Prophecy placing process

[msbeadsley]

No: HPFGUIDX 81009

Grey Wolf wrote:
> Dumbledore hears the prophecy. Say he writes it down (to not 
> forget). Goes to his office and uses a recording spell that works 
> exactly like a muggle recorder, only in this case the words spoken 
> are kept in a round ball. Then goes to the ministry and does the 
> same (he keeps the first in his office). The Ministry officials put 
> it in the department of mysteries and place protection charms on 
> it. After a while, they decide Harry and Voldemort are the ones the 
> prophecy refers to and the DoM changes the protection so only 
> Voldemort and Harry can remove it from its place without braking it.
<snip>

I have talked myself out of and back into your interpretation 
(mostly) since I started this reply; the out of is because the notion 
that there is a "recorder" leaves me with the impression that what 
we'd see if that were true is Dumbledore, who was the person speaking 
to the recorder, recounting what he saw and heard. But then I thought 
of the Pensieve; what we saw when the globes were broken in the MoM 
is exactly like Dumbledore's recreation of Trelawny's prophecy in the 
Pensieve: the "Star Wars/Princess Leia action figure" of the actual 
seer, animated and intoning the actual prediction. Ergo: the (any) 
Pensieve *is* the recording device, and the media, the globe, is the 
result of a particular spell.

Doesn't there also almost have to be a spell allowing any prophecy to 
be "previewed," without having to break the sphere to see what's 
inside? Wouldn't there almost have to be? I mean, what if the fire 
sprinkler system went off in the prophesy room and all the labels 
were washed off (I know, but I hope you get my point. And how was the 
label changed to reflect Harry's name once Voldemort had "marked" him 
if no known individual other than Voldemort was authorized to touch 
it then without suffering madness? I think someone else asked this, 
but if there were any satisfactory answers, I missed them.)

A passage about the prophesy also reminds me of another debate. 
Dumbledore says, "The thing that smashed was merely the record of the 
prophesy kept by the Department of Mysteries. But the prophecy was 
made to somebody, and that person has the means of recalling it 
perfectly." We are shown that means: the Pensieve. Taken as a whole, 
that's a pretty solid argument that Pensieve thoughts (like 
MWPP/Snape) have a higher degree of accuracy than just random 
memories; it would (or could be said to) argue against the notion 
that Pensieve thoughts or memories are skewed by the user's biases.

I had another thought (amazing considering that my head is full of 
gunk): what was it again...oh, yes--when Trelawny made her first 
prophesy, Dumbledore was there. Then when Trelawny made her second 
prophesy, Harry was there. I think the prophesies make themselves 
heard to or are triggered by the presence of persons who are/who are 
to be instrumental/smack dab center stage in the events to come. And 
if that's true, there are some ramifications...like, are they 
*warnings*? What is the magic behind them? That's a mystery I want 
answered by the end of Book 7.

Sandy aka "msbeadsley" who knows she is in arrears with some 
replies/responses but who is a bit under the weather and putting off 
anything not immediately inspiring