[HPforGrownups] Divination - Fred and George's wager

[Zorb17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 33571

Mahoney asked:
<<If arithmancy is straight divination per the definition above, why 
doesn't Trelawney teach it?  And why does Hermione, who absolutely 
poo-poo's Trelawney's class, love her arithmancy class?>>

First, I want to say that I'm wholeheartedly with Hermione on this issue.  I think Trelawney's a big fraud, and most of her "predictions" can be attributed to luck.  I even think Ron's predictions can be chalked up to this; after all, there's only so many horrible things you can come up with to fill a month, some of them are bound to happen, or at least appear to happen.  Personally, I don't believe in fortune-telling at all.

However, I think we have to accept that in the Magical world, there *are* ways to predict the future, if JKR's Arithmancy does indeed do that.  If, like Hermione, I were transplanted into that world, I'd probably do what she does - go with the form of prediction that clings most closely to the scientific method and logic.  I really hope we get to see what the subject's all about in canon someday.

pbeider asked:
<<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?
<snip>
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 was wondering the same thing the last time I read GoF.  This happened to coincide with reading up on the Ron-As-Seer theories.  This is just wild speculation, but what if Fred and George didn't divine the result, but RON did?  Maybe the Seventh Son theory has merit to it, or F&G know something that Ron doesn't yet.  Ron could've made an offhand comment at home before the QWC, that he thought that could happen.  The twins picked up on it and thus placed the bet.

Probably not, but it's fun to guess!


Zorb