Harry Potter Book 1 Trivia: Sorcerer's Stone
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
8correct to beat the crowd
125 free Harry Potter Book 1 Trivia: Sorcerer's Stone trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Harry Potter book 1 trivia quiz is devoted entirely to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, published in the US as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It follows the story from Privet Drive to the Mirror of Erised: Hagrid's arrival, Diagon Alley, the Sorting, Harry's first Quidditch match, the troll, Norbert the dragon, Fluffy and the trapdoor, and the final confrontation with the professor nobody suspected. It also goes behind the book: the train journey where the idea arrived, the tiny first print run, the £2,500 advance, why the American title changed, and how the 2001 film was cast and shot, from Alnwick Castle to London Zoo. The early questions suit anyone who has read the book once; the later ones are for readers who know the publication history as well as the plot. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries and other primary references before publishing, so you can settle any argument with confidence.
30 of 125 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the name of caretaker Argus Filch's cat?
Mrs Norris
Mrs Norris is Argus Filch's scrawny, dust-coloured cat; she prowls the corridors and fetches the caretaker whenever she catches students breaking the rules.
Q 02Which publisher released Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the UK on 26 June 1997?
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury published the book after editor Barry Cunningham backed it; chairman Nigel Newton's eight-year-old daughter Alice had loved the sample chapter.
Q 03How many hardback copies were in the book's first UK print run?
500
The first UK hardback print run was just 500 copies, about 300 of which went to libraries, which is why surviving first editions sell for huge sums.
Q 04How much was the advance Rowling received for her debut novel?
£2,500
Bloomsbury paid Rowling an advance of £2,500; a later £8,000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council helped her keep writing the sequels.
Q 05Scholastic bought the American rights at the Bologna Book Fair in 1997 for how much?
US$105,000
Scholastic's Arthur Levine paid US$105,000 for the American rights, an unusually high sum for a children's book by a first-time author.
Q 06Between which cities was Rowling on the delayed 1990 train when the Harry Potter idea 'fell into her head'?
Manchester and London
She had been flat-hunting in Manchester and was heading back to London alone.
Q 07Who painted the cover of the first UK edition?
Thomas Taylor
Thomas Taylor painted the first UK cover, showing Harry beside the Hogwarts Express; Mary GrandPré did the American jackets and Cliff Wright the next two UK ones.
Q 08Which children's-choice award gave the novel a gold medal in 1997 and made it famous within six months?
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
The Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, voted on by children, gave the novel its 9-11 years gold award in 1997, the first of many children's-choice prizes it collected.
Q 09The UK publisher has released the first book in which two classical languages?
Latin and Ancient Greek
Bloomsbury issued Peter Needham's Latin translation in 2003 and Andrew Wilson's Ancient Greek version in 2004, the latter hailed as a landmark of modern Ancient Greek prose.
Q 10Roughly how many copies has the first Harry Potter book sold worldwide?
120 million
The first Harry Potter book has sold about 120 million copies worldwide, putting it among the best-selling single novels ever published.
Q 11Which artist illustrated the full-colour illustrated edition of the book released in 2015?
Jim Kay
It carries more than 100 illustrations, and Kay went on to illustrate the later books too.
Q 12In the book, Harry lives with the Dursleys in which fictional English town?
Little Whinging
Little Whinging is a fictional town in Surrey, south-west of London; its cat-loving old neighbour Mrs Figg minds Harry whenever the Dursleys go out without him.
Q 13What is the Dursleys' house number on Privet Drive?
4
The Dursleys live at number 4, Privet Drive, where Harry sleeps in the cupboard under the stairs until the Hogwarts letters start arriving.
Q 21How many points does catching the Golden Snitch earn in Quidditch?
150
Catching the Golden Snitch earns 150 points and ends the match, which is why the Seeker so often decides the result single-handed.
Q 22How many players are on a Quidditch team?
7
Three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper and one player who hunts the Snitch.
Q 23Which magical object does Neville's grandmother send him because he is so forgetful?
A Remembrall
The Remembrall is a glass ball full of white smoke that turns red when its holder has forgotten something, though it never says what.
Q 24Harry and Ron become friends with Hermione after saving her from what?
Q 14On which birthday does Harry learn that he is a wizard?
His eleventh
Rowling gave Harry her own birthday, 31 July.
Q 15What is the name of the snowy owl Hagrid gives Harry in Diagon Alley?
Hedwig
Hedwig is the snowy owl Hagrid buys Harry at Eeylops Owl Emporium for his eleventh birthday; Harry picks her name out of A History of Magic.
Q 16The Leaky Cauldron, the pub that hides the entrance to Diagon Alley, stands on which real London street?
Charing Cross Road
The Leaky Cauldron sits on Charing Cross Road, a tiny grubby pub that Muggles' eyes slide past; its back courtyard hides the archway into Diagon Alley.
Q 17How many times must the brick behind the Leaky Cauldron be tapped to open the way to Diagon Alley?
3
Knockturn Alley, the seedy side street, runs diagonally off the main shopping street.
Q 18From which platform does the Hogwarts Express leave King's Cross?
Nine and three-quarters
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters is reached by walking through the barrier between platforms nine and ten; the real King's Cross marks it with a plaque and a half-vanished luggage trolley.
Q 19Which House does the Sorting Hat seriously consider putting Harry in before choosing Gryffindor?
Slytherin
Harry's plea of "not Slytherin" is one of the book's turning points.
Q 20Which position does Harry play on the Gryffindor Quidditch team?
Seeker
Harry is made Gryffindor's Seeker after Professor McGonagall watches him pull off a fifty-foot dive on a school broom, becoming the youngest House player in a century.
A troll
On Hallowe'en the boys knock out a twelve-foot mountain troll in the girls' toilets with its own club; Hermione lies to cover for them and the three become friends.
Q 25What does the Mirror of Erised show the person looking into it?
Their deepest desire
"Erised" is "desire" spelled backwards, and its inscription reads the same way.
Q 26When read backwards, the inscription on the Mirror of Erised says what?
I show not your face but your heart's desire
The carved line 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi' reverses to 'I show not your face but your heart's desire'; Dumbledore warns that men have wasted away before it.
Q 27What is the name of the three-headed dog guarding the trapdoor on the third floor?
Fluffy
Fluffy is Hagrid's three-headed dog, bought from 'a Greek chappie' in a pub and lent to Dumbledore to guard the trapdoor on the third-floor corridor.
Q 28How do the trio get past the three-headed dog?
By playing music on a flute
Hagrid had carved the flute for Harry as a Christmas present.
Q 29What does Hagrid trade to a hooded stranger in exchange for a dragon egg?
Details on how to get past the three-headed dog
The stranger was a disguised professor working for Voldemort.
Q 30What is the baby dragon that hatches in Hagrid's hut called?
Norbert
Hagrid names the Norwegian Ridgeback Norbert; Charlie Weasley's friends collect him from the tallest tower at midnight to fly him to a dragon reserve abroad.