Harry Potter Revealed

4. Through the Looking Glass
It seems pretty clear that the Department of Mysteries—or at least the mysteries in it—will feature large as the story continues. In Book Five, the curtained arch from which Luna and Harry can hear whispering takes on particular significance as a result of Sirius falling through it when he is hit by a spell performed by his cousin Bellatrix. We do not actually see Sirius dead, although Harry is assured that he is, and we are supposed to infer from this that the way is open for Sirius to make a reappearance at some future date, whether alive or in some other form.

The arch has counterparts in the mirrors through which Orpheus and Alice pass on the way to their adventures. The Orpheus myth is particularly important to the Harry Potter plot because of the whispering voices coming from beyond the veil. Harry and Luna can hear them, but we have the impression that most of the others present can't. By making the connection between the ability to hear the voices and see the Thestrals, we are led to the conclusion that the voices are those of people who have 'passed on'. On the other side of the curtained arch, then, lies ‘the beyond’ - or ‘the underworld’, in mythological terms. One of our important predictions is that Harry will go through the veil himself into the underworld, not as a result of dying, but in order to search for somebody or something, possibly Sirius—or he may simply come across Sirius (and his parents?) when looking for something or somebody else. Who that very important ‘somebody else’ might be is a subject to which we will return in a few days. Our hypothesis is lent credence by the fact that Harry subsequently tries to communicate with Sirius using the mirror that Sirius gave him prior to his death—on this occasion to no avail— but undoubtedly the mirror will crop up again.

Incidentally perhaps all members of the Order carry mirrors… is this their method of communication???