Sorcerer’s Stone ending explained: how Harry gets the Stone and beats Quirrell

Harry looks into the Mirror of Erised, and his reflection takes the Stone out and puts it in its pocket. Harry finds it in his own. Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris) explains it later: “only a person who wanted to find the Stone, find it, but not use it, would be able to get it.”

Harry wants the Stone safe more than he wants it.

Quirrell wants it for Lord Voldemort (Ian Hart, voice), and Voldemort says why: “Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own.” Anyone who wants to use the Stone cannot get it out of the mirror. Harry can, which puts it within reach of the man standing next to him.

Lily Potter (Geraldine Somerville) gave Harry the protection Quirrell discovers too late. She died to save him, and Dumbledore says where that sacrifice lives now: “It lives in your very skin.” And then he names it: “Love, Harry. Love.”

That is why Quirrell’s hands burn when he grabs Harry. Harry’s strongest defence comes from a mother he never knew, who appeared to him in the Mirror of Erised earlier that year.

Harry should never have had to test that protection under his own school. He, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) try to warn an adult first. Dumbledore has left on an urgent owl from the Ministry, and Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) sends them back to their dormitories: “I don’t know how you know, but I assure you it is well protected.”

So they go themselves. Hermione gets them through the Devil’s Snare, Harry catches the flying key, and Ron plays the chess game and lets himself be taken. Each of them is needed, which raises an uncomfortable question about defences three first-years can get through.

By the last chamber, the child who can get the Stone is alone with the man trying to steal it.

Harry wins the fight, but as Quirrell turns to ash, the spirit leaving his body rushes through Harry and knocks him out. He wakes in the hospital wing with Dumbledore at his bedside.

Voldemort gets away, and the Stone is gone as well. “My friend Nicolas and I have had a little chat and agreed it was best all around,” Dumbledore says, and when Harry asks whether Flamel will now die, he does not soften it: “He has enough Elixir to set his affairs in order. But yes, he will die.”

Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) tried to stop the trio leaving the common room that night: “I’ll fight you.” Hermione froze him with Petrificus Totalus.

At the end-of-year feast, Dumbledore’s last-minute points to Hermione, Ron and Harry bring Gryffindor level with Slytherin. Then he gives ten more to Neville: “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.” The winning points go to the boy who stood in the trio’s way.