Cue No. 12

The low strings enter quietly under the scene at the moment the trio hears a noise in the next room over. Some playful music featuring woodwinds bounces around, as it is revealed that Mundungus has been caught by Kreacher and another house elf, both grabbing onto and dangling from him. They, along with the orchestra, fall to the floor. Hermione zaps Mundungus' wand from his hand to a small choreographed orchestral moment. 

The second house elf gets up on the table, and is revealed to be Dobby. His theme returns to the series for the first time since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), lightening the mood and providing a sense of nostalgia for old characters. Mundungus sits after they reach the other side of the room, and long dissonances in the strings are contrasted with low pizzicato notes in the cellos and basses. Repeated flute notes add to the sense of unease. 

Once he begins talking, the entire string section splits into 4 unison octaves and moves around with a quiet menace. The harp provides a conclusion to the sequence of notes, playing chords in downward motion. On the Daily Prophet, it is revealed that Umbridge is the one who has the real locket. A brief nod to her theme is played in unison woodwinds, then the scene quickly transitions to a London street the next morning. 

The music during this sequence is light and a bit punchy, similar to darker yet more playful scenes in Minority Report (2002). The strings are the main drivers of this scene with some percussion, harp, and celesta to decorate the ends of phrases. Once all three ministry workers that the trio need for Polyjuice potion are safely unconscious, a dissonant bassline moves underneath minor chords in the upper strings as the trio preps to take their respective potion doses. The strings join into a unison series of throbbing notes, and oboe comes in with an extended pickup note.

Once off to the ministry, the oboe leads a reworked version of the original music that accompanied this same journey in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2020). This provides a moment of awkward comedy, which is rare this late in the series. Dissonant strings return again under Harry and Ron's conversation in the toilets as they work out how entering the ministry will work. A small woodwind and percussion moment ends the playful tone on the shot where Harry steps into the toilet bowl and flushes himself in. 

Inside the Ministry of Magic, another reworked sequence that returns is the original entrance music from Order of the Phoenix (2020). This version delves right into the Ministry theme though, and the motoric elements are more insistent and robust. It settles down under the dialogue and slows down when they approach the lifts. There is a sudden stop when the door is held open by Yaxley, a new Ministry villain. Woodwinds slither around as he speaks to the man that Ron is disguised as, taunting him regarding a situation Ron knows nothing about. The trio realizes quickly they have gotten into something quite over their heads.