[HPforGrownups] Dumbledore and the psychic magic

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 187579

mcrudele78 wrote:
> My question: How much stock does Dumbledore put in this kind of magic? 
>   

Bart (no relation):
    Hi, guys, I'm back!

    Here's my take: let's say that prophecy worked. There are two 
possibilities. The first is that the future is predetermined and fixed. 
In which case, prophecy is worthless, because it doesn't help us. The 
second, which Alby heartily endorses (and is one of the major themes of 
the books) is that we all have choices. Given that, a prophecy, once 
given, invalidates itself, because it creates information that did not 
exist before the prophecy was given. Which makes it, at best, very 
inexact and, at worst, self-fulfilling.

    Therefore, even if Divination is a valid form of magic in the 
Potterverse, Alby probalby doesn't place much store in it. Morty, on the 
other hand, is a control freak, and therefore probably puts far too much 
store in it.

    Bart