Mysterious Prophesies (was genealogy of HP)

[Arya]

No: HPFGUIDX 88449

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> Geoff:
> I think the question of who can touch the prophecy refers to 
> the /initial/ picking up and not later. Voldemort has been thwarted 
> because he tried to get it via someone else; this failed because of 
> the protection so he lured Harry to the MoM for that purpose. He 
> could have got it himself but this would have confirmed that he had 
> returned.  
> 

Arya now:
I keep coming back to the question of *how* those recordings get into the Hall 
of Prophesy.  I'm convinced it is some magical, automatically generated thing 
that when an authentic prophesy is made, a recording then appears int he 
hall because it would be impossible to rely on people to report eh occurence 
of a prophesy.  I don't for one second believe Dumbledore witnessed the 
prophesy and then went to report it to the Ministry to ensure an official record 
was kept.  But, on the other hand, if it isn't told to DoM people by the ones 
who witness prophesies, then how does the DoM know the contents of the 
prophecies well enough to be able to label them "Dark Lord and (fomerly a 
question mark) Harry Potter"?  

I got to thinking about this again because I began to wonder about the 
"safeguard" on the spheres allowing only those mentioned in a prophesy to 
touch it.  If the Hall of Prophesy is run in some self-generating way then I can 
see the Hall "knowing" the true identity of those, even obliquely mentioned, in 
a prophesy as those who shall be rightfully able to pick it up.  However, if it is 
some DoM wizards cataloguing these prophesies then perhaps they are the 
ones who cast a jinx upon the spheres to allow only the Dark Lord or Harry 
Potter to pick it up.  In this case, then the matter of who can touch the sphere 
is not one of truth but of a wizard's interpretation.  

And now, this whole thing has me contemplating the nature of the DoM and 
all the prophesies kept there.  If they are auto-generated, then what's the 
purpose?  They must have a way somehow of knwoing the contents to be 
able to properly label them and correct those labels.  But if it's not a real life 
witch or wizard, then what's the point?  If it is a real live person, then why not 
use this person to get the contents?  Or--why was there not a recording of 
the second prophesy at the end of PoA that foretold the return of the Dark 
Lord?  In fact, in PoA, Dumbledore seems only but mildly concerned that 
Trewlawney made a prediction that night to Harry.  He doesn't ask for any 
details besides the gloss over Harry first gives.   Given the seriousness of the 
first prophecy, I would think Dumbledore would be very curious and 
concerned about the second prophesy's contents.  Then again, maybe that 
just lends evidence to the fly/wasp on the wall theory or at least suggests 
Dumbledore already knew about it somehow.  I wonder if there are any 
portraits in her stifling tower?

Arya