The Harry Potter books are an extremely popular series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K. Rowling and have made her the richest writer in literary history.

The books depict a world of witches and wizards; the protagonist is the eponymous young wizard Harry Potter.

Hogwarts school, as it is shown in the films.

Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) in 1997, the books have gained immense popularity and commercial success worldwide, spawning films, video games, and a wealth of other items.

The six books have collectively sold more than 300 million copies and have been translated into 47 languages. The first volume has been translated into Latin and even ancient Greek, making it the longest work in that language since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the third century AD.

A large portion of the narrative takes place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, focusing on Harry Potter's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. At the same time, the books explore the themes of friendship, ambition, choice, prejudice, courage, growing up, love, moral responsibility and the perplexities of death, set against the expansive backdrop of a magical world with its own complex history, diverse inhabitants, unique culture, and parallel societies.

Six of the seven planned books have been published, and the unnamed seventh book is yet to be released. The latest, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was issued in its English language version on 16 July 2005. The first four books have been made into very successful films, and the fifth began filming in February 2006. English language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury, Scholastic Press, and Raincoast Books.
 

The story opens with the unrestrained celebration of a normally-secretive wizarding world which for years had been terrorised by Lord Voldemort in his decade-long bid for power. The previous night, Voldemort, who had for months sought the hidden Potter family, discovered their refuge and killed Lily and James Potter.

Cover of the first book in J. K. Rowling's series: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

However, when he turned his wand against their infant son, Harry, his killing curse rebounded upon him. His soul was ripped from his body, and he fled into hiding, leaving Harry with a distinctive lightning bolt scar on his forehead, the only physical sign of Voldemort's curse. Harry's mysterious defeat of Voldemort results in him being dubbed "The Boy Who Lived" by the wizarding world.

The orphaned Harry Potter is subsequently raised by his cruel, non-magical relatives, the Dursleys, in ignorance of his magical heritage. However, as his eleventh birthday approaches, Harry has his first contact with the magical world when he receives letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which are stolen from him by his Aunt and Uncle before he has a chance to read them. On his eleventh birthday he is informed that he is in fact a wizard and has been invited to attend Hogwarts, by Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts. Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life at Hogwarts, where he learns to use magic and brew potions. Harry also learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional obstacles as he struggles through his adolescence and Voldemort's second rise to power
 

The wizarding world in which Harry finds himself is both utterly separate from and yet intimately connected to our own world. Unlike the fantasy worlds of Narnia and Middle-earth, the world of Harry Potter exists alongside ours, and many of its institutions and locations are in towns, such as London, that are recognisable to anyone. It is a fragmented collection of hidden streets, overlooked and ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles that remain utterly invisible to the non-magical population (known as "Muggles"). Wizard ability is inborn, rather than learned, although one must attend schools such as Hogwarts in order to master and control it. Since one is either born a wizard or not, most wizards are unfamiliar with the Muggle world, which appears odder to them than their world would to us. Despite this, the magical world and its many fantastic elements are depicted very matter-of-factly. One of the principal themes in the novels is the juxtaposition of the magical and the mundane; the characters in the stories live utterly normal lives with utterly normal problems, despite their magical surroundings.