Malfoy Manor
Located in Wiltshire, in the south of England, Malfoy Manor is a large and opulent house which has belonged for generations to one of the oldest aristocratic wizarding families in Britain [COS12]. The Malfoys' wealth and influence is infamous, as is their pure-blood mania and fascination for the Dark Arts. As such, Malfoy Manor contains a number of Dark Artifacts. The Ministry of Magic conducted a number of raids in search of these Artifacts, entering Malfoy Manor at least twice during the 1992-1993 school year [COS12], and again in 1997. At first the Ministry found nothing during these raids, but then they learned of a secret chamber under the drawing room floor where a number of "very valuable Dark Arts stuff" was hidden [COS12].
The entrance to the manor is blocked by a large wrought-iron gate. During Voldemort's residence at the mansion, these gates were engineered to allow those branded with a Dark Mark to pass through effortlessly [DH1]. However, anyone who came to call without a Mark would find the gates twist themselves into a face which demanded the visitors' purpose [DH23].
The entrance hallway of the manor has a floor of stone, which is largely covered with a magnificent carpet [DH1]. Many portraits, presumably of generations of Malfoys, adorn the walls. The drawing room, which served as Voldemort's meeting room, contains a marble fireplace, luxurious chairs, and even more portraits [DH1&23]. When Voldemort held his council of Death Eaters in the room, the normal furniture was pushed against the walls in favor of a large, ornate table. It was at one of these meetings that the room was the scene of the murder of Charity Burbage, the erstwhile Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts, whose body was then fed to Voldemort's snake Nagini. Above the scene hangs a crystal chandelier, which was released by Dobby and shattered on the floor as the House-Elf endeavored to help Harry and his friends escape the manor.
Malfoy Manor was owned by Death Eaters Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy. They lived here as a family until the summer of 1995, when Lucius was placed into Azkaban after being captured in the Department of Mysteries. Narcissa and Draco continued to live in Malfoy Manor while Lucius was imprisoned [OOTP36]. After Albus Dumbledore's murder and Voldemort's rise to power, the latter used the house as his headquarters, counting on his imposing presence there to punish the Malfoy family for their many errors in his service [DH1].
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were brought there as prisoners when they were captured by Snatchers. After Fenrir Greyback, the leader of the gang of Snatchers, brought the captives to the mansion, Bellatrix ordered that he lock them in the house's cellar, with the exception of Hermione, whom she planned to torture to determine if she and her friends had been inside the Lestranges' Gringotts vault.
The mansion's cellar also played host to a number of other captives, including Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Griphook the goblin, and longest of all, the wandmaker Ollivander. Though human Disapparition from the manor was impossible, Dobby was able to appear in the cellar, sent by Aberforth Dumbledore, who had seen Harry call for help in Sirius Black's Two-Way Mirror. The House-Elf transported Luna, Dean, and Ollivander to safety, with instructions to return to free the rest of the captives.
Upon hearing the noise of Dobby's Disappariton, the Malfoys sent Peter Pettigrew to investigate. As Pettigrew opened the cellar door to discover the disappearance of the captives, Harry and Ron leapt on him and disarmed him in a furious, silent struggle that cost Wormtail his life: when he was unconsciously compelled by his Life Debt to release his death grip on Harry, the silver hand he had been granted by Voldemort turned upon him and strangled him. Running upstairs, the duo almost managed to rescue Hermione and Griphook, but were stopped when Bellatrix held Hermione at knifepoint. It was at this point that Dobby returned and, releasing the chandelier to smash on the ground, caused a diversion that allowed all of the captives to escape unharmed, with the sad exception of Dobby, who was impaled by Bellatrix's knife as the group Disapparated [DH23].
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