Harry Potter (Franchise)/Tear Jerker

Philospher's Stone

• Harry Potter’s depressing life prior to discovering he was a Wizard. While one can find solace in the fact that the wizarding world is celebrating Voldemort’s demise, Harry Potter is stuck living with his Wizard-hating Muggle family. And his cousin Dudley likes bullying him. And he doesn’t have friends. It only shows to prove how the deaths of two people alone can have serious consequences.
• Eleven-year-old Harry looking into the Mirror of Erised and seeing his dead family is a heartbreaking moment and somewhat iconic in terms of the series as a whole.
  • On Pottercast, after DH had been released, John said he'd have liked to have read Harry looking into the Mirror again, only this time he'd've been the way Dumbledore described the "happiest man on Earth".

Chamber of Secrets

• Moaning Myrtle’s death, a victim of Lord Voldemort and his basilisk.
• Hermione getting petrified.

Prisoner of Azkaban

• When Harry realizes what his Patronus is.

"Prongs rode again last night."

• • Harry's learning of the Patronus (or rather, his initial struggle to do so) is sad in a way that's so obvious that it's almost subtle. Especially the film, where Harry fails the first time and Lupin asks him what happy memory he chose to try to power the Patronus. Harry responds with his first memory of riding a broomstick and Lupin says that it wasn't "nearly strong enough." But until Harry finds the loophole (the memory doesn't always have to be real - it can be a positive hope or dream or the like), that's literally the best he can come up with up to that point. :'(
• A rather subtle, but effective, moment comes in Prisoner of Azkaban when Harry catches himself half-hoping to be overwhelmed by a Dementor since, horrible as the experience is, it's the only time he's ever heard his parent's voices.

Goblet of Fire

• In Harry Potter 4, Harry mentions that it's Voldemort and his followers' fault for destroying these families. And that's when it hit this troper what the Death Eaters HAD done: mentally shattered Neville's parents, implied to have hurt a member of the Abotts, killed Moaning Murtle, ruined the Crouch family, killed most of the Tonks family, forced the Malfoy family to be separated, and killed Harry's parents, godparent, and James's friends. Even Wormtail counts. And this list isn't even over yet.
• Harry thinking about his parents never hugging him like that when Molly hugged him.
  • Not to mention that all the while, Harry was fighting back tears over Cedric's death.

Harry: I told him to take the cup with me.

• • Cedric's father, who acted like a pompous Jerkass towards Harry, won't take the Triwizard winnings and also lets him know that he doesn't blame him for Cedric's death.
• When dead Cedric asks Harry to take his body back to his parents.
• In Goblet of Fire: "And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemort's wand... and Harry knew when he saw it who it would be... knew, because the woman was the one he'd thought of more than any other tonight..." This is really one of the only times Harry ever gets to meet or speak to his parents.

Order of the Phoenix

• Two words: Sirius Black.
  • A subtle one with Lupin when Sirius dies- he's just lost the last of his best friends (Wormtail doesn't count), but instead of breaking down, he's trying to comfort Harry.
• Another subtle one this troper noticed from the film. Sirius Black's last words before he died were "Good Shot James!" That moment brings tears to this tropers eyes, when she thinks of how that is all Sirius wanted, one last little scuffle with his best friend. It makes his death easier to accept, because he is going to see James soon.
• The scene where Dumbledore explains to Harry why he wasn't made a prefect:

"I must confess... that I rather thought... you had enough responsibility to be going on with."

• Molly's personal boggart of seeing her sons (and Harry) killed.
  • That scene made her Crowning Moment of Awesome in DH even more awesome.
• In "Order of the Phoenix", Bellatrix taunting Neville about his parents ("Longbottom? Why, I've had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!"). It's made all the worse by the fact that we've seen them now. The tear jerker is his furious, heartbroken "I KNOW YOU HAVE!" The sheer emotion brings tears to your eyes, especially when you think about the fact that every time he sees his parents, it hits him all over again that this is the person who did that to them.
  • Personally, I'm a little furious that Neville didn't get to be the one to finish her off.
• In Order of the Phoenix, the scene where Moody gives Harry a photo of the original Order of the Phoenix and describes how many of them died. It's pretty sad because all of the subjects are smiling and waving at the viewer, oblivious to the fact that this photo was probably the last time they were all together and alive.
• I can't believe no one has mentioned the Order of the Phoenix film when Fred and George sit down to comfort a scared first year after he's been punished. They show him their hands and say, "See, it's not so bad. You can hardly see the scars." That one scene showed more about the true character of those young men than almost anything else in the movies. They aren't just good guys, they're good MEN, protecting AND comforting the weak when they need it.
• The scene in Dumbledore's office at the end of Order of the Phoenix. After everything that happens in the Department of Mysteries, Harry breaks.

Harry: I DON'T CARE! I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE-- Dumbledore: You do care. You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.

• • It's made even worse when coming back to Book 5 after finishing the series. Why is Dumbledore so calm and understanding? Because he went through the same thing.
• "Snape's Worst Memory" becomes this after you read Deathly Hallows and realize just how much that particular memory hurt for the poor guy.
• The "flaw" in Dumbledore's plan.

"I cared about you too much. I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act. Is there a defence? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have - and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined - not to want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, well and happy? I never imagined I would have such a person on my hands."

• • This is basically Dumbledore admitting that, not only did he begin to love his most effective intended weapon against Voldemort the moment he saw how brave and selfless and good he (Harry) had become, he was probably trying to stop himself from caring about anyone this much after what happened to his sister.

Half-Blood Prince

• Dumbledore's funeral.
• Dumbledore throughout all of the scene in the cave, if you have read Deathly Hallows.
• When Harry sees Dumbledore's body on the grass next to the tower in Half-Blood Prince. It was bad enough seeing that Snape actually killed Dumbeldore, but the fight scene distracts you from that until Harry pushes through the crowd around Dumbledore's body. Then there's the bit with the fake locket.
• In Half-Blood Prince, when Slughorn finally gives Harry his memory. His sad declaration that he's not proud of what he did, and the way he tremulously asks Harry not to think too badly of him after he sees it touchingly and completely removes all ill will we might feel towards the poor guy.
• In Half-Blood Prince, when recruiting Slughorn to work at Hogwarts, Dumbledore told Harry that he wouldn't need to worry about being attacked, because "You (Harry) are with me (Dumbledore)". At the end of the book, after Dumbledore took all of the potion to get the fake Horcrux, Harry is helping Dumbledore get out of the cave, leading to this exchange:

"It's going to be all right, sir," Harry said over and over again, more worried by Dumbledore's silence than he had been by his weakened voice. "We're nearly there.... I can Apparate us both back.... Don't worry...." "I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you."

• Snape's "Don't call me coward!" in book 6 becomes this when you realize how much he went through just to get to that moment.

Deathly Hallows

• Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, has this in bucketloads, including, but not limited to: Dobby's death and funeral, Fred Weasley's death, the Resurrection Stone scene, where Harry's parents, Sirius and Lupin appear to escort Harry to his almost certain death, Colin Creevey, "tiny in death", Dumbledore's past, especially when Dumbledore cries when recalling it to Harry, the scene where Harry visits his parents' graves in Godric's Hollow, "wishing he were sleeping under the snow with them".
  • Ron and Harry's meeting next to the icy lake.
  • When Harry learned that he is Voldemort's Horcrux; "Oh my God, he's really gonna die".
  • When Snape was killed.
    • His last words: "Look... at... me..." Because he wanted to see Lily's eyes one more time before he died.
    • Snape's death in the film. He's lying dying in the boat house from having his throat slashed by Voldemort and the bites from Nagini and he gives Harry the memories. His last words; You have your mother's eyes.... The whole time, Lily's Theme has been playing in the background.
  • There was a new scene added to Snape's memories. As Dumbledore tells Snape that Harry is the last Horcrux and that Harry must die, we see Snape visiting the Potters' home just shortly after Voldemort killed James and Lily. As Snape shows Dumbledore that his Patronus is a doe and Dumbledore asks "after all this time" and Snape replies "Always", we see Snape holding Lily's dead body and crying hysterically. And if that isn't bad enough, we see baby Harry kneeling in the crib behind him, face streaked with tears, clutching the bars and wailing inconsolably.
  • When Lupin says that his only regret in life is that he won't get to watch his son grow up.
  • The scene that shows Tonks's and Lupin's bodies, while Harry remembers that they had a son.
  • Here lies Dobby, a free Elf.
  • Hedwig's death.
  • The scene where Hermione is being tortured, while Harry and Ron listen, trapped in the basement of the Malfoy house.
    • The most tearjerk-y thing about that scene isn't even that Hermione is getting tortured, it's that Ron is absolutely losing it because he can't do anything.
  • Everything about Fred's death. Percy laying over his body to protect it, Ron trying to get Percy to move with tears streaking down his face, Harry and Percy moving the body away from the battle.

The world had ended, so why had the battle not ceased, the castle fallen silent in horror, and every combatant laid down their arms?

• • I am about to die. This troper survived Sirius, Dumbledore, Hedwig, Moody, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, and Dobby without shedding a tear. That scene made her bawl like a baby.
  • During the Battle of Hogwarts, when Harry sees that Lupin and Tonks are dead, he pretty much shatters emotionally, running blindly toward the only place where he feels safe: Dumbledore's office. When the gargoyle guarding the staircase to the office asks for the password, Harry says the first thing that comes to mind: "Dumbledore". The password works. Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize that Snape set that password, meaning that despite everything, he was just as dedicated to honoring the man's memory as Harry was.
  • Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and McGonagall's reaction to Harry's Disney Death.
  • This troper didn't cry until she read Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness. It turned all the people who died in the final battle from a Redshirt Army of background characters into people with hopes and dreams, families and best friends, people she'd gotten familiar with, people whose jokes and little quirks she'd laughed at, just all around PEOPLE.
  • A comparatively minor one, but the habit Harry develops of taking out the Marauder's Map just to look at Ginny's dot because that's the closest he can be to her.
• When Harry finds a letter his mom wrote to Sirius (in Deathly Hallows).
• Kreacher's Tale. That is all.
• Godric's Hollow. Everything: The grave scene, seeing his house with all the encouraging notes, and the statue commemorating the Potter family, all together.
• The Prince's Tale was actually a refreshing happy moment for a young Snape with him excitedly telling Lily about Hogwarts until this happens:

"And will it really come by owl?" Lily whispered. "Normally," said Snape. "But you're Muggle-born, so someone from the school will have to come and explain to your parents." "Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?" Snape hesitated. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over her pale face, her dark red hair. "No," he said. "It doesn't make any difference."

• • "The Prince's Tale" as a whole is a massive Crowning Moment of Sadness for Snape. From his childhood to being bullied at school, to pushing Lily away and his reaction to her death, culminating with the fact that he spent the rest of his life trying to make up for causing it... This chapter rivals Dumbledore's funeral as the saddest one in the series.

Dumbledore: After all this time? Snape: Always.

• Hermione putting a memory charm on her parents to keep them safe:

"Wendell and Monica Wilkins don’t know they have a daughter, see."

• • This was one of the saddest parts of the film adaptation, where Hermione magically edits herself out of the seventeen years' worth of family photos sitting on the Grangers' mantle after she erases her family's memories.
• Narcissa asking Harry whether Draco was alive. And then betraying Voldemort himself.
  • Then immediately afterwards, when the fighting breaks out again, her and Lucius running through the battle, not lifting a finger to help Voldemort's side, screaming for Draco. Two of the most devout Death Eaters in the series no longer care about Voldemort's war or blood purity or anything else and are simply reduced to two frantic parents desperately searching for their son. It was a moment that made two of the most unsympathetic characters in the books very human.
• In Deathly Hallows, when Lupin visits the Trio at Grimmauld Place and confesses to leaving his pregnant wife. While it's a painful moment for Lupin, so full of guilt and self-loathing, it's actually even worse for Harry, who has just seen his very last "father figure" knocked off a pedestal.

"Parents shouldn't leave their kids unless — unless they've got to."

• • The way Harry hesitates during the sentence says all too clearly that he's thinking about his own situation - and possibly Tom Riddle's as well. As a result of their parents not being there (Tom Riddle the elder is implied to have abandoned Merope shortly after finding out she was pregnant), both of them were brought up in home situations where they were misunderstood, persecuted, and feared. What Harry really means to say is that the only good excuse for a parent not to be there for their child is if that parent dies. And considering Lupin's fate at the end of the book...
• Lupin died with a picture of his son in his pocket.

General

• Frank and Alice Longbottom's story.
  • Just like the scene in Goblet of Fire where Dumbledore explains to Harry what happened to Frank and Alice, and Harry himself is so appalled that he thinks he was lucky to just have his parents dead, whereas Neville's parents still live but can't even recognize their child, so damaged they were.
  • When Moody taught the Unforgivable Curses, it must have been having a hell of a moment for Harry and Neville...
    • That scene was so well-shot. When "Moody" used the Avada Kedavra on the spider, and just as you see the green flash and the spider's limbs start to go limp, the camera changes its focus depth to Harry in the background, who is absolutely white as a ghost because he sees the green light and almost knows what it is before "Moody" explains it.
  • It's actually both a Tear Jerker AND a Moral Event Horizon for Fake Moody. Think about it. HE is the one responsible for Alice & Frank's demise, along with the Lestranges. Now look at that scene again. He is basically torturing Neville for: A) His own ends, just to get a chance to revive his Lord, and B) Because he KNOWS how Neville would react.
  • Worse so in Harry Potter when Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron actually see Neville with his parents at St. Mungo's. Neville's grandmother tells him to throw away the wrapper Alice has given her son, and he slips it into his pocket. Anything with Neville and his parents, really.
    • God, that scene... somehow it's made even worse by the fact that, in the middle of this fantasy series with all sorts of funny spell effects and whimsical noodle incidents, we get a very low-key, realistic depiction of a son visiting his mentally shattered parents.
    • What got me was Harry's reaction - the part where Neville looked like he was "daring them to laugh" and it said "Harry didn't think he'd ever seen anything less funny in his life."
• Just realizing that Harry won't be with Sirius in the end of Prisoner of Azkaban.
• Any moment between Narcissa's betrayal of Voldemort and Voldemort's death. The two that give me the worst case of tears are Slughorn (who has always been shown as a bit of a coward) leading the reinforcements for the Battle of Hogwarts and Molly Weasley fighting with Bellatrix Lestrange.
• The realisation that Andromeda Tonks lost her husband and her daughter's husband walked out on them. Then, he comes back, her grandson is named after her dead husband, and it seems okay. But then there's the battle at Hogwarts. Lupin leaves, and then so does her daughter, and neither of them come back, leaving her with her grandson, named for her husband, and with the same morphing abilities as her dead daughter. The woman barely appears in the book, but experiences as much loss as so many others. (Also, Sirius had died nearly two years beforehand, and a comment Sirius makes in Book 5 implies that they were closest to each other among their family members.)
  • Not to mention the fact that she's the sister of Voldemort's right-hand woman. You see Harry's reaction to her when he doesn't initially realize who she is (or rather, who she isn't), and wonder if other strangers had given her that same reaction. And then you wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that she and her husband live in a secluded location, away from other wizards and witches.
• Barty Crouch Jr.'s story. His past is still depressing. He was the "Well Done, Son" Guy, with a father who loved work a great deal more than his own son. He did whatever he could to impress his father, who never let Barty know that he was impressed at his top grades in the OWLs and the NEWTs. The only family member who loved him died to give him freedom, which he never obtained because he spent the next thirteen years under the control of his father via Mind Rape, which drove him mad. He sided with Voldemort because he was more like a father than his own to him.

Philospher's Stone

• The Mirror of Erised scene in the first movie.

Goblet of Fire

• The moment in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when Harry returns from Voldemort's revival party with Cedric's body. The book's version of this scene is relatively straightforward; the movie plays it very differently, dropping a grieving Harry into a triumphant celebration and letting everything fall to pieces accordingly. This was the first (and only) time one of the movies was better than its book, but what an improvement.
  • The thing about that scene was that it was just so absolutely horrifying. Listening to the trumpet-band begin playing and the whole crowd cheering - contrasted with Harry in the centre just screaming in agony.
  • What really makes this scene work isn't the contrast which was still good, or even the father shouting, but rather Fleur's horrified reaction.
    • And what finally shatters the triumphant façade is Cedric's father shouting "That's my son! That's my boy!" when he sees Cedric's body, right before he just falls to pieces in grief.
    • That was the first time this troper shed a tear in a Harry Potter film. It was the ugly cry.

Order of the Phoenix

• The scene in Order Of The Phoenix where Dolores Umbridge fires Professor Trelawney. "Hogwarts is my home!"
• In the Order of the Phoenix, when Harry is possessed by Voldemort and fights back by remembering everything which makes them different. "You're the weak one. And you'll never know love. Or friendship. And I feel sorry for you."
• One of the most memorable parts of Order of The Phoenix is Harry and Luna in the forest with the Thestrals. If you've ever been ousted from peer groups for being odd or different, this scene hits very close to home.

Luna: They're called Thestrals. They're quite gentle, really, but people avoid them, because they're a bit... Harry: Different.

• • Made even sadder when the only reason that Harry and Luna can see the Thestrals, because Harry couldn't at first, is because they've seen death. Insert flashback of the previous film's climactic scene and aftermath.
• In the Order of the Phoenix film:
  • Whenever Harry and Sirius hug. Every single time.
  • When Sirius tells Harry that when the war is over, they can finally be a proper family. A Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, yes, but also a tear jerker because Sirius dies before they can. The next time they meet, in fact.
  • This troper cried only once during the course of all the films and that once was Sirius's death.
  • Three words:

Sirius: Nice one, James!

• • Lupin's face as he is trying to hold back Harry from chasing after Lestrange; never has total despair ever been more present on a man's face.
• Also from Order of the Phoenix, Hagrid's plea to Harry's trio to look after Grawp for him. Hagrid is such a big softy.

Half-Blood Prince

• From Half-Blood Prince: the addition made after Dumbledore's death, when first McGonagall, then Luna and Neville, and eventually everyone raises their wands lit by Lumos in silent honor of their fallen headmaster.
  • Dear lord, the scene in Half-Blood Prince where Dumbledore leads Harry to get the Horcrux, and Harry must feed him the potion, even after he cannot tolerate it, and he gets all frail and pale. Completely lost it there.
• In place of Dumbledore's funeral, the wand-lit memorial by teachers and students that disintegrates the Dark Mark is pretty moving.
  • The look of utter devastation on McGonagall's face... and the scene afterwards.

McGonagall: You meant a great deal to him.

• Sixth movie, when Malfoy was in the Room of Requirement, trying to get the Vanishing Cabinet to work, and the finch appears to have died. You can hear him crying and you can really feel how stressed and scared he is. Pushed even further when he's in the bathroom later, breaking down.
• This troper actually bawled like a baby in the cinema when Draco Malfoy was confronting Dumbledore in Half Blood Prince. Draco has few lines, but the ones he does are filled with so much emotion it hurts.

Draco: I have to do this. I have to kill you. Or he's gonna kill me.

• • Moreso in the book than the movie, but that scene really foreshadows a fact that looms large in the seventh book - for all the Malfoys' pontificating about blood purity and parroting of the Death Eaters' ideals, their first loyalty is to each other, not Voldemort. And it really goes to show how far Draco is willing to go in order to try to save his parents.
• In Half-Blood Prince Slughorn's story about the magical fish that Lily Evans gave him, and how, when he came downstairs and looked at it one day, it had vanished - and so he knew that she was dead, because a wizard's magic only stops when they do.
• The scene in the movie of Half Blood Prince where Hermione is crying in the abandoned room and Harry tries to comfort her, only to have the lovebirds interrupt and be driven off by the real lovebirds.

Hermione: (tearfully) How does it feel, Harry? When you see Dean with Ginny? I know. I see the way you look at her. You're my best friend. (she drives off Ron and Lavender and collapses in tears) Harry: It feels like this.

Deathly Hallows Part 1

• In Deathly Hallows when Dobby dies. Also, when Harry goes to visit his parents' grave with Hermione.
  • Oh God, it's so much worse in the film. Originally, he just said "Harry...Potter...", but they gave him a few more lines while Harry was holding him. And how he weakly whispered that the Shell Cottage was a wonderful place to be with friends, which is basically his way of saying "I'm with the ones I love, so I'm OK with dying"... *SNIFF*
    • And don't miss that Harry kinda gives him a little cuddle. He's holding him in arms and he kind of bends his head down as if to hold him closer.
  • The opening itself. Hermione wiping her parents' minds, watching her disappear from every photograph from every stage in her life is extremely sad. Special mention should also be given to the death of Hedwig, since the film version depicts it as being closer to a Heroic Sacrifice. The owl had a chance to fly away and be free (possibly tricking some viewers whom had read the book into thinking she'd be Spared by the Adaptation), but chose to remain by Harry's side and help him, only to be hit by the curse... suddenly go limp... and drop from the sky...
  • Perhaps it was the timing (right next to Hermione's scene), but seeing Harry go back into his closet for one final time as he prepares to leave it and his childhood home behind forever, was a bit hard to watch in the film. Especially if you have read the books and know that, for all the bad memories associated with it, it was the one place where he was completely safe from Voldemort's grasp to that point. The fact that, the last time the films visited that closet, Harry was an innocent, ten-year-old boy with no clue of his origins and is now a young man who has seen acquaintances, close friends, and mentors die in front of him several times and is now poised for a showdown with the cause of most, if not all, of his suffering, only starting with his parents dying, being shipped off to the Dursleys', and forced to sleep in the closet in the first place... GAH.
  • When Hermione is being tortured by Bellatrix. Doubles as Nightmare Fuel due to how the whole scene is set up to look like a rape.
    • And then you see that actually was carving the word "mudblood" into her arm with a knife. Holocaust parallel, anyone? And though that only happened in the movies, in the book Hermione said she was proud to be a "Mudblood.", implying this happened in the book as well
  • Fred first seeing his injured twin George.
• Also in Deathly Hallows, when Harry gets Hermione to dance with him in the tent after Ron has left and things are looking pretty bleak. The abruptness of the scene really struck a cord; they start to dance, Harry goofs around a bit, Hermione starts to smile and, for a minute, everything seems like it's going to be okay.... and then she puts her head on his shoulder and they just stand there and you realize it's hopeless. Add to that the fact that they set the scene to the song "O Children" by Nick Cave (the first time they've used any bit of modern music in the films) and you've got yourself some pretty heavy material there. And while I'm pretty supportive of all the canon pairings, that was just such a sublime scene that encompassed all the fear and tension and complete tragedy of their situation only to contrast it with the fact that they're just teenagers and they don't know what to do. Gahh... it still makes me sad.
  • The song just made the whole thing that much more tragic. The song itself is about the loss of innocence and death, and really, that's what Part 1 was about for the most part.
  • This scene just came off as a them way to keep the Harmony ship afloat and actually pissed me off, and came off as a Big Lipped Allitor Moment, since its an OOC moment for them both. The moment in the books was much more powerful (to me), since Harry gave Hermione Ron's blankets, which contained her third Amourtentia scent, and essentially let Ron comfort her, because Harry could not, as he is NOT Ron. This scene just came off as trying to keep Harry/Hermione going as long as possible.
    • By the end of the scene though, it's clear that she still misses Ron. Harry made her forget for a little while, but when they were dancing closely together it seemed that she suddenly remembered Ron and wished she was holding him instead.
• During Dobby's death scene, the part where Harry asks Hermione to help him gets this Troper every time. Hermione has always been able to help him in the past, and the look on his face when he realizes she can't is heart wrenching.
  • Even moreso the look on her face. She's never failed to find an answer before to help the team, and the one time that she can't, she has to watch an ally die right in front of her.
  • But Harry as well. Most of the people close to or associated with Harry had died in a quick although shocking manner (usually by way of Avada Kedavra) - or outside of Harry's presence (like Moody). But not this time; this is the first and (as far as the book canon goes) only time a friend of his literally bleeds out in his arms and his only option is to watch it happen - where he sees Death coming slowly but can do nothing to stop it.
• As mentioned above, Hermione, at the beginning of the film. We see her in her room, being called down to tea. Then she enters the living room, and obliviates her parents. Her expression alone is enough to tear your heart out, and the slow fading of her from the photos... The more you think about what she'd need to do to make her parents not know they had a daughter, the more heart-wrenching it gets. And, yes, the more disturbing it gets.
• In a deleted scene for DH part 1, Aunt Petunia shows that she may not have been as cold of a bitch as she let on.

Petunia: You didn't just lose a mother that night in Godric's Hollow, you know. I lost a sister.

• • Which is most likely what she was going to say at the end of the chapter in the book.
• I cannot believe that no one has mentioned the scene after the trio escape from the Ministry. Ron gets splinched, nearly severing his arm. Harry is in some sort of shock while Hermione is in tears barking orders at him. Ron, on the other hand, is portraying the pain he is in in the most gut-wrenching way possible. Already knowing the outcome of said situation didn't help this troper from bursting into tears for the THIRD time already in the movie.

Deathly Hallows Part 2

• The trailer for Deathly Hallows Part 2 shows Lupin and Tonks reaching out for each other as spells flash around them.
  • Several forums have agreed that there is at least a 50/50 chance that they'll die before they actually touch.
• The scene in the Great Hall during the pause in the final battle. As if seeing the reaction to Fred's death wasn't soul-crushing enough, the additional deaths of Tonks and Lupin and even less beloved characters like Colin/Nigel and possibly Lavender Brown (if she didn't survive Greyback's attack) are hard to swallow. The whole scene is akin to the aftermath of a major school shooting.
  • Even worse, before the battle, Fred and George are shown together for the last time, still maintaining their jovial, light-hearted natures. Of course, anyone who's read the books knows what's about to happen, which makes it incredibly sad.
  • Guess what, it still gets worse. During the scene where Harry reveals he's still alive, watch George during the reaction shot where everyone begins smiling and cheering. He turns to look over one shoulder, and you can see him say "Fred," as if he was looking for his brother's reaction.
• The Prince's Tale part of the last movie. Snape collapsing to the floor upon seeing Lily, crying, howling hysterically in grief in the added scene of him cradling Lily's dead body while a baby Harry looks on. Damn you and your leather pants Alan Rickman.
  • Baby Harry isn't just sitting there. He's crying too.
  • Oh God, Snape's memories had me in shreds. Especially when he goes to Lily's house and holds her dead body while howling in grief. What makes it even sadder is the moment when Snape summons his patronus in front of Dumbledore, showing that even after 17 years, he still loves her. "Lily? After all these years?" "Always." Just that silent, broken whisper... *sniff* excuse me...
  • Also, there's the Fridge Horror that at some point, Snape would have to force himself to break away from the body that once held his only past genuine human connection to conceal any dark involvement (and ultimately join to Dumbledore's side for her sake) he had. Imagine that pain that could only be understated by inference.
  • And the soundtrack for the whole of that part? Does not help. It starts out so sweet and optimistic, and by the end it's absolutely heartbreaking.
  • Snape was a prime cause of tears in pretty much the entire movie. His death was even more horrifically violent than in the book, and the way he just sits there against the glass, bleeding to death, until Harry goes up to him...(and, it should be pointed out, vainly tries to save him by stopping the bleeding, even though he doesn't yet know the truth about his allegiance)
  • This line they added to his death scene:

You have your mother's eyes.

• • God, not just the line, but the way he says it: no malice, no anger, not even any bitterness, just calm and accepting and a little sad.
    • This troper was stunned by how almost loving it sounded, almost as if he was talking to Lily herself. (Not...not like that...shut up, you know what I mean.) Both Jim Dale and Stephen Fry read the lines as sort of a strangled whisper, but Rickman's version is possibly even better.
    • Not to mention, this is the moment when Snape finally comes to respect Harry. In the very last moments of his life he gets over his shallow prejudices against James Potter's son and comes to terms with the fact that, although he resembles his father, Harry sees the world through the eyes of his mother. He accepts that Harry really is a good person.
  • Anyone notice that, books and movies combined, it's chronologically the last time any character notes that fact? Not to mention that, after years of comparing Harry to his father, it's the first and last time Snape compares him to Lily.
  • How utterly gutted Snape sounded when he realized that Dumbledore had supposedly been grooming the child of the woman he loved, the child he had protected to honor her memory and put himself through hell for, to death, like a lamb for slaughter, in order to orchestrate Voldemort's final destruction. And that this was the only way to finally avenge her death. Scrapes you out hollow.
  • Snape's tears coursing down his face when he was finally going to join the woman he loved at last. And his final act was to give perhaps his most treasured possessions, his own memories of Lily, to her son.
• Harry actually saying his goodbyes to Ron and Hermione in person, unlike the novel. Part 2 is a clinic in how to take heartwrenching material from a novel and make it more staggering in terms of emotion.
  • From that same scene: "I'll go with you." Hermione has to know that going into the Forest with Harry is suicide... but she offers to go with him anyway, so her best friend doesn't have to die alone.
  • Emma's acting was flawless. You can just tell her heart is shattered. Her face is crumpling, and she's desperate to comfort Harry, and she can hardly speak because her throat's closed up. She starts crying, and then she's hugging Harry, and it's just horrible, watching Harry walk alone to his death, his two best friends watching him go.
  • To me, this scene resembles what happens when someone who is going to die of cancer or another terminal illness reveals the news. "I think I've known for a while and I think you have too."
• The resurrection stone scene. Brilliantly done.
  • This troper remained absolutely dry-eyed until that scene. "Does it hurt?" Excuse me, there's something in my eye...
  • Harry reaches his hand to Lily for the first time of all the times he's seen her ghost... and he goes right through her.
    • Made worse, because, in that moment, you realize Harry needs a hug from his mother more than anyone in the series ever as. He's walking to his death. Voldemort will probably torture him, or worse, set Nagini on him. Just some sort of reassurance, some sort of touch, you can see on his face as he starts forward, stumbling, towards his mom. And, of course, he's denied that little comfort as he walks to his death, sacrificing all.
  • In the same scene, after Harry quietly asks the ghosts of his parents, Sirius, and Remus to stay with him, Lily replies with "Always". Never mind the fact that the mere idea of our loved ones never leaving us is already heartwarming and tear-jerking at once; it's the same reply Snape gave when he talked about his love for her. Damn it...
  • "We never left." And then seeing Sirius straight after that just made it worse.
  • When Harry says "I never wanted any of you to die for me," and then reminds us that Remus's death left his son Teddy an orphan.
• To make everything full-circle, it closes with John Williams' "Leaving Hogwarts" and then his closing credits medley from the first two films. Yep, the movie is a Tear Jerker to the literal end.
  • Any other song, and I would not have cried like I did. But hearing that? I just sobbed unashamedly. It says.... "everything's okay now, all is right. Things came full circle, and they always will. Hogwarts is here, and it always will be, it will never have truly left us, so long as there are loyal to it."
• Hagrid wasn't shown at all until the end of the film. The part that got this troper was her realizing that the adventure began and seemingly ended with Hagrid carrying Harry in. The look on Hagrid's face made it worse. Then the part where Hagrid and Harry hug at the end was extremely poignant as well as warm...
  • And, y'know... Harry still looked pretty much as small in Hagrid's arms as he did the first time they were shown hugging.
• The last we see of Remus and Tonks before they are killed is them reaching out to each other as the battle begins, without quite touching. Later, their bodies are lying next to each other with their hands almost, but still not quite touching.
• And what of the last moments of Lily Potter? Harry . . . Harry, you are loved. You are so loved. Harry, Daddy loves you. Mummy loves you. Harry, be safe. Be strong.
  • That was so beautiful and so sweet. It's especially poignant when you consider all of the crap that Harry goes through.
• The final fade to black after the epilogue. The final few seconds of music and then that brief second of silence when you, and everyone around you realises that it's over, after 10 years.
• The scene where Harry, Ron and Hermione make their way through the devastating battle that's raging all across Hogwarts, accompanied by this music.
• The dragon scene in the Deathly Hallows. They really played it up in the movie. First the dragon's expression as it looks up longingly at the far-off light in the ceiling, then when it finally gets there, it just sits and breathes that fresh air that it probably hadn't had in a long time.
• In the final film, when it appears to everyone that Harry is dead, Ginny lets out a Big No, tries to rush forward, and has to be physically held back by her father and brothers. Heartbreaking enough in itself, especially with Bonnie Wright's voice sounding absolutely tortured in that scene, but there's the implication that Ginny was so wracked with rage and grief at losing Harry that she was willing to charge straight at Voldemort, even though this would have almost certainly resulted in her death.
• Speaking of Lavender, her death in the film. Yes, she's annoying and silly in HBP- but she's still fighting right along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. And it's Hermione who kills Greyback, who is happily eating Lavender. It really drives home the common theme of Anyone Can Die. This troper loved to hate Lavender throughout the series, but bawled when she died.Ofo
  • TT managed to stay straight-faced when it actually happened. The worst part is probably in the aftermath. It's almost blink-and-you-miss-it, but there's a two- or three-second scene of Parvati and Professor Trelawney sitting in shocked grief over Lavender's dead body. Trelawney covers Lavender's body and simply says, "She's gone." Of course, not only were Parvati and Lavender hardly ever seen apart in the books, but the two were possibly the only students portrayed as holding Trelawney in high esteem. Many were indifferent to her, and most (even among the professors) regarded her as something of a joke.
• Fred and George were together for everything, and after the battle is over, and everyone is cheering, George glances over at where Fred would be, seeking to share in the joy with him. It had become automatic. It doesn't immediately dawn on George that Fred is not with him and never will be again. It kind of makes you feel bad for everyone who's lost a twin.
• Voldemort's death in the film adaptation of Deathly Hallows. Yes, he is an irredeemably evil, mass murdering, Muggle hating monster, but, just to see him falling to disintegrating, and that his greatest fear has been realized, just seems sad.

Others

• While the tragic moments in Harry Potter are more comedic in the Lego Harry Potter series, Dobby's death still manages to be depressing, as the Lego versions of the counterpart decide to mourn him and give him a burial just as their original counterparts did. He actually gets off worse in this version, as Bellatrix Lestrange ended up causing him to be torn in half, even if there's no blood.
• An example in Real Life: The London Premiere of the final Harry Potter movie, Deathly Hallows Part Two at Trafalgar Square packed with thousands of fans. Each of the trio making a speech with Emma Watson crying and Rupert telling the other two "I love you" and an emotional JK Rowling thanking the fans and saying "Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."
  • Or when Emma tells Rupert: "Thank you for being such a good brother."
• Wrock (Wizard-rock) has a few songs about Harry walking to his death, but The Butterbeer Experience's Chapter 34 tops all. "I know what I must do. And I am prepared. But, please stay here, so I'm not scared. No time to explain. No time for goodbyes. Only time for tears as I look into your eyes. So, hold my hand. Touch my heart. Know that really soon, I'll be where you are. I'll face him strong. Just . . . stay by my side. I want you there, when I, when I die."
  • Made worse when Lena, who's still singing, just breaks down and starts crying.
    • on that note, Riddle TM has a song of the same name that is equally heartbreaking- it's softer, mellower than TBE's Chapter 34... " I hold the ring in my hand, I’ll be okay now I have the bitter truth at last.Help me through, strengthen my resolve Help me face Voldemort, With courage and without fear...."
      • Oliver Boyd and the Rememberalls's Chapter 34 song, Open at the Close, has a heart breaking chorus: " So I'll walk it alone and face this truth. Mum, I'm coming home, home to you. No goodbyes this time, and no kisses too. Ginny, please don't you cry. Know I'll always love you." *sob*
  • A lot of TBE's songs are sad, but the one that killed me was (predictably) The Prince's Tale...
• Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls 'End of an Era'. Really that entire song, but to be specific: "I will miss the train ride in, and the pranks pulled by the twins. And though it's nowhere I have been, I'll keep on smiling from the times we had with them."
• The Split Seven Ways song "The Forest Again."
• How about the opening? How about the opening of the final movie? The moment I saw the Warner Bros logo, my heart stopped and I literally started forward. It never occurred to me, until that moment, that this is the LAST and FINAL installment of Harry Potter, the last premiere.
  • This troper has never had an opening-night audience not applaud and cheer at the production logo...until the last film, when we were all just stunned into silence. Aaaugh.
  • The opening logo just started the tears. This troper cried the ENTIRE movie for the simple fact that this was the final movie. With the final movie, many childhoods officially came to a close.
• This troper bawled like a baby at the end of the Epilogue. It wasn't the end of the movie, no, it was the damn song. The very same song that played at the very end of the first movie. It told us, really, everything ran full circle. Ir remidned us of the entire scope and tragedy of the whole series compered to the first book.
• I didn't cry while I watched the final movie for the first time, but when "19 Years Later" apeared on the screen, I felt like something within me was dying.
• In Real Life, the last day of principal photography of the movie, after watching a special video made by the crew Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who've spent half their lives making these films and growing up together, embracing each other in a group hug and crying.
• "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well." This troper can make it through a lot of things in the world of fiction in rather stoic fashion, but that line made the waterworks start up. It was like that feeling after you've gone through a long ordeal and it's all over and after so much time trying to hold it together, you just need a shoulder to cry on. And it wasn't just because the story had ended - it was the feeling of closure for a character that really, really had to earn that happy ending. And it was the implication that his horrible childhood and seven (some would argue seventeen)-year struggle with Voldemort had left no lasting damage. He didn't end up going off the deep end. He didn't suffer from waking up in occasional cold sweats with hell itself exploding out of his forehead. He didn't have any worry about whether a fragment of Voldemort's soul would come bursting out of him at any moment to endanger the ones he loved. He grew into a man, married the one he loved (a miracle in and of itself considering her proximity to the violence), and had three healthy, happy children as well as a host of nieces and nephews, achieved his career goal - and then some . And they all lived Happily Ever After. That's essentially what the last sentence says, but more beautiful - more poignant.