Cue No. 32

Ominous cellos and basses move around under Snape’s exit. He expresses that he has no idea what Harry is talking about, and once he’s left, Umbridge’s theme takes over. Clarinets play a cat-like variation and are answered by strings. She slowly approaches Harry, before Hermione quickly interrupts. String clusters maneuver around, acting as an aural representation of Umbridge’s brain trying to figure out what the students are up to.

In the Dark Forest, a reprisal of a string texture from the first two Potter films makes an appearance. It accompanies Hermione’s improvisational plan as she leads Harry and Umbridge deeper and deeper into the middle of nowhere. String harmonics join high above the texture, creating an atmosphere of added suspense. They come upon a severed rope tied to a tree where Grawp once was; Hermione’s plan has failed. Harp trills show her anxiety, though she is not showing it externally.

Muted horns and percussion chords play with long silences between them. The music is frozen in place as both the students and Umbridge don’t exactly know what to do. Long woodwind notes play out over the frozen chords, trying to get the music to move ahead. A shivering gesture breaks the music out of the chords and long silences. Umbridge turns quickly to see centaurs atop the nearby hill. Harp and celesta play notes in unison in a both unsettling and mysterious way. Low strings enter underneath. When the first arrow is fired at Umbridge, gong and bowed crotales give the moment a stinging quality. Her retaliation is much more violent, and jolts the music forward into a flurry of low clusters as the centaur begins to strangle to death.

Hermione begs Umbridge to let him go, but the professor is clearly at her wit’s end and snaps. At the end of her short and passionate speech, Grawp appears and picks her up from behind. The string section begins moving at a quick pace, and clusters re-enter the texture when Grawp realizes Umbridge is not interesting anymore and drops her. She is grabbed by the centaurs and pleads with Harry and Hermione to tell them she means no harm. Low chords of sweet satisfaction play in the brass underneath Harry’s line, “I’m sorry, Professor. I must not tell lies.”

The quick strings enter once again as she’s carried off into the forest by the centaurs. A small Hermione theme plays over Grawp as she thanks him, and then Harry reminds her that Sirius is still in mortal danger. The strings for the third time begin to move, this time joined by some harp flourishes and a continuing crescendo as they run up the bridge towards the castle.