Film / Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

"Once again, I must ask too much of you, Harry."

"This is beyond anything I have imagined."

— Albus Dumbledore

The one with one of the most famous spoilers in history.^SpoilerSnape kills Dumbledore.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth Harry Potter film, directed by David Yates and released in 2009.

The Ministry of Magic has finally accepted that Voldemort is back, but that's not really making the situation any better. With everyone terrified, obviously unjustifiable arrests, and misinformation still being printed, just in the other way, and events play out to show that the Ministry can't really stop Voldemort in its current form.

But while those events linger over the plot, the action stays fully grounded at Hogwarts. Harry learns more about Voldemort's Backstory, becomes increasingly suspicious of Snape's loyalty, and discovers an old potions textbook annotated with powerful spells and useful notes from its previous owner who identifies himself only as "The Half-Blood Prince". Furthermore, Draco Malfoy is tasked with something by Voldemort himself, and wacky romantic hijinks ensue for everyone.

This film is notable for being the first movie written and produced after the release of the final book, allowing it to begin some heavier foreshadowing of the next films since the ending of the story was finally known.

Followed by the final story, which was split into two films: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Parts 1 and 2.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince contains examples of:

• Actionized Adaptation:
  • There has been an additional scene in the film which has no book equivalent. The Burrow is attacked by Death Eaters during the Christmas holidays. Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback are the only Death Eaters shown. Greyback flies and lands in a ball of flame and casts a ring of fire around the Burrow (possibly Fiendfyre, as the flames are quite large and take the form of a serpent). Lestrange lands in black smoke and taunts Harry, chanting "I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!" Harry takes off after her in rage. Ginny takes off after him, trying to stop him. Lupin, Tonks, and Arthur Weasley follow them into the grassy marsh. While the five are lost in the field, looking for the Death Eaters, the Death Eaters take off and set the Burrow aflame, burning it presumably to the ground, before leaving. There is no further mention in the film of how the home is restored or what happened to it afterwards. The Burrow was supposed to be protected against the Death Eaters, and they simply set fire to it with no effort. By the time Harry returns to it in the film adaptation Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the Burrow had already been rebuilt.
  • Harry and Draco's duel is longer and more intense in the film. In the book, Malfoy turns around and attacks, and Harry almost immediately uses sectumsempra after the two of them cast about two spells each at each other. In the film, Harry and Malfoy shoot several spells at each other, hide behind stalls and shoot spells at each other underneath the stalls, run around the stalls while shooting spells at each other and finally Harry uses Sectumsempra on Draco when he sees him standing on the other side of the bathroom, directly after coming out from under cover.
• Actor Allusion: Alan Rickman had a reaction like this when filming Dumbledore's death scene, since it wasn't the first time he'd been involved in someone being shot off a high building.
• Adaptational Context Change: The conversation between Dumbledore and Snape before the former leaves with Harry for the locket is based on their conversation they had in the Forbidden Forest, which was only mentioned by Hagrid in the book. We actually get to see it this time, with more foreshadowing (given the script was written after the final book's release).
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • Slughorn is strawberry blond in the book (in flashbacks to him as a younger man), but his younger self is black haired in the film.
  • Cormac MacLaggen is the other way around; black haired in the book and blond in the film.
  • And Narcissa is a combination —where she's completely blonde in the book but gets two-toned hair (blonde and black) for the film.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Exclusive to the film is Slughorn's story about Francis, a fish Lily Evans made out of a lily petal as a student which she gave to Slughorn. He lost it 16 years ago, the very day Lily Potter was killed, a fact which makes Slughorn guilty enough to help Lily's son at the expense of his own security.
  • Draco's efforts in the Room of Requirement are shown much earlier in the film for the sake of Dramatic Irony —including using an apple and two birds to test the Vanishing Cabinet.
  • At the midpoint of the film, the Death Eaters attack and burn down the Burrow, in a scene not in the books. The filmmakers added this to have a perilous beat for the characters in a second act that didn't have one otherwise, rather than the characters reading about the Death Eaters' menace in the Prophet as in the novel.
  • Addressing a common complaint of the novel, Ginny has several more one-on-one exchanges with Harry than in the novel to better build a romantic connection between the two.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Has its own page.
• Adaptation Induced Plothole: Has its own page.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade:
  • Harry's attraction to Ginny in the book has him spending a lot of time worrying how this will affect his friendship with Ron and whether she likes him back. There's none of this in the film, where Harry and Ginny slowly fall for each other naturally and just don't get a chance to act on it. This change was probably made because the book subplot was mostly conveyed through Harry's internal dialogue, which is obviously not included in the films.
  • There's a whole subplot involving Tonks's powers supposedly being affected by Sirius's death —only to reveal that she's been in love with Lupin, who won't get with her out of feeling he's not good enough for her. This is eliminated in the film, and the two are already a stable couple by Christmas.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Subverted. In the book, the scene of Harry finally confronting Slughorn about the Horcruxes takes a tragicomic light, with the professor being completely shitfaced and eventually devolving into crying and begging for his actions. The film is not so dramatic, as it instead keeps Slughorn relatively composed, but it makes it much more personal for him by adding an original speech, fully capitalizing on Jim Broadbent's talent, where Slughorn recalls how deep his bond with Lily was and how he felt when he found out his actions had resulted in her death.
• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • Cormac McLaggen is described as wiry and not particularly good-looking in the book. In the film he's more of a Pretty Boy.
  • Pansy Parkinson gets a bigger role here than in the other films, and her actress certainly does not have a "face like a pug".
  • Romilda Vane had a rather unattractive personality in the book, and was an Abhorrent Admirer to Harry. Here however when Hermione tells him she's interested in him, he's not opposed to the idea.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Cormac is toned down a lot compared to the book, where he was a Know-Nothing Know-It-All who said mean things about his teammates and wasted a Quidditch game (where he was subbing for Ron) lecturing the other players how to play. Here he's merely cocky, although he flirts more openly with Hermione despite her obvious disinterest; something he didn't do in the book.
  • Ron in the book went as far as Slut-Shaming Ginny when he walked in on her kissing Dean in the hallway —which in the film is changed to just being uncomfortable seeing them do it in the Three Broomsticks and merely wanting to leave. In the book, he cold-shouldered Hermione when he found out she'd kissed Viktor Krum two years ago, and was implied to kiss Lavender mainly to get back at her. In the film, Lavender initiates the kiss and Ron merely goes along with it, with no intent of making Hermione jealous.
  • Downplayed with Romilda Vane, her attempted date rape aside. In the book she's something of an Alpha Bitch, who says mean things about Neville and Luna, and appears to have something of a Clingy Jealous Girl nature. None of these traits are shown in the film.
  • In the book, Ginny defends the Half-Blood Prince after the Sectumsempra incident, saying it's good Harry had "something good" up his sleeve. Here, she recognizes that the book is dangerous and convinces Harry to give it up.
  • The scene where Narcissa has an argument with the trio and taunts Harry about Sirius's death is left out of the film, so that she looks entirely like a concerned mother.
• Adaptational Wimp: Zigzagged with Dumbledore. In the book, he manages to take three drinks of the Potion of Despair on his own before collapsing and needing Harry to give him the rest; here, he only manages one. On the other hand, when he creates fire to fight the Inferi, in the book it was a ring around him and Harry, while in the film it fills the entire cavern.
• Adapted Out:
  • House-elf Kreacher and the Hippogriff Buckbeak are omitted from the film, and there is no mention of Hagrid getting Buckbeak back.
  • Discussion of Bill and Fleur's wedding arrangements, Fleur's stay at the Burrow, and even both characters, have been omitted. Bill doesn't get bitten by Fenrir Greyback as he does in the book. However, in the next film, he is shown bearing scars from being attacked by Greyback. This creates a plot hole in the next film since it is unknown where, how and when the scarring happened.
  • The Gaunt family don't appear at all. Flashbacks to them were included in the original script but were cut for time.
  • The scene with Fudge catching up the Muggle Prime Minister on what's going on in the Wizarding World is absent.
  • Rufus Scrimgeour and Percy Weasley also don’t appear in the film as their scene at Christmas got cut.
  • Emma Thompson does not return as Professor Trelawney and the scene where Snape's role as double-agent is not shown or mentioned.
• Age Lift: Done for the sake of convenience. Romilda Vane was a fourth year in the book, and Katie Bell was a seventh year. Both are in the same year as Harry, and introduced during Slughorn's first Potions class.
• Almost Kiss: Harry and Ginny in The Burrow, before the Death Eater attack.
• Always Someone Better: Cormac is set up as the fitter, more sophisticated, and more Quidditch-savvy counterpart to Ron, going after his aspiration to make keeper and showing off much smoother moves during practice; he's also sure to let Ron know he plans to woo Hermione. To his credit, Cormac may well be all those things, for all the good it does him: Hermione finds him "vile" and even sabotages him during practice in favour of Ron, and Ron himself kills it during the actual match after giving himself a major confidence boost.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Ginny, who goes from minor character to a rather vital person in Harry's life. A common complaint of the book is that this happens too much in a "tell, don't show" manner, so the film tries to temper this by giving her character more development (and more time around Harry).
  • Bellatrix just appeared in the Unbreakable Vow chapter in the book. In the film she gets additional scenes where she attacks the Burrow with Fenrir Greyback —and leads the Death Eaters into Hogwarts at the end. She also gets to cast the Dark Mark after Dumbledore is killed and set fire to Hagrid's house.
• Ash Face: Seamus Finnegan (as usual) during a failed attempt to brew the Draught of Living Death.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: During the attack at the Burrow, the Harry, Ginny, Arthur, Lupin, and Tonks are all facing outwards in a circle as they are watching out for hidden Death Eaters.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Harry tries to call a Quidditch tryout to order. He isn't quite loud enough, so Ginny intervenes with a very helpful "SHUT IT!"
• Caged Bird Metaphor: Draco is shown framed through the spherical cage of the songbirds he is using to test the vanishing cabinet, mirroring his duress at the task he has been ordered to complete. The final bird he is left with matches his unusual hair colour.
• Cassandra Truth: Bellatrix's mistrust of Snape is rather prophetic, but this won't be apparent until the final film.
• Color Wash: The entire film is bathed in extremely muted colors, varying between light brown to borderline monochrome.
• Composite Character: Bellatrix is present for a few scenes she wasn't in the book —where she only appeared in the Unbreakable Vow sequence. Most notable is the climax at Hogwarts, where she's leading the Death Eaters.
• Condensation Clue: Lavender draws an "RW + LB" heart on the window of Ron's train compartment. Hermione is pained when she sees it, the more so in that it's not clear to her that it's on the outside of the glass and wasn't drawn by Ron himself.
• Converse with the Unconscious: Played with hilariously. When Ron is unconscious from a poisoning, Lavender Brown (who he had been dating) rushes to his bedside. She starts to call his name, which causes him to stir... and croak out Hermione's name. Lavender runs off in furious tears, while Hermione takes her place sitting by Ron. After Ron recovers, he thinks that this was just a dream and has no idea why Lavender is angry with him.
• Creepy Child:
  • Tom Riddle, but especially so in the movie (which works really well, seeing it's the nephew of the guy who plays him as an adult!). A good example —in both the book and the movie Dumbledore sets Tom's collection of trophies he's stolen from the other orphans on fire to both show him he's not lying and (attempt to) teach him a lesson. Book Tom's reaction to a bonfire erupting in his room is awed shock and a bit of fake apology. Movie's Tom's reaction is an undeniably giddy smile. <shudder>
  • Lavender's obsessive simpering over Ron reaches this trope's level at times.
• Crucified Hero Shot: During the scene of Katie Bell's cursing, we see her lifted into the air and suspended in this position.
• A Death in the Limelight: Michael Gambon as Dumbledore gets the largest presence in the movie and its promotion (see the above poster) as befitting his final living role in the series.
• Decomposite Character: The way Harry is found is different in the film. In the book, Tonks finds Harry, stating that she did not see him leave the train and, knowing Harry has his cloak, decided to double check the train. In the film, it is Luna Lovegood who finds Harry with her Spectrespecs, stating that she can see Wrackspurts all over him.
• Desaturation: Some scenes in the movie, such as Harry having Dumbledore drink the liquid in order to get the horcrux, are so desaturated that they have very little colour in them.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Tonks and Lupin only appear in one scene —mainly to establish that they have become a couple since Order of the Phoenix. Tonks' role of rescuing Harry from the Hogwarts Express is given to Luna, and the subplot of Lupin's reluctance to put get together with Tonks because he thinks he would put her in danger is ommitted.
  • Mrs Cole got a whole chapter's worth of description in the book, serving to explain how Tom Riddle was born in the orphanage. Here she just briefly appears to show Dumbledore his room, and allude to "nasty things".
  • Dean's status as Ginny's boyfriend gets less attention, and they split up much sooner (allowing Ginny and Harry to flirt more before their eventual hook-up).
  • In the book, there is a subplot in which Harry, Ron, and Hermione have a falling out with Hagrid as he's upset they were forced to drop his class for their sixth year of studies. They grow cold and distant from each other and eventually hostile, but eventually reconcile when Hagrid reveals that he fears that Aragog is dying, and he realizes that they didn't drop his class due to not liking him anymore. In the film, Hagrid is only seen in the background, if at all, between taking Katie to the castle and Aragog's funeral, and no mention of Aragog, his health or otherwise, is made prior to his death.
• Denser and Wackier: Downplayed, but the film has a lot more comedic moments and more snarking from all characters. The Felix Felicis scene is played much more for comedy than it is in the book. Some reviews even labelled the film a Romantic Comedy. There are however plenty of serious moments (including some tear jerker scenes that weren't in the book).
• Detect Evil: Since the film cuts out most of the Pensieve Flashbacks and dialogues that allow Harry and Dumbledore to determine what Voldemort's horcruxes are and where he hid them, Dumbledore simply says that dark magic leaves detectable traces, which Harry himself senses.
• Dope Slap: When Hermione tells Harry that Romilda only wants to be his date to Slughorn's party because he's the Chosen One, he responds "But I am the Chosen One." Hermione promptly smacks him on the head with the papers in her hand; Harry sheepishly says "Sorry."
• Dramatic Curtain Toss: Every time Draco goes to the wardrobe. It gets silly after a bit.
• Dramatic Sit-Down: A shaken Dumbledore sits down rather heavily on some steps in his office after finding out that Slughorn told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes back in the day.
• Due to the Dead: Professor McGonagall joins the crowd who discovered Dumbledore's body in the foot of the Astronomy Tower. She leads the Hogwarts students and staff in raising their wands to be rid of the Dark Mark and in respect for the now-deceased Headmaster.
• Everyone Can See It: Ron and Hermione, even more so than in the book. Ginny lampshades it in the infirmary scene when leaving Ron and Hermione alone and says, "About time, don't you think?", which also doubles as a huge hint from herself to Harry.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Malfoy's hair shortening into a neater back and sides signals his transition into a more serious and conflicted character.
• Fingertip Drug Analysis: Dumbledore checking the blood at Slughorn's house.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Harry has a brief reaction to the ring foreshadowing the fact that Harry himself is a Horcrux. This, and other subtle hints towards the events of Deathly Hallows, are due to this being the first script written where the writers knew how the series ended.
  • A few subtle hints from Hermione, foreshadowing her attraction to Ron, occur before it becomes clear to the viewer. After Harry visits the Burrow and greets Hermione and the Weasleys, Ron tries to touch Hermione's face, because he noticed a trail of toothpaste on her lips. Later, while attending Professor Slughorn's class, Hermione describes what she smells from the most powerful love potion in the world, Amortentia:"It's rumored to smell differently to each person, according to what attracts them. For example, I smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and... spearmint toothpaste." This last part, mentioning "spearmint toothpaste," is a subtle reference to her attraction to Ron. Another easily missed example occurs when the trio sits down at the Three Broomsticks. Hermione places her order and says, "Three butterbeers and some ginger and lime, please." Emphasis on the word ginger which could be interpreted as a hint about her "taste" in Ron, as he has red hair.
  • Ron has no lines in the final scene, and is sat a little apart from Harry and Hermione —foreshadowing how he'll temporarily walk out on them in the next film.
  • Molly Weasley says of Dumbledore, "What would we do without him?" Snape kills Dumbledore in the third act of the film.
• For the Evulz: Presumably the only reason the Death Eaters torch the Burrow and when Bellatrix Lestrange gleefully torches Hagrid's home and blows up the dining hall.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the Room of Requirement, you can see the harp that put Fluffy to sleep.
• Funny Background Event: Ron is under the effects of a Love Potion. Harry takes him to Slughorn, and while the latter two are talking to each other about Ron's condition, Ron, who was sitting on the top of a sofa, falls backwards onto the floor behind the sofa.
• Gilligan Cut: Played for Laughs when Harry and Hermione are discussing their date choices to Slughorn's Christmas party:
  Harry: I'll invite someone I like. Someone cool.
  (cut to Luna Lovegood waiting for Harry in her Jane Jetson dress)
• Good Luck Charm: The Felix Felicis potion, literally good luck in a bottle. It also apparently has side effects, as Harry develops a nasty case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and a tendency to blurt things out.
• Intoxication Ensues:
  • Harry, after imbibing some Felix Felicis, is wrapped in euphoria.
  • Hermione seemed to be feeling some effects from drinking butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks.
  • Ron's consumption of the love potion leaves him cheerily deranged.
• Irony: Harry and Ginny walk past the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, not knowing it's what Malfoy has been working on.
• Lampshade Hanging: McGonagall is in disbelief that the Power Trio is involved in yet another Hogwarts crisis:
  McGonagall: Why is it, when something happens, it is always you three?
  Ron: Believe me, Professor, I've been asking myself the same question for six years.
• Last-Minute Hookup: The opening scenes build a rapport between Ginny and Harry, setting up their romance with a bit more grace than the novel.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Both Harry and Ron make near-meta references:
  • After Dumbledore springs yet another surprise on Harry:
    Dumbledore: Harry, I assume right now you must be wondering why I brought you here. Am I right?
    Harry: Actually, sir, after all these years I just sort of go with it.
  • After yet another near-disaster...
    McGonagall: Why is it, when something happens, it is always you three?
    Ron: Believe me, Professor, I've been asking myself the same question for six years.
  • When preparing to leave for the cave:
    Dumbledore: Ah, Harry! You need a shave, my friend. You know, at times I forget how much you've grown. At times I still see the small boy from the cupboard. Forgive my mawkishness, Harry —I'm an old man.
    Harry: You still look the same to me, sir.
• Lighter and Softer: Much like the book, this film is more light-hearted and humourous in tone than the previous one. At least until near the end...
• Little Black Dress: Ginny shows up to a party at Slughorn's wearing one of these.
• Mexican Standoff: On the Astronomy Tower during the climax, Draco and his compatriots have their wands on Dumbledore and Harry (unseen by the rest) has his wand on Draco. Then Snape appears and pulls his wand on Harry.
• Mood Whiplash: Right after Slughorn cures Ron of Romilda's love potion, he, Ron and Harry attempt to have a drink together, which causes Ron to collapse. At first, it seems like a Funny Moment... until Ron starts spasming and nearly convulsing on the floor.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Harry, when he sees how badly he wounded Draco Malfoy after using the sectumsepra spell on him.
• Nasal Trauma: As with the book, Harry is caught spying on Malfoy and gets his nose kicked in for his trouble. However, the film adds an extra layer of this when Luna Lovegood has to pop his nose back into place with magic, resulting in a loud cracking sound and a yelp of pain from Harry —bit of a change from the original novel in which Tonks' Episkey spell was completely painless.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer showed a shot of what looked like Death Eaters apparating towards Hogwarts. In the film, said scene ends with the Death Eaters slamming into the defensive barriers preventing them from getting in.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Not very villainous, but Slughorn's stubbornness about handing over the memory is fixed by the fact that he awarded Harry the Felix Felicis.
• No Ontological Inertia: In a brilliant bit of Adaptation Expansion, the movie uses such a detail to make Professor Slughorn's 'proud teacher' relationship with the late Lily Potter into a warm emotional moment for the calculating old glutton.
  Slughorn: I once had a fish... Francis. He was very dear to me. One afternoon, I came downstairs and... it vanished. Poof.
  Harry: Poof.
  Slughorn: It was a student who gave me Francis. One day I came down to my office, and there was a bowl with only a few inches of clear water in it. And there was a flower petal floating on the water. Before my eyes it started to sink, and just before it hit the bottom, it transformed into a wee fish. It was a beautiful piece of magic, wondrous to behold. The flower petal was from a lily. The day Francis disappeared was the day your mother... (starts crying)
• Oh, Crap!: McLaggen, after he vomited on Snape's shoes, knowing that Snape is going to give him detention.
• P.O.V. Cam: Villainous version happens when they are following the Death Eaters on their way to kidnapping Olivander. Briefly, mid-apparation, we see one of them going through London and then streets of Diagon Alley.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Trust Luna to attend a Christmas party in a dress that looks like the lovechild of a Christmas tree and a wedding cake.
• Poisoned Drink Drop: Harry, Ron, and Professor Slughorn open a bottle of oak matured mead to share. As Harry and Slughorn toast, Ron drinks, then collapses and shatters his glass in the process. Ron then starts convulsing and foaming at the mouth, leading Harry to frantically search for and find a bezoar stone, shoving it into Ron's mouth.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Remus and Tonks being involved is a surprise twist that comes at the very end of the book. The film has them already being a couple by Christmas.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Of a sort. This marks the first time Bonnie Wright is listed in the main credits instead of just on the list of cast members. Funnily enough, she's still listed among other actors in a list while Timothy Spall's name gets the screen to himself for a while despite only being in the film for six seconds.
• Punctuated Pounding: When Hermione and Ron were at the Opening Feast, Harry is absent but Ron is eating away hungrily. Hermione hits him with a book with each word of "Will you stop eating!" worried about where Harry was.
• Race Lift: In the early films, Lavender Brown's character name was assigned to two different black extras with no lines, though they were never actually identified as such on screen. Lines in the book, which came out after the first 3 films, imply that Lavender has the same skin tone as Ron, and the film runs with this.^note Production of the early films gave the extras random names of minor book characters purely so the scripts ran easier. Just because the notes said someone was Susan Bones or Hannah Abbott, that doesn't necessarily mean that that's canon unless they're identified as such on screen.
• Red Herring: The girl who hits on Harry in the diner. This was just put in for the movie, and has no relevance on the plot aside from letting the audience know that Harry does have hormones.
• Remember the New Guy?:
  • Due to the above-mentioned Race Lift, this is Jessie Cave's first appearance as Lavender Brown. The character's role as Parvati's best friend had previously been filled by her twin sister Padma, so Lavender just appears as if she'd been there all along.
  • Ron knows who Narcissa Malfoy is instantly when he glimpses her in Diagon Alley, when this is her first on-screen appearance in the film. In the book, the characters knew who she was from when they shared a box at the Quidditch World Cup.
• Rule of Funny: For much of the film, theaters were cracking up — at least until the final scenes.
• Scenery Porn: The entire film pretty much. Most memorable being the shot of Dumbledore and Harry's arrival outside the cave where Voldemort has hidden the Horcrux. With the camera panning up to show waves battering against the cliffs, accompanied by the haunting soundtrack.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Dumbledore and Harry apparate, arriving within the Hogwarts grounds, something it was repeatedly pointed out in the books was impossible. (In the book, Harry and Dumbledore walk to Hogsmeade before apparating to the cave, and return to Hogsmeade before flying back to Hogwarts. For obvious time-constraint reasons, this gets trimmed to apparating directly to and from Hogwarts.) Were it possible, Draco wouldn't have had to fiddle with a Vanishing Cabinet for months to get the Death Eaters in. But Dumbledore hints that there's a special exemption in the defensive barriers for the Headmaster:
  Harry: But, Sir --I thought we weren't allowed to apparate on Hogwarts' grounds.
  Dumbledore: Well, being me... has its privileges.
• Setting Update: Though the previous film had hinted at one from the 90s to the 2000s —Mr. Weasley using an Oyster Card, the fashions on some of the characters —this one confirms it with the opening showing the Millennium Bridge being destroyed.
• Shipper on Deck: During Christmas at the Burrow, Arthur is alone in the living room with Harry and Ginny. Noticing the tension between them, Arthur gives a wry smile and awkwardly, but deliberately leaves the room to give them some alone time.
• Ship Sinking: Dumbledore begins to inquire if Harry romantically interested in Hermione, but Harry immediately shuts him down.
• Sigh of Love: Ron is sighing while looking at the moon, after having eaten several chocolates that have been spiked with love potion and were intended for Harry.
• Social Semi-Circle: Averted in the initial Slug Club dinner/dessert scene. The characters are seated around a round table and some are shown from the back. In fact, when Ginny sits down after coming in late, she sits at one of the seats where her back was to the camera.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Ginny pulls this on Harry after telling him to close his eyes in the Room of Requirement so he can't find the Half-Blood Prince's book and kisses him.
  Ginny: That can stay hidden up here too if you like.
  [Harry smiles and opens his eyes, but she's gone]
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Harry has this look in the opening scene, courtesy of the tragic outcome of the last instalment's battle.
• Trapped with the Therapy Session:
  • Harry and Ron are in a train compartment together when Lavender, Ron's girlfriend, comes up and breathes on the glass pane of the door so she can draw a heart with her and Ron's initials. Harry starts examining his armrest as if he's never seen one before.
  • When Ron is in the hospital wing unconscious from a poisoning, Lavender Brown (who he had been dating) rushes to his bedside. She starts to call his name, which causes him to stir... and croak out Hermione's name. Lavender runs off in furious tears, while Hermione takes her place sitting by Ron. Professor Snape, presumably dragged to the hospital wing by Dumbledore, has a sour look on his face throughout as he watches the teenage love triangle drama. But Dumbledore finds it amusing.
    Dumbledore: Ah, to be young, and to feel love's keen sting.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: At one point, Cormac is shown leaning down out of camera shot and vomiting on Snape's shoes. Snape is not amused.
• Wall Crawl: One of the products for sale at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes are shoes with (magically powerful) suction cups on the soles; a customer is shown walking straight up a wall wearing them.
• "Wanted!" Poster: There are wanted posters for the many escaped Death Eaters, such as this one◊ for Bellatrix Lestrange. Note that these Death Eaters escaped about midway through the events of the previous film but these posters are only just seeing the light of day because the previous regime was more focused on its smear campaign against Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.
• Why Didn't I Think of That?: Both Harry and Hermione are annoyed that they can't go to Slughorn's party with their respective love interests, who are in other relationships. Hermione tips off that she's slummed to asking the infatuated Cormac McLaggen; Harry points out it would've made more sense for him and Hermione to just go together instead, prompting the trope response from Hermione.

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"Severus... please..."