Harry Potter Birthday Weekend this Friday on Freeform

Hagrid presents Harry with a cake for his 11th birthday. Copyright Warner Bros.

Fans of everybody’s favorite fairy story all know that Harry Potter’s birthday falls on July 31. This week, basic cable TV network Freeform will celebrate with a “Harry Potter Birthday Weekend” movie marathon. The special event airs July 29-31. The network will also begin airing the premiere of the documentary “Tom Felton Meets the Superfans” on the Freeform App.  Freeform has lots of ways for fans to participate in the celebration too!

Boy wizard Harry James Potter was born to Lily Potter, a witch, and James Potter, a wizard, on July 31, 1980, in Godric’s Hollow in the West Country of England. James and Lily named the wizard Sirius Black as Harry’s godfather. On Harry’s first birthday, Sirius gave him a toy flying broom as a gift. That would be the only birthday that Harry Potter celebrated with his family. Harry’s parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort on Halloween night, 1981.

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and founder and head of the Order of the Phoenix, decided to place Harry Potter with Lily’s cruel and abusive muggle sister and her husband rather than with his godfather when his parents were murdered. They never had a birthday party for him. The first birthday celebration in Harry’s memory was his eleventh birthday for which Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Grounds and Keys at Hogwarts, showed up to give Harry his welcome letter to Hogwarts and presented Harry with a birthday cake.  “Yer a wizard, Harry!” With those words, Harry Potter found out that he was a magic being. Harry Potter shares a birthday with J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, and screenwriter of the upcoming Harry Potter universe movies series “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

Here’s the schedule for Freeform’s “Harry Potter Birthday Weekend.” All air times are U.S. Eastern Time:

Fri., July 29, 2016:

3:00 p.m. - “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”

6:45 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”

Sat., July 30, 2016:

7 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”

10:45 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”

3:15 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”

6:30 p.m. – “Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire”

10:15 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Sun., July 31, 2016:

7 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”

10 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”

1:30 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

5 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”

8:45 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2”

Mon., August 1, 2016:

1:30 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”

5 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2”

Freeform won’t be airing “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” during the “Harry Potter Birthday Weekend” because of TV broadcast rights. Fans can celebrate along with Freeform their official Twitter account by adding #HappyBirthdayHarryPotter to all of their tweets. Freeform will also offer polls on Wishbone and animated social shareables. Potter Fans can also keep up to date by checking out Freeform’s official Facebook page.