, brown and snowy owls.
     
   • Madam Malkin's Robes for All
     Here you can get magic clothes for all occasions.
     
   • Magic Writing-Materials
     Here you can get quills, magic ink, etc.
     
   • Flourish & Blotts
     This is a wizarding bookshop where the students buy their books for Hogwarts classes. Here you can also get magic schoolbooks for runaways from the Restricted Section of the library.
     
   • Ollivander's
     Here you can get fine wands. Ollivander's shop has been the shop for fine wands since 382 BC. It is a narrow shabby little shop. The window displays a faded purple cushion upon which sits a single wand. The walls are lined floor to ceiling with thousands of narrow boxes. The furniture consists of a single spindly chair.
     
   • Gringotts
     This is a bank, guarded by goblins. The wizards keep their money here. No one would dare to steal something from there. It is a hundred miles under London. It is a snow-white building with a burnished bronze door. Inside there are silver doors and a vast marble hall and a counter. The vaults are deep under the ground.
     The money system used here is:

     A bronze Knut is the smallest coin; there are 29 Knuts to a Sickle.

     A Silver Sickle: there are 17 sickles to a Galleon.

     A gold Galleon: this coin has the greatest value.

     (1 bronze Knut = pound 0.01; 1 silver Sickle = pound 0.29, about US $ 0.44; 1 Galleon = pound 5.00, more or less US $ 7.50 - estimated value by J.K. Rowling)
     

   • Black Forest
     Info:
     This is the Forbidden Forest. It is a deep, dark forest that surrounds Hogwarts.
     

   Help Harry to spend his money.

   A bottle of ink is 10 Sickles 10 Knuts. Droobles Best Blowing Gum is 20 Knuts per pack.
   Harry buys two bottles of ink and two packets of gum. How much does he spend?

   A History of Magic is 1 Galleon 3 Sickles 17 Knuts. A Standard Book of Spells is 16 Sickles 15 Knuts.
   Harry buys 'A History of Magic' book and a 'Standard Book of Spells' book. How much does he spend?

   Harry buys a wand. How much does he spend?

   Answers see solution site

1. Why is Hagrid proud that Dumbledore trusts him with Hogwarts' business transactions at Gringotts?
   
2. When Hagrid explains the Ministry of Magic's purpose, why does he say magic is hidden from Muggles and "We're best left alone."?
   
3. What are people's reaction to meeting Harry? What clues to future events are provided in this chapter?
   
4. Why does Hagrid treat Harry as an equal? When does he treat him like a child? When does Harry act like the adult and Hagrid like the child?
   
5. How does Harry react to the unique world he enters through the Leaky Cauldron courtyard?
   
6. Why would Hogwarts not want first year students to have their own broomstick?
   
7. What is the significance of the parents' wand description? What does the length mean? Think of the fact that no two Ollivander wands are the same.
   
8. What did Hagrid buy Harry for his birthday?

   Answers see solution site

Harry's goblin-escorted journey to his family's vault symbolizes his immersion into the wizard world.
Gold is the valuable metal that alchemists tried to make using the philosopher's stone. Wizard money consists of precious metals. Metals are significant, showing the symbiotic reliance of the wizards on the mortal world.

Look at the list of books Harry needs for school. What examples of word play can you find?

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J. K. Rowling didn't pick the names for her characters from the telephone book. The names of the people who wrote the books required at Hogwarts are related to the subjects they teach, e. g. Phyllida Spore is the author of 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi'. Fungi reproduce with spores.

Choose four more authors' names from the book list and explain how they are connected to the author's book.

Look here for some help on the Internet!

Answers see solution site

A definition tells you what something means or what it is. A good definition doesn't just describe that something, but it tells you what makes it different from other things. The following definitions are poor:

1. Owls are birds.
2. Knuts are coins.
3. Gringotts is a bank.

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Questions on chapters 1 - 5.

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