HBP25: The Seer Overheard – Harry Potter Lexicon

"Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest."
-- Ginny Weasley

Hermione finds out about Eileen Prince through research in the library and she thinks Eileen may be connected to the Half-Blood Prince. Professor Dumbledore asks Harry to come to his office immediately. On the way there, Harry runs into Professor Trelawney, learning from her that Draco Malfoy is incredibly happy and also that Severus Snape was the one who overheard the prophecy. Dumbledore asks Harry to accompany him on the quest for a Horcrux, but first Harry confronts him again about Snape; finally, Harry runs off to fetch his invisibility cloak, giving Ron and Hermione his map and Felix Felicis potion, and he and Dumbledore apparate to the seaside.

Calendar and Dates

All we know about this chapter is that, aside from a brief conversation at the beginning, the entire thing takes place in one afternoon in June just prior to O.W.L.s.

Interesting facts and notes

The chapter starts in a happy Gryffindor Common Room but ends with Harry's fears for the friends he leaves behind as he and Professor Dumbledore go to find a horcrux.

the lightning-struck tower

A real Tarot card, labelled as "The Tower" in a Waite-Ryder Tarot deck but also known by the name Professor Trelawney uses here. Her interpretation is pretty standard, as far as I know.

the centaur - knows nothing of cartomancy

That is, the art of divining the future through the use of cards.

I must confess that, at first, I thought he seemed ill-disposed toward Divination

In fact, by Dumbledore's own admission at the end of Harry's fifth year, he had at the time been considering discontinuing Divination as a subject taught at Hogwarts (OP37).

he himself was seeking a job at that time

Professor Snape said during Dolores Umbridge's evaluation of his class (OP17) that as of that time, he had taught at Hogwarts for fourteen years, which would place the start of his teaching career sometime after Harry's birth since Umbridge's interrogation took place when Harry was 15.

he ran past her, around the corner into Dumbledore's corridor

That is, Harry is still on the seventh floor, since he and Trelawney were just outside the Room of Requirement. This conflicts with statements about the location of Dumbledore's office in previous books.

"....I believe it to be hidden in a cave on the coast many miles from here, a cave I have been trying to locate for a very long time: the cave in which Tom Riddle once terrorised two children from his orphanage on their annual trip...."

Harry will try and put aside what he has just learned about Snape and Malfoy in order to go with Dumbledore.

"You've got to watch him and you've got to watch Snape, too. Use anyone else who you can rustle up from the DA. Hermione, those contact Galleons will still work, right?"

And, as he doesn't trust either Snape or Malfoy, Harry doesn't leave the school without thinking about and arranging for extra protection for his friends. This time he is wiser than Dumbledore, whose mind is fixed on the horcrux quest.

Exceptional character moments

Trelawney (unknowingly) speaks to Harry about the night she foretold the prophecy about "the Chosen One". Harry finds out that Snape told Voldemort about the prophecy.

Trelawney correctly predicts the events that will happen later that night using her tarot cards; She reads them off: Lightning-struck tower, calamity, disaster.

Memorable lines

"And what did you tell her Ron's got?"
"A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where."

"You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?"

"Do you think that I have once left the school unprotected during my absences this year? I have not. Tonight, when I leave, there will again be additional protection in place. Please do not suggest that I do not take the safety of my students seriously, Harry."

"Thanks", said Ron. "Er - why do I need socks?"