Crystal ball

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A crystal ball (or, as Seers prefer to call it, the Orb) is a magical crystal sphere which Seers gaze into for the purpose of Divination.^[1]

Because of their condensed thickness, they can serve as makeshift blunt weapons, as Trelawney managed to knock out the werewolf Fenrir Greyback by throwing one at his head, and then used her wand to launch more as projectiles.^[3]

History

In 1992, there was a Healer in Diagon Alley that kept what appeared to be a crystal ball on her desk.^[4]

Sybill Trelawney introduced all third year students to this device and its proper use in 1994. However, most students, Harry Potter and his friends in general, saw nothing more than the white blank swirl in it, and Ron joked about how that night would be very foggy.^[1] In their end of year exam, the third years had to look into a crystal ball and predict the future. Harry lied and said that he saw Buckbeak getting off his trial that night. Professor Trelawney then made a prediction, one of the two genuinely accurate predictions she had ever made in her lifetime.^[2]

Later that same year, Trelawney claimed during one class to have seen death while crystal-gazing the night before, having received an overpowering urge to consult the Orb while knitting. Harry Potter, however, long used to such predictions, simply yawned "widely and obviously" in response.^[5]

In 1996, crystal gazing was part of the Divination O.W.L. exams, and while Harry failed to see anything in his, Ron embarrassed himself by describing at length the ugly man with a wart on his nose that he saw in his crystal ball, before realising that he was describing his examiner's reflection.^[6]

These objects were used by Professor Sybill Trelawney in the Battle of Hogwarts, against the Death Eaters; she threw one at Fenrir Greyback as he attempted to fiercely maul Lavender Brown, knocking the werewolf out. She then used her wand to launch more crystal balls as projectiles.^[3]

During the Calamity which affected the Wizarding world in the 2010s, Crystal Balls were among the various magical items which threatened the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Volunteer wizards and witches employed by the Statute of Secrecy Task Force were tasked to overpowering Crystal Balls trapped as Foundables to their original place in the world.^[7]

Behind the scenes

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, as Hermione stormed out of Divination, she kicked a crystal ball down the stairs, therefore making Harry have to carry it all the way back up to the classroom and this is where Trelawney made the prediction, not in the exam hall like it is in the book.
• At least two of Dolores Umbridge's ornamental plates in the film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix depict a kitten with a crystal ball.^[8]

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

Notes and references