If your friend doesn’t know anything about your favorite fandom, and you don’t have five years to explain all the details, just send them this video, and they’ll understand everything in five minutes. The story takes place in a world where magic exists, and wizards live in secret, hiding their abilities from ordinary people, who are called Muggles. Many wizards care about blood purity, which in radical cases leads to the extinction of their lineage due to inbreeding. One such family was the Gaunts, whose roots trace back to Salazar Slytherin himself, whom we’ll talk about later. Merope Gaunt falls in love with a Muggle and bewitches him with a love potion. She later becomes pregnant by him. Unfortunately, as soon as the potion’s effects wear off, her husband runs away. Merope names the newborn son after her beloved husband and dies, leaving the baby in an orphanage. This is how the life of Tom Marvolo Riddle begins. From his mother, Tom inherits mental instability and magical abilities. In the orphanage, his strange behavior has always terrified others. So, at the age of 11, the orphanage's caretaker eagerly hands the child over to Albus Dumbledore, who secretly recruits young wizards into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hogwarts was founded by Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. The school's students were divided into four houses, each reflecting and celebrating the traits of its founder. The Sorting Hat, which can see the fears and desires of those who wear it, determines where each student belongs. Tom is sorted into Slytherin, becomes fascinated with dark magic, and takes on the anagram-based pseudonym Lord Voldemort. In his sixth year, he commits his first murders. His first victims are Myrtle Warren (later known as Moaning Myrtle) and his Muggle relatives from his father's side. Through these murders, Tom splits his soul into seven pieces, placing the fragments into various objects known as Horcruxes, making himself nearly immortal. After graduating from school, Tom gathers an army of Death Eaters and starts a war against Muggles and wizards who protect them. Among such wizards is the Potter family. The young parents, Lily and James, are killed by Voldemort. However, Lily's sacrifice grants their newborn son a powerful magical protection. So when the Dark Lord tries to kill Harry, the curse backfires, seemingly destroying Voldemort instead of the child. Harry is sent to live with the Dursleys. Eleven years later, Rubeus Hagrid, a kind-hearted half-giant working at Hogwarts, barges into Harry's home, informs him of his magical heritage, and takes him to Hogwarts. At school, Harry is sorted into Gryffindor and meets his best friends: Ron Weasley – a child from a large, pure-blooded but poor family. Despite their pure-blood status, they have no high-ranking influence and are often looked down upon by those obsessed with blood purity. Hermione Granger – a Muggle-born witch. Her parents are regular dentists, but she is exceptionally talented in magic, a brilliant student, and practically knows the entire Hogwarts library by heart. Draco Malfoy – at first, he is an arrogant, spoiled rich kid from a pure-blooded family that despises Muggles and Muggle-borns. His father, Lucius Malfoy, is a Death Eater. In his first year, Harry encounters Voldemort, who, with the help of a teacher, tries to obtain the Philosopher’s Stone hidden in the school. In his second year, he discovers the Chamber of Secrets inside a bathroom, where he kills a Basilisk (one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes) and realizes he can speak Parseltongue—the language of snakes.