Chapter 1-8 The Potions Master

• Harry is trying to get familiar with the school.
• He finds out that Argus Filch knows all that happens here and is very eager to catch students doing things they're not supposed to. His cat, Mrs. Norris, also patrols the corridors.
• He has Herbology classes with Professor Sprout outside at the greenhouses behind the castle and History of Magic classes with Professor Binns, a ghost. Professor Binns drones on while they scribble down names and dates, and they get Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. Harry's Charms teacher is a tiny little wizard called Professor Flitwick. Defense Against the Dark Arts is taught by Professor Quirell.
• Hedwig brings Harry a letter from Hagrid.
• Snape, who teaches potions in the dungeons, appears to hate Harry. He starts asking difficult questions like "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" and "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" and "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" He admonishes Harry for not knowing the answers. He ignores Hermione, who had been raising her hand. The answer to the first question is a sleeping potion, called the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from a goat which will save you from most poisons, and monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, and also are called aconite.
• Neville spills his potion on himself, causing him pain. He had added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire.
• After classes they go to Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the forbidden forest where they also meet Hagrid's boarhound Fang.