Trelawney's prediction & end of HBP (Trelawney at the funeral or not?)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 166459

> Magpie:
> > I think Trelawney's absence from the castle after DEs invaded it
> > would have alarmed a lot of people. Good reason for a head check,
> > given all the mayhem. If we learn later that nobody noticed I'll
> > think that's not playing very fair--and also wonder why on earth
> > JKR missed the opportunity to give us that cliffhanger.
> 
> Dana:
> You're absolutely right. That kills the theory. Didn't think of that
> obviously.

Jen: Hold on a minute, Dana!  I mean, you can bow out of course <g>,
but I think we're arguing omissions with omissions now.  Just because
there should have been a head count, there wasn't one on page.  
Trelawney's name isn't mentioned, so she must be 'staff'.  

People seem to be saying omission isn't a good enough reason for
lack of presence and they will essentially feel JKR is not playing
fair if Trelawney is absent without notice.

Here's what I feel is not playing fair and why the storyline is *not*
resolved to me in HBP:  We see Trelawney twice wandering around the
corridors in HBP with her cards.  She has beseeched Dumbledore
to listen to her,  'If Dumbledore chooses to ignore the warnings
the cards show -'  and a moment later, '- the lightning-struck tower,' she
whispered.  'Calamity.  Disaster.  Coming nearer all the time...' (chap 25, p.
507, UK ed.)

Trelawney has also been visiting Dumbledore frequently, 'the headmaster
has intimated he would prefer fewer vists from me,' and not only is she
discussing looming disaster, her visit in 'Lord Voldemort's request' is
about a continuing struggle with Dumbledore to 'banish the usurping
nag' from the castle.  This is a continuation of what started in OOTP with
Umbridge, Trelawney believing her legitimacy as a Seer is being questioned
and 'Dobbin' is a visible reminder of this.  She sums up her views on the
situation to Harry saying, 'perhaps the horse has heard people say I have not
inherited my great-great-grandmother's gift.  These rumours have been
bandied about by the jealous for years.' (chap. 25, p. 508, UK ed.)

Trelawney correctly reading the cards in HBP, with a witness, would be
a perfect opportunity for JKR to end the story arc, which essentially spans
back to Trelawney's arrival on the scene in POA when the whispers of 'fraud'
began and then are examined further in OOTP and continue into HBP.
Not everyone in the WW would bow before her, but in Trelawney's mind she
would be legitimized.  

Now perhaps JKR didn't want to have the comic relief of Trelawney inter-
fering in Dumbledore's funeral, sobbing, telling everyone how she tried to
warn Dumbledore.  I can understand that, it was supposed to be solemn.
She could have fit it somewhere in the hospital scene, it would be
reasonable for Trelawney to have been awakened by all the noise in the 7th
floor corridor not once, but twice, that night.  Looking at the map on the Lexicon,
the base of her tower starts on the 7th floor corridor.

Re: Harry.  I'd also like to point out he didn't remember the 2nd prophecy
in POA until his memory was jogged by Dumbledore.  I would have thought
the conversation in the hospital room would have jogged his memory,
or if not there, when he was thinking about his hatred of Snape later on.
Another opportunity passed up by JKR to mention Trelawney

What we get at the end of HBP is a big nothing.  No mention of
Trelawney when McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn, Sprout, Hagrid, Pomfrey
Pince, and Filch are all mentioned by name and Trelawney is left in the
illustrious company of Vector and Sinastra, who don't even play a role,
and Binns, with his limited presence.  We don't know how she felt about DD
dying, we don't know what she thought of her prediction being true. Nothing.

The kidnapping, whether someone buys it or not, was an attempt to fill
in the gaps JKR didn't quite at the end of HBP.  I would love to hear
someone else's conclusion as to why JKR completely omitted Trelawney,
not only after the events of her predictions, but the new information she
revealed to Harry about Snape.  

Jen