Lute

• Type: Musical Instrument
• Owners: An old Muggle woman
• Maker: Unknown

A lute is a stringed musical instrument with a deep, rounded back and a fretted neck. The specific lute featured in the wizarding fairytale “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot” is not described in detail. However, its sound is characterized as a “sad tinkling,” which is magically replicated by the enchanted Hopping Pot. As it belonged to a poor Muggle woman, it was likely a simple, unadorned instrument.

The lute itself possesses no known magical properties and is a standard, mundane instrument. Its significance is derived from its symbolic role in the moral tale of “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.” The sound of the stolen lute is magically manifested by the Hopping Pot after its new owner, a young wizard, refuses to use his magic to help the lute's distressed Muggle owner. The pot, enchanted by the wizard's compassionate father, takes on the ailments of those the son neglects. The constant, sad tinkling of the lute emanating from the pot serves as a magical torment and a reminder of the wizard's failure to help, forcing him to confront the consequences of his prejudice.

This particular lute belonged to an elderly Muggle woman in the village where the wizard from “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot” lived. The lute was stolen, causing the woman great sorrow. When she appealed to the wizard's son for help, he turned her away, adhering to a belief that a wizard should not concern himself with Muggle troubles. As a direct result of his refusal, the enchanted Hopping Pot he inherited began to emit the sad sound of the lute, alongside other afflictions representing the villagers he had ignored. The noise and other torments from the pot eventually drove the young wizard to use his magic to aid all the villagers. After he presumably recovered the stolen lute for the old woman, among other good deeds, the Hopping Pot ceased its clamor and became clean and quiet once more. This history is chronicled in the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

The lute is a key symbolic object in the wizarding fairytale “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.” It represents the ordinary, non-magical suffering of Muggles, which the story's protagonist initially dismisses. The magical manifestation of its sound from the Hopping Pot is the central mechanism that drives the story's moral, illustrating that a refusal to help those in need, regardless of their magical status, will fester and become a burden on one's conscience.

• While a lute does not feature in the main seven novels, a similar stringed instrument, a harp, is used to lull Fluffy the Three-Headed Dog to sleep in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The harp is enchanted by Professor Quirrell to play by itself to allow him to pass through the trapdoor.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the instrument is changed to a flute, which Rubeus Hagrid claims to have carved himself and used to pacify Fluffy in the past. (film)