Attack at Godric's Hollow (1997)

"Bathilda must’ve been dead a while. The snake was...was inside her. You-Know-Who put it there in Godric’s Hollow, to wait. You were right. He knew I’d go back."

- Harry Potter to Hermione Granger

The attack at Godric's Hollow on Christmas Eve of 1997 was an ambush by Lord Voldemort's snake familiar Nagini on Harry Potter that occurred during the height of the Second Wizarding War. The snake was planted in the animated corpse of Bathilda Bagshot to wait to see if Harry would come to see the graves of his parents in Godric's Hollow, and then to hold him there until Voldemort arrived to kill him. Harry eventually came with his friend Hermione Granger, and the two narrowly escaped death at Voldemort's hands.

Background
By late 1997, Harry Potter and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were searching for the Horcruxes of Lord Voldemort in an attempt to defeat him once and for all. They had obtained Salazar Slytherin's locket in September by infiltrating the Ministry, but the negative energy within the locket caused Ron to abandon his friends when they had difficulty deciding what their next move should be. Hermione remained with Harry.

Eventually, Hermione brought up the fact that her copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which Albus Dumbledore left to her in his will, contained a symbol that she recalled Xenophilius Lovegood wearing to the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour that summer. Viktor Krum had seen it and claimed it was a mark of the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald. Unsure what that meant, Harry and Hermione turned their focus to going to Godric's Hollow. Harry wanted to see his parents’ graves; Hermione had previously argued that they should not go because Voldemort would expect it and probably set up a trap. She changed her mind because she suspected that Godric Gryffindor's Sword – one of the only known items able to destroy a Horcrux – might be there.

The two also knew that Bathilda Bagshot, an elderly historian who wrote about the history of the village, still lived there and had known James and Lily Potter. Thus, the two believed that Dumbledore may have given the Sword to Bathilda to give to Harry, as they previously overheard goblins Griphook and Gornuk discussing how the sword Severus Snape sent to Gringotts from Hogwarts was a fake.

The Potters’ Graves
Hermione, still suspicious that Voldemort had set up a trap for Harry where his parents died, held off going for a week in order to plan. They practiced Apparating and Disapparating while under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak together and surreptitiously obtained hairs from Muggles who were Christmas shopping in order to make Polyjuice Potion. After Apparting to the village, they disguised themselves and made their way through the settlement under the Cloak.

Harry and Hermione passed the war memorial to his parents, which depicted the Potters with their infant son, and walked through the graveyard. There, they spotted the graves of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore as well as that of Ignotus Peverell, which caught Hermione’s attention as it bore the same symbol that was on her book and worn by Xenophilius Lovegood.

At last, they found the graves of James and Lily Potter, and Hermione conjured flowers for Harry to place on their graves. They also found a sign near the ruins of the Potters’ home to commemorate what occurred there, with magical graffiti on it with supportive messages for Harry.

Bathilda Bagshot
Harry and Hermione then realized that they were being stared at by a very old woman, who was able to see them despite their being under the Invisibility Cloak. She beckoned for them to follow her, and nodded when Harry asked her if she was Bathilda Bagshot. They followed her into a dark, dirty house that smelled like rotting meat. Harry also spotted a photography of a “golden-haired, merry-faced” young man he recognized as having been the thief of Gregorovitch’s wand and an old friend of Dumbledore’s, pictured in The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. He would later learn this was Gellert Grindelwald, Bathilda’s nephew.

Despite persistent questioning, Bathilda did not say anything to Harry or Hermione, instead beckoning for Harry to follow her upstairs. Hermione reluctantly remained behind as Harry followed the old witch upstairs. Once there, she asked him if he was “Potter”, and when he confirmed that he was, he felt the locket Horcrux around his neck start to pulse faster. It was not until later that Harry would realize she was speaking in Parseltongue to him. He then felt his scar prickle and a cold voice say “hold him”. The moment Harry turned away, Voldemort’s snake familiar Nagini came out of the old woman’s body.

"…she moved weirdly: He saw it out of the corner of his eye; panic made him turn and horror paralyzed him as he saw the old body collapsing and the great snake pouring from the place where her neck had been."

- Description of Nagini revealing herself

Before Harry could use any spell, Nagini bit his forearm, sending his wand flying. She then knocked him to the floor and began to coil around him to hold him in place. However, Hermione heard noises from below and ran upstairs, repelling the snake from Harry.

Escape
"He’s coming! Hermione, he’s coming!"

- Harry shouting Voldemort’s imminent arrival

Hermione managed to keep the snake at bay with several curses, and Nagini smashed much of the furniture in the room. Harry pulled Hermione across the bed away from the snake and Hermione used a Blasting Curse against Nagini as Harry pulled them both out of the broken window. They Disapparated in the air just as Voldemort arrived.

Aftermath
Hermione took them to the Forest of Dean, while Harry was overcome with pain and visions of Voldemort’s attack on his parents and him in 1981. She used a Severing Charm to remove the locket from Harry and healed the snake bite with Dittany. Harry’s wand was also revealed to be broken beyond repair, probably as a result of Hermione’s ricocheting Blasting Curse. He would share the use of Hermione’s wand until Ron returned to them with spare wands.

Soon after, Hermione showed Harry Rita Skeeter’s book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore and they realized that the wizard in the picture was Gellert Grindelwald, and that he had been friends with Dumbledore. This was the beginning of Harry and his friends’ discovery of Dumbledore’s past and of the existence of the Deathly Hallows.