OOP: Dept of Mysteries - employee names, Clues to the weapon?

[chthonia9]

No: HPFGUIDX 62239

Hi all - another OoP delurker here! :-)

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Madeline Klink 
<flourishnblotts at y...> wrote:
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> S
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> The one thing that's really intrigued me overall is
> the Department of Mysteries and specifically how each
> room seems to hold a different "mystery."

[snip]

> And furthermore... I really want to know what the
> Death Room was originally used for, and what the
> Prophecy Room was used for. The amphitheater thing
> couldn't have been there just for effect. If wizards
> have the death sentence, could that be where they do
> it?

[snip]

I always assumed that the Dept of Mysteries was the home of the 
wizarding spy agency, but it now appears to be more a place 
where 'mysteries' (Love, Time, Death, Future etc) are *researched*. 
I'm inclined to believe Nearly Headless Nick (OoP 759, UK ed) when he 
says that "learned wizards study the [secrets of death] in the 
Department of Mysteries."

We know that a wizard called "Croaker" works in the DoM (GoF 79, UK 
softback). Given JKR's use of names, I'm inclined to think that his 
job is to 'croak' in the name of science, so to speak, and that we'll 
meet him properly in Book 6 or 7. It certainly seems as if 'Bode' 
knew his way around the prophecy room.

The only other DoM employee we know (iirc) is Rookwood.  Does anyone 
know of any symbolic connections that has to the great mysteries of 
life (or death, as the case may be ;)?

On a slightly different note, after months of immersing myself in HP 
minutiae I was happy that I picked up *most* of the clues as to what 
was going on.  However, though I wasn't deceived by the 'weapon' red 
herring, I had no idea what Voldemort was after until Malfoy asked 
for the 'prophecy' - that, combined with the initials on the label, 
made it clear that it was Trelawny's first prophecy as mentioned by 
Dumbledore in PoA.  This book differs from the others in that here 
the central mystery was not 'who's the bad guy', but 'what's he 
after'?  As far as I can see the only clues were the mention of that 
first prophecy in PoA (has it been mentioned since?), that whatever-
it-was was in the DoM, and that there was a DoM emloyee 
called 'Bode'.  Did anyone spot any others?

Cheers,

Chthonia