Review's Resort: Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, P1

"Harry is the last hope we have. Trust him."

Hello everyone!

It's back to Hogwarts we go!

Or, well, that's the idea in theory.

Of course, considering it's been almost ten years since these movies were released, we all more or less know what's going on and who's going where, so we ALL know Harry Potter isn't going back to Hogwarts for his seventh and final year.

He said so himself at the end of Half-Blood Prince, anyway.

But considering everything that we have to cover in this chapter before ACTUALLY heading back to the old magical castle, we better take a deep breath.

This is the final stage before our resolution.

Patronus charms, enchanted lockets, travelling cross-country, heated arguments, a snake pretending she's alive, and that sort of ilk await us.

The Deathly Hallows, Part 1, is calling.

As always throughout this series, links to the previous movie recaps can be found at the bottom of this page, and as we're pretty much at the end, it's lovely to see them all grouped together, isn't it?

Anyway.

After the death and funeral of Albus Dumbledore, things are beginning to fall apart in the Wizarding world, despite the fact that the Minister of Magic assures everyone that it's all under control.

I mean, Voldemort has taken over Hogwarts, is killing Muggles helter-skelter, his agents have infiltrated the Ministry and he's desperately seeking something, slaughtering anyone in his path, but, sure.

It's fine, we're fine, everything's fine!

Meanwhile, Harry Potter is turning seventeen, and at this point, he's no longer safe at his aunt and uncle's house, because the love protection spell his mother's sacrifice granted him wears off when he turns into a legal adult (by magic standards). And since the fact that he's being moved by the Order of the Phoenix is revealed to Voldemort, it's even more imperative that the Order moves quickly.

Using Polyjuice Potion to disguise several members as Harry, the group takes off, but are immediately attacked by Death Eaters. Harry is revealed to them because Hedwig swoops in to protect him (did nobody remember to duplicate her?!), and Voldemort appears for another rehash of their duel, this time with the wand of Lucius Malfoy.

He loses, Hedwig dies, along with Mad-Eye Moody, but the rest make it to the Burrow where they treat an injured George Weasley, and the Minister arrives to say Dumbledore left Ron his Deluminator (his own invention), the book Tales of Beedle and the Bard to Hermione, and Harry's first-ever caught Snitch, not that this is at all helpful when you consider the battle of Voldemort that's about to come.

Still, everyone prepares for Bill and Fleur's wedding, trying to find some cheer in these dark times, but even this ceremony is interrupted when Shacklebolt's Patronus comes to warn them that Voldemort has taken the Ministry and his agents are on their way. Most guests, including Harry, Ron and Hermione, escape; our trio Apparate to London, but of course they really don't have much luck.

They're attacked by Death Eaters and need to get off the streets. FAST.

Knowing where the old Order headquarters are, and knowing they're hidden by powerful magic, our trio take refuge there, where they want to also try and figure out where the real locket-turned-Horcrux went, and how to potentially destroy it (and all the others).

The resident grumpy house elf, Kreacher, tells them a lot of items were stolen from the house, but when he and Dobby drag the thief in, he reveals that he sold the locket - to none other than Dolores Umbridge.

The most hated character in the universe is back, and she's working under new Ministry officials, so Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak into the Ministry to steal the locket from her, where they also witness just what Voldemort's rule will bring the world; he's ruthlessly persecuting Muggle-born witches and wizards, accusing them of stealing wands from pure bloods, and sentencing them to prison (or worse).

Naturally, because it's our trio, things do NOT go well and they're spotted, which also means they can't really go back to the old Black house, but hide away in the wilderness. They're no closer to destroying the locket, however, despite also learning that the mysterious RAB from the note in the fake one was Sirius' younger brother, Regulus. This helps them very little as they take turns wearing that thing and throwing everything they've got at it, though.

It also doesn't help that the locket amplifies and strengthens any and all negative emotions, which eventually leads to a massive fallout between Ron and Harry, and Ron storms off, abandoning the other two (gee, thanks Ron!).

Fresh out of ideas, Hermione remembers that Dumbledore left Harry the Sword of Gryffindor in his will, so that has to be important - and since it's missing, shouldn't they find it? Or try and find it.

Ergo, to Godric's Hollow they go, thinking it might be there, but all they find are the ruins of the Potter house, their grave, and a weird old lady that stares at them intently.

If you're a viewer shrieking IT'S A TRAP! you'd be right.

While this LOOKS to be the famous historian who knew the Dumbledore family extremely well, it's actually Nagini, Voldemort's snake, disguised as her, and she attacks Harry and Hermione, though they manage to fight her off. The bad news about their lucky escape is that Harry's wand is broken in the altercation - and there's no spell to repair wands once they break. Also, considering Harry's been having visions of every wandmaker getting pinched by Voldemort, he's in a bit of a pickle there, don't you think?

Still, the visions do tell them one thing: Voldemort is tracking the Elder Wand, which was for a time in the possession of one Grindelwald, he of Johnny Depp fame from the Fantastic Beasts series.

Why the Elder Wand? Stay tuned to find out.

First, we have to follow a doe patronus that leads Harry to a frozen pond, where he sees the ACTUAL sword they've been looking for, but the locket REALLY doesn't like it, and tries to strangle him while he's underwater. Only the fact that Ron chooses this moment to return saves him, since Ron fishes him AND the sword out of the pond, wondering whether his best friend's gone completely mad. Swimming in the middle of winter, and not in a hot tub? Really, Harry!

But now they finally have a weapon for the Horcruxes, and Harry opens the locket so Ron can stab that piece of Voldemort to oblivion.

They have nothing else to go on now though (unless you count Hermione's anger since she's miffed at BOTH the guys for a lot of things at this point), so they decide to follow the clue of the Elder Wand, and a sign Harry saw at the Weasley wedding which is also drawn into the book Hermione received from Dumbledore's will. The sign was worn by Luna Lovegood's father, so they pay him a visit, and there hear the story of the Deathly Hallows, the most powerful magical objects in existence. If possessed by one wizard, they offer control of Death itself.

This is all fine and dandy, but a powerful wand, an invisibility cloak, and a resurrection stone aren't going to help them against the incoming Death Eaters, who were alerted by Lovegood that Potter was at his house because Luna's been kidnapped - and he wants to trade them for her.

Our trio manage to escape, only to fall right into the hands of a new kind of militant police, Snatchers, who take them to Malfoy Manor, where they find Luna, the wandmaker Ollivander, and Griphook the goblin from the bank. They also, unfortunately, find a pissed-off Bellatrix Lestrange, who is convinced that they managed to break into her vault at Gringotts because the sword they have is SUPPOSED to be safely stashed there!

Luckily, though without any real explanation how he even got it, Harry still has a weird shard of a broken mirror where he thinks he's seen a blue eye similar to Dumbledore's before, and asks for help. Dobby arrives to get them all out, since house elves can move between magical wards easily, and because he's a good fellow like that, he drops a chandelier on Bellatrix while he's at it.

Disarming Draco on his way out, Harry and company manage to hightail it to Bill and Fleur's new home, but not without casualties: on their way out, Bellatrix throws her knife, which sadly lands right in Dobby.

Horrified as the loyal elf dies in his arms, Harry decides to bury him the traditional way, without magic, in mourning that yet another person has died in his place so that he can continue on what seems to be a pointless, hopeless mission.

It seems doubly so because, right at that moment, Voldemort breaks open Dumbledore's tomb, where the former Headmaster rests with nothing less but the Elder Wand, which the Dark Lord then takes in triumph.

I mean, can things get any worse than that?

Tune in next week for the explosive conclusion of the Harry Potter series, where we actually do return to Hogwarts to kick some noseless wizard butt after not only breaking into a highly secure bank but riding a dragon on top of everything else. You want to know what happens to Voldemort? We're going to see exactly what.