Chapter 8 Summary

Harry's first day of classes starts with an abundance of attention from other students whispering about him and pointing him out to each other as he moves through the halls with Ron to get to classes. Learning the way around the school is very difficult because of its magical nature and multitude of levels, staircases, and rooms.

The caretaker of the school, Angus Filch, has a terrible reputation with the students as being very mean and nasty. His cat, Mrs. Norris, is his aide in catching students up to no good.

Harry and Ron's classes consist of History of Magic, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. Their Potions teacher, Professor Snape, is rather mean-looking, and he is the head Professor of Slytherin House. Professor McGonagall is the head of Gryffindor and also their Transfiguration professor.

Professor Snape seems to...