Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

On Harry Potter eleventh birthday, he receives an invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Harry is surprised by the invitation because up to that point in his life, he did not even know he was a wizard.  He was being raised by his muggle aunt and uncle after being orphaned as an infant.  Harry accepts the invitation and finds that he is quite famous in the wizarding world because he is the only person to have survived a curse from Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard ever.  After being sorted into the Gryffindor House, he makes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is the youngest son of a magical family, and all his brothers have gone through Hogwarts before him. Hermione's parents are muggle dentists, but are very proud of their magical daughter. Harry also makes an enemy in Draco Malfoy a pure blood from Slytherin. 

Harry and his friends get mixed up with a mysterious object called the Sorcerer’s Stone that was removed from Gringotts wizard bank and brought to the school for safe keeping.  Professor Dumbledore, head master at the school, is supposed to protect the stone. The object is capable of prolonging life and turning anything into gold. Lord Voldemort is looking for the stone because it has life giving powers that will be able to restore strength.  While possessing Professor Quirrel, Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Voldemort passes all the barriers set by Hogwarts' staff, except the last one which was set by Dumbledore. Dumbledore placed the Stone in the Mirror of Erised, from where it could only have been taken by someone who wanted the Stone in order to protect it, not for the powers it possesses. Harry, Hermione and Ron follow Quirrel, but Ron and Hermione have to turn back before reaching the final barrier.  Harry is left to face Voldemort alone. Harry is able to defeat the dark wizard and keep the world safe from his powers.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

In Harry’s second year at Hogwarts he faces another challenge.  There is a dangerous monster in the school and terrifying messages appear written on the walls in blood. The legend of the Chamber of Secrets says that Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts and founder of Slytherin House, argued with the other founders about the acceptance of mixed-blood wizards into the school. Slytherin believed that only pure blood students should be taught at the Hogwarts. The disagreement caused Slytherin to leave the school, but not before building a secret chamber within the walls of Hogwarts called the Chamber of Secrets. According to legend, when the heir of Slytherin returns to Hogwarts, the Chamber will be opened again, and all Mudblood wizards will be purged from the school.

Students soon suspect Harry to be the heir of Slytherin after he uses Parseltongue.  The ability to speak Parseltongue is very rare and it was one of the things Slytherin was famous for.   Harry uses the language of snakes to command a serpent Draco Malfoy conjures in a duel.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione suspect that Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin and they make a plan to prove it.  Hermione mixes up a Polyjuice potion that will allow them to impersonate Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's bullies.  They find out that Malfoy does not know who the Slytherin's heir is either. After several students, a ghost named Nearly Headless Nick, the caretaker's cat and Hermione become petrified, Harry and Ron must find out what's going on before someone gets killed. Luckily Hermione had left a scrap of paper behind with helpful information for the boys to use.  Ron and Harry find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.  Ron and Harry become separated by a rock fall, and Harry must go on alone. Eventually, he defeats the monster with the help of Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, and the sword of Godric Gryffindor himself. The heir of Slytherin is in fact Voldemort, who left a copy of himself in a diary during his days at Hogwarts, when he was known only as Tom Marvolo Riddle.