Hero's Journey Steps w/Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

The Ordinary World

1: The Ordinary World

We are introduced to an eleven year old orphan, Harry Potter. He lives on Privet Drive with the Dursleys, which are his aunt, uncle, and cousin. They all treat him so horribly to a point that they make him live in the cupboard under the stairs. The most special thing about Harry was the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, which he got when his parents died in a car accident. The Dursleys, however, despised his family, and never spoke of them.

The Call to Adventure

2: The Call to Adventure

One day, Harry receives a letter. This simple act makes the Dursleys so infuriated that they do everything they can to prevent any letters from entering the house. Nevertheless, the letters keep arriving in the most odd ways possible, forcing everyone to retreat to a shack in the middle of the ocean. A giant-like man named Hagrid finds his way there, however, and tells Harry that he was a wizard.

Refusal of the Call

3: Refusal of the Call

Harry, however, doesn't believe this news at first. How could he be a wizard? But Hagrid explains that Harry was especially famous in the wizarding world, having to have survived the killing curse by the darkest wizard of all time, and banishing him all at the mere age of one. His parents hadn't died in a car crash; instead, they were killed by Voldemort, the same dark wizard who had attempted at killing Harry. Hagrid also explains that when magical children turn eleven, they get a letter from Hogwarts, which was a school of magic. There, you get to learn all sorts of magic related things. He convinces Harry, who finally accepts the fact that he was a wizard, and agrees to go to buy his school supplies with Hagrid.

Mentor/Helper

4: Mentor/

Helper

Hagrid accompanies Harry to Diagon Alley (a hidden marketplace located in London for the wizarding world) to buy his school supplies. This is the first time Harry has contact with the magical world, and finds himself in a wand shop, picking out his first wand ever. Hagrid buys a pet snowy owl for Harry as a birthday present, who ultimately becomes Harry's best and only friend on Privet Drive.

Crossing the Threshold

5: Crossing

the Threshold

Harry boards the Hogwarts Express to go to Hogwarts. He enters the wizarding world when he gets sorted into Griffindor at Hogwarts, giving him a true place in the wizarding world. He also becomes friends with a boy named Ron (who also gets sorted into Griffindor), who tells him a great deal about the wizarding world (thus helping him gain magical common sense).

Test/Allies/Enemies

6: Test/

Allies/

Enemies

Harry and Ron befriend a girl named Hermione, who is very clever and intellegible. Together, they find out about the Sorcerer's Stone when they had accidently trespassed the forbidden door on the third-floor corridor. They realize that the Stone was being protected somewhere in the school because someone was trying to steal it. They suspect Professor Snape (the potions teacher) is the person who is trying to steal the Stone.

Approach

7: Approach

Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide that it was time to save the Stone because they realized that it was Voldemort who was on the hunt for it. Dumbledore wasn't at Hogwarts, and they knew that the person who was trying to steal the Stone for Voldemort was going to do it soon. They all rush to the forbidden third-floor corridor, and discover that Fluffy, the three-headed dog, was sleeping peacefully, a harp lying by its side. They rush down the trap door that the dog was guarding, finding themselves being bound by the vicious Devil's Snare. They defeat it, however, and rush on towards the next room, which was filled with winged keys. Harry, being an excellent Seeker, snatches the key in no time, and unlocks the next door. The next room was filled with a life-sized wizard chessboard (the pieces move on their own account). The three of them play their way across, and Ron sacrifices himself so that Harry and Hermione can get to the Stone. Hermione, however, has to stay behind in the next room, as there was only enough potion for one person to get through the black flames to get to the next door. Hermione goes back to the previous room to tend to Ron, and Harry enters the final room.

Ordeal

8: Ordeal

After encountering many of the tasks leading up to the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry finds himself facing Quirrel in a room with the Mirror of Erised. Quirrel reveals that he was the one who was trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, and that he was doing it for Voldemort, who was sharing his body, as he was now weak and bodyless. Quirrel, however, didn't know how to get the Sorcerer's Stone from the Mirror of Erised, and uses Harry to get it instead. Quirrel tries to kill Harry by choking him after he got the stone, but finds that his hands burn when in contact with Harry's skin. Quirrel ultimately dies from his many attempts at attacking Harry, and Harry himself faints.

Reward

9: Reward

Dumbledore manages to come in time to save the Sorcerer's Stone, leaving Quirrel to die from his burns. Harry stays unconscious for a while, until he wakes up in the hospital wing, finding himself alone with Dumbledore.

Road Back

10: Road Back

Dumbledore explains that he and Nicholas Flamel had decided to destroy the Sorcerer's Stone so that nobody would try to attempt to steal it again. He also assures Harry that Ron and Hermione are all right. Dumbledore explains that Harry was able to get the Stone through the mirror because unlike Quirrel, he just wanted to find it, but not use it. Quirrel could not touch Harry because he was the complete opposite of Harry: Quirrel was greedy and evil, and in addition to that, he was sharing a body with Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all time. Whereas Harry was filled with so much good and love from the night his mother died to protect him. It hurt Quirrel to touch someone so good.

Atonement

11: Atonement

Ron and Hermione visit Harry in the hospital wing, and he explains everything that happened with Quirrel and the Stone to them. Hermione tells Harry that after he went into the last room, they tried to send an owl to Dumbledore, only to find him already standing in the entrance hall. He knew what had happened, and managed to reach Quirrel just in time to save the Stone.

Return

12: Return

Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express, after saving the stone from Voldemort's clutches. They head home for summer vacation, and while Harry would rather stay at Hogwarts over the summer than return to Privet Drive, now he can threaten Dudley with "magic" (he would be expelled, of course, if he used actual magic outside of school, so it would be an empty threat) if Dudley ever did something mean. He returns to the Muggle world, light-hearted and hopeful, as he had finally found a world he truly belonged in.