I believe I've found some major hints and clues tucked away in the magical miscellany on this page (and plenty more to come in the future.)  Yes, they could also be giant red herrings.   Well, fishy or not, there's a ocean of information ready for the hearty soul eager to jump in and do a little treasure hunting.

PORTKEY LINKS:

Class Notes:  Hogwarts Students during first Chamber of Secrets Attacks 

The Eleventh Hour

Phoenix Feathers  and Wands as They Relate to Harry and Voldemort 

Ford Anglia

The Hand of Glory  * Updated October 30, 2005

Heads and Hearts * Updated October 30, 2005

Honeydukes Chocolate Frogs and Trading Cards

Knight Bus

LOONY LOOPY LUPIN & LUNA LOVEGOOD LUNAR ASPECTS

The Mirror of Erised and Other Looking Glasses

OCTOBER 31ST - mORE tHAN jUST hALLOWEEN

Owl Post

The Prophecy * Updated October 30, 2005

SHRUNKEN HEADS

SORTING HAT

the Time Turner and Time Turners  * Updated October 30, 2005

The Weasley's Clock* Updated October 30, 2005

Tom Riddle aka Voldemort – Age 16 – Slytherin

Rubeus Hagrid – Age 13-14  - Gryffindor

Minerva McGonagall – Age 17 – Gryffindor

Moaning Myrtle ????? – Age 12 approx. – Sytherin? Or Ravenclaw?

Olive Hornsby – Age ?? – House ??

 I just wonder how much these people, as students, interacted with each other.  I wish I could use Occlumency to see into their memories of old school days.  McGonagall certainly doesn’t act like she believes that the Chamber is real… even though she was a student at the time of the attack on Myrtle… Did Professor Dippet and Dumbledore do that good of a job hushing it all up?

THE ELEVENTH HOUR

Voldemort was in power for 11 years when he killed Lily and James Potter but failed to kill Harry.

One-year old Harry Potter, a wizard, is taken to live the next 10 years of his life in the Muggle world with his aunt, uncle, and cousin where magic doesn’t exist.  The muggle and magical realms settle into a holding pattern, as if the hourglass is now resting on its side so that none of its precious grains of sand can slide either one way or the other.  Since Voldemort transferred some of his powers to Harry when he tried to kill him, Voldemort’s powers are now tied to Harry and vise versa.  So while Harry lives in a non-magical world Voldemort’s magical powers are useless.

The year that Harry turns 11 he goes to the zoo with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley.  He inadvertently dissolves the glass barrier of a boa constrictor enclosure thereby setting the snake free.  This is a metaphor for him releasing Voldemort back into the magical world and power.  The clock has now started ticking again, the hourglass has been up-righted and everything starts moving again toward the 12th hour, or if you prefer witching hour, and the ultimate and final climax.  Also in order to complete the cycle and since Harry is the one who let Voldemort out of his cage, he will be the one who must encase Voldemort again behind the glass in the end.

As I mentioned in the section on the number four, Harry’s watch stopped working when he wore it into the lake during the second task.  However, he apparently bought a new watch his fifth year at Hogwarts because we are told that he checks the time during his DA meetings, etc.  So metaphorically and literally, time is on the move again.  Harry seems to unwittingly have the ability to start and stop time, even though he isn’t aware that he is doing it.  I also think the whole watch/clock/time thing refers to the beginning and end of each of Harry’s “lives”.  Harry’s life changed again dramatically at the end of GoF and he began a new phase of his existence… another life… after surviving his battle with Voldemort in the graveyard. 

Harry is like a cat with nine lives… I’m not sure how many lives have been granted to him but he does keep using them up each time he faces off with Voldemort.  By the end of the HP series Harry may be on his last life but like Trelawney’s untypical Harry prediction, I think he’ll live long and prosper to a ripe our age with plenty of progeny to carry on his legacy.

BACK TO THE TOP

PHOENIX FEATHERS AND WANDS AS THEY RELATE TO HARRY AND VOLDEMORT

Mr. Ollivander put two of Fawkes’ feathers in two wands, one owed by Harry and the other by Voldemort.  Given that Tom Riddle got his wand when he was eleven that would be about fifty-three years before Harry got his wand.  Are there or have there ever been any other wands with Phoenix feathers over the ages?  What is inside Dumbledore’s wand?  What was inside Godric Gryffindor’s and Salazar Slytherin’s wands? 

Why then would a Phoenix feather wand choose Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort?  He is Salazar Slytherin’s descendent and by all reasonable deductions as great or greater than his infamous ancestor.  That leads me to say that the power of the Phoenix is far greater than any other core ingredient and it signifies immortality, the one thing that Voldemort strives to attain at any cost.  Did the wand give him immortality or did it choose him because he is immortal?  By the same token, did Harry’s wand choose him by his virtue or by default?  If Voldemort hadn’t attempted to kill Harry as a baby would Harry still have the same wand? Since Harry survived certain death he achieved immortality and would therefore be the natural choice for the Phoenix core wand.  Love is eternal and therefore has its own immortality, and Harry is filled with his mother’s eternal love.  He also now shares qualities born to Voldemort and the wand would have sensed this when Harry held it.  The feather inside Harry’s wand would have gravitated toward him because in that way it would be closer to its own twin feather.

BACK TO THE TOP

FORD ANGLIA

What's Mr. Weasley's enchanted car been doing since it saved Harry and Ron from the spiders in their second year?  Could the boys be treated to another wild ride in their sixth or seventh years?  I find it hard to believe we've seen the last of this magical mystery car.

In CoS, Harry ends up in Borkin & Burkes in Knockturn Alley where shrunken heads abound and where Harry spots a leathery, skeletal hand mounted on a plinth.  It's the Hand of Glory.  Mr. Borgin says it will hold a light for the one who has it.  This hand bears a scary resemblance to a Dementor's hands if you ask me.  In the Chamber of Secrets movie Harry touches it and its bony fingers clamp with a vice-like grip around his wrist.  He pries himself free just as Malfoy and his father are entering the shop.  And in COS, Malfoy buys the Hand of Glory.  We don’t hear anything more about it until book six when Draco actually uses his dark hand to literally light the way.  Will Draco use his Hand of Glory?  Perhaps he will need to hold on to it so that it will guide him out and away from Voldemort’s clutches.

Also in HBP, Dumbledore’s right hand becomes cursed when he destroys the Horcrux inside Marvolo’s ring.  It thereafter is withered, burned and black, resembling the Hand of Glory… yet it also lights the way for Harry in the fact that Dumbledore helps Harry to see what he must do in his quest to destroy Voldemort.

I believe there is another Hand of Glory. It's silver and belongs to a wormy, rat of a guy.

BACK TO THE TOP

HEADS AND HEARTS

And In Alice in Wonderland Alice goes down the White Rabbit's Hole and meets a deck of self-shuffling cards, if you will, and the Queen of Hearts is always shouting "Off with her head!"   Notice how hearts and heads are important body parts in the HP series?   They pop up over and over again.  One thing I noticed in the 3rd Harry Potter movie was the Sirius told Lupin when the latter was turning into a werewolf to try to remember that the real Remus Lupin was inside himself and he put his hand to Lupin's heart.  Sirius also told Harry that those we love can always be found living in our hearts. 

Harry's bravery reflects that he seems to have the heart of a lion.

And Dumbledore reminds Harry that Voldemort cannot possess him because of Harry's heart and the love that it holds.

And in GOF Harry thinks he loses his heart to Cho Chang but not until HBP does he discover the one who really holds the key to his heart.

Here are a few "head" hints:  Nick nearly lost his.  And he is forever trying to get into the Headless Hunt.

In the Department of Mysteries, one of the Death Eater's head in trapped inside a bell jar and keeps growing and shrinking from adult to baby to adult over and over again.  Also in the Department of Mysteries is the room with the octopus-type brains with the suckered tentacles that attach themselves to Ron in an painful, thought provoking hug.

Several times when Harry dons his Invisibility Cloak he leaves only his head visible, offering the idea of a bobbing head floating through the air.  Interestingly, I often feel that Harry’s head is detached from the rest of his body; indeed, from the rest of the muggle and wizard worlds.  He’s is, after all, unique and a head above the rest of world… (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Hermione’s head is filled with facts.

Ron and Hermione are Head Boy and Head Girl.

There are shrunken heads and skulls every where in Borgin and Burkes.  In fact, I have an interesting bit on Shrunken Heads you might light to read.

HONEYDUKES CHOCOLATE FROGS AND TRADING CARDS

One of the sweets that Harry likes is Honeyduke's Chocolate Frogs (Enchanted Frogs again; see my comments on Neville) that come with Trading Cards of famous witches and wizards.  Being magical cards, the people in them move (like the portraits at Hogwarts and magically developed photographs) and don't always stick around after the first viewing.  Is there someone of significance on the cards we haven't seen yet?  We've seen Dumbledore and Morgana from King's Arthur's time.  Could there be a Harry Potter card?  Harry is a famous wizard, after all, and as Hermione informs him, he's been written about in several books about the Dark Lord.  And even though I have my doubts, is there just one card with Voldemort on it? He too is a great wizard.  "Terrible, yes, but great," said Mr. Ollivander in PS/SS.  I think there may be more to know about these collector cards. 

KNIGHT BUS

Got my wand out to flag down the Knight Bus.  I'm sure it will be back soon in HBP so be ready and fasten your seat belts.  The Knight Bus (note the spelling) appeared when Harry needed rescuing in PoA.  It came in handy in OotP too when Harry and company needed to get to Kings Cross Station from Number 12 Grimmauld Place.  I'm not completely sure where I'm going with this but I am sure that once there I'll find the Knight Bus has already arrived and delivered his passengers slightly ruffled... OK, a lot ruffled, but safe.

BACK TO THE TOP

THE MIRROR OF ERISED AND OTHER LOOKING GLASSES

The Mirror of Erised is literally the mirror of desire.  (Erised spelled backward).  So if this mirror shows you what your heart’s deepest desire is then it would show Harry his family, even though they are dead. Can it show other people too who have gone beyond the veil... like Sirius?  It’s a looking glass and Lewis Carroll's Alice was able to go through the looking glass to another world.  If Alice can, why not Harry?  Is the Mirror of Erised a doorway?  Could it also be a place to jail Voldemort?  Perhaps there is a period of time when the doorway is open and one can go through it but if you don’t get back in time the doorway will close,and you will be trapped forever on the other side.  Sounds like another fate worse than death to me... 

Sirius gave Harry a two-way mirror for Christmas in OotP and told Harry to use it if he ever needed to contact him.  Harry didn’t think about the mirror until after Sirius fell back into the veil in the Department of Mysteries.  Did Sirius have the matching mirror on him when he fell?  I think so and I think he’ll start trying to contact Harry in HBP.  Also, if Harry can travel through the looking glass, can Sirius come back that way?  If he wasn’t properly dead when he fell through the veil then it might be possible. 

Did you realize that Harry, his father (I think), Dumbledore, McGonagall, Arthur Weasley, and Moaning Myrtle, Ernie Prang, the mystery lionesk man who will be introduced in HBP, Professor Trelawney, and a few more I’ve forgotten, I’m sure, all wear glasses?  Not sure what that means but they are all on the good side.  Could wearing glasses be a metaphor for having second sight? 

Did anybody notice the glass eye in the display case in Borgin & Burkes mentioned in CoS?  Did Mad Eye buy his magical glass eye there?  We know he can take it out and still see with it; it's great for looking around corners, eh?  I may be just eye-balling this theory but maybe Harry could also use it to see what’s beyond the veil in the Death Room in the Dept. of Mysteries.

BACK TO THE TOP

OCTOBER 31ST - mORE tHAN jUST hALLOWEEN 

1982       Voldemort kills Lily and James Potter and unsuccessfully attempts to kill one-year-old Harry.  Voldemort’s powers are nearly extinguished (at least for the next several years).

1991       Professor Quirrell/Voldemort sets a Troll loose in Hogwarts.  Harry and Ron rescue Hermione and knock the Troll out.

1992       Harry, Ron, and Hermione attend Sir Nicholas’s Death Day party celebrating the 500^th anniversary of his death.  Ginny Weasley, who was been possessed by the memory of Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort, the Heir of Slytherin, opens the Chamber of Secrets.  Harry first hears the Basilisk and finds Mrs. Norris has been petrified.

1993        Sirius Black breaks into Hogwarts and slashes the portrait of the Pink Lady.

1994        Harry’s name pops out of the Goblet of Fire as the 4^th Tri-Wizard Champion.

1995        No major events other than thunder and rain.

1996         ???

I'm still waiting for the Owl Post to deliver the next bit of news and information.  Please check back later.

BACK TO THE TOP

THE PROPHECY

“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  …”  OotP

Trelawney’s prophecy states that “either must die at the hand of the other…” and that “neither can live while the other survives…”  OK.  I have a theory.  If one looks at this from semantics’ point of view then I suggest that we examine each word more closely.  The one who must die is, we assume, either Harry or Voldemort.  I’m all right with this as is.  It’s pretty straightforward. Let’s continue…  “at the hand of the other”.  This is the BIG ONE – “Hand”.  Whose hand?  Harry’s?  Voldemort’s?  Eh, I don’t think so. If this were the case, wouldn’t the prophecy say that the one must die at the wand of the other?  So whose hand?  Well, let’s think.  Who do we know who has a brand new, nastily strong, 5-digit appendage?  Got it?  Peter ‘Wormtail’ Pettigrew of course.  And I suspect he will be using his new silver hand for more than just crushing twigs. 

We only assume that Harry must kill Voldemort or that Voldy-thingy must kill Harry.  But if Harry has “the power to vanquish the Dark Lord” then he may be able to do it without actually committing murder himself.  What is that power, you ask?  In HBP, Dumbledore tells Harry that it is his ability to love.  Voldemort is incapable of knowing or giving love and that is Harry’s secret weapon.  I agree that love is the most powerful magic that exists but I also think that Harry has a backup secret weapon.  He saved Wormtail’s life! He wouldn’t allow Lupin or Sirius to murder Wormtail in PoA.  This good deed was not because Scabbers had been Ron’s pet rat, but rather Harry didn’t want his father’s best friends committing murder.  Nevertheless, Dumbledore tells Harry that Pettigrew now owes his life to Harry and that there is a certain bond between them that Dumbledore explains is “magic at its deepest, it’s most impenetrable.”  And we can weave this back around to the love aspect, because it was out of his love for his father, Sirius and Lupin that Harry allowed Wormtail’s life to be spared.  Dumbledore also tells Harry that he doubts that Pettigrew will tell Voldemort about this debt – “power the Dark Lord knows not.”  

So this is the power that Harry possesses that Voldemort doesn’t have a clue about.  It’s my theory that in the final duel between Harry and Voldemort little Peter Pettigrew will intercede to repay this dept and in the process Voldemort will be vanquished.  I also believe that Peter Pettigrew will die as well or have his soul sucked out by Dementors. (I don’t think he will be eaten by Crookshanks.  The poor cat-kneazel would get indigestion.)

Of course, we also have to consider Horcruxes.  And here’s an interesting thought… could Ginny have been cursed with a Horcrux alter-ego?  Hope not.  Anyway, Harry must find and destroy Voldemort’s other six soul bits before he can kill the “mortal” Voldemort last.  I’m sure that love will once more plan an important and even greater part in this saga.  I only hope the love in Harry’s heart won’t be broken so badly that healing will be beyond even the greatest Healer’s mending.

BACK TO THE TOP

SHRUNKEN HEADS

There were a lot of shrunken heads hanging around in the PoA movie.  There was the stand-up comedian/navigator shrunken head on the Knight Bus.  He wasn’t in the book.  Neither were the three watch-heads just inside the Madam Rosmerta’s pub, the Three Broomsticks.  There were, however, in both the books and movies, a lot of them in Borgin & Burkes but they were talkin’.  Shrunken heads are full of dark magic, right?   The practice of shrinking the heads of one’s enemies has been known worldwide for eons.   But did you know that it was prevalent in the Balkans which are in the mountains of Bulgaria... the same region as Albania, Romania, and Transylvania!?  And You-Know-Who has been skul-king about all over those places.   

But wait!  Hermione may be walking into a heady situation.  Remember that in GoF Victor Krum invited Herm-own-ninny to visit him in Bulgaria!!??  It’s not Victor that’s worries me but oh my, this is no small clue and it’s giving me a giant headache just trying to stitch it all together.  

SORTING HAT

“Bee in your bonnet, Harry Potter?”  What sort of hat is the Sorting Hat really?  It's a poet laureate and doles out words of wisdom especially at crucial moments in time. This hat was originally Godric Gryffindor’s and so we believe that it is primarily Godric’s wisdom that is emanating from the ragged and grimy old wizard’s cap, and it seems to read a person’s very soul when it is placed atop his or her head.   

What other amazing qualities does the Sorting Hat possess aside from assigning students to their appropriate Hogwarts houses and delivering jewel-encrusted swords to true Gryffindors in a tight squeeze?  In OotP is warned that unless Hogwarts houses unite and stand together or all, wizards and muggles alike, shall stand divided and fall (under Voldemort's dominion.)  When Harry and Hermione form the D.A. they are bringing students from different house together as one group.  Unfortunately, Slytherin is still a house unto itself.  I am sure Malfoy and his gang won't join forces with Harry and Dumbledore Army but perhaps other Slytherins will and we will see a united Hogwarts.  I’m sure the Sorting Hat is brimming over with other abilities, gifts and wisdom and I also feel confident it knows what’s brewing right under our very noses.

BACK TO THE TOP

I don’t think I’m far off when I say that everyone at some point or other has wished for a way to travel back… or forward in time.  In the HP series Hermione and Harry do time travel by using a Time Turner.  Initially, Hermione was given special permission to use a Time Turner in POA to be able to take more classes, attending two or three during the “same hour.”  Then of course later, during the crucial climax of the book, Harry and Hermione use the Time Turner to rescue Sirius and Buckbeak just in the nick of time.  But there are rules one must follow when tinkering with the ebb and flow of time.  First and foremost, the person or persons who go back time cannot let their “past” selves see their future selves.  Secondly, the past mustn’t really be changed yet changing how the past is perceived does seem to be possible.  For example, initially, Harry, Hermione, and Ron thought they witnessed Buckbeak’s execution.  However, from where they were standing at the time the axe fell they didn’t actually see Buckbeak being killed.  When Harry and Hermione returned to the past they were able to lead Buckbeak away into the forest before McNair had the opportunity to carry out his dastardly deed.  In his anger and frustration at having no beast to behead, McNair let his axe swing and slice through one of Hagrid’s giant pumpkins.  This is actually what the Harry, Hermione, and Ron of the past witnessed.  Their perception was that Buckbeak had been killed… and perceptions can always change.

Will Time Turners be used again in either or both of the 6^th and 7^th Harry Potter books?  There’s a strong possibility, I believe.  In OotP Harry and company found out that Time Turners are stored in the Department of Mysteries.  There are apparently hundreds of them.  The problem is that in the scuffle with the Death Eaters the shelves and shelves of Time Turners toppled to the ground and smashed.  Yet being that time apparently revolves endlessly inside these delicate little hourglasses, they continued to break and repair themselves over and over again.  I’m sure that one of the Unspeakables put things right again but that’s something we’ll have to wait and find out in the “future” books.

If we can assume that the Time Turners have been reset then I have a couple of theories about how they might be used.  There are two people who could benefit by either returning to the past or moving forward in time:  Harry and Lord Voldemort.  What if Voldemort attempts to return to the year before Harry’s birth?  He knows now where and when Trelawney’s first prophecy was made.  I’m not sure how many turns it would take to travel back seventeen years but I’m sure the Dark Lord would figure that out.  He could steal into the Hogshead Pub himself and listen to Trelawney tell Dumbledore the complete prediction.  Naturally he would then know that he mustn’t attempt to kill Harry as a child… and that would indeed change the whole course of events.  Yet that is exactly what Voldemort would want.  This opens up a whole can of plot worms that would change everything Jo Rowling has written up to now… so for her own sanity, I imagine she would not let Voldemort book that particular trip to the past.

So what about just going back a few weeks to the Department of Mysteries… just before Neville kicked the glass orb?  Perhaps Voldemort would brave being seen a bit earlier just so he could catch the prophecy before it smashed against the stone steps.

The one thing that is certain is that a Time Turner in either Voldemort or one of his Death Eater’s possession would cause devastating effects to Harry, Dumbledore, and all wizards and muggles, and so therefore must not be allowed to happen.  It’s time to double up the security of these precious grains of sand and perhaps move them out of the Department of Mysteries and into Hogwarts, especially with a new Minister of Magic waiting in the wings… (Is that Lucius I see?)

Harry might also want to use a Time Turner again.  If he could just go back to the moment before Sirius fell through the Veil he might believe he could save his Godfather.  I would also think he might consider returning to Godric’s Hollow before Voldemort killed his parents in order to save their lives and vanquish the Dark Lord before the curse Avada Kedavra is uttered aloud.

I am so inclined the think there might be a reason to travel to the future although I am not sure what that would be at the moment.  But it just makes sense that if you turn the Time Turner’s hourglass one direction to return to the past, turning it in the opposite direction would take you to the future. 

(Note: We do learn in HBP that all the Ministry Time Turners were destroyed the night that Harry and company fought the Death Eaters.  However, could there be just one more secreted away somewhere… like in the Room of Requirement?)

THE WEASLEY'S CLOCK

This clock is VERY IMPORTANT.  We first notice it in CoS when Harry comes to the Burrow.  Instead of numbers it has locations or actions that include:  Time to Make Tea, Time to Feed the Chickens, You’re Late.  In GoF we see that it has several more options including: Home, School, Work, Traveling, Lost, Hospital, Prison, and Mortal Peril. 

From the second group of words, which are far more significant that the 1^st batch I think, J.K.R. has used home, work, traveling, hospital, and mortal peril.  We can safely assume that when Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny are at Hogwarts it is pointing to school.  When the snake bit Mr. Weasley in OotP the clock pointed to mortal peril and when he was in St. Mungo's it pointed to hospital.  In HBP all of the clock’s hands continually point to mortal peril.  What we haven’t seen yet is lost and prison!  I’m not sure when lost will come to the fore but I’m pretty sure prison is a clear indication that there will be at least one, maybe more Weasley(s) going to Azkaban in Book 7.   My thoughts lean towards Arthur and maybe Percy too since they both work for the Ministry.  What about the other Weasleys who don’t work for the Ministry?  I don’t think it’s likely Molly will be locked away.  As for Bill and Charlie, it’s possible.  Ginny’s too young, at least, I think she is.  Fred and George are too slippery to end up behind bars but who better to stage a jailbreak?