[HPforGrownups] Re: CHAPT DISC: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 13: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw

[June Ewing]

No: HPFGUIDX 190028

Steve:
Relative to Hermione being sympathetic, I hold with my original
stand that Hermione would have been plenty sympathetic, if the
event, or prediction of the event, hadn't been attributed to
Trelawney.

But that is a point about the characters within the story.
However, you bring up a completely different point about how we
the reads are suppose to react to and interpret the story and
characters.

We see, or at least I see, that while Trelawney does have the
give of foresight, as with all things like this, interpreting
what she sees is corrupted by a best guess as to what it
means.

She righty sees Sirius in his dog form many times, but
misinterprets the vision as a Grim. She see someone leaving
the class, and Hermione leaves the class. Her 'foresight' in
reading the cards in the 6th books are scarily on point, but
she is mystified in interpreting what the cards are telling her.

The same is true of the prediction of tragedy in Lavender's
life on a particular date. Yet, what vision did she really see
to lead her to believe that? Did she see Lavender crying and
grief stricken on a particular date, and assume it represented
tragedy on that date?

I think that is precisely what JRK is trying to show us.
Despite giving Harry's Prophesy, which we know is both very
real and very very subject to interpretation, she gives minor
predictions all the time. And, those predictions turn out to
be right but only within a certain context.

As Hermione argues her case, about the rabbit not dying on that
day, and so forth, she is looking at this as pure logic, and as
list of facts. But, as I said, we only heard Trelawney
interpretation, we don't know precisely what vision or intuitive
feeling lead to that interpretation.

I suspect this is always, or with extreme frequency, the
trouble in intuitive senses, visions of foresight, crystal
gazing, card reading, tea reading, palm reading, prophesies, and
everything else; they are all subject to misinterpretation.

Hermione is trying to resolve an intuitive sense or prophetic
vision as a list of facts, but that is not at all what they are.


June:
The thing is as Hermione pointed out Lavender only heard about
the death of her rabbit that day and the rabbit actually died
the day before and the rabbit being a well baby there was no
way to worry that it would die, however what if that wasn't what
Lavender was worried about. She may have just been worried that
she would get bad news of any kind and it happened the day
Trelawney said it would or Trelawney could have put the worry in
her head. Like with Neville we know he is clumsy but do we really
know he was going to break a cup? He could have done it because
it was just put in his head that he would. Mind over matter.