The Secret Sevens of “Harry Potter”
They may sing about how three is a magic number, but within the wizarding world, seven is the magic number. Within the series, there are many ways that the number seven is incorporated from seven books to 17 being when wizards come of age. Here are some of the secret sevens we found and how they are connected to each other.
1. Hogwarts
Hogwarts is the place that many of us wish we could call home. It was when we investigated Hogwarts that we realized just how many sevens there are within the castle. The most obvious seven we found is the seven floors, but there is a second connection. This fun fact was discovered on the virtual Porto tour – there are 142 staircases within the castle connecting these seven floors. Though there is not a seven within 142, when all three numbers are added together, the number seven is made.
However, these aren’t the only sevens within the castle. There are also seven hidden passages out of the castle, which Fred and George explain when they give Harry the Marauder’s Map, and in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry first sees the door to the Chamber, there are seven snakes on it.
2. Magical Education
The most obvious seven is the seven years at Hogwarts, but within Harry’s time at Hogwarts, there are two other sevens we found. During his first two years at Hogwarts, Harry takes seven core classes: Potions, Charms, Herbology, History of Magic, Astronomy, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. And the Defense Against the Dark Arts class has seven teachers throughout the books – Quirrell, Lockhart, Lupin, Barty Crouch Jr. using Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself as Mad-Eye Moody, Umbridge, Snape, and Amycus Carrow.
3. Quidditch
Introduced in the first book, Quidditch is the wizarding sport played at Hogwarts, and it soon becomes apparent that there are many connections to the number seven. The most obvious connection is that there are seven players on each team. The second connection as seen in the films is the number on the back of the Seeker’s robes, the position that Harry plays, is the number seven. There are even more connections, with the lesser-known ones being that there are 700 fouls from blagging to attacking your opponent with an ax, and it was during the 1473 match between Transylvania and Flanders that all 700 fouls were committed.
4. Seventh Year
It was during their seventh year at Hogwarts that James and Lily became a couple, and this connects to Ron and Hermione, since even though they didn’t attend Hogwarts during their seventh year, they also become a couple in their seventh year. There are many other parallels between these two couples, such as James and Ron both being pure-blood wizards and Lily and Hermione being Muggle-born and referred to as extremely bright witches. They are also both connected to Harry in being his parents and his best friends.
5. Weasleys
The most well-known seven within this family is that Molly and Arthur have seven children, but there are several other ways that the number seven has been incorporated into this family. The name Weasley itself, along with William and Charlie, has seven letters. Though not one of the main Weasleys that we see, when we meet Great-Aunt Muriel in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she mentions that her age is 107 – another seven within this fan-favorite family.
6. Horcruxes
Horcruxes are the focus of the seventh book, and within the series itself, there are other connections that they have to the number seven. The obvious connection is that Voldemort created seven Horcruxes, but a second connection that we noticed was that seven different people destroyed them: Harry destroyed the diary, Dumbledore destroyed the ring, Ron destroyed the locket, Hermione destroyed the cup, Crabbe destroyed the diadem with Fiendfyre, Voldemort himself destroyed the fragment within Harry, and Neville killed Nagini. Even the word Horcrux itself has seven letters.
7. Groups of Seven
There are many times within the books that there are groups of seven. One of the instances of this is in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when Scabbers is revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, there are seven people in the Shrieking Shack – Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Sirius, Pettigrew, and Snape. The most well-known case of there being a group of seven is the seven Potters, where there are also seven protectors. Also in Book 7, there are seven prisoners that escape from Malfoy Manor: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Dean, Griphook, and Ollivander.
There are so many sevens within Harry Potter and there are so many others we could have listed, but what do you think of our list? Are there any sevens within the series that we have missed? Let us known in the comments below.