Christmas at Hogwarts

This alternate take on the same scene is a piece of ghostly diegetic music, a Christmas carol sung by the group of Hogwarts ghost carolers floating around in the corridors. The melody is the same as for the music box music but this time Williams himself penned lyrics for it as he told to Richard Dyer in a Boston Globe Interview in 2001 as a result of being unsatisfied by the original idea of using Deck the Halls as source music for the Christmas scene, wanting to give the world of Harry Potter authentic holiday ambience of its own (WILLIAMS CASTS SPELL FOR ‘POTTER’ SCORE By Richard Dyer – The Boston Globe, published November 15, 2001). The music is written for alto, baritone and bass singer, ghosts each performing a brief solo section. This music was originally written unaccompanied but the eerie electronic sheen (similar to that of the Invisibility Cloak) was later added and the voices of the singers, already singing ghostly, were manipulated, achieving a suitable ethereal effect. This version ended up used in and film and on the Original Soundtrack Album. Cast a Christmas Spell Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, ring the Hogwarts bell, Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, cast a Christmas spell. Have a Wondrous Wizard Christmas, have a Merry Christmas day, hover around the sparkling fire, a have a Merry Christmas day. Find a broomstick in your stocking, see the magic on display, Join the owls joyous flocking on this Merry Christmas day. Ding dong, ding dong, ring the Hogwarts bell, ding dong, ding dong, cast a Christmas spell. Ding dong, ding dong, make the Christmas morning bright, Fly high across the sky, light the Christmas night. Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, ring the Hogwarts bell, Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, cast a Christmas spell. It is unclear whether it was the original intention of the film makers to use both or just one of the pieces in the scene but in the end both versions of this Christmas music were used in the film, the ghost carolers heard briefly in the corridor and the music box music playing shortly after in an equally short statement as Hermione steps into the Great Hall to say goodbye to Harry and Ron before leaving for the holidays.