Deeper into the Prophecy

"Observe the heavens. Here is written, for those who can see, the fortune of our races."

(Firenze)

Divination is the magical art of foreseeing the future. One kind is fortune-telling, where crystal ball gazing, palm reading, astrology, tarot, and tea leaves are used. The other is through Seeing or prophecy where interpretation is required. Only individuals gifted with inner eye posses this gift though it was said that "true Seers are very rare." This branch of magic can be considered as one of the most complex despite the fact that in many wizards, this is imprecise at its best.

In the magical world of Harry Potter, we encountered Sibyll Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts for nearly sixteen years (according to the fifth book). She's been described as who wears a shawl and thick round eye-glasses which magnified twice the size of her eyes. In addition, she's always using her mystic and ethereal voice while lecturing in her classes and most importantly, predicting whose students will die in her class. For many students, she's quite a fraud but for some, she still made a sense. Despite this many discrimination, unknown to many that Sibyll herself descended from the bloodline of the celebrated Seer. She was the great-great-granddaughter of the very famous and very gifted Seer, Cassandra Trelawney.

Is this the reason why Dumbledore accepted her to the post of Divination teacher in Hogwarts despite he doesn't want to continue the subject at all? According to Dumbledore, he met Sibyll because of her famous family background however, he was saddened when he realized that she doesn't have the trace of the gift. He almost turned to leave but Sibyll suddenly became different. In that time, Voldemort was still at large with his fellow Death Eaters. It was Sibyll herself who prophesied Voldemort the birth of the dark lord's vanquisher. Dumbledore, on the other hand, is aware of the danger engulfed Sibyll after she mentioned the prophecy in front of him. Hence, Dumbledore decided to keep her in Hogwarts where she'll be safe from Voldemort who might in one day force the prophecy out of her.

In 37th Chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which was titled "The Lost Prophecy," Dumbledore repeated the prophecy to Harry. He said:

"The one 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..."

The prophecy mentioned was the reason why Voldemort set out to kill Harry. As what Dumbledore explained, Voldemort thought that by killing Harry, he'll fulfill the prophecy despite the fact that his informat heard only half of it and the informat was no other than, Professor Snape who was at that time still a Death Eater and under Voldemort's service.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies," the prophecy began with this two verses. The first one is easy to define, and it means Voldemort is closing to his downfall through someone, but who'll it be? Let us take a closer look on the second verse which tells us that the person who'll defeat Voldemort will be born to those who defeated or escaped Voldemort three times, and the baby must be born on the end of July which was the seventh month of the year. Harry was born on July 31st and his parents were once members of the Order of the Phoenix, a group of people who fights against Voldemort and they indeed escaped the dark lord for three times (or probably more than that).

However, the problem arises because according to Dumbledore, there's also another baby who was born on July 31st and the baby's parents also escaped Voldemort thrice. I'm talking of course about no other than, Neville Longbottom. He was the only son of Frank and Alice Longbottom which were famous Aurors during their time. But, later they were tortured into insanity by one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Could Voldemort be mistaken in choosing Harry? This will take us to the third and fourth verses of the prophecy. It said: "...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not..." Well, it is clear that Voldemort chosen Harry, he gave him the scar which is a mark of his equality with Voldemort. It is the scar that connected him to the dark lord and somehow inherited half of his powers. Parseltongue is an example. When Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, he was surprised when the curse was rebounded and thus failed. Indeed, Harry was protected by some kind of magic which Voldemort was unaware. It is a kind of ancient magic given by Harry's mother through her sacrifice. The curse that was rebounded almost killed Voldemort but it made him weaker instead.

But, the protection was broken when Wormtail mixed Harry's blood during the time he resurrected his lord. Voldemort's resurrection brought us to dark times again and in my own opinion, closer to the climax because darkness will engulf again the wizarding world as the feared dark wizard returned after long years of wait. This also brought us to the climax of the prophecy: "and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..." Dumbledore explained that one must die, Harry must kill Voldemort or in reverse, Voldemort must kill Harry because no one will live in satisfaction while one of them still survives.

As of today, the release of the seventh and final installation of JK Rowling's novel is drawing close, the fans worldwide is focused on who between Harry and Voldemort will survive. Many avid readers of the book highly hoping that it will be Harry who'll survive and hoping that Voldemort will finally meet his end, though, there might be some who thinks that Harry will die or both of them must die.

For myself, it is really bitter and painful for Harry to die and like the other fans, I'm also looking forward to Voldemort's end. But, I do not have the faintest idea whether my hopes will be granted due to the fact that I also have the feeling that Harry himself will die in the final part of the story. It might be a necessary loss for many reasons despite painful. But we must remember that dying is a saddest part of life but what is important is we made difference in the lives of others.

Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus!