As Lord Voldemort's grip tightens on both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that new dangers lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent on preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together, they work to uncover the key to unlocking Voldemort's defenses, leading them to recruit an old friend with crucial information. Meanwhile, teenage hormones run rampant through the school, complicating friendships and romances as love blossoms amidst the gathering storm.
Information |
|
|---|---|
Language |
English |
Country |
United Kingdom United States |
Premiere date |
July 15, 2009 |
Running time |
153 minutes |
Genre |
Fantasy Adventure Mystery Family Romance |
Budget |
$250,000,000 |
Box Office |
$934,416,487 |
Crew |
|
Directed by |
David Yates |
Produced by |
David Heyman David Barron |
Written by |
Steve Kloves |
Music by |
Nicholas Hooper |
Cinematography |
Bruno Delbonnel |
Edited by |
Mark Day |
Production Co. |
Warner Bros. Pictures Heyday Films |
Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
Top Cast |
|
|
|
Official Trailer |
|
Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #06 in Harry Potter Collection
|
The Plot
Recruiting the Potions Master
As Voldemort tightens his grip on both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Before the start of the 1996-1997 school year, sixteen-year-old Harry Potter accompanies Albus Dumbledore on a recruitment mission. They travel to the temporary home of Professor Horace Slughorn, a former Hogwarts colleague of Dumbledore’s. Slughorn, fearing the Death Eaters, has been in hiding, disguising himself as an armchair to avoid detection. However, Dumbledore sees through the ruse and, after repairing the damage Slughorn caused to the home to stage a struggle, persuades him to return to Hogwarts to teach Potions. Dumbledore believes Slughorn possesses crucial information needed to unlock Voldemort's defenses.
Following this success, Dumbledore takes Harry to The Burrow, leaving him in the care of the Weasleys. Here, Harry is reunited with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as well as Ron's younger sister, Ginny. The atmosphere is tense; Harry voices his dark suspicion that Draco Malfoy has officially replaced his incarcerated father, Lucius, as a Death Eater. Both Ron and Hermione remain skeptical of this theory, dismissing the idea that Voldemort would recruit a sixteen-year-old.
Ambush on the Hogwarts Express
While traveling to school on the Hogwarts Express, Harry decides to investigate his suspicions. Donning his Invisibility Cloak, he slips into the Slytherin compartment and climbs onto the baggage shelf to eavesdrop on Draco Malfoy. Draco boasts to his friends about a task he has been given, implying his new status within the Dark Lord's ranks. However, as the train arrives and students begin to disembark, Draco lingers behind. Suspecting he is being watched, he casts Petrificus Totalus on the baggage rack, paralyzing the invisible Harry, who falls to the floor.
Draco pulls the cloak off the paralyzed Harry and viciously stomps on his nose, breaking it. Before covering Harry back up with the cloak to leave him undiscovered, Draco sneers, "Enjoy the ride back to London." Harry is left helpless until Luna Lovegood, wandering the train looking for "Wrackspurts" (invisible creatures she believes float into people's ears and make their brain go fuzzy), discovers him. She uses the Finite spell to lift the curse and helps Harry fix his nose before they make their way up to the castle.
The Half-Blood Prince
During the start-of-term feast, Dumbledore announces a significant staffing change: Professor Snape has finally achieved his ambition and is appointed the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, while Horace Slughorn resumes his post as Potions Master. Dumbledore also grimly notes that security has been tightened, with students searched upon entry due to Voldemort's return to power.
In their first Potions class, neither Harry nor Ron has purchased the necessary textbooks, assuming they would not be taking the subject. Slughorn lends them old copies from the cupboard. Harry receives a battered copy inscribed with the property name "The Half-Blood Prince." This mysterious previous owner has filled the margins with handwritten notes, shortcuts, and corrected instructions. By following these annotations rather than the official text, Harry brews a perfect "Draught of Living Death," allowing him to excel in the class beyond even Hermione's abilities and win a vial of Felix Felicis, or liquid luck.
Memories and Heartbreak
Dumbledore begins private lessons with Harry, not to teach spells, but to delve into the past. Using the Pensieve, he shows Harry memories of a young Tom Riddle at the orphanage where he was raised, demonstrating that the boy who would become Voldemort was already manipulative, cruel, and obsessed with collecting trophies. Dumbledore reveals that Professor Slughorn holds a specific, corrupted memory regarding a conversation with Riddle that is critical to Voldemort's defeat, and tasks Harry with retrieving the true version.
Meanwhile, teenage hormones wreak havoc on the students. Ron becomes the Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and soon enters a highly public romantic relationship with Lavender Brown. This leaves Hermione disconsolate and simmering with jealousy; she determines to hide her feelings but is visibly hurt. Harry, caught in the middle, consoles Hermione and admits his own growing attraction to Ginny Weasley, though he struggles with the fact that she is Ron's sister and is currently dating Dean Thomas.
Christmas Attacks and Poisoned Mead
Harry spends the Christmas holidays with the Weasleys, but the festive season is shattered when Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback launch a surprise attack. They taunt Harry, drawing him out into the reeds, and eventually set fire to The Burrow, destroying the Weasley home before fleeing. The war has undeniably arrived at their doorstep.
Back at Hogwarts, the danger continues. On Ron's birthday, he accidentally consumes chocolates laced with a love potion by Romilda Vane, intended for Harry. Harry takes him to Slughorn's office for a cure. After Ron is cured, Slughorn offers a toast with a bottle of oak-matured mead intended as a gift for Dumbledore. Ron drinks first and immediately collapses—the mead is poisoned. Harry reacts quickly, using a bezoar to save Ron's life. While recovering in the hospital wing, a semi-conscious Ron murmurs Hermione's name while Lavender is present, effectively ending his relationship with Lavender and signaling his true feelings for Hermione.
Sectumsempra
Harry corners Draco Malfoy in a bathroom, knowing the Slytherin boy is up to something sinister. Draco, crying and stressed by his impossible task, attacks Harry. In the ensuing duel, Harry casts a spell he found in the Half-Blood Prince's book: Sectumsempra. The curse acts like an invisible sword, slashing Draco's chest open and leaving him bleeding profusely on the floor. Snape bursts in, assesses the situation, and quickly heals Draco’s wounds, glaring at Harry.
Terrified that the book contains more dangerous Dark Magic, Harry takes Ginny Weasley with him to the Room of Requirement to hide it. In the quiet intimacy of the room, amidst the clutter of centuries, they share their first kiss.
The Horcrux Revelation
Emboldened by a dose of Felix Felicis, Harry finally succeeds in persuading Slughorn to surrender the true memory. He views it with Dumbledore and learns the terrifying truth: Tom Riddle had asked Slughorn about Horcruxes—objects used to conceal parts of a wizard's soul to attain immortality. Riddle wanted to know if it was possible to split the soul into seven pieces. Dumbledore confirms that Voldemort succeeded in creating multiple Horcruxes. Two have already been destroyed: Tom Riddle's Diary (by Harry) and Marvolo Gaunt's Ring (by Dumbledore). They must find and destroy the rest to make Voldemort mortal.
The Cave
Having discovered the location of another possible Horcrux, Harry and Dumbledore travel to a desolate seaside cave. To retrieve the object—a locket belonging to Salazar Slytherin—Dumbledore is forced to drink a basin full of the Emerald Potion, also known as the Drink of Despair. The potion causes him excruciating pain and delirium. As Dumbledore finishes the potion, Harry retrieves the locket, but they are immediately attacked by Inferi, undead corpses guarding the cave. Despite his weakened state, Dumbledore summons a firestorm to drive back the Inferi, and they Apparate back to the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts.
The Lightning-Struck Tower
Upon their return, it becomes clear the school has been breached. Draco Malfoy, with the help of the Vanishing Cabinet he had been repairing all year in the Room of Requirement, has allowed Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback, and other Death Eaters to infiltrate the castle. Hearing footsteps, Dumbledore instructs Harry to hide below the floorboards. Draco bursts onto the tower and disarms Dumbledore, unwittingly becoming the master of the Elder Wand.
Draco reveals that he was chosen by Voldemort to kill the Headmaster, but as he points his wand at the defenseless Dumbledore, he hesitates, unable to commit the murder. Snape suddenly arrives on the tower. He signals Harry to remain quiet and ascends the stairs. Confronting the scene, Snape steps forward and casts the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, blasting Dumbledore off the Astronomy Tower. Bellatrix gleefully conjures the Dark Mark into the sky above the school.
The Prince's Identity
Harry, fueled by rage and grief, pursues Snape and the Death Eaters as they flee across the grounds. He attempts to use the Sectumsempra curse against Snape, but the professor effortlessly deflects his spells. Snape looms over Harry and reveals that he is the original owner of the textbook—he is the Half-Blood Prince. He leaves Harry behind and escapes with the others.
Harry returns to the castle, joining Hagrid, the staff, and the students who have gathered at the base of the Astronomy Tower. They stare in shock at Dumbledore's broken body. Harry approaches the corpse, strokes Dumbledore's hair, and takes the recovered locket, placing his hand on his mentor's heart. Ginny joins him, sitting silently to comfort him as he weeps. Slowly, Hermione, Professor McGonagall, Luna, and the rest of the gathered crowd raise their lit wands into the air, their collective light banishing the Dark Mark from the sky.
The R.A.B. Note
Later, Harry reveals a devastating truth to Ron and Hermione: the locket they risked everything to retrieve is a fake. Inside, they find a note signed by "R.A.B.," stating that he has stolen the real Horcrux and intends to destroy it. Dumbledore died in vain. Determined to finish what Dumbledore started, Harry informs his friends that he will not return to Hogwarts for his final year. Ron and Hermione vow to stay by his side, and together, the trio commits to seeking out and destroying the remaining Horcruxes to defeat Lord Voldemort once and for all.
