Jonathon Kerney was a well-to-do historian and a life-long citizen of the town of Godric’s Hollow. He was very tall and slender, and resented those who were not. His hair was a darker shade of blond and he had vivid blue eyes. He was very intimidating to those who feared him, but had a wonderful and vivacious personality to those that were his friends. He lived in one of the largest houses in the town, on a short but wide hill just south of the town. It was admired as one of the finest manors in the country, and people from as far away as New Zealand would fly into the small landing strip on the outskirts of town to view it.
Although Jonathon knew his town like the back of his hand, there were many things that no one knew, and he was thirsty to get his hands on this knowledge (more than likely to receive grants from the government and by himself a new extension to the manor). There were many mysteries yet to be solved about the town. They included many alleged sightings and catching of what the witnesses described as a “flying gilded walnut.” It supposedly flew at hundreds of miles per hour and would evade capture to all of its ability. However, the most mysterious legend of his was divided into two parts.
In the early years of this town, a slender and dark-haired man came to this town in the north-west of England, only a few miles from the Irish Sea. He had bright green eyes and dark, deep red hair. He was always dressed very differently than the rest of the town, with long, black robes with a roaring lion, crouched on his hind legs, engraved in the center near his chest, and two distinctive bright gold and red birds surrounding the lion. He presented a very fierce look upon his face at times, and was rumored to carry a stick in his right hand at times, about eleven inches in length. Those who got a very close look at it had said that it seemed to be made of holly wood. And, according to public records, his name was Godric “Griffin Door.”
But the most unrealistic legend about this man was that he was a magician, and a highly accomplished one at that. There had been reports of him doing many things, such as disappearing in one place and instantly re-appearing in another. Also, he had been known to have things fly to him from across town.
One day, however, the residents of this small town were completely baffled and astonished more than ever before. Upon shutting down his pub one late night, a young Spanish man by the name of Invenio Specialis starred to the north towards a tall but narrow hill to see the top covered with fog. This didn’t seem right, as it was a warm and clear August night. He decided to take a midnight hike to investigate. There was no clear path to the top, and it was covered with thick shrubbery and tall grass. He could not see how people had climbed this before, as they always had said that a clearly defined trail led to the top. Invenio had thought that he had one too many brandies at first, but then remembered that he hadn’t drunken a sip for hours. At this point, he completely accepted that something was going on that was abnormal.
After several hours of climbing and many instances of being stuck, he finally made it to the top. He looked around and saw that it was almost morning, the sun beginning to rise. Directly in front of him the clouds seemed to be many brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow. As he turned around, despite the fact that the sun was to the east and he should see the same as when he looked forward, he saw a very different scene. It was very gloomy, and instead of the warming colors he had just witnessed, the sky looked almost green and the clouds silver.
As he looked forward and to the right, he saw something that was amazing; a splendid manor was standing hundreds of feet tall, decorated in the same colors as the sky in front of him. In was all stone and several towers stood in the middle of it. He blinked. Just several seconds earlier, this area was covered in fog and last night, it had just been a blank hilltop. He turned around, and peered to the south. On another hill, shorter but wider and on the opposite side of town, another mansion, almost just as splendid appeared. Invenio sprinted down the hill at top speed to alert the Lord Mayor.
Later that day, the town had gathered around the hills. The mayor was gawking at the north hill and kept repeating in a monotonous voice, “But the houses! They just got there! What is wrong?”
That wondering would not do anything to protect them from events that happened just a few minutes later. All of a sudden a loud slithering noise occurred just after a small pop. A serpent slithered down from the south hill, into the town, and up north down the high street. It seemed to know very well where it was headed, and when one man jumped in front of it, the snake bit the man and kept slithering. That poor man howled, jumped for a few seconds, and then fell limp on the cobblestone. Meanwhile, on the north side of town, a roar was heard, and a huge lion came bursting down the tall hill, apparently in rage.
He bounded through the high street, and this time, no one bothered to get in its way. He roared louder than anyone had heard a lion roar before and pounced on the snake. The snake, quick and agile enough, just escaped the paw of the lion and slithered for its life. It appeared to slither behind Invenio’s pub. But the next thing to come out of behind the brick building was another unusually tall man. He had very dark hair, and a pale white, almost snake-like face. He winked, and when he did, his eyes seemed to flash scarlet. He was dressed the same as Godric, except with a green and silver snake on his robes. In a swish of his robes and a loud crack, he disappeared.
Of course, a few days later, it was found out that the “North Manor,” as the village called it, was inhabited by Godric himself and the south was still unknown. Godric was never able to give a straight answer about building his manor in no time, but admitted to owning the lion that attacked the snake, and the town was named after him. But, only a fortnight later, “Griffindoor” disappeared forever.
Jonathon had never believed this story, though. It was not because he didn’t believe in magic, but because he would have to believe that the snake slithered out of his manor. That was until one night, when he was forced to.
One hot and sticky July night, Jonathon just so happened to be walking up the high street to the north, towards the north hill and manor. The gold, red, and yellow estate had been owned by another rich couple, by the names of James and Lily Potter. They were always a friendly and kindly couple, except for the fact that they were always very quiet. When their son, Harry was born, however, the whole town knew about it due to the fact that a man had been eavesdropping at the time and repeated it as gossip to the whole town. But, only a few months ago, they had suddenly abandoned their manor, leaving almost everything behind. It was rumored that they dressed in robes, too, and were related to the legend of “Gryffindoor.”
Jonathon turned east off of the high street and onto Park Drive. It wasn’t cobblestone, but modern black asphalt. On the right he passed house number seven, then nine. On the left, something was missing. He passed number eight, but then twelve. There was no number ten. He thought to himself, “That is weird, but I’m sure that it is a coincidence.”
The coincidental theories ended soon, as a mouse crawled up the street. Suddenly, and without warning, the mouse started growing. It grew so quickly that it soon resembled a man. Jonathon wiped his eyes and saw that it was a man, but he looked startlingly like a fat, overgrown rat. There was a small pop, and another man appeared out of thin air, this time very tall with dark hair. When he turned around, facing the street, Jonathon ran for his life into Number seven’s shrubs. He saws that the tall man didn’t in the smallest degree look like a rat, but a snake. His face was as pale as a blank sheet of paper. He had a flat nose. Instead of eye balls, he had two dark, narrow slits. They were red. Both men were wearing black robes with hoods that were off at the moment.
“M-m-m-m-aster,” the rat-man said, “I am so pleased-d-d-d to s-s-s-eee y-y-y-ou.”
“I hope this chat to be just as pleasant as you mean it to be,” the master hissed, “I have waited a long time for this. Otherwise, I will be forced to murder you, Wormtail.”
“You w-w-w-w-w-on’t neeeeed to, master,” Wormtail stuttered.
“Stop stammering Wormtail. Crucio!”
At this, Wormtail screamed in pain.
“That will do, Wormtail”
“Yes, master.”
“Let’s get to the point. Where are they located?”
Wormtail pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket, and said in a much more confident voice, “The house of the Potters is located on Number 10 Park Drive, Godric’s Hollow.”
With that the rat-mat returned to his animal state, scurried off, turned into a man again at the end of the street, and with an extremely loud CRACK, disappeared.
The snake-man bounded up to the small, grassy area between numbers eight and twelve, pulled out a stick, pointed it at the gap and hissed quietly, “Show yourself, House of Potters, 10 Park Drive.”
All of a sudden, a large cottage of two stories blew up like a carnival moon-walk. The other houses seemed to take no notice. The snake-man ran up the driveway and banged on the wooden door. Jonathon ran up near him and hid in the Potter’s bushes. The door opened to reveal a tall, young man with an athletic build, and extremely untidy jet-black hair with bangs almost covering his eyes.
“Hello, Mr. Potter,” the snake-man hissed calmly.
“WORMTAIL!” James Potter screamed. His eyes seemed to flash red.
He slammed the door shut and Jonathon could make out his screams, “LILY!!! RUN!!! HE’S HERE! TAKE HARRY AND RUN!!!”
The snake man pulled out his stick, made a funny noise, and the door crumbled. In fact, the front of the house seemed to crumble.
Again, the snake man was face to face with Potter.
“Prongs,” he hissed.
All of a sudden, Prongs and the snake man seemed to be fighting like the lion and the serpent, by saying funny things and sending jets and flashed of light out their sticks. Finally, the snake-man screamed, “AVADA KEDAVRA!” There was a blinding flash of green light, a rushing sound. A high pitched laugh came from the crumbling structure, and Prongs said no more.
Jonathon dared entering the house. He could see James’ body lying limp on the tile floor, and the snake-man edging towards a startlingly beautiful, red-haired, green-eyed woman. Jonathon assumed this was Lily. She was holding a baby in her hands, who looked exactly like Prongs, except he had Lily’s eyes.
“Move away! Don’t kill Harry! You filthy murderer!” the woman shrieked.
“Get out of the way, Potter. And, don’t insult me, you filthy mudblood!”
“How dare you!”
“You can live! I wish you to join the Death Eaters. You have the attitude I wish my people had.”
"Never!"
“You can get out of the way! SPARE YOUR LIFE!!!”
“NEVER!!! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NONONO!!!”
“Move.”
A weird since of calmness and coldness filled the room, only to be replaced by more screams.
“Not Harry! Not Harry! Please “ I’ll do anything “”
“Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!”
“Never.”
“AVADA KEDAVRA!!!”
There was another flash of green light, another rushing sound, and Lily’s body lay limp with James’.
“Now young Potter. You look extraordinarily like Prongs. Except, you have your mother’s eyes. But, alas, I have no more time for you. AVADA KEDAVRA!!!”
This time, there was a flash of light, and it was green. But the rushing noise never came. Instead, there was another flash of light, this time red. A fireworks show of lights started to erupt inside the house. Then there was another shriek, but it was coming from the snake-man. Jonathon, forgetting common sense, sprinted into the room. There was a huge explosion. Voldemort’s body disappeared from the spot, and a large amount of smoke issued from the ground. Jonathon swore that he saw two red lights in the smoke. Harry was still alive, but he was glowing red. At the top of his forehead, a lightning bolt scar was aligning itself. But, the house started to creek, and finally gave way. Jonathon Kerney was killed after the brick chimney came toppling down on him.