Fred and George's wager on the Quidditch World Cup

[torimarie_1216]

No: HPFGUIDX 33569

I'm a newbie too and I have thought about this question as well.

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "pbeider" <pbeider at y...> wrote:

> Why would the Weasley twins bet all their savings on such a 
seemingly 
> improbable end of the Quidditch World Cup, and how is it that they
> WON that bet?

I agree that the odds of their winning seem very slim.  Also, Fred 
and George are far too savvy to gamble away all of their savings--
and their plans for the joke shop!--on such a long shot.

> Theory #1: the match was fixed.  But Krum wasn't shown to be a bad 
> guy--and why would the twins, of all people, be in the know?

I'd never even thought of that possibility.  I agree with you, 
though, that it doesn't seem very likely.  Krum actually turns out 
to be pretty honest IMO and I can't see Fred and George being 
involved in anything like that.  They're full of mischief, but 
fixing a World Cup quidditch final is too devious even for them!

> Theory #2: they divined the result.  But JKR has led us to believe 
> that true divination is very rare, and they haven't shown 
predictive 
> powers any other time.

I've considered this possibility too.  I posted something earlier on 
another thread about Ron's predictions coming true.  And I know many 
people think Ginny could be a true seer. Maybe being a seer is a 
Weasley family trait.  ;-)  But even if that were true, I have 
trouble believing that Fred and George would recognize that they 
were making a true prediction and have enough faith in it to take 
such a big risk.

I have a third theory for you to consider.  What if they had gotten 
ahold of a time-turner?  Perhaps the one Hermione turned back in to 
Professor McGonagall some weeks before?  Do you think they would be 
able to rationalize cheating in this way?

If they did have a time-turner, I wonder what happened to them and 
Ginny in the woods after the World Cup match.  Did they change 
anything that we will find out about later?  Perhaps stop something 
worse from happening?  The possibilities are endless!

>  And even if that has been known to happen once in 
> a blue moon, why would Fred and George bet all their money on it??

I agree.  I just can't see them taking such a foolish risk--unless 
they knew for a certainty that it would pay off.  

Thanks for bringing this up!