Sybill Trelawney: Hogwarts' Seer and Her Real Prophecies

She predicts Harry's death once a term and is almost always wrong. But twice in her life she got it right, and those two prophecies changed the whole story. Sybill Trelawney is a reminder that the oddest voices can say the most important things.

Who she is

Sybill Trelawney is Hogwarts' Divination professor. She is thin, wears enormous glasses that magnify her eyes, drapes herself in shawls and beads and speaks in a dreamy voice. She is a descendant of Cassandra Trelawney, a famous Seer, as she herself says in her job interview (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 25).

Most of her classes are pure theater: teacups, crystal balls and forecasts of doom. Hermione despises her, and so does a good part of the school.

Key moments

• Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 6: in her first class with Harry she sees a Grim in the tea leaves and foretells his death.
• Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 16: in the middle of an exam, she falls into a trance and announces that the Dark Lord's servant will break free that very night. She doesn't remember saying it.
• Order of the Phoenix, ch. 26: Umbridge sacks her. Dumbledore lets her stay in the castle and appoints Firenze to replace her.
• Order of the Phoenix, ch. 37: Dumbledore reveals that Trelawney made the prophecy about Harry and Voldemort during a job interview.
• Half-Blood Prince, ch. 25: Harry sees the memory of that interview and learns that Snape heard the first part.

Relationships

With Dumbledore the relationship is one of protection: he hired her despite her flaws because he had heard her prophecy. With Harry, an intense fascination with his death. With Hermione, open enmity. With McGonagall, mutual mockery.

What almost nobody notices

Trelawney makes two true prophecies without knowing about either. The first, about the boy who could defeat Voldemort, came in a job interview. The second, about a servant of the Dark Lord who turned out to be Pettigrew, happened during an exam. Both times she goes into a trance, speaks in another voice and doesn't remember anything when she comes out of it (Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 16).

That is the key to her character: her gift is real, but it doesn't depend on her.

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