Draco reluctantly accepts Harry's proof against the Malfoys' bigotry against muggle-borns and informs him that Dumbledore burned his innocent mother, Narcissa, alive.

Near the end of the year, he captures Harry, revealing himself as Voldemort's spirit possessing Quirrell and how he framed and murdered Hermione by proxy.

He coerces Harry into helping him steal the Philosopher's Stone, an artifact for performing true transmutation as transfiguration is otherwise temporary, by promising to resurrect Hermione.

Voldemort murders Quirrell as a human sacrifice for a ritual to give Hermione a Horcrux and the superpowers of a mountain troll and unicorn, rendering her near-immortal.

Harry helps a grieving Draco find his mother, Narcissa, and plans with the resurrected Hermione to overhaul wizarding society by destroying Azkaban with the True Patronus and using the Philosopher's Stone to grant everyone immortality.

In 2011, Daniel D. Snyder of The Atlantic recorded how HPMOR "caused uproar in the fan fiction community, drawing both condemnations and praise" on online message boards "for its blasphemous—or brilliant—treatment of the canon.

"[11] In 2015, David Whelan of Vice described HPMOR as "the most popular Harry Potter book you've never heard of" and claimed, "Most people agree that it's brilliantly written, challenging, and—curiously—mind altering.

Hugo Award-winning science fiction author David Brin positively reviewed HPMOR for The Atlantic in 2010, saying, "It's a terrific series, subtle and dramatic and stimulating… I wish all Potter fans would go here, and try on a bigger, bolder and more challenging tale.

"[11] In 2014, American politician Ben Wikler lauded HPMOR on The Guardian as "the #1 fan fiction series of all time," saying it was "told with enormous gusto, and with emotional insight into that kind of mind," and comparing Harry to his friend Aaron Swartz's skeptical attitude.

[2] In 2015, Vakasha Sachdev of Hindustan Times described HPMOR as "a thinking person's story about magic and heroism" and how "the conflict between good and evil is represented as a battle between knowledge and ignorance," eliciting his praise.

[7] In 2017, Carol Pinchefsky of Syfy lauded HPMOR as "something brilliant" and "a platform on which the writer bounces off complex ideas in a way that's accessible and downright fun.

"[8] In a 2019 interview for The Sydney Morning Herald, young adult writer Lili Wilkinson said that she adores HPMOR; according to her, "It not only explains basically all scientific theory, from economics to astrophysics, but it also includes the greatest scene where Malfoy learns about DNA and has to confront his pureblood bigotry.

Yudkowsky supported Samin's efforts and wrote an exclusive introduction for HPMOR's Russian printing, though the campaign's popularity surprised him.

[17] HPMOR has Czech,[22] Chinese,[23] French,[24] German,[25] Hebrew,[26] Indonesian,[27] Italian,[28] Japanese,[29] Norwegian,[30] Spanish,[31] Swedish,[32] and Ukrainian[33] translations.