Japanese Word Order

This is a very quick introduction to the word order of the Japanese language before we jump into the Harry Potter book.

Japanese is typologically classified as an SOV (Subject + Oject + Verb) language, whereas English is classified as SVO.

Subject (topic)		Location		Direct Object		Verb (transitive)
スミスさん Sumisu-san	は wa	日本 Nihon	で de	日本語 Nihongo	を o	勉強している benkyōshite iru.
(Mr. Smith is studying Japanese in Japan.)

The Location and Direct Object can be switched, but the Subject (topic) and the Verb must normally be in sentence-initial and sentence-final positions, respectively.

Soure: A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

I suggest you to buy this dictionary as it offers comprehensive discussion and a lot of examples on Japanese grammar.
Or you can look around for an online copy for a quick peek of the book.