Bathilda Bagshot's House

• Type: Residence
• Location: Godric's Hollow, England
• Owner/Residents: Bathilda Bagshot; later occupied by Nagini under the control of Lord Voldemort.
• Key Features: A small, old cottage filled with extreme filth and the palpable presence of Dark Magic during its final occupation.

The house of Bathilda Bagshot was a small cottage located in the wizarding village of Godric's Hollow. For many years, it served as the home of the celebrated magical historian, Bathilda Bagshot, where she presumably wrote her seminal work, A History of Magic. The house was also the location where Rita Skeeter conducted interviews with Bathilda—likely through the use of Veritaserum—for her scandalous biography, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. Sometime before Christmas of 1997, Lord Voldemort murdered Bathilda Bagshot. He then used her corpse as a grotesque disguise for his Horcrux, the snake Nagini, turning the once-respectable home into a trap for Harry Potter. When Harry Potter and Hermione Granger visited the house on Christmas Eve, 1997, they found it in a state of extreme squalor. The air was thick with the smell of dust, unwashed clothes, and a faint, sweetish, rotting odour that Harry later associated with Dark Magic. The cottage was dark and cluttered with stacks of books, old copies of the Daily Prophet, and congealed food on dirty plates. The only light came from a few stubby candles and the wands of the visitors, revealing dust motes swirling in the air.

Bathilda Bagshot's house is the setting for a pivotal and terrifying confrontation in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Seeking information about Albus Dumbledore and hoping she might be safeguarding the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry and Hermione followed the woman they believed to be Bathilda into her home. Inside, “Bathilda” led Harry upstairs to a bedroom, separating him from Hermione. There, she revealed her true form as Nagini and attacked Harry. The ensuing struggle was desperate; Harry's holly and phoenix feather wand was broken by a ricocheting curse from Hermione, a significant loss that severed a tangible link to his past. During the attack, Harry's connection to Voldemort's mind gave him a terrifying vision of the Dark Lord's imminent arrival. Hermione managed to rescue Harry, blasting Nagini away and using Disapparition to escape just as Voldemort arrived. The encounter at the house was a devastating failure in their quest for the Horcruxes, resulting in the loss of Harry's wand and leaving them with more troubling questions about Dumbledore's past. Just before the attack, Harry noticed a photograph on a dressing table of the handsome, joyful young thief from his vision of Gellert Grindelwald stealing the Elder Wand, standing beside a young Albus Dumbledore, providing the first concrete link between the two powerful wizards.

• Living Room: The ground-floor room which visitors entered first. It was exceedingly dirty, with a grimy fireplace and piles of clutter. It was here that “Bathilda” communicated with Harry in Parseltongue, which he mistook for the hissing of an old woman.
• Upstairs Bedroom: A small, equally filthy room where “Bathilda” led Harry. It contained a dressing table with a dirty mirror and the photograph of Dumbledore and Grindelwald. This room was the primary location of Nagini's ambush.

In the film adaptation, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the scene is depicted with a heavy emphasis on suspense and horror. The interior of the house is dark and decrepit, building a tense atmosphere. The reveal of Nagini emerging from the decaying body of Bathilda Bagshot is a moment of graphic body horror created through visual effects. (film)