Seven

"...isn't seven the most powerfully magical number, wouldn't seven-?"

— Tom Riddle discusses the power of the number seven

Seven is the most powerful magical number, based on centuries of mythology, science, and mathematics.

Bridget Wenlock.

Wizarding community

The Arithmancer Bridget Wenlock (1202–1285) was the first witch to establish the magical properties of the number seven.

Seven is the age by which most experts believe that magic will reveal itself in a wizard or witch. In the life of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry community, it is the number of years students must attend Hogwarts before graduating. There were seven chambers protecting the Philosopher's Stone. Lord Voldemort was such a believer in the magical properties of the number seven that he intended to split his soul into seven portions by creating six Horcruxes. Ironically, he instead succeeded in creating seven Horcruxes, thus splitting his soul eight ways - however, by pure chance, only six of his Horcruxes ever existed at one time (as the Diary was destroyed before Nagini became a Horcrux); regardless, this did not provide him with any significant magical protection as he believed the number would. Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom were born in July, the seventh month of the year; this made them both potential subjects of a prophecy. Arthur and Molly Weasley had seven children; Ginny Weasley is the seventh of them, and the only daughter. There are also seven players on a standard Quidditch team, with seven also being the number on Harry Potter's Quidditch uniform. During the Battle of the Seven Potters, six others took Polyjuice Potion in order to take on Harry's appearance as a diversion, thus there were seven Potters.

Seven seen in the wizarding world

• S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D: "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..."
• Molly and Arthur Weasley had seven children.
• "Weasley" contains seven letters.
• "Granger" contains seven letters.
• Ron's full name has seven syllables (Ronald Bilius Weasley).
• There are seven syllables in "Regulus Arcturus Black" and "Albus Severus Potter."
• Minerva McGonagall (whose name has seven syllables) was said to be 70 years old in 1995.
• The names Lily Evans and James Potter have seven syllables altogether.
• Thaddeus Thurkell had seven children, all Squibs.
• Walter Parkin has seven children.
• Children go to school at Hogwarts for seven years.
• There are seven floors at Hogwarts.
• The Arithmancy professor, of Hogwarts, is named Septima Vector. Additionally, there was a Malfoy in the 18th century named Septimus; and Arthur Weasley's father, Septimus Weasley. In Latin, septimus means "seventh."
• In the wizarding world, wizards and witches come of age at the age of seventeen, instead of eighteen.
• Harry Potter paid seven Galleons for his wand.
• There are seven hundred fouls in Quidditch.
• There are seven players on a Quidditch team
• The wolfsbane potion must be drunk every seven days before full moon.
• Seven people come out of the Shrieking Shack in 1994 after Peter Pettigrew's crimes are uncovered:

1. Harry Potter
2. Ronald Weasley
3. Hermione Granger
4. Remus Lupin
5. Sirius Black
6. Severus Snape
7. Peter Pettigrew

• There are seven obstacles leading up to the Philosopher's Stone:

1. Hagrid's pet, Fluffy
2. Sprout's Devil's Snare
3. Flitwick's flying keys
4. McGonagall's giant chess set
5. Quirrell's troll
6. Snape's Potions
7. The Mirror of Erised

• Gilderoy Lockhart assigned seven books for his students:

1. Break with a Banshee
2. Gadding with Ghouls
3. Holidays with Hags
4. Travels with Trolls
5. Voyages with Vampires
6. Wanderings with Werewolves
7. Year with the Yeti

• In Philosopher's Stone, Hermione says that the spell 'Alohomora ' was in chapter 7 of The Standard Book of Spells.
• The Philosopher's Stone was kept in Vault 713 in Gringotts Bank.
• Seven entities were attacked by the Basilisk during the 1992–1993 school year:

1. Mrs. Norris
2. Colin Creevey
3. Justin Finch-Fletchley
4. Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington
5. Hermione Granger
6. Penelope Clearwater
7. Harry Potter

• There are seven snakes on the door of the Chamber of Secrets.
• There are seven locks on Professor Moody's trunk
• There is a broomstick named Cleansweep Seven
• Seven bottles in the last task in the Philosopher's Stone chambers
• Seven muggles saw Ron and Harry in the Flying Ford Anglia
• Seven keepers for every dragon for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament
• Mr. Weasley won seven hundred Galleons in the Daily Prophet draw
• Harry helped Gryffindor beat Slytherin for the House Cup for the first time in seven years
• The Marauder's Map shows seven secret passages out of the school (the map does not show the Room of Requirement).
• From the Great Hall, Harry, Ron, and Hermione climb seven staircases to reach the tower that houses Professor Trelawney's classroom at the top.
• Out of the nine members of the Order of the Phoenix in the Advance Guard Harry hadn't already been acquainted with seven of them beforehand.
• Blaise Zabini's mother had been married seven times as of 1996.
• Snape removes seventy points from Gryffindor when Harry shows up at Hogwarts late (fifty for lateness and twenty for Harry's Muggle attire).
• In 1996, while brewing the Draught of Living Death in a Potions class, Harry followed the alternate instructions in the Half-Blood Prince's copy of Advanced Potion-Making, by stirring his potion once clockwise after every seventh stir anti-clockwise. This helped him achieve much better results than the standard instructions, and earn Slughorn's praise.
• Harry caught seven Golden Snitches during his time as Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team:

1. First year : Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
2. First year : Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff
3. Second year : Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
4. Third year : Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw
5. Third year :Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
6. Fifth year : Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
7. Sixth year : Gryffindor vs. Slytherin

(Note that Harry was in the hospital wing for the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match in his first year. Quidditch was cancelled before Gryffindor could play Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw due to the basilisk attacks in Harry's second year. Harry fell off his broom due to because of dementors and Cedric Diggory got the Snitch in Harry's third year match of Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. There were no Hogwarts Quidditch matches in Harry's fourth year because Hogwarts was hosting the Triwizard Tournament. Harry earned a "lifelong" ban from Quidditch after beating up Draco Malfoy, and therefore, Ginny Weasley played Seeker in the Gryffindor matches against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. During Gryffindor's match against Hufflepuff in Harry's sixth year, the reserve Keeper, Cormac McLaggen, knocked Harry unconscious with a misaimed Bludger before Harry could get the Snitch, and Harry was put in detention by Professor Snape during the final match against Ravenclaw. Harry did not return to Hogwarts for his seventh year, and therefore could not play Seeker.)

• Dumbledore shows Harry seven memories about Voldemort's past (including both the fake and real Horcrux memory).
• Marvolo, Tom Riddle's middle name, has seven letters in it.
• There are (possibly) seven Standard Book of Spells.
• Voldemort made seven Horcruxes, even though he believed that six Horcruxes would create a seven-fragment soul (including the piece of soul in his body).

1. Tom Riddle's Diary
2. Marvolo Gaunt's Ring
3. Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem
4. Salazar Slytherin's Locket
5. Helga Hufflepuff's Cup
6. Harry Potter (unintentionally and unknown to Voldemort )
7. Nagini

• There are seven "Potters" during the Battle of the Seven Potters:

1. Harry Potter
2. Ron Weasley
3. Hermione Granger
4. Fred Weasley
5. George Weasley
6. Fleur Delacour
7. Mundungus Fletcher

• There are also seven conflicts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

1. The Battle of the Seven Potters
2. Infiltration of the Ministry of Magic
3. The Attack at Godric's Hollow (1997)
4. Ambush at the Lovegood House
5. The Battle of Malfoy Manor
6. 1998 Break-in of Gringotts Wizarding Bank
7. The Battle of Hogwarts

• Seven prisoners escape from Malfoy Manor:

1. Mr. Ollivander
2. Luna Lovegood
3. Dean Thomas
4. Griphook
5. Harry Potter
6. Hermione Granger
7. Ronald Weasley

• Harry Potter escaped death at the hands of Lord Voldemort seven times before finishing him off:

1. In Godric's Hollow in 1981
2. Over the Philosopher's Stone while Voldemort was in control of Quirinus Quirrell
3. In the Chamber of Secrets in 1993
4. In Little Hangleton in 1995
5. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries
6. During the Battle of the Seven Potters
7. During the Battle of Hogwarts

• Harry Potter and Ron Weasley received seven O.W.Ls for their Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations. Hermione Granger continued with seven subjects during her sixth year.
• Sybill Trelawney says that Seven of Spades means an ill omen.
• When a wizard is seven, they start showing magical properties.
• There are seven described uses for the Room of Requirement

1. Hiding objects, as performed by Tom Riddle, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and Sybill Trelawney
2. A restroom, as used unwittingly by Dumbledore
3. Recuperating from drunkenness, as used by Winky
4. Finding cleaning materials, as used by Filch
5. Hosting D.A. meetings
6. Hiding from Filch, as used by Fred and George
7. Hiding from the Carrows, as demonstrated first by Neville

• The Unforgivable Curses were first classified as Unforgivable in 1717.
• Many spells such as Protego, Reducto, Imperio, Expulso, Depulso, Anapneo, and Stupefy have seven letters.
• There are seven ingredients of Polyjuice potion.

1. Lacewing flies
2. Knotgrass
3. Fluxweed
4. Leeches
5. Powdered Bicorn Horn
6. Shredded Boomslang Skin
7. A piece of the person you want to turn into.

• There are seven known spell types:

1. Transfiguration
2. Charm
3. Jinx
4. Hex
5. Curse
6. Counter-spell
7. Healing spell

• Frank Bryce was nearing his 77th birthday when he was murdered by Voldemort.
• The Triwizard Tournament in 1994 took place 7 centuries after the first one.
• On Christmas Day of 1994, after receiving socks as a present from Harry, Dobby told him that he now had seven pairs of socks.
• There are seven letters in both 'Sickles' and 'Galleon'
• "Tom Riddle" and "Lord Voldemort" have 7 syllables altogether.
• In 1992, Minerva McGonagall taught second years Vera Verto in her seventh lesson. This was the only Transfiguration class in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Behind the scenes

• There are seven books in the Harry Potter series, and eight movies.
• The first book was released in 1997, and the final book was released in 2007.
• There are seventeen chapters in the first book.
• If you count the epilogue, there are thirty-seven chapters in the seventh book.
• The epilogue itself is set in 2017.
• The first years enter the castle in the seventh chapter of the first book.
• Many fans expected Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the seventh book) to be released on 07/07/2007, which also happened to be a Saturday, the day upon which Harry Potter books had previously been released. However, it was released on July 21^st of that year instead, two weeks later. It is thought that the more 'magical' date was rejected due to it also being the second anniversary of the 7/7 London Bombings in 2005. (21 is still a multiple of 7 though.)
• The number on the back of Harry Potter's Quidditch robes in the films is seven (this could be a reference to the fact that usually the best player/captain in a football team, has the number 7 shirt).
• Chapter four of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is entitled "The Seven Potters".
• In Deathly Hallows Part 1  Daniel Radcliffe played seven roles - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Mundungus, and Fleur during the Battle of the Seven Potters.
• In the films, Voldemort is played by seven actors: Richard Bremmer, Ian Hart, Christian Coulson, Ralph Fiennes, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Frank Dillane and by Michael Berendt although the latter's scenes were cut and never seen.
• J. K. Rowling stated in interview that she chose to write seven books in total because she spent seven years in secondary school. Also, she wanted Harry to come of age at seventeen because it "just seems a good number for a wizard to come of age."
• In the seventh Harry Potter book, J.K. split the dedication in seven parts.
• J. K. Rowling stated in interview that the "big seven" in the Harry Potter series are: Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), Neville Longbottom (Matt Lewis), Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch), and Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton).
• There were seven clues and seven opportunities to sign up and register for the Pottermore beta. The first clue was on 31 July 2011 (Harry's birthday) and the final was 6 August 2011. A clue was released each day and each clue was from a book in the series corresponding to the day. For example, day one's clue was from Philosopher's Stone and the final clue was from Deathly Hallows.
• On 7 August, the Harry Potter series won seven awards at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards for Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2.
• The Battle of Hogwarts in on 2 May, the 2nd day of the 5th month. 2+5=7
• If the letters of the alphabet were turned into numbers (A=1, B=2, etc...), the letters in the name Harry would equal 70.
• Nicolas Flamel is seven years older than his wife.
• During Harry's hearing in the Ministry (in 1995), Dumbledore states that clause 7 of the Decree for Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery allows the use of magic in life-threatening situations.
• In Harry's copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, he wrote in the Pixie section for the classification, "or XXXXXXX if you're Lockhart." He actually mentions seven X's.
• The film adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set 70 years before the Harry Potter series.

External links

Seven on Wikipedia