Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

16

Chapter 16—Godric’s Hollow

Summary

Harry wakes the next morning hoping that the fight was a dream, but quickly sees Ron’s empty bunk. Hermione doesn’t speak to him as he gets out of bed. He has to keep reminding himself that Ron has left and isn’t returning—once they leave this camp, Ron won’t be able to locate them anyway. Hermione packs slowly, and keeps looking up as though she expects Ron to appear. They delay leaving an hour longer than they usually would. Finally, Hermione grabs Harry’s hand and Disapparates. Once they appear in a new location, she lets go of Harry’s hand, sits down on a nearby rock and begins to sob. Harry can’t comfort her; he’s too caught up in remembering Ron’s contempt for him before leaving. He casts the protective spells around the camp to save Hermione the trouble. She avoids bringing up Ron for the next few days, sensing Harry’s anger, but he hears her cry at night. Harry checks that Marauder’s Map, waiting to see Ron reappear at Hogwarts, but it never happens. He takes to staring at Ginny’s dot instead. He and Hermione keep trying to think of places where Dumbledore might have hidden the sword, but Harry is forced to concede that Ron was right—he was left with nothing to go on. Harry assumes that Hermione is going to leave soon, too.

Hermione brings out Phineas’ portrait most evenings. Despite his insistence that he would never visit them again, he does come back from time to time and consent to being blindfolded just to be able to talk to them. Harry can’t help but enjoy his visits for the extra company, though he and Hermione have to be careful not to say a bad word about Snape, since Phineas loves him. He gives them hints about the atmosphere at the school, indicating that Snape is coming up against a certain level of mutiny among some of the students, and that he brought back Umbridge’s rule about prohibiting large student gatherings. Harry figures that Ginny, Neville, and Luna are trying to continue Dumbledore’s Army. It makes Harry so homesick for Hogwarts that he briefly entertains the fantasy of going back and joining the students and trying to bring down Snape and letting other people be in charge. Then he remembers his title of Undesirable Number One. Phineas tries to slip in questions about their whereabouts once in a while—every time he does it, Hermione shoves him back into her bag and he refuses to appear for a few days.

The days gets colder, and they keep heading to more inhospitable climes to avoid detection. It’s nearing Christmas when, after a rare good meal where neither he nor Hermione have been wearing the locket, Harry tries to broach a subject only to get waylaid by Hermione’s research. It seems that there is a symbol in her copy of Beedle the Bard, one that has been drawn in the book, but it’s not a rune and she can’t find it in her Spellman’s Syllabary. Harry recognizes it as the symbol that Luna’s dad was wearing at the wedding, and tells her about what Krum said, how it’s Grindelwald’s mark. Hermione insists that she never heard word of Grindelwald using a mark in what she’s read about him, and wonders why this symbol would have been drawn in a book of children’s stories. Harry wonders why Scrimgeour didn’t notice it when the Ministry was checking the book before handing it over. Harry finally gets up the courage to try again and asks Hermione about going to Godric’s Hollow. This time her answer is unexpected—she agrees that they should go, thinking Dumbledore might have hidden the sword there. She points out that Godric’s Hollow was Gryffindor’s birthplace, which Harry did not know, and takes out her copy of History of Magic to look it up. She reads out the section on the Hollow, which talks of magical families banding together in certain communities around England for mutual protection once the Statute of Secrecy came about in 1689. Godric’s Hollow is one of the most famous of these locations.

Harry tells Hermione that Bathilda Bagshot also lives at Godric’s Hollow. Hermione considers this, then gasps so loud that Harry assumes they’re under attack. She puts it to Harry that perhaps Dumbledore gave the sword to Bathilda for safekeeping. Harry doesn’t think it all that likely, but is willing to go on possibility for the sake of getting to go there. Hermione starts making plans of how they might disguise themselves, but Harry is caught up in the idea of finally returning home for the very first time since his parents’ deaths. After Hermione goes to bed, he takes the photo album Hagrid gave him from her bag, and stares at the pictures of his parents. Hermione insists on a long prep period, obtaining new hairs for Polyjuice Potion and practicing Apparating under the Invisibility Cloak. Some time later, they take Polyjuice Potion and head to Godric’s Hollow under the Cloak. Hermione begins to panic about the footprints they’ll leave in the snow, but Harry suggests they take off the Cloak and walk around unhindered. They make it to the town square, and Hermione realizes that it’s Christmas Eve. She points to the graveyard behind the church and suggests that Harry’s parents would likely be buried there. As Hermione pulls him across the square to take him there, she stops at the foot of what appeared to be a war memorial. But as they pass the obelisk, it transforms into a statue of baby Harry and his parents.