White Tomb

"Hogwarts should be Dumbledore's final resting place."

The White Tomb is the only grave at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Located on the shores of the lake, it is the final resting place of the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who willingly gave his life in the service of the Order of the Phoenix fighting Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters in the course of the First and Second Wizarding War.

History

1997

Books chapterart hbp 30 — Dumbledore's tomb

"No Headmaster has ever done so much for us."

— Rubeus Hagrid on Albus Dumbledore^[src]

It was Dumbledore's wish to be laid to rest in Hogwarts' grounds, and his supporters, friends, and colleagues ensured that his wish was carried out. Despite the fact that no other Headmasters or Headmistresses had ever been laid to rest at Hogwarts before, the Ministry respected Dumbledore's wishes due to his great standing in the wizarding community. During his funeral, directly after a man gave his eulogy, his body was encased in bright white flames that gave off smoke in strange patterns, and Harry Potter thought he saw the form of a phoenix fly out of the blaze. When it subsided, Dumbledore was closed in this tomb.

1998

Screenshot 2013-05-28-16-40-14 — Voldemort breaks into the tomb

"...or from breaking into your tomb."

— Harry Potter on Lord Voldemort^[src]

In 1998, Lord Voldemort, during his search for the Elder Wand, demanded the location of the wand from Gellert Grindelwald in his cell in Nurmengard prison. Grindelwald refused to tell him anything, possibly out of a desire not to see his old friend's grave desecrated, or as a sign of remorse for all the atrocities he committed earlier in his life. However, Voldemort eventually deduced that Dumbledore had won the Elder Wand from Grindelwald, who himself stole it from Gregorovitch. Voldemort flew to Hogwarts and used his own wand to crack open the White Tomb from head to foot, and then removed the sheets from around Dumbledore's body, allowing him to take the wand within, which had been buried with its owner. He did not realise that Harry Potter had won the allegiance of the wand from Draco during a skirmish in the Malfoy Manor not long before.

Following Voldemort's death on May 2 at the conclusion of the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter, the one who had slain Voldemort utilising his mastership of the Elder Wand, returned the wand to the White Tomb, restoring it and ensuring Dumbledore's resting place would remain undisturbed.

Behind the scenes

Instead of being located at the shores of the Black Lake, the White Tomb is located on an island in the lake which is where Voldemort breaks in the tomb at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
The island where the White Tomb is located on the movies can be seen during a shot where the camera zooms into Hogwarts Castle in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) and in a scene between Harry and Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Originally, Alfonso Cuarón, who directed the third film, was going to include a graveyard on the Hogwarts grounds. J. K. Rowling rejected this idea, seeing as the White Tomb is the only grave located at the school.