J.K. Rowling first conceived the idea for Harry Potter in 1990.
According to Rowling’s repeated account, the idea came to her during a delayed train journey from Manchester to London King’s Cross. She imagined a boy who did not know he was a wizard and began developing the characters and magical world in the years that followed. The journey is often described as the moment Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger first came clearly into her mind.
The concept did not become a published novel immediately. Rowling spent roughly five years planning the series, writing notes and working on the first manuscript. She moved to Portugal in 1991 and later settled in Edinburgh, carrying early chapters with her. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was finally published by Bloomsbury in June 1997, seven years after the original idea. The dates 1995 and 1997 refer to later stages of writing and publication, not conception.