Trelawney is a squib, here's why...

[arielock2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 101512

(very long, many witness statements will be read into evidence)

Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, cannon proves that Ms. 
Trelawney is a squib...

Exhibit A:  No one has actually seen her perform a spell:

        Jen Reese reopened this can of worms:
"Right now, I can't remember one instance where Trelawney has 
used a wand or otherwise performed magic. Anyone else? 
Someone mentioned she dimmed her lights at one point, but I 
can't recall this scene or find it in the books. "
       Arcum replied to basically the same question a few months 
ago with:
GoF, US edition, page 575
"If you will all look this way, I will dim the lights. . . ."
She waved her wand and the lamps went out. The fire was the
only source of light now."
       To which Derek responded:
"Just to be a nuisance, I must say it's interesting that she
made them all look in a particular direction *before* she made
the lamps go out. It gives it the feel of a real-world-type
magic trick based on misdirection." 
     Arianna:
Just because she has a wand doesn't mean she can perform 
magic with it.   She may have inherited it, she may have bought it 
at a second hand wand store, or it may be a stick she found in a 
hedge.  The story is told from Harry's pov.  He may assume that 
she is a witch and that that is her wand.  He has assumed many 
things in the past that have been incorrect.    
	Besides, as Justine notes, even if she did make the lights go 
out, she could have learned it from Kwikspell.  With her flair for 
drama, if she is a witch, why is this all we have seen? 
	If this group (HPfGU) hasn't found one direct instance of 
Trelawney actually performing magic, there is probably a reason.


Arianna:
Exhibit B:  She does not have the ability to repair a tea cup.

"Sure enough, Neville had no sooner than reached the shelf of 
teacups when there was a tinkle of breaking china. Professor 
Trelawney swept over to him holding a dustpan and brush and 
said..."(PoA US hardcover, chap. 6, p. 105)  (Thanks to Jen for 
typing this up)

Arianna:
Even if, as David challenges, Trelawney magically broke the cup 
to ensure a correct prophesy, it still doesn't explain why she 
didn't repair the cup.  Besides, it's out of character for her.   She 
makes everything so overly dramatic, constantly predicting 
death.  
If she were a witch, why would she break a tea cup?    Why not 
predict something dramatic like the roof caving in, then cause it 
and fix it to wild applause?   

Jen wrote in response to David:
"Neville doesn't protest that he hadn't even picked up the cup 
before it broke, not that he would be one to confront a teacher. If 
Trelawney did use magic here, she's more devious than I've 
given her credit for!  Actually, I think Neville believing he *would* 
break a cup, since Trelawney said so, is more on the mark--the 
old self-fulfilling prophecy."


Potioncat pointed out:
"Isn't wizarding housekeeping interesting?  Here's Trelawney 
with a broom and dust pan for a broken cup, yet Snape can 
repair a broken jar with a spell.  Things can be swept away with 
"evanesco" yet Filch is around to mop floors and scrub frog 
brains off ceilings."

Arianna:
Precisely. The connection between the manual labor performed 
by Filch and Trelawney is that they are both squibs.
 Harry repairs a bowl in OoP (p329), and Snape repairs a jar on 
p592 (OoP). If she were a witch, wouldn't she be able to repair 
her pink  teacup if it were to shatter?  If she went to Hogwarts, 
she would have learned the spell to repair a cup.  Even first year 
students are shown being taught spells in transfiguration that 
seem much more complicated.  A Hogwarts letter is sent to 
every magical child in the district (for lack of a better word).  If 
Trelawney is a witch, she would have gone to school, and would 
have learned this spell.   Which leads to...

Arianna still:
Exhibit C: Dumbledore had never met her before she applied for 
the job of divination professor.  She was never a student at 
Hogwarts.

 When Dumbledore tells Harry about the prophesy, he states
(OoP 840 American Ed.), "I thought it common politeness to
meet her." Now perhaps I am taking this too literately, but the
implication is that Dumbledore has never seen this woman
before. It would have been just as easy, and more likely, to have
referred to her as a former student if she had been. It could be
possible that she attended another wizarding school, but
Hogwarts is the only school of its kind in England (or Scotland),
and no one has made any mention of Trelawney having an 
accent.


Exhibit D:  Umbridge was so keen to get rid of her in OoP 
because she hates squibs.

Vecsey posted this many moons ago regarding Umbridge:
"and WHY did she hate Trelawney so much? She isn't a half 
breed, it just didn't add up."
Arianna:
Umbridge hates Trelawney because she is a squib, it's that
simple. She and Fudge display a similar amount of
dismissiveness and disdain towards Mrs. Figg during Harry's
trial (OoP 143-145 Am Ed). She doesn't seem to know that Mr.
Filch is one, too, as she orders him not to perform any magic on
the Weasley twins fireworks.


Now the defense might ask: "How can Trelawney have known 
private info about some students?  For example, she makes an 
unsolicited reference to Neville's grandmother during their first 
class in PoA.  How could she have known that she was a 
significant person in his life?  Even if she was aware of the fate 
of his parents, wouldn't she have to have been involved in the 
wizarding world to have heard of the tragedy?" 
    	No.  The Longbottom's torture took place well after Trelawney 
met Dumbledore, and squibs are involved in the wizarding world 
if they choose to be.  My bet, though, is that she used the same 
technique employed by real world "psychics."  She found a way 
to secretly listen to the students' conversations.  In this case, 
when HRH finally find the divination classroom for the first time 
(PoA), they notice all their classmates sitting outside her office 
*talking*.  Trelawney was just listening to their conversations 
and lowered the ladder when she had gathered enough info to 
make an impressive first class. She probably also heard Neville 
complaining about how clumsy he is.

The woman is a squib.  I rest my case.  

Arianna  (who can't wait for the defense to present their case that 
we have cannon evidence proving she is a witch )