harry potter

Harry Potter is the central character of the Harry Potter books and their subsequent movie and game adaptations. Only child of the powerful wizards James and Lily Potter, he was orphaned shortly after his birth when the very evil wizard Voldemort killed both of Harry's parents. For some unknown reason Voldemort was unable to inflict upon the infant Harry the fate which befell his parents. The evil wizard's attempt on Harry's life not only failed, but also somehow reflected onto Voldemort, leaving him powerless and nearly dead. It is likely that had the wizard been less thoroughly embroiled in the Dark Arts, he would not have survived at all. After that night, most of the wizarding world believed Voldemort dead. No victim of Voldemort had ever escaped with their lives, and so Harry Potter became famous throughout the magical community as The Boy Who Lived.

With both his parents dead, the orphaned Harry was sent to live with his utterly unmagical relatives the Dursleys. Brought up living in a cupboard under the stairs, Harry reached his eleventh birthday knowing nothing of his parent's magical background. The Dursleys never spoke of Mrs Dursley's sister Lily, or her abnormal abilities. At the age of eleven, however, Harry was to be sent to boarding school. Rather than the unpleasant school Mr Dursley had planned for him, Harry received a place at the world's premier school of wizardry, Hogwarts. The seven book Harry Potter series chronicles Harry's experiences at the school of magic, each book telling of one year in the life of this most magical boy.