Mars

[hfakhro at nyc.rr.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25694

In GoF chapter 29, The Dream:

'My dears,' said Professor Trelawney, sitting down in her winged 
armchair in front of the class and peering round at them all with her 
strangely enlarged eyes, 'we have almost finished our work on 
planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent 
opportunity to examine the effects of Mars, for he is placed most 
interestingly at the present time. If you will all look this way, I 
will dim the lights...'

She waved her wand and the lamps went out. The fire was the only 
source of light now. Professor Trelawney bent down, and lifted, from 
under her chair, a miniature model of the solar system, contained 
within a glass dome. It was a beautiful thing; each of the moons 
glimmered in place around the nine planets and the fiery sun, all of 
them hanging in thin air beneath the glass. Harry watched lazily as 
Professor Trelawney began to point out the fascinating angle Mars was 
making with Neptune.

I have never noticed this passage before, what is the connection 
between Mars and Voldemort? The famous HP Mars connection is made 
with the centaurs in PS, where each of them say "Mars is bright 
tonight" to Hagrid. So there is certainly something coming up with 
planetary divination - does that even exist in the muggle world? I 
know nothing about astrology or astronomy, so please excuse my 
ignorance. Certainly, we the readers are meant to respect the 
centaurs, if not Professor Trelawney, though we are left in doubt as 
to whether she is a complete fraud.

And why on earth does Trelawney refer to Mars as a 'he'? What does 
Neptune have to do with anything? Trelawney's eyes are 'strangely 
enlarged' - what does this mean? I think she knows something's up, 
and that's why she's so interested in Harry's scar hurting. She 
said, 'What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did 
you see?...Come now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!' In 
this passage, I think we're meant to believe that she is being 
typically excited about Harry's miseries, but perhaps this is a 
misdirection, perhaps she really does have 'experience' in these 
matters.

The language in this passage is quite vivid, I can't help thinking 
this is going to show up in the next books. And the Mars thing, does 
it connect to Voldemort precisely, or more likely, to the shedding of 
innocent blood - in PS, it's the unicorn, in GoF, it's Cedric. I was 
always confused by the centaurs in PS, and now it is much clearer to 
me. Does Mars represent good or evil? What about Neptune - the only 
other reference to Neptune that I can remember is Ron's "a midget in 
glasses is being born" which I took to be a pure joke with no hidden 
meaning... What do people think?

--Hella (who is thrilled with the new Vanity Fair; the pictures are 
beautiful and the article is quite well-researched!)