Hall of Prophecies

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The Hall of Prophecies, or Hall of Prophecy is a fictional location within the Harry Potter universe. It is located within the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, and is accessible through the Time Chamber. Members of Dumbledore's Army including Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood followed Harry here on a quest to save Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, who Harry believed was in mortal danger in the fifth book of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Harry observes the orb that contains the prophecy concerning himself and Voldemort

The Hall of Prophecy is described as a huge room that is as high as a church and is filled with row upon row of long, towering shelves, beginning outside the Time Chamber with Row 53, with the row numbers growing larger as Harry and his friends progress to the right. On these shelves sit “small, dusty, glass orbs” (OotP, chp 37). These orbs are in fact prophecies, magical insights into the future. They are each labelled with the name of the person who made the prophecy, the person whom the prophecy concerns, and the year the prophecy was made. A few of these prophecies glow a dim, “weird”, liquid white from within and are warm to the touch, while others remain “dull and dark as blown light bulbs” (OotP, chp 37). These prophecies and flickering blue candles are the only source of light within the cold, quiet room.

[edit] The Battle of the Ministry

In June of 1996, while Harry Potter was taking his History of Magic final, he dreamed that his godfather, Sirius, was in danger in the Hall of Prophecy and was being tortured by Lord Voldemort. Rashly, Harry urges his friends to follow him to the Ministry of Magic to rescue Sirius. When Harry arrives in the Hall of Prophecy, he recognises it immediately from the visions that he has recently been receiving unknowingly from Voldemort. Harry leads his friends down the rows of shelves to number 97, where Harry believes that Sirius will be found. Unfortunately, when they reach the end of the row, he and his friends discover that Sirius is not there, nor is there any sign that anyone has been there in a long time. Moments later, Ron discovers that one of the glass orbs, in fact, is labelled with Harry’s name. The label reads: “S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. / Dark Lord/ and (?) Harry Potter” (explained below). As soon as Harry takes the glowing orb off the shelf, Death Eaters appear, blocking the escape with their wands pointed right at Harry and his friends. The Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, demand that Harry give them the prophecy. It is revealed that Voldemort placed the vision of Sirius being tortured into Harry’s mind as a way of luring him to the Ministry of Magic so that Harry could get the prophecy for Voldemort. In a wild attempt to escape, Harry successfully knocks over one of the tall shelves and he and his friends engage in a frantic fight against the Death Eaters. As the orbs are shattered, echoing, pearly-white shapes of Seers are released from the orbs and they recite the prophecies they made in hollow voices.

The fight concludes with a number of casualties on both sides. Luckily for the DA, none of their injuries are permanent: Hermione is slashed with a Death Eater’s wand, Neville’s nose breaks, Ginny breaks her ankle while running to safety, Luna is injured, and Ron is almost fatally attacked by a number of brains in the Thought Chamber. Soon, members of the Order of the Phoenix come to the students’ rescue, Sirius among them. Harry is relieved to see that Sirius is safe. But a climactic battle ensues in the Death Chamber, where Sirius is flung through a mysterious veil by a curse sent from his cousin, Bellatrix. Sirius does not reemerge from beyond the veil. Harry is devastated when he realises that Sirius is dead.

[edit] The Prophecy

The mysterious prophecy that Ron found, as is later revealed, was made by Sybill Patricia Trelawney to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore in reference to the Dark Lord Voldemort and could be about either Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom. The prophecy states that:

The one born with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies….

This prophecy can be interpreted in many ways. What is most interesting about the prophecy is that it does not say who will be the one to defeat Voldemort. The only qualifications, per se, is that the person who has the power to kill Voldemort will be born in the end of July to parents who have defied Voldemort three times. This could be a reference to either Harry or Neville, since both fall into this category. However, since the prophecy specifically states that Voldemort will mark the Chosen One as his equal, Neville cannot possibly be the one to defeat Voldemort by the prophecy’s standards. Harry’s scar identifies him as the one that Voldemort considers to be the most dangerous threat to his rise to power. But as Dumbledore wisely explains, the only reason that the prophecy has risen to the importance that it has, is because Voldemort chose to abide by it. If he had not attacked Harry’s family on that fateful Halloween night and marked Harry with his famous lightening bolt scar, Harry would not have a personal inclination to stop Voldemort from committing the atrocities that he has. So, in the end, the prophecy means that either Voldemort will kill Harry or Harry will kill Voldemort — for neither one of them can go on living knowing that the other still draws threat.

Another person could have been picked besides Harry is Neville Longbottom. His parents have also thrice defied Voldemort and he is also born as the seventh month dies. Another theory about the prophecy involves the proclamation that neither can live while the other survives. This theory states that Harry and Voldemort are not only unwilling to live while the other is alive, but unable to. The theory is that Harry and Lord Voldemort have become fused (Voldemort's rebirth with Harry's blood, and the theory that Harry's scar is a Horcrux) and can no longer survive separately, thus they are no longer separate entities and cannot live as themselves. This would explain how Harry and Lord Voldemort could survive for 14 years, as the prophecy states that neither can live while the other survives. It also bolsters the belief that Harry's scar is a Horcrux and why Dumbledore had a flash of triumph in his eyes in the fourth book as Harry mentions the sacrifice of his own blood in Voldemort's rebirth.

[edit] External references

• Harry Potter Lexicon
• ^[HP5] Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747551006/US ISBN 043935806X.