Sybill Trelawney

From Fedtrek

Sybill Patricia Trelawney is the professor of Divination. She first appears in the third book of the series, when Harry, Ron and Hermione start divination lessons. The friends generally believe Trelawney is a fraud, an opinion with which the teachers are inclined to agree. According to McGonagall, her credibility as a Seer is undermined by her habit of erroneously predicting, each year, the death of one of her students. However, from time to time she does make predictions within the books, which come true; however, these few correct predictions seem only to happen when she is in a trance and unaware of what she is saying, with no memory of it afterward. Sybill is the great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated seer Cassandra Trelawney, and, in fact, has inherited some fraction of her ancestor's talent. Trelawney is portrayed as wearing many gaudy bangles, cloaks, and shawls, many of them covered with shining sequins. She wears thick glasses, which causes her eyes to appear greatly magnified. Her classroom, in the North Tower of Hogwarts, is scented so heavily that students often fall asleep during class.

Prior to the events of the Harry Potter books, Trelawney falls into a prophetic trance while in an interview with Dumbledore, saying:

"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..."

This prophecy was partly overheard by Snape, who relayed what he heard to Voldemort. This led Voldemort to attack the Potter family, believing that Harry was the child named. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Trelawney prophesises to Harry about the events of the book's climax. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince she mentions a lightning struck tower, where Dumbledore is eventually killed by Snape. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she is seen aiding in the Battle of Hogwarts by magically accelerating her crystal balls at Death Eaters. One knocks out the werewolf Fenrir Greyback after he attacks and wounds Lavender Brown (but does not have time to bite her, thanks to Hermione's quick use of a Stunning Spell). Lavender is one of Trelawney's favoured students.

In the British editions of the books, her name is consistently spelled as "Sybill". In the American editions, from her first appearance in Prisoner of Azkaban through Order of the Phoenix, her name is spelled as "Sibyll". However, in the American edition of Half-Blood Prince, it is re-spelled as "Sybill", matching the UK edition.

Trelawney is portrayed by Emma Thompson in the films.