Sibyll Trelawney: Great Great Granddaugter of the Famous Seer:
Divination teacher at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Trelawney seems to hold an interesting role in the Harry Potter books, and in JKR's latest, she has been even more related with the personal goings-on of Harry's life. Even though Harry, Ron and Hermione don't like her much, she play a very vital part in the books. We will soon see, this June, how Emma Thompson portrays Trelawny on the big screen in Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban. I have high standards for a person who's taken on the role of Trelawny. I hope she fits the part. Trelawny is almost always described as buggy with big eyes behind her glasses. The first time Harry sees her, JKR describes her like this- "Harry's first impression was of a large, glitering insect. Trelawny moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl. Maybe the fact that she's described as insect-like has something to do with her character that we don't know about yet. We know that Trelawny has predicted big things, huge things, like the one where she caught Harry offguard:

"THE DARK LORD LIES ALONE AND FRIENDLESS, ABANDONED BY HIS FOLLOWERS. HIS SERVANT HAS BEEN CHAINED THESE TWELVE YEARS. TONIGHT, BEFORE MIDNIGHT... THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER. THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANT'S AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER HE WAS. TONIGHT... BEFORE MIDNIGHT... THE SERVANT... WILL SET OUT... TO REJOIN... HIS MASTER..."

This is pretty intense stuff. This is the first time that we come aware of Voldemort's 'servant,' Wormtail (Peter Petigrew). Although Harry probably thinks that the servant is Sirius Black, we soon learn otherwise, don't we? Well, after this, we know that Trelawny can predict big things (sometimes). And we also know that she can predict some tiny things that happen. Like, she tells Neville to take a blue teacup after he's broken his first pink one. Neville does break his teacup... She also tells Lavender that the thing she's been dreading will happen on Friday, the 16th of October. And sure enough, Lavender's rabbit dies. Then she tells Parvati to beware a red-haired man. I asked a few people, and they don't remember anything happening after she tells Parvati this (But please e-mail me if anyone remembers if something did happen, I haven't read book three in a very long time). So, some of the little things, she gets partly right.

We know she looks like a drama queen, and acts like it when she talks in her "misty" voice, but is she the real deal? We know that Sibyll Trelawney has played a vital role in the Harry Potter series. We know that she delivered the prophecy to Dumbledore about Voldemort's downfall. The Prophecy went like this:

"THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO CANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES...BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS TEH 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 SURVIVIES... THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES..."

So, this being Sibyll's second real sight into the future, this makes her a sort of... Half-seer, I guess. I think that Sibyll will play even more of a role in the further two books than she has already. She has already given Harry his (or, perhaps, Neville's) prophecy, and given him a warning. Yet, I think that Sibyll Trelawny will do at least one more thing. I'm not totally sure what, because her character is totally crazy and very strange. If Trelawny wasn't going to have any more to do with the story-line, then Joanne (JK) had the perfect chance to get rid of her when Umbridge was going to throw her out.
We'll see what becomes of this magnificent and crazy character. I think that Sibyll Trelawny, described as a glitzy, glamorous bug with huge eyes, will be back in further books. If anyone thinks that someone will die in the last two of the series, I don't think anyone has completely speculated Trelawny dying. But, that's another story...

By Morgan Mielnick

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