Some Sybil questions (or questions on the Sybil...)

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 124817

Just to try to spark some discussion in a new direction, here's some
ponderings on Sybil T.

1. Canon is silent on how old she is. Let's say she was born round about
1950. Positing (as well we might) that wizarding lifespans and generations
are around 3 times those of muggles, that would place Dad Trelawny's birth
round about 1860, Granddad Trelawny round about 1770, Great Grandma Trelawny
round about 1680. So Cassandra T would have seen the most significant
political events in the history of wizardry taking place during her
formative years.

Just what did she prophesy about that made her so famous?

2. Was there no psychic ability in the two intervening generations? Does
that mean that Seers have to be female?

3. What precisely made Sybil decide to apply for the Hogwarts post? Canon
suggests that she didn't have anything to recommend her at the time. Is that
correct? Might she have shown some abilities before applying? Otherwise why
submit herself to Dumbledore (who let's face it is a powerful wizard) for
scrutiny if she was just putting it on?

4. Given that Hogsmeade is walking distance of Hogwarts, why did Dumbledore
go to interview her rather than asking her to go to the castle?

5. The question about who the eavesdropper was has been frequently
discussed, so I won't pose it again, just to point out that it couldn't have
been Peter (who after all was a trusted member of the Order at this point
and, if Aberforth had found him in the upstairs corridor, wouldn't have
given him the bum's rush, just said something like "Albie's interviewing at
the moment, Pete, candidate for the Div post, div's about the right word, if
you take my meaning, do you want another beer while you're waiting?" Also to
point out that if Snape was the eavesdropper, he wasn't Dumbledore's spy at
this point.

6. But what prompted an eavesdropper to be present at that precise time? Who
knew that the interview was going to take place? Why might they have
believed they were going to hear something important?

7. Having taken Sybil on, Dumbledore seems to have left her to her own
devices. But while she's prophesying, she seems unaware that she's doing it.
Wouldn't it have made some sense to have put some sort of monitoring spell
on her lodgings to make sure that if she did it again, it would be recorded?
Or did he put the monitoring spell on? If so, he doesn't seem to have
registered the PoA prophecy.

8. What exactly brings a prophecy on? Is it spontaneous, or does something
spark it off? If so, what? Or whom? And who's to say that a prophecy is
about anything important or relevant? Does the something that sparks it off
also guide what it's about?

9 Is Sybil ESE?

I'm sure that most of these questions will never be officially answered, but
I'd be fascinated by what people think.

Cheers

Ffred

O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri