History TearJerker / HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows

* [=McGonagall=] attacking Snape, while an SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, is a bit depressing, considering she learns that her colleague and former student, someone she ''knew'' had a close friendship with the man she respected and had a ''devoted friendship'' with, had killed him. Hats off to Creator/MaggieSmith, her face just ''screams'' "How could you do this to him?!", similar to Harry's freak out in ''Half-Blood Prince''.

** [=McGonagall=]'s face during that scene. Hats off to Creator/MaggieSmith, because she looks so heartrendingly wrecked, you just feel your soul aching.

** For bonus points, it's the only time we see Voldemort show any emotion other than pure rage or sadism. In his eyes are pure, unfiltered fear. Added with that bone-chilling scream, it's unsettling watching a once very powerful monster reduced to nothing but ash and tears.

** All of this is now, of course, HarsherInHindsight with the death of Creator/AlanRickman in 2016.

[[caption-width-right:350:After all this time, he had '''always''' missed her.]]

* Voldemort's death. Yes, he is an irredeemably evil, [[KillEmAll mass-murdering]], [[FantasticRacism Muggle-hating]] monster but, just to see him disintegrating and realizing that his greatest fear has come to life, just seems sad.

** This line they added to his death scene, and the ''way'' he says it: no malice, no anger, not even any bitterness, just calm and accepting and a little sad. "You have your mother's eyes." It's stunning how almost ''loving'' it sounded, almost as if he was talking to Lily herself. (Not...[[{{Squick}} not like that]]...) Both Creator/JimDale and Creator/StephenFry read the lines as sort of a strangled whisper, but Rickman's version is possibly even better. 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.

** Especially for first-time readers, Snape's death scene is deeply uncomfortable to read. Even though he's apparently an AssholeVictim at this point, there's no triumph or satisfaction to be found in his betrayal and murder at Voldemort's hands. Despite seemingly serving Voldemort with absolute loyalty and even killing Dumbledore for him, Voldemort repays Snape by having him killed in a pretty horrific manner and then leaving him to bleed out alone. Despite everything Snape did for him, Voldemort doesn't even have the decency to give him a quick, clean death once he becomes disposable. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who hated Snape up to this point - ''especially'' Harry - feel only horror at Snape's death. And ''then'' we find out that Snape was actually GoodAllAlong and his death goes UpToEleven on the TearJerker scale.

!!From the book:

!!From the first film:

!!From the second film:

----

* 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 realize that it's over, after 14 years.
** To make everything full-circle, the film closes with Music/JohnWilliams' "Leaving Hogwarts" and then his closing credits medley from the first two films. Yep, the movie is a TearJerker to the literal end.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_forest_again.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''You've been so brave...'']]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dobby_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[FinalSpeech "Such a beautiful place it is... to be with friends... Dobby is happy... to be with his friend... Harry Potter..."]]'']]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/always.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:After all this time, he had '''always''' missed her.]]

* The scene where Lupin comes to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione in 12 Grimmauld Place and ends up ''arguing'' with Harry. The scene where Harry bad-mouths Sirius by accusing Lupin of "stepping into Sirius' shoes" hits particularly hard. And all of this happened because Lupin left Tonks. While she was pregnant. All of this because of his paranoia that his lycanthropy will be passed down to his son. And while he was harsh on Lupin, Harry was right about that.

** What really clinches Cadmus' fate is how excited and eager he was to see his fiancée again, being overjoyed at first. The slow realization that they could never actually be reunited and that, by doing this, he had forced her to suffer must have been torture for the poor guy.

** Especially for first time readers, Snape's death scene is deeply uncomfortable to read. Even though he's apparently an AssholeVictim at this point, there's no triumph or satisfaction to be found in his betrayal and murder at Voldemort's hands. Despite seemingly serving Voldemort with absolute loyalty and even killing Dumbledore for him, Voldemort repays Snape by having him killed in a pretty horrific manner and then leaving him to bleed out alone. Despite everything Snape did for him, Voldemort doesn't even have the decency to give him a quick, clean death once he becomes disposable. Even Harry, Ron and Hermione, who hated Snape up to this point - ''especially'' Harry - feel only horror at Snape's death. And ''then'' we find out that Snape was actually GoodAllAlong and his death goes UpToEleven on the TearJerker scale.

** Just imagine how Andromeda Tonks mostly likely reacted after the dust settles. She lost her favourite cousin two years back and has recently lost her husband to Snatchers. Now, not only does her son-in-law die, but so does her only daughter. Who was murdered by her sister. Who also dies.

* Narcissa asking Harry whether Draco is alive, then betraying Voldemort herself. THEN, immediately afterwards when the fighting breaks out again, her and Lucius running through the battle, ''not lifting a bloody finger'' to help anyone's side, screaming for Draco. Two of the most devout dark characters in the series no longer care about 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. This is notably changed in the movie with Lucius at least, who briefly hesitates before joining Narcissa and Draco.

** Arthur and Molly spend the entire night riding a carousel of AdultFear, as not only Arthur, but four of their children, are involved in the mission and ensuing battle - with one child, George, suffering a serious injury.

** And Harry's horrified LittleNo as he watches Hedwig fall[[note]]props to Creator/DanielRadcliffe there; he seriously sounds like someone just shot his pet.[[/note]].

** And Harry's horrified LittleNo as he watches Hedwig fall[[note]]props to Creator/DanielRadcliffe there; he seriously sounds like someone just shot his pet.
[[/note]].

** And Harry's horrified LittleNo as he watches Hedwig fall.

** The fact that it could have very well been Dumbledore or Aberforth who sent the stray curse that hit their little sister.
** The CerebusRetcon of Dumbledore's crooked nose, caused by Aberforth punching him during Ariana's funeral. Keep in mind that any non-curse physical injury can be healed with magic, meaning that Dumbledore kept it into his advanced age as a reminder for his [[MyGreatestFailure greatest failure]].

* The scene where Lupin comes to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione in 12 Grimmauld Place and ends up ''arguing'' with Harry. The scene where Harry bad-mouths Sirius by accusing Lupin of "stepping into Sirius' shoes" hits particularly hard.

* Colin Creevey, almost a seventh-year (had he attended school that year) and somehow "tiny in death."

* Hagrid being forced to helplessly watch as Voldemort murders Harry. Then, to add salt to the wound, Voldemort forces him to carry Harry's (seemingly) dead body back to Hogwarts so the Death Eaters can gloat about it. WordOfGod states the reason for this is because Hagrid carried Harry out of the ruins of the Potters' house in Godric's Hollow to a new home, so it was only fitting that he would carry him home again here. Meanwhile, one can only imagine how badly all of this hurt Hagrid and wonder if he himself was remembering the first time he'd carried the infant Harry.

* When Harry finds out about Dumbledore's past with Grindelwald, he just ''loses it''. Yes, we've seen Harry get angry before, [[BrokenPedestal we've seen him disillusioned with his heroes before]], [[SanitySlippage but this is a near-breakdown]]. He's absolutely torn up by the realization that Dumbledore was this flawed, and all the frustration he's been feeling at him just [[FreakOut bursts out]]. The worst part is him reflecting to himself that, in spite of what he's learned, he still can't let go of his hope that Dumbledore really did care about him.
-->'''Harry:''' Look what he asked from me, Hermione! Risk your life, Harry! And again! And again! And don't expect me to explain everything, just trust me blindly, trust that I know what I'm doing, trust me even though I don't trust you! Never the whole truth! Never!

* Colin Creevey, almost 17 and somehow "tiny in death."

** Worse, George wasn't there, meaning he found out about his twin's death either by seeing his corpse or, more likely since Percy and Harry hid it, someone telling him. First his ear got cut off, then his twin died... dude had a rough year.
-->''The world had ended, so why had the battle not ceased, the castle fallen silent in horror, and every combatant laid down their arms?''

** Even worse is the fact that this particular soundtrack is called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI_9kZ2qZNE Lily's Theme]]." Damn you, [[Creator/AlexandreDesplat Desplat]]...

** How utterly gutted Snape sounds when he realizes that Dumbledore has been grooming the child of the woman he loved, the child he had protected to honour 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 is the only way to finally avenge her death. Scrapes you out hollow.

*** And maybe even, [[FridgeBrilliance in a strange way, thinking of Tom Riddle]] whose abandonment by his mother more or less [[PlotTriggeringDeath started this whole mess with Voldemort in the first place]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[FamousLastWords "Such a beautiful place it is... to be with friends... Dobby is happy... to be with his friend... Harry Potter..."]]'']]

* Revelations from ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald'' make [[spoiler: Nagini's death, once a ''major'' "hell, yes!" moment of the picture, suddenly poignant in retrospect. Yes, Nagini the snake was a menace, but the young woman who ''became'' Nagini never wanted to become one and might conceivably have been saved, given sufficient breakthroughs in Transmutation. But her own birthright reduced her to an animal, Voldemort further reduced her to an attack-trained slave, and now the grim necessity to destroy ''all'' the Horcruxes has cut off any conceivable hope of her finding peace in this life, even if it were the peace of a nice herpetarium stocked with tasty rodents.]]

** On top of ''that's, there's a brief scene at the end where the survivors are again gathered in the Great Hall and five of the Weasleys are sitting together. Molly and Ginny are leaning against each other, Arthur and Percy are talking, and George is smiling blandly towards the latter, but not part of their conversation. The Weasleys are so used to the twins looking after one another that none of them are paying attention to George, and even though he's sitting with his family, he's alone.