Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone explains Harry's hidden past as the wizard son of James and Lily Potter, who were a wizard and witch respectively, and how they were murdered by the most evil and powerful dark wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort, which resulted in the one-year-old Harry being sent to live with his aunt and uncle. The strangest bit of the murder was how Voldemort was unable to kill him, but instead had his own powers removed and blasted away, sparking Harry's immense fame among the magical community. Hagrid introduces Harry to the wizarding world, bringing him to places such as Diagon Alley,
Politics of Harry Potter any of them to appreciate the books fully," "Don't ask, don't spell" a reference to the U.S. military's former policy on homosexuality, Don't ask, don't tell. These sentiments are mirrored by Jeffrey Weiss in his article, "Harry Potter and the author who wouldn't shut up", published in the "Dallas Morning News". The "Washington Post"s Michael Gerson says "tolerance is one of the main themes of the Harry Potter books. In a marvelous social comparison, lycanthropy is treated as a kind of chronic disease, with werewolves subject to discrimination as if they had AIDS." According to Philip Nel of Kansas State