As the movie continued, Harry, Remus, and Tonks were joined by the rest of the Order, all there to spirit Harry away from Number 4, Privet Drive. Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur, Arthur Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, and Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived in quick succession, led by Mad-Eye Moody. The empty living room felt suddenly crowded with all the new arrivals.
The moment Moody pulled out a flask of Polyjuice Potion, Harry became very vocal about how he felt about everyone risking their lives for him. Still, the others wore calm, determined expressions, and before long, Hermione grabbed a fistful of his hair from the back of his head and dropped it into the flask Moody was holding.
The Polyjuice bubbled violently, some of it oozing over the rim, revealing a beautiful, shimmering golden color. Moody handed the flask to one of the twins, who took a confident swig before passing it along. The camera slowly did a 360-degree pan across the room, lingering on Fred, George, Fleur, Mundungus, Hermione, and Ron as their bodies twisted and reshaped, faces contorting before settling into Harry's familiar features.
"Wow," Rod muttered unconsciously as he watched the transformation happen in real time. The effect was truly top-notch, so seamless that not for a second did it feel fake or computer-generated.
In the end, seven Harry Potters stood inside the Dursleys' home, blinking and glancing at one another before quickly changing out of their old clothes and into identical new sets laid out for them.
Rod chuckled to himself as he saw Troy find yet another excuse to take his shirt off for this film. And this time, it happened seven times, all at once.
The seven Harrys were then paired with different Order members, each duo ready to leave the house by a separate route and draw enemy fire away from the real one.
"It doesn't make sense," Isabel muttered furiously beside him. "Why is Harry going with Hagrid? The guy doesn't even have a proper wand or know a lot of magic."
"Maybe that's why," Rod mused. "The Death Eaters won't suspect the real Harry of going with a defenseless man."
The movie then launched into one of the most ambitious action sequences Rod had ever witnessed in a Harry Potter film. The perspective abruptly shifted from Harry's point of view to Voldemort's. The Death Eaters were assembling, cloaks billowing in the night air, with the Dark Lord himself poised to strike. Moments later, they attacked, swarming the skies as the seven Potters fled in different directions.
Voldemort personally went after Mad-Eye Moody and Mundungus Fletcher. The instant Mundungus, disguised as Harry, saw Voldemort, panic took over. He pulled out an illegal Portkey and vanished, abandoning Moody to face the Dark Lord alone.
Moody fought bravely, spells flashing against the darkness, but he was ultimately no match for Voldemort. A flash of sickly green light cut through the air as he fell to the Avada Kedavra curse.
Multiple people in the theater gasped in shock, stunned by the death of such a major character less than 15 minutes into [The Deathly Hallows]. Rod was equally surprised by the ruthless speed at which the story was moving.
On screen, Voldemort suddenly looked into the distance and saw a signal blazing in the sky. It was his dark mark. Without hesitation, he vanished.
The scene cut back to Harry, wind whipping past his face as he struggled to stay aloft. His white owl darted ahead of him, claws raking at one of the Death Eaters pursuing him relentlessly.
"Hedwig!" Harry cried out in alarm. "I told you to go ahead, didn't I?"
Hedwig hooted once before flying closer to Harry. Another Death Eater caught up to Harry and Hagrid and fired a familiar green spell that would've hit Harry for sure.
But it wasn't meant to be.
Time slowed to a crawl as Hedwig dove straight into the spell's path, her wings outstretched. The sickly green light of the Killing Curse struck her instead, sparing her master.
"No! Hedwig!" Harry cried out in uncontrollable pain. His face twisted with such raw rage and anguish that it wouldn't have surprised Rod if Harry had unleashed a Killing Curse of his own on his enemies.
Around the hall, more than one person openly sobbed at Hedwig's sacrifice. Even Rod could feel Harry's pain in that moment, a heavy knot forming in his chest.
"Crucio!" Harry shouted, firing the spell at the man. It connected, and the Death Eater screamed in agony. Before Harry could finish him, though, the man raised his wand and sent a signal blazing into the sky, the same mark they'd seen only minutes earlier.
The Death Eater continued screaming as he plummeted toward the ground, but Harry barely noticed. In the very next instant, Voldemort appeared beside him, his presence filling the sky like a living nightmare.
"Harry," he called out over the rushing wind. "Today will be your end."
Harry tightened his grip on his wand. "You'll pay for her, Tom."
They fired at the same time. A jet of green light burst from Voldemort's wand and collided violently with the red beam of Harry's. The impact crackled between them, sparks exploding outward. For a brief moment, it looked as though Voldemort was overpowering him. Then Harry pushed back, forcing the connection to break. Voldemort's wand, borrowed from Lucius Malfoy earlier, exploded in his hand.
Hagrid chose that exact moment to bring the bike down, crashing into what looked like a swamp. Mud and water splashed everywhere, leaving both riders soaked from head to toe. They reached the safe house, where Ginny and Molly Weasley were already waiting. Despite their breakup at the end of the last film, Ginny looked relieved and happy to see Harry. He didn't return the expression. He couldn't. His eyes still held the fresh pain of a friend he'd lost only moments ago.
One by one, the others began to arrive. Lupin brought in an injured George. Tonks arrived with Ron. Hermione came with Kingsley. Arthur followed with Fred. Bill and Fleur were the last to arrive, delivering the grim news of Moody's death.
As the scene unfolded, the camera kept returning to Harry's face, lingering on the quiet devastation etched into his expression as he absorbed the cost of everyone risking and losing their lives to protect him.
One thing that made Rod such a huge admirer of Troy's acting was his ability to say so much with so little. Nothing needed to be spoken. Everyone understood the conflict tearing through him. That was the magic of powerful acting, something no CGI or 3D effect could ever replicate.
He loved the fact that instead of glossing over the emotional weight of the moment, Alfonso Cuaron chose to linger on this scene, letting the grief breathe.
So when Harry decided to leave in the dead of night, viewers didn't need an explanation for his motives. The weight of everything he'd lost was written all over his face. Still, Ron, like the best friend he was, confronted Harry and convinced him to stay.
It was a surprisingly wholesome moment between two straight male friends. Most films tend to skip over male bonding like this, instead relying on a love interest to do the convincing and force a romantic sub-plot into the scene. Here, it was simple, honest friendship, and it worked beautifully.
The scene then shifted to Harry's 17th birthday, the age of majority in the wizarding world. Gifts were exchanged in the warm glow of candlelight, and when Hermione and Ron handed Harry their present, it carried a bittersweet sting. It was an enchanted miniature version of Hedwig, a quiet reminder of the friend he'd lost.
Ginny chose to give Harry her gift later. When they finally had a moment alone, she stepped forward and kissed him. Harry was clearly surprised at first, but he quickly responded, the kiss growing more intense with every passing second.
The chemistry between Troy and Imogen was undeniable. After all, their love story was the reason [The Half-Blood Prince] was so successful.
Unfortunately, the moment was cut short because that's when Ron barged in.
They sprang apart awkwardly. Relief washed over them when they realized it was only Ron, but Ginny still fled the room, flustered and embarrassed. Once they were alone, Ron shoved Harry back against the wall and scolded him for trying to move on with his sister after breaking up with her.
"Oh, Ron," Isabel murmured beside Rod. "He's such a good brother, but so thick-headed."
Rod couldn't help but agree.
The Minister of Magic arrived soon after, bringing with him Dumbledore's will. In it, Dumbledore had left each member of the golden trio a single item. Hermione received an old storybook, Ron was given a Deluminator, and Harry was handed a Golden Snitch, the very one he'd caught in his first-ever Quidditch match.
The moment Harry touched the Snitch, nothing happened. The Minister's face visibly fell, as though he'd been expecting something dramatic. It was such a small detail, yet it was crucial for the story to make sense later.
Dumbledore had also intended to give Harry the Sword of Gryffindor, but it had mysteriously gone missing. Even if it hadn't, the Minister insisted the sword wasn't Dumbledore's to bequeath in the first place.
What followed was Bill and Fleur's wedding. The celebration was lively and crowded, filled with guests from all corners of the wizarding world, yet Harry seemed distant throughout. He'd taken Polyjuice Potion using the hair of a local Muggle boy, introduced to everyone as Barney Weasley, a distant cousin of Ron's.
The wedding unfolded beautifully. Harry even shared a brief dance with Luna Lovegood, laughing softly as the music played, until her father stepped in to dance with her instead. Harry noticed a strange pendant hanging around the older Lovegood's neck, but he didn't give it much thought.
That peace didn't last.
Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus burst into the celebration, and the moment it appeared, Harry, Ron, and Hermione instinctively regrouped. Harry's Polyjuice Potion was wearing off, his dark hair already beginning to grow back. He glanced at Ginny one last time, longing to take her with them, but the impending arrival of the Death Eaters left no room for hesitation. Hermione grabbed him and Disapparated, dragging him away just before he fully transformed back into Harry, leaving the wedding to descend into chaos behind them.
The moment they appeared in the middle of a busy London road, he was Harry again. They quickly changed out of their wedding clothes in a secluded alley before slipping into a small café nearby. Over hastily ordered drinks, they discussed their next move, voices low and tense, when they were suddenly attacked by two Death Eaters.
Harry and Hermione fired spell after spell at the pair while Ron held his ground, shielding them with perfectly timed defensive magic. The trio moved like a well-oiled machine, each instinctively covering the others. The magical duel was thrilling to watch, every flying spell crackling with energy, so vivid it felt like it might burst straight through the screen. In the end, Harry and Hermione overwhelmed their attackers, and Hermione erased the Death Eaters' memories.
She looked deeply uncomfortable doing it, and for obvious reasons. This was new territory for them, the grey space of war where survival sometimes meant crossing lines that clashed with everything they believed in.
They then made their way to Sirius's old home, Grimmauld Place, and the film picked up pace again. Harry was plagued by a dream of Voldemort, who was searching for a replacement wand after the last one had exploded during their midair clash. In the dream, he was hunting the wandmaker Gregorovitch, his fury simmering just beneath the surface.
Harry jolted awake and pulled out the mirror Sirius had given him back in the fifth film. For a brief moment, a shadow flickered across its surface, as though someone was trying to look back at him. Then it faded, leaving behind nothing but an ordinary mirror.
Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione discovered the bedroom of Regulus Arcturus Black, also known as R.A.B., which led them to confront Kreacher about it. Kreacher, the Black family's house-elf, had known Regulus personally and knew the truth about the real locket Horcrux, which had been stolen by Mundungus Fletcher in the dead of night.
"Find him," Harry ordered.
Kreacher vanished at once.
The scene then cut away to show the wider chaos spreading across the wizarding world. The Hogwarts Express was searched for any sign of Harry. The Ministry rounded up Muggle-born witches and wizards. Death Eaters conducted raids across the country, the most important of which brought them straight to the Weasley home.
"He's suffering from Spattergroit!" Molly Weasley cried in distress when several Death Eaters arrived to question her about Ron and his absence from the Hogwarts Express.
One Death Eater turned to his partner. "Is that even a real disease?"
The other shrugged.
"It is," Arthur Weasley said firmly. "It's the most contagious and deadly illness known to wizardkind. The only cure is rest. Sometimes it can take a year to recover." He then pulled a photograph from his pocket. "See? I even have a picture of my son. He's not well."
The photo showed Ron lying in bed, his face covered in horrific boils, pus oozing from them. The Death Eaters recoiled in disgust at the gruesome sight.
"You're welcome to meet him," Arthur added calmly, "but as I said, it's highly contagious."
The Death Eaters immediately backed away, vehemently refusing the offer, and fled the house without another word.
The scene was a welcome change of pace, a funny little side story that briefly pulled the focus away from the trio.
It then cut to Mundungus Fletcher, desperately trying to hide from Death Eaters in a dark, narrow alley, only to stumble straight into Kreacher. The next moment, Mundungus, Kreacher, and, surprisingly, Dobby Apparated back into Grimmauld Place. The trio immediately confronted Mundungus about the necklace, and under pressure, he finally revealed that Dolores Umbridge was the one who'd taken it from him.
That discovery set their next plan into motion. They decided to stage a heist at the Ministry, impersonating three Ministry employees: Mafalda Hopkirk, Albert Runcorn, and Reginald Cattermole. The sequence that followed was one of the most thrilling in the movie, even better than the battle of the seven Potters.
Harry successfully snatched the necklace from around Umbridge's neck, only to be chased through the Ministry by Dementors, followed closely by Aurors and Death Eaters.
Alfonso Cuaron built the suspense perfectly, alternating between slow-motion shots and fast-paced action whenever the scene demanded it. The tension didn't let up until Harry, Hermione, and Ron Apparated out of the Ministry, though not before Corban Yaxley, the Head Auror, managed to latch onto them.
To keep their safe house secure, Hermione redirected them to a forest instead of Grimmauld Place. The escape came at a cost. Ron was badly splinched, leaving him severely injured and unable to Apparate again.
While hiding in the forest, they tried to destroy the Horcrux but quickly realized they had nothing capable of harming it. Ron, weak and in pain, spent most of his time listening to the radio, desperate for any news. The constant noise began to irritate Harry, partly because of the Horcrux he was wearing, its influence quietly amplifying his frustration. Hermione eventually took it from him, and they began wearing it in turns.
A beautiful montage followed, showing the passage of time. This time, though, it was largely framed from Ron's point of view. Whenever he wore the Horcrux, he imagined Harry and Hermione growing closer, sharing quiet moments without him. The resentment on Ron's face spoke volumes, while the other two remained oblivious to what he was feeling.
"I'm sorry, Ron," Hermione said softly, placing half a piece of bread in front of him. "That's all we have left now."
That was the breaking point.
Ron shot to his feet, anger blazing in his eyes. "What's the point of all this if we're just going to starve on top of everything else?" He rounded on Harry. "What was the point of Dumbledore telling you about these Horcruxes if he didn't even tell you how to destroy them?"
The rage on his face was unmistakable.
"Or maybe this is just you two having a laugh at your stupid friend who doesn't even understand what's going on between you," he snapped. "Was Ginny nothing to you?" He then turned to Hermione. "Was I…"
He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.
"Do you know why I listen to the wireless?" Ron continued bitterly. "Because I worry about Ginny, and Mum, and Dad. But you clearly don't."
"Because I don't have a family?" Harry shot back.
"Exactly!" Ron yelled. He tore the necklace from his neck and threw it onto the ground.
Turning to Hermione, he demanded, "Are you coming, or are you staying?"
Hermione looked at Harry, conflict written all over her face, but she didn't say anything.
"Fine. I get it."
And with that, Ron Disapparated, leaving Harry and Hermione standing alone in the forest, the weight of his absence settling heavily between them.
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AN: Check out my second story, 'Swimmer to Superstar (A Hollywood SI)'.
Link: www(dot)fablefic(dot)com