Cues No. 29 & 30

The strings sneak in under the conversation as things turn sinister. Suddenly Xenophilius' intentions do not seem so clear. As the attention turns to Harry's scar, the 3-note motif comes in, and finally resolves to a minor chord. The timpani pulses and crescendos until Xenophilius says Voldemort's name. 

Suddenly, Death Eaters converge on the Lovegood home. Their theme arrives in the low end of the orchestra, then horns and trumpets give a grand statement. Fast moving orchestration moves around in a flurry as the Death Eaters begin to attack the house. The trio reaches for each other and apparate before the house collapses, to the sound of a big cymbal crash and trumpet crescendo. 

In the woods far from Xenophilius' house, the trio is safe. Low strings hold alongside midrange shivers. High strings respond to the long dread from the opposite side of the tonal spectrum. The bass then returns as the Snatchers appear. Brass instruments crescendo as the trio makes a run for it. 

In 5/4 time, the cellos begin a fast motif, trading off with the timpani to create an urgent and uneven texture. This continues until a wide shot of the trio running towards camera, were the Trio Theme plays loudly in the horns in a sort of "battle mode," accompanied by a hurried orchestra. The horns then play a version of Hedwig's Theme used in the Burrow Attack from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2021). This version is accompanied by the same woodwind arpeggios and long string chords. 

Ron gets captured and falls down the hill. On the cut to Harry, who is still on the run, another asymmetric meter plays with percussion hits and off-beat jabs. This releases into a 5/4 time version of chase music used in The Third Task from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2019) and The Department of Mysteries from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2020). 

As Hermione runs down the hill, she stops and realizes there is no getting away. The music stops with her, and she turns to Harry. The orchestra snaps with her spell, then stops completely as Harry hits the ground. Harry begins to have another vision, and the Deathly Hallows Theme comes in. 

Voldemort has found Grindelwald. The 3-note motif enters as he interrogates him regarding the location of the Elder Wand. There are flashes of Dumbledore, and the muted horn section plays the Fawkes B Theme. The orchestra fades out, leaving just the low strings. Back in the woods, Harry tells Hermione that Voldemort knows where the Elder Wand is. The 3-note and Deathly Hallows Theme play once more, then the Snatchers catch up with them.  

Dissonant upper strings come in as they begin checking names. The Deathly Hallows Theme plays once more in the flute, this time distorted as the future of their mission is now unknown. The Ministry Theme sneaks up from the low strings, then, at the sight of Harry's scar, the head Snatcher realizes they will not be going to the Ministry. Harp plucks under a clarinet triad, then strings dissonantly enter one at a time, setting up the cut to their true destination: Malfoy Manor. 

----

On the shot moving towards Malfoy Manor, minor chords are accompanied by arpeggios in the strings. Once the Snatchers are revealed to be guiding the trio towards the gates, a stern march begins. Bellatrix approaches the gate from the other side, and her theme plays in the woodwinds while the low end of the orchestra plays the Death Eater Theme. When the scar is revealed, a 3-Note Motif plays, but mimicking the opening of Hedwig's Theme at the same time. 

Inside the mansion, low strings, colored with contrabass clarinet and contrabassoon, grumble and snarl. Draco is instructed to identify Harry, and his theme plays for the first time in this film. While they wait for him to tell whether or not it is Harry, a quintet of wind instruments slowly adds dissonance and anticipation one by one. High strings contribute tension, and the middle texture is filled out with clusters in the piano, harp, and flutes. Cellos play a turn figure until Bellatrix sees the sword of Gryffindor in the hands of one of the Snatchers. She freezes in terror, and asks where he got it. 

The orchestra snaps into action as Bellatrix attacks several of the Snatchers in a rage. A ratchet and muted trumpets come to the forefront of the texture. As she finishes taking them out, woodwinds play more clusters, and bass drum thuds violently underneath. A start-and-stop motoric motion begins in the strings as they take Harry and Ron to the basement. Wormtail appears from below, and the Peter Pettigrew Motif is played by the harpsichord in its normal form. Back upstairs, horns play Bellatrix's motif and strings trill anxiously as she confronts Hermione.   

Pettigrew's Motif plays once again as he walks back up the stairs. There is silence as the strings hold a very high and very low note quietly, creating an expanse for a celesta and piccolo figure to accompany Ron's use of the deluminator. The english horn plays a nervous and lonely theme for Luna as she appears from behind a pillar. The last note of her theme is distorted by pitch-bent trumpets, as upstairs, Bellatrix is now torturing Hermione. 

Muted horns once again play Bellatrix's Theme as she continues trying to get information out of Hermione, then after she screams, the boys hear them echoing into the basement. The strings begin to play a desperate lament, quoting parts of the music from the prologue. Their journey has come this far and now they do not know what to do. Harry looks into his mirror shard at the mysterious man on the other side and begs for help.

The motoric figure comes back, but is not transformed into the Pettigrew Motif, which is answered in the harpsichord then varied once again. As Wormtail takes Griphook up the stairs, a snippet from the Gringotts music heard in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) plays in the horn and trumpet, recalling the goblins who run the bank and guard the vaults there.  

Suddenly, Dobby appears. Pizzicato cellos and basses play the beginning of his theme, then woodwinds play variations on his B material. Dobby's explains his plan to everyone, and as they all decide it is the best option, the strings swell, playing Dobby's main theme. As Pettigrew returns again, the pulsing continues until he is struck from behind. There is a trill that holds in the celesta, then a pizzicato in the low strings to accompany his "thud" on the floor. Harry and Ron look up the stairs, and Dobby is at the top. His theme plays once again, this time in the brass. 

As Harry and Ron sneak up the stairs, the Snitch flies out of one of the unconscious Snatcher's pockets. Harry quickly grabs it, and the whimsical trills that accompanied it are quickly snuffed out. Low strings invade the texture as Bellatrix presses Griphook for information regarding how the sword left her vault. 

Hermione is badly wounded on the floor, and she notices a hair falling towards her. Chromatic celesta and harp descend with it, then the camera pans over to her arm, where Bellatrix has carved the word "Mudblood". As Bellatrix continues her attempts to pry information out of Griphook, the string section expands, waiting for something to happen. 

Ron decides to reveal that they have escaped, and runs out towards Bellatrix and the Malfoys. The full orchestra releases the tension into a flurry of battle and excitement. It does not last long though, as Hermione is now at the end of Bellatrix's knife, ready to be killed at a moments notice. The low strings come back in, and at the top of their phrase, the flute plays Malfoy's theme.  

Lucius prepares to call Lord Voldemort, and the low orchestra thuds quietly. Just as he's about to touch the dark mark, tremolo returns, and he slowly looks up. Dobby is slowly removing a screw from the chandelier above. The first four notes of his theme are cheekily played by the celesta, then the entire fixture falls above Bellatrix.

The strings begin more action music, this time in compound meter, in unison and strongly pushing ahead. Harry runs over to Draco and fights him for his wand. Once he succeeds, the Deathly Hallows Theme plays as a snippet in the horns, though the reason why is not to be revealed until later in the story. 

The rapid movement is once again short lived as Dobby, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Griphook, and Luna are all together and ready to aparate out of the mansion. Narcissa tries in a final attempt to throw a spell at them, but Dobby quickly snaps her wand from her. Bellatrix scolds him for taking a witch's wand. He quickly retorts by stating he is a free elf. A final opening four notes of his theme play more nobly than they ever have in a full brass chorale. Bellatrix then throws her knife at them as they apparate. The orchestra holds tension with trills and dissonance. Muted horns and trumpets play one last Bellatrix Theme, then the tamtam swells into the moment the knife apparates with them, and silence follows.