Frank Bryce

Fifty years ago, Frank was arrested for the murder of the Riddle family. He insisted again and again that he was innocent, but it wasn't until the report on the Riddles' bodies was released, which stated that the Riddles had not been obviously harmed (as far as the coroners could tell), that he was released. Frank claimed to have seen a pale, dark-haired teenage boy, a stranger, near the house on the day of the murder but the police did not believe him.

Frank remained at the Riddle House after the police were forced to release him. He stayed to tend the garden for the next families who came to live in the Riddle House, although neither family stayed long. The present owner of the house does not live there, but continues to pay Frank to do the gardening.

Frank is woken one summer night by his bad leg, which is hurting him more is his old age. Standing at the sink in his kitchen, Frank sees lights glimmering in the upper windows of the Riddle House, and thinks that some boys have broken into the house again, and have started a fire. He has had a deep mistrust of the police ever since the death of the Riddle family so he makes his way to the house alone to investigate.

Frank lets himself into the kitchen of the Riddle House, and moves towards the main hall in the dark. The thick layer of dust on the stairs muffles the sound of his feet and walking stick, and he climbs the stairs to the landing. A door at the end of the passage is ajar, and Frank sees through the narrow gap that a fire has been lit in the grate. He can hear two voices, one cold and high-pitched, the other timid and fearful, and listens to their conversation. The more he overhears, the more confused Frank becomes - he hears references to 'Quidditch', a word he does not recognise, and 'Ministry of Magic'. When Frank realises that the man with the cold voice has murdered a woman, he knows he must go to the police, but remains where he is, frozen to the spot as he listens. He is paralysed with fear when a giant snake passes him in the passageway, entering the room. When the men realise that Frank is there, he is beckoned into the room; though deeply shaken, he takes a firm grip on his walking stick and limps over the threshold. He valiantly stands up to the man with the cold voice, although he cannot see his face as the man is seated in an armchair which Frank can only see the back of. Frank screams in horror when the thing in the chair that Frank had assumed was a man, finally reveals itself. He screams so loudly that he never hears the words uttered by it. There is a rushing sound and a flash of green light and Frank crumples, dead even before he hits the floor.