Little Hangleton

> "*Harry could see a village, undoubtably Little Hangleton, nestled between two steep hills, its church and graveyard clearly visible. Across the valley on the opposite hillside, was a handsome manor house surrounded by a wide expanse of velvety green lawn.*"
> ― Description[source]
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**Little Hangleton** is a small village in England, within which the most prominent family was formerly the Riddles. The village is six miles away from the larger community of Great Hangleton and is about 200 miles away from Little Whinging. The pure-blood wizarding family, the Gaunts, lived just outside Little Hangleton in a shack.

## Notable Places

### The Riddle House

> "*It stood on a hill overlooking the village, some of its windows boarded, tiles missing from its roof, and ivy spreading unchecked over its face. Once a fine-looking manor, and easily the largest and grandest building for miles around, the Riddle House was now damp, derelict, and unoccupied.*"
> ― Description of the house[source]
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The Riddle House was the home of the snobbishly unpopular Riddle family, who were Muggles, in the early twentieth century. It was the largest house in town, and the Riddles were wealthy, owning much of the land around. The son of the Riddles was Tom Riddle Senior, who was bewitched by peasant witch Merope Gaunt with a love spell in 1926, leading to the conception of Tom Marvolo Riddle, who would come to be known as Lord Voldemort. Once Merope removed the love spell, Tom Riddle Senior immediately left and paid no regard to Merope or their unborn son. Merope died in childbirth and Tom Riddle Jr was placed in an orphanage.

Voldemort killed his father, paternal grandfather, and grandmother in the house in 1943, and framed his maternal uncle Morfin Gaunt for the crime. After the murder of the Riddles, the house changed hands many times. By 1994, it was said in the village that the wealthy man who owned it neither lived there nor put it to any use, owning it for ambiguous 'tax reasons'. The only permanent resident during that time period was Frank Bryce, the Riddles' gardener, who was kept on by the house's subsequent owners.

In the summer of 1994, after Peter Pettigrew escaped from Hogwarts and found the semi-corporeal Voldemort, the two wizards returned to the Riddle house to plan for Voldemort's return to power. Whilst in the house, they plotted to have the Triwizard Cup turned into a Portkey to the local churchyard, and set into motion a plan which would end with Harry Potter captured. When Frank Bryce discovered Pettigrew and Voldemort in the house and inadvertently overheard them discussing their plans, Voldemort murdered him and fed him to Nagini.

### The Gaunt Shack

> "*"It was a few seconds before Harry’s eyes discerned the building half-hidden amongst the tangle of trunks. It seemed to him a very strange location to choose for a house, or else an odd decision to leave the trees growing nearby, blocking all light and the view of the valley below. He wondered whether it was inhabited; its walls were mossy and so many tiles had fallen off the roof that the rafters were visible in places. Nettles grew all around it, their tips reaching the windows, which were tiny and thick with grime.*"
> ― Harry Potter's impression of the Gaunt shack [source]
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On the outskirts of Little Hangleton lived the Gaunts, the last direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin. Years of inbreeding made the family violent and unstable, and left them in poverty. There were frequently many snakes about the property, as the Gaunts were all Parselmouths, like their ancestor.

The townspeople gossiped about the Gaunts and thought they were mad, while the Gaunts in turn considered the Muggles who lived nearby beneath them. Marvolo Gaunt died alone in the shack, after he and his son Morfin were briefly imprisoned in Azkaban, and his daughter Merope married Tom Riddle Snr and left for London. The Gaunt shack was also the hiding place of Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, which Voldemort took from his uncle and turned into a Horcrux after he murdered his paternal relatives. Years later, Albus Dumbledore visited the shack when he was seeking out Voldemort's Horcruxes, and found and ultimately destroyed the ring hidden under the rotting floorboards. A year later, when Voldemort realised that Harry Potter was seeking out his Horcruxes, he immediately returned to the shack first, believing it was the least safe, and was furious when he saw the floorboards torn open and the ring gone.

### The graveyard

The local cemetery of Little Hangleton was the burial place for various members of the Riddle family, including Tom Riddle Senior. It was also the site of Lord Voldemort's rebirth. The Triwizard Cup, turned into a Portkey by disguised Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr, transported Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory there in June of 1995. Peter Pettigrew killed Cedric on Voldemort's orders, and Harry's blood was then used as part of a Dark ritual to reconstitute a body for Voldemort, along with Tom Riddle Senior's bones. The Dark Lord then called his servants to him with Pettigrew's Dark Mark, thus reviving the Death Eaters, and engaged in a duel with Harry. Because of Priori Incantatem, Harry managed to escape Voldemort and return to Hogwarts with Cedric's body.

The ritual which Voldemort and Pettigrew performed in the Little Hangleton graveyard would also play a role in Voldemort's ultimate fall from power. By taking in some of Harry's blood - blood which carried the magical protection from his mother, who sacrificed herself for him when he was an infant - Voldemort anchored Harry's life to his own. This would allow Harry to survive the Killing Curse Voldemort struck him with during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, destroying the Horcrux within Harry and setting the stage for their final duel.

### The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man is a local pub, in which many townspeople gossiped about the Riddle murders. Since the Riddles were slain with the Killing Curse, the Muggle authorities could not determine the cause of death, and many people suspected that Frank Bryce had murdered them.

### Frank Bryce's cottage

This cottage, bordering the Little Hangleton graveyard, was the permanent residence of Frank Bryce. It was from here that he saw lights from the Riddle House in 1994, and - thinking it to be local children causing mischief - investigated, leading to his death.

## Known residents

* Frank Bryce
* Dot
* Rod Freddy
* The Gaunts
* The Riddles
* The Riddles' cook
* The Riddles' maid
* The local barman

## Etymology

*Hangleton* derives from "hangle", an iron pothook and "*-ton*", a suffix meaning "town" and which is thus often used in the names of municipalities.