Godric's Hollow

"Cottages stood on either side of the narrow road... A short way ahead a golden glow of streetlights indicated the center of the village."

- Description of the vllage

Godric's Hollow is a village in the West Country of England. It is a small community, which centres on a village square with only a church, a post office, a pub, and a few retail shops. The residential streets are lined with quaint cottages, and an area called Church Lane that leads up to the church.

Godric's Hollow has been inhabited by a number of notable wizarding families. The Dumbledore family and Bathilda Bagshot both resided in the village. It is perhaps most famous as where Harry Potter and his parents lived when he was a baby, where they were murdered, and Lord Voldemort met his first downfall. Thus, the village is notable as the place where Harry Potter became known as "The Boy Who Lived". Despite this, Harry did not visit until Christmas of 1997. According to A History of Magic, the graveyard is rumoured to be haunted. At any time it is forbidden to park in Godric's Hollow between 1 May to 30 September.

History


In A History of Magic, Bathilda Bagshot writes that Godric's Hollow is one of a number of villages where wizards settled in relatively large numbers after the ratification of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1689. It appears that the Dumbledore family moved to Godric's Hollow when Albus Dumbledore's father Percival was imprisoned. Albus and his mother Kendra, sister Ariana, and brother Aberforth lived here, until Kendra's and Ariana's deaths. At the time, Bathilda Bagshot was their neighbour.

Godric's Hollow was famed as the birthplace of Godric Gryffindor, and also as the final resting place of at least one of the Peverell family.

Duel between Grindelwald, Albus, and Aberforth
In 1899, a three-way duel broke out between Gellert Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore, and Aberforth Dumbledore. The duel took place after Aberforth angered Grindelwald. Ariana Dumbledore, about 14 years old at the time, tried to help but did not know what she was doing and was inadvertently killed.

Murder of the Potters
"All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en ten years ago. You was just a year old."

- Overview of Voldemort entering Godric's Hallow



Having been told half of the prophecy by Severus Snape, Voldemort came to believe his mortal enemy to be Harry Potter. After being given the Potters location by a trusted friend of the family (Peter Pettigrew) he traveled to the Potters' home in Godric's Hollow. On 31 October, 1981, James and Lily Potter were murdered by Lord Voldemort in their home as they tried to protect their son. Voldemort lost his powers and physical form when he tried to murder infant Harry, due to Lily's loving sacrifice. James and Lily's bodies were laid to rest in the Godric's Hollow graveyard. Their tombstone reads, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."



A statue was later erected at the centre of the village square in Godric's Hollow in memory of James and Lily Potter and a dedication to Harry Potter. It's unknown exactly when it was erected and it can be assumed it was commissioned by the wizarding population of the hallow and the wizarding community of Great Britain.

From a distance, it appears as an obelisk, carved with the names of people who died in a war (presumably Muggle casualties of World War I or World War II). While Muggles can see only this obelisk, a witch or wizard can see that the memorial changes into a statue of a family as he or she approaches: James, Lily, and an infant Harry Potter (who looks content in his mothers arms). It was also said by Harry Potter that in winter time when snow gathers on the statues heads that the carvings appear to be wearing white fur hats.

Harry's visit and Nagini's attack
"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 regarding Voldemort's motive



Harry Potter and Hermione Granger visited Godric's Hollow in 1997 to find Bathilda Bagshot, in the hope that she had the Sword of Gryffindor, which they needed to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. Harry first had the idea that he needed to visit Godric's Hollow following the death of Albus Dumbledore, simply getting a feeling that he needed to go there. While there, Harry visited both his parents' graves and their former home, which, according to the sign that had been set in the ground outside of the house, had been preserved in "its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family."



This sign had been graffitied over the years with names and messages of support for Harry. The house, like the statue, had been made invisible to Muggles. During the same visit, they were attacked by Nagini, disguised as Bathilda Bagshot. Lord Voldemort had previously murdered Bathilda and used Dark Magic to conceal Nagini within her corpse. She could not speak, however, except in Parseltongue and communicated mainly through gesturing.



After Nagini lured Harry away from Hermione and verified his identity, she telepathically contacted Voldemort, who told her to hold him. However, Hermione intervened, blasting the snake away and Disapparating with Harry just as Voldemort arrived. During the struggle, Harry's wand was inadvertently broken by Hermione's miscast curse. He was therefore required to use a new wand for the remainder of the hunt.

Apperance
"Behind the church, row upon row of snowy tombstones protruded from a blanket of pale blue that was flecked with dazzling red, gold, and green wherever the reflections from the stained glass hit the snow."

- Description of the church and graveyard



The hollow is described as being quaint. There is a narrow road with look-a-like cottages that reside on either side of it. There is streetlights at the center of the village indicating it as the square. There is also a little church Parish Church of St. Clementine and loctaed behind it is the village's graveyard. The graveyard was described as having row upon row of tombstones, some very old. The headstones show members of different wizarding families that are buried there, such as an Abbott and Ignotus Peverell.

Wizarding population
Bathilda Bagshot's note that Godric's Hollow is the home of a relatively large number of wizards does not indicate that it is a purely Wizarding village; in fact, Hogsmeade village is the only purely Wizarding village in Britain. As such, wizard residents of Godric's Hollow must still avoid open use of magic to avoid disturbing the Muggle residents of the village. This is why the monuments to the Potter family must be hidden: the sculpture of the family appears to be an ordinary cenotaph except at certain angles, and presumably only wizards can see it at all.

Similarly, the Potter cottage on the edge of the village is charmed to be invisible to Muggles. One must assume that a charm similar to the one that hides 12 Grimmauld Place must be in use at the latter site, to prevent Muggles from trying to build on the apparently empty lot as the village grows. Given the Dumbledore family experience with Muggles, it is a little surprising that the family chose to settle at Godric's Hollow rather than Hogsmeade. However, it is possible that there was some family history that connected the family to this village; and it seems likely that the Dumbledore family chose to live in a part of the village that was primarily wizard-occupied.

Residents
Godric's Hollow is one of the places where magical families have come to live alongside Muggles. Over the centuries, it has been home to many wizards and witches of note, including Godric Gryffindor, who was born there, and Bowman Wright who forged the first Golden Snitch there in the Middle Ages.

Others who called the village home were the Dumbledore family, the family of James and Lily Potter and Bathilda Bagshot. Ignotus Peverell, pure-blood ancestor of Harry Potter, was born and subsequently buried at Godric's Hollow. It is rumoured that many people (of whom were Muggles) who lived in Godric's Hollow were sacrificed by wizards to Lord Voldemort.

Places of interests

 * Potter cottage: Home of James, Lily, and Harry Potter. Partly destroyed after Voldemort's attack in 1981, it had been left in its ruined state and made invisible to Muggles, as a monument to the Potters and to Voldemort's first downfall.
 * Potter memorial: A statue depicting James and Lily Potter holding baby Harry.
 * Bathilda Bagshot's home: The house of Bathilda Bagshot. Nagini attacks Harry and Hermione there in 1997.
 * Dumbledore's home: Home of the Dumbledore family before the death of Ariana Dumbledore.
 * Graveyard: The local cemetery has among others, the graves of the Potter, Dumbledore and Peverell families.
 * Parish Church of St. Clementine: The local church.
 * Church Lane: The area of Godric's Hollow that leads up to Clementine Church.

Behind the scenes

 * In a The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore prop for the first part of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, "Godric's Hollow" is poorly transcribed as "Godlike's Hollow".
 * Godric's Hollow, then called Dark's Hallow, was the subject of the first line J. K. Rowling ever wrote for the Harry Potter series, not including preliminary notes.
 * According to Harry Potter, after reading a gravestone it appears that some soldiers might have lived and died in Godric's Hollow as a the said gravestone reads "They gave their life so others might live."
 * In the first part of the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, there is a challenge level ("The Streets of Godric's Hollow") in which Harry and Hermione have to rescue Undesirables and Muggle-borns that Snatchers are keeping under arrest in different places around the town.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * Quidditch Through the Ages
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
 * Pottermore

Notes and references
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