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"Every single Divination and Care of Magical Creatures lesson was now conducted in the presence of Umbridge and her clipboard. She lurked by the fire in the heavily perfumed tower room, interrupting Professor Trelawney's increasingly hysterical talks with difficult questions about ornithomancy and heptomology, insisting that she predicted students' answers before they gave them and demanding that she demonstrate her skill at the crystal ball, the tea leaves and the rune stones in turn."
— Description[src]

Heptomology was a divination method,[1] presumably studying how the number seven influenced the future.

History[]

When inspecting Sybill Trelawney's Divination classes in January 1996, Dolores Umbridge (then-Hogwarts High Inquisitor) would interrupt her talks with difficult questions on ornithomancy and heptomology.[1]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Though it is not specified what Heptomology is, the suffix "hepta" is Greek for "seven" and "logy" means "A branch of learning; a study of a particular subject". This seems to indicate it has to do with the magical properties of the number seven and is thus related to Arithmancy. Alternatively, some sources give it as a synonym of haruspicy (though it would be more properly called "hepatomancy", from the Greek "hepatos" meaning liver), a form of divination by examining the liver or other entrails.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 25 (The Beetle at Bay)
Divination
Trelawney's first Divination lesson in the trio's third year
Professors: Percival Rackham · Mudiwa Onai · Sybill Trelawney · Firenze
Known Seers: Calchas · Cassandra Vablatsky · Cassandra Trelawney · Gellert Grindelwald · Inigo Imago · Johan Hoffman · Liz Tuttle's mother · Mopsus · Professor Mopsus · Susie Sooth · Tycho Dodonus · Unidentified Canadian Seer · Unidentified female Seer · Unidentified male Seer
Textbooks: The Dream Oracle · Unfogging the Future
Methods: Astrology · Bibliomancy · Capnomancy · Cartomancy · Catoptromancy · Crystal-gazing · Crystal ball · Dream interpretation · Fire-omens · Heptomology · Horoscope · Ichthyomancy · Lithomancy · Myomancy · Ornithomancy · Orrery · Ovomancy · Palmistry · Personal chart · Phyllomancy · Prophecy · Rune stone · Scrying mirror · Tarot cards · Tessomancy · Xylomancy
Divination at Hogwarts: Divination (class) · Divination Classroom · Divination staircase · Sybill Trelawney's office · Classroom 11 · Xylomancy (class)
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