Professor Trelawney's "experience"

[Margaret Thomas]

No: HPFGUIDX 54946

> From: "GKJPO" <kristen at sanderson-web.com>

[snip!]

> curious passage (Ch 29 The Dream, p 577 US):
> 
> "You were clutching your scar!"  said Professor
> Trelawney.  "...[snip!] Come now, Potter, I have 
> experience in these matters!"
> 
> How does 
> Trelawney have experience in curse scars? 

[snip!]


First, I thought this was a great post! :) It latches
on to those little "Said Under Rowling's breath:
Probably Reflects an Important Story Element"
(SURPRISE! - coined a new acronym!) comments that JKR
peppers throughout her books.

So Trelawney "has special knowledge" (or experience)
in curse scars... I think there are a few things we
don't know yet about Harry's scar and its behavior /
significance.  Trelawney's "experience" with curse
scars (however she came by it) may prove her
usefulness in books 5-7 beyond the two presumed
accurate divinations -- both of which had to do with
Voldemort.

Kristen asks *how* Trelawney received this experience.
 To me the *how* doesn't matter so much as the fact
that she *has* it -- and that Harry may benefit from
it on the road to defeating Voldemort. On that note, I
think we'll still have some unanswered hows and whys
by the time we read the final page of book 7 -- events
that occur in the back story and character profiles
JKR developed.

Then there's a part of me that would love to see both
Hermione and McGonagall thoroughly shocked at seeing
Trelawney somehow legitimized.  I really enjoy
Hermione and McGonagall's student-teacher mutual
admiration, and both seem intent dismissing /
discounting Divination's (and Trelawney's) validity. 
Their point of view is helped along by Harry and Ron
routinely fabricating their homework assignments. 
Sure, Trelawney is more than a little batty and Harry
finds her annoying...yet Dumbledore seems to think
Trelawney may surprise him yet...


> "My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the
> extraordinary 
> clairvoyant vibrations of my room!" said Professor
> Trelawney.  "If 
> you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see
> further than you 
> have ever--"
> 
> This paragraph seems to be some major foreshadowing
> to me.  
> Apparently, in her classroom, Harry would have the
> opportunity to 
> explore the hidden powers of his curse scar.  

[snip!]


In their book on HP plot points (Ultimate Unofficial
Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter) Waters and
Mithrandir comment that JKR repeatedly uses dialogue
interruptions as a convention to keep the reader from
learning key information.  Among their other analyses
/ hypotheses, I think it's one of the more
plausible...especially after returning to books 1 - 3
following the revelations GoF.  So now I pay attention
to interrupted dialogue as a conventional clue device.

Here we have an example of interrupted dialogue *from*
GoF...extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations in the
Divination classroom...Harry's just had another
frightening premonition and emerges from a trance-like
state...The interruption occurs when Trelawney's
telling Harry that if he leaves the room, he may lose
an opportunity to see even more...hmmm...

So there's opportunity to learn even more in the
Divination's classroom -- in particular, about Harry's
scar.  I don't have GoF or PoA at my side for a
description of that room (beyond remembering its
overpowering perfume, teacups, and cushions)...Is that
classroom perhaps *round* (not unlike the room on Mary
GrandPre's OotP cover)?...At the very least, I wager
that the Divination classroom is more than it seems. 
Perhaps a room we haven't explored yet -- one that
merits further exploration (a la the foreshadowing JKR
has provided us of Book 5)?...

(Admittedly, I'll engage in Divination of a sort --
analyzing tidbits of the previous books like so many
tea leaves in order to predict future plot points! --
anything to pass the time until June 21!)

- Mags



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