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In chapter 11 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore invites Trelawney to join his Christmas dinner in The Great Hall.

She declined, saying,

"I dare not, Headmaster! If I join the table, we shall be thirteen! Nothing could be more unlucky! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!"

She thought there were 12 people at the table, but if you count Scabbers the rat (secretly Peter Pettigrew in disguise), then there were already 13 dining together. Dumbledore was the first to rise and he was the first to die when Snape killed him at the top of the Observation Tower.

In chapter 5 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 13 people dined together at 12 Grimauld Place. Sirius Black was the first person to rise from the table.

Sirius started to rise from his chair.

"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry," said Lupin sharply.

"Sirius, sit down." Mrs. Weasley's lower lip was trembling.

Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.

Sirius was killed by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, later in the same book.

How many other occurrences were there in the Harry Potter stories of 13 people dining together? And was the first to rise always the first to die among them?

Community
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    do you really want to know about just dining? 13 was an overall unlucky number: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Thirteen – Niffler Jan 21 '19 at 20:21
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    Related: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/124084/was-scabbers-in-rons-pocket-during-the-christmas-feast-in-the-3rd-book – Alex Jan 21 '19 at 20:24
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    Did Scabbers "dine" while at the table for Christmas dinner? Maybe the curse only applies if all 13 eat at the table. – RichS Jan 22 '19 at 00:49
  • Multiple movies show more than 13 students dining in the dining hall, so there must have been 13 at some point. – Acccumulation Jan 22 '19 at 22:56
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    @Acccumulation I think the implication is that if 13 are dining together and a 14th person joins them before somebody leaves, that invalidates the curse. – RichS Jan 23 '19 at 05:31

2 Answers2

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Thirteen people were together at the Burrow after the Battle of the Seven Potters over Little Whinging. Several of them participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, and four of them were killed in that battle.

  1. Mr. Weasley
  2. Mrs. Weasley
  3. Bill
  4. Fleur
  5. Fred - killed in Battle of Hogwarts
  6. George
  7. Ron
  8. Ginny
  9. Harry - killed in Battle of Hogwarts but returned to life
  10. Hermione
  11. Lupin - killed in Battle of Hogwarts
  12. Tonks - killed in Battle of Hogwarts
  13. Hagrid

Lupin left first, offering to go look for Moody’s dead body. Later in the Battle of Hogwarts, Lupin was killed by Antonin Dolohov. I don't know if he was killed before Tonks, Fred, and Harry. If he was killed first, then the curse applies to this gathering of 13. If any of the others died first (except maybe Harry who really didn't die despite being zapped by Voldemort again), then the curse would not apply.

Does anybody know the order in which people died in the battle?

Did all 13 of those people eat at the Weasley home before Lupin left?

RichS
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At the meal in chapter 5 of Order of the Phoenix, Sirus might not have been the first to rise.

For some reason, Mrs. Weasley threw a very nasty look at Sirus before getting to her feet, and going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding.

This happened before the part you quoted, where Sirius got up.

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