- Trelawney: "Certainly I knew, Minerva. But one does not parade the fact that one is All-Knowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous."
- Minerva McGonagall: "That explains a great deal."
- — Professor Trelawney's dubious gift[src]
Professor Sybill Patricia[8] Trelawney (b. 9 March,[1][3] pre 1962[2]) was a half-blood[1] witch and professor of Divination at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She is the great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Cassandra Trelawney,[9] who was also a Seer.
It was Trelawney herself who made the prophecy concerning Lord Voldemort and the one with the power to vanquish him (Voldemort took this to mean Harry Potter) during her job interview with Albus Dumbledore.[10] At the end of the 1993–1994 school year, she accurately predicted the escape of Peter Pettigrew and return of Lord Voldemort.[11] In the 1995–1996 school year, Trelawney was greatly distressed by Dolores Umbridge, who dismissed her and attempted to banish her from Hogwarts Castle, though Dumbledore allowed her to remain at the school,[9] with Umbridge being greatly offended when she later had to teach alongside the centaur Firenze.[10] In the 1997–1998 school year, she participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, dropping crystal balls on Death Eaters' heads[12] and tending to the wounded and dead along with Padma Patil.[13]
Professor Trelawney continued to teach well into the 2010s, continuing her tradition of predicting the deaths of her students.[14] Since Firenze was welcomed back to his herd,[15] it is possible that she taught Divination on her own again.
Biography[1][]
Early life[2][]
- Dolores Umbridge: "And you are a great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated seer Cassandra Trelawney?"
- Trelawney: "Yes."
- Dolores Umbridge: "But I think — correct me if I am mistaken — that you are the first in your family since Cassandra to be possessed of the Second Sight?"
- Trelawney: "These things often skip — er — three generations."
- — Sybill Trelawney being questioned by Dolores Umbridge[src]
Sybill was born on 9 March in an unknown year, to a Muggle mother and wizard father,[1] into the half-blood Trelawney family. There were three generations between her and Cassandra Trelawney, who was a renowned Seer. No one in the family since Cassandra had possessed the Second Sight.
Presumably purchasing or inheriting her wand at the age of eleven, Sybill attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which she referred to as her home. Being Sorted into Ravenclaw by 1973 at the latest, she may have been a member of the Slug Club[7] because of her ancestry. In her third year, Sybill would have taken Divination as one of her elective subjects in her third year, and achieved high grades in her O.W.L and N.E.W.T.
She married early, but it ended in unforeseen rupture due to Sybill's refusal to adopt the surname Higglebottom. They had no children.[1]
After graduating, Sybill drifted through the wizarding world, trying to gain employment based on her ancestry but scorning those who did not offer what she felt was the rightful treatment of a true Seer.[1]
Job application[3][]
- "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..."
- —Sybill's prophecy which secured her job[src]
Either late in 1979 or early in 1980,[16][17][18] Sybill, who by this point had begun making false predictions, arranged a meeting with Albus Dumbledore in the Hog's Head where she was staying in the hopes of acquiring the position of professor of Divination at Hogwarts School. Dumbledore, who was not planning on continuing divination at Hogwarts, agreed to give her a chance because of her ancestry.
Sybill displayed none of Cassandra's divinatory skills, which disappointed Dumbledore even though he was planning on discontinuing the subject anyway. After courteously telling her she was not fit for the position, Sybill entered a real trance and made the prophecy about Voldemort's defeat. It so happened that the Death Eater Severus Snape was eavesdropping at the door, which placed Trelawney in great danger from Voldemort. Hoping to protect Sybill, Dumbledore hired her; despite this fact, she did not join the faculty until 1981.[19]