The Deparment of Mysteries

Book 5: HP & the Order of the Phoenix Forum

In re-re-re-re-reading the OoTP I took more notice of the entries to different rooms in the Department of Mysteries, and I was curious what they are studying down there, and how it will affect Harry in the last two books.

Obviously there is the room with 'emotion/love' which is Harry's strength that Dumbledore says Voldemort will never have, so we will hear about this one again, I suspect.

Then there is the brain room which seems to contain 'thought'.

The room leading to the prophecies with the bell-shaped glass jar seems to contain 'time', but what this has to do with prophecies, I don't know.

Luna makes some reference to a room with the planets in which could be 'space'.

And then there is the ampitheatre in which they must study the 'death' phenomenon. I think this one will crop up again somehow, somewhere.

So far I have emotion or love, thoughts, time, space and death. How many doors were there in the revolving room, and to what phenomena do the others lead? And will we be back in the Department of Mysteries in the next two books?

By the way, did anyone notice that the barman at the Hogs Head pub "looked vaguely familiar to Harry." I don't recall this being resolved in the OoTP. Any suggestions, anyone?

Wow! Great post! I think the barman in the Hog's Head may have been Albertforth Dumbledore. Remember, the room "smelled strongly of something that might have been goats". The barman had long gray hair and a beard and looked familiar. Albertforth was in trouble years ago for using an illegal charm on goats. So, since he is a member of the order, I can see his job working in a dodgy bar in an all Wizarding village gathering information.

I think the department of mysteries will be very important in the next books. I still am not sure that Sirius is really dead. He went through the veil, so I am hoping that it was a "Gandalf fell into the gray" type of thing. Don't know how many doors there are in the department, but I will venture to guess that there are twelve.

lol, you're probably right fuscia - 12!

Fantastic posts, madcow. Very interesting. And fuscia, i think you may be right about Albertforth... way to make a connection!

Thanks for the interest, guys. I've never started a thread before so that was a great reassurance. As for the connection with Aberforth Dumbledore - very sharp! I hope you're right; that deserves reward.

I did not think of Albertforth right away. It was on my re-re-reading of the book. Albertforth is mentioned in the chapter where Moody shows Harry the picture of the original order. So, I started thinking about him. You know, one of those nights where the kids just keep waking up, so I stayed awake to read. Yeah, I hope it was him. I would like to see a bit more of these other wizards.