Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 251 The Principles of Prophecy

The classroom was quiet, with only the sound of chalk scraping against the blackboard.

Melvin deliberately slowed down his speech, removed obscure and difficult terms, and used simple and direct language to explain:

"There are many legends about prophecy in the Muggle world, because in recorded history, many prophecies have come true. Many Muggle scholars are interested in the principles behind them and spend a lot of effort studying the process of prophecy. They eventually conclude that when a prophecy is heard by the person involved, it will begin to self-fulfill its prophecy and ultimately achieve the prophetic result..."

The name "Pygmalion effect" comes from Cyprus, the king of ancient Greek mythology. Cyprus was a skilled sculptor whose sculptures were incredibly lifelike. However, because he was abandoned by his mother and first love in his early years, he vowed never to sculpt any more statues of women.

The vows in these stories are meant to be broken. One morning, he planned to carve a man throwing a discus out of ivory, but the outline he carved was that of a girl who had appeared in his dreams.

He firmly believed that this change was divine guidance, so he devoted himself to carving and eventually created a graceful and beautiful female statue. Pygmalion prayed to the god of love to transform the statue into a real maiden and make her his wife.

The students listened quietly, finding it very interesting.

Many Muggle myths and legends feature wizards, but some are purely religious allegories that attempt to spread doctrines and teach people certain principles. This part is the content that Muggles create based on reality.

Through these interesting stories, young wizards can perceive the ideas that the storytellers want to convey, thereby understanding the thoughts of Muggles, which is also the teaching objective of the Muggle Studies class.

"Leaving aside the religious aspects of gods and faith in the story, what I want to tell you is that one person's behavior and expectations of another person usually have an impact on that person, prompting them to fulfill those expectations."

Melvin, who was behind the lectern, walked to the podium and paced between the desks: "Thirty years ago, there was a Muggle named Rosenthal who was also a teacher. He made some positive predictions to his students, claiming that they were very intelligent, smart, and hardworking. After a while, these ordinary students really did make great progress and became confident and positive."

"In contrast, there is the Graham effect, which states that when teachers hold negative views of students, this bias can cause normal students to develop in the direction of negative expectations, making them impatient, lose interest in the relevant subjects, and ultimately confirm those negative views."

"There's prejudice among Hogwarts schools. Everyone thinks Ravenclaw are good at studying but not at Quidditch. Is that really true?"

"..."

Harry immediately thought of Potions.

Before he even started learning Potions, Hagrid told him that his mother was very talented in Potions. He was very interested in tinkering with those cauldrons and herbs. However, on his first Potions class, he was targeted by Snape and ridiculed everywhere, which caused him to lose interest in Potions.

I barely passed my daily homework and several exams.

"No wonder I'm bad at Potions!"

Ron muttered something under his breath, while Seamus and Dean nodded in agreement and whispered their agreement.

Harry turned to look at them, his expression slightly complicated. These guys' homework was even worse than his. They were either chatting or daydreaming in class, and he was rarely called on for questions. Their poor grades were probably their own fault.

“If anyone is truly affected by these negative expectations, it can only be…” Harry looked at Neville, who was not far away.

The thirteen-year-old boy was growing rapidly during puberty. In just two months, he had grown half a head taller, and his previously slightly chubby figure had become thinner, with his sleeves becoming somewhat loose.

They were mocked and targeted by Snape after arriving at Hogwarts, while Neville had been subjected to setbacks since childhood. He even believed deep down that he was stupid, lacked talent, had poor reaction time, and was slow in everything he did.

With such timid and inferior thoughts, he indeed performed poorly in class. In the first potions class, he even knocked over the cauldron, giving himself a red and itchy rash.

It wasn't until Professor Levent taught him the Summoning Charm and appointed him as the head of the drama club that he gradually regained his confidence from these successes, slowly discovered his favorite subjects, and showcased his strengths in the drama club and herbalism.

Neville silently watched the professor on the stage, a glint of light in his eyes.

“Professor, even if we hope to influence the future, these are all academic expectations,” a Ravenclaw student shouted. “Professor Trelawney’s predictions are about life. She believes Ravenclaw will be in trouble, Neville’s grandmother will suffer misfortune, and Harry will be threatened with death.”

"This brings us to what we're about to discuss."

Melvin smiled gently, his gaze sweeping over the students he had mentioned. "Murphy's Law is a heuristic principle. Simply put, if there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways will lead to disaster, then someone will inevitably make that choice. In other words, something bad is bound to happen."

Some students looked distressed and puzzled.

"You must have encountered the following situations..."

Melvin said slowly, “Bread will always land on the jam and butter side; your friends can tap dance on the stairs and be fine, but you will definitely fall if you hop up and down the stairs; leaving the dormitory to rush to the classroom by watch will definitely make you late; and when you practice Quidditch on a flying broom, someone will always crash into the scoring ring or the stands.”

A cacophony of agreement immediately erupted in the classroom:

"That's right! That's it!"

"I always feel like I'm incredibly unlucky!"

"That's how I was late yesterday."

Melvin listened to their shouting and commotion with a smile in his eyes. Some of these thoughts were common to everyone, and this was the area that Muggles painstakingly studied statistics and psychology to try to explore and explain.

"When you have a certain idea in your mind and believe that something bad will happen, your behavior will change unconsciously. Anxiety leads to behavioral withdrawal. When going down the stairs, you pay attention to the frequency and stride of your steps. When you are so nervous that you can't sleep while studying, it eventually leads to something bad."

Melvin broke down the process and presented it to them, saying, "Furthermore, prophecy will affect your focus. When you expect something bad to happen, your brain will mark the bad signs, making them stand out and attract your attention, causing you to ignore the good signs, such as the bread not always getting jam on it, or not always being late..."

“Professor, I still don’t understand,” Lavender said hesitantly, raising his hand.

“Okay, let me explain it more clearly.” Melvin looked into her eyes. “What prophecy did Professor Trelawney make about you?”

"She said what I was afraid of would happen on Friday, October 15th."

"What is it that you are afraid of?"

“This…” Lavender frowned, stumped, and couldn’t answer for a moment.

“Look, you don’t even know it yourself.” Melvin spread his hands. “I could list countless things you’re afraid of: waking up in the morning to find a pimple on your nose, going to the Great Hall to find there’s no jam you want, being called on by Professor Snape in class, having your homework marked as unacceptable by Professor McGonagall, or accidentally strangling a mouse in Magical Creatures class.”

Lavender opened his eyes wide, only then realizing that he had so many fears.

"If any one of the above things happens, the prophecy can be said to have come true, but are you going to be afraid of it now?"

"..."

Lavender quickly shook his head.

"What about Grandma Neville?" someone else asked.

“That makes it even simpler. I’ve met Mrs. Longbottom before. Although I don’t know her exact age, a woman who is at least sixty years old will always have some ailments every year, such as colds, fevers, backaches, and leg pains. Perhaps she’s lost her voice from shouting while writing those yelling letters…” Melvin looked at Neville in the front row. “But I can be sure that Neville’s grandmother is definitely not in any danger.”

Neville nodded gratefully.

Not far away, Harry mustered his courage, straightened his back, and looked at the professor with hope in his eyes.

"About Harry's mortal enemy, and signs of death."

Melvin paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "Hasn't he experienced anything in the past two years?"

The classroom was silent for a moment, then erupted into loud laughter.

Everyone knows that from Quirrell's attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone to the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, signs of death have been haunting Harry for the past two years.

Harry and his friends exchanged a few glances, their uneasy hearts quickly relaxing, no longer bothered by the vague prophecy.

Listening to the students' discussion, Melvin returned to the podium and waited for them to quiet down before continuing his lecture: "When you realize that black dogs are a sign of death, you will pay extra attention to the black dogs you encounter in your life, just as pregnant women encounter other pregnant women everywhere. Your subconscious will make you notice things you didn't notice before."

“Muggles have a unique interpretation of prophecy and have demonstrated that prophecies heard by the recipients tend to be self-fulfilling.”

"But this does not mean that wizards' prophecies are frauds. In fact, magical prophecies have their unique aspects, and a few talented prophets can see the future through certain rituals."

"Therefore, I do not want people to abandon divination."

"Professor Trelawney once made a real prophecy, a prophecy that could change the world. Her grandmother, Cassandra Trelawney, was a world-renowned diviner. There are records of some famous prophecies in the library. I won't recommend specific books, but you can ask Professor Trelawney if you are interested."

Melvin glanced at the time after speaking for a while, and that's how he dragged out the first lesson of the new semester:

"That's all for today. Next week we'll officially begin our Muggle studies course."

Melvin casually wiped the blackboard clean, watched the students pack their bags and leave get out of class, chattering about the prophecy as they went, and couldn't help but smile, waving to Neville.

Neville quickly picked up his backpack and approached: "Professor Levent."

“It’s been almost three months since we last met in St. Mungo,” Melvin said, arriving empty-handed and smiling as he asked, “How are your parents recovering?”

"His thinking ability has almost recovered, but his memory has not been recovered. He can only remember some simple things."

"You remember your identity, you remember the skills of writing spells, you remember familiar relatives and friends, but these are all impressions from many years ago. Your memories are stuck in the past, right?"

"Yes, Dad also thinks Grandma is a thirty-year-old witch."

What does your grandmother think?

"She started thinking that she had to regain her memories. After living with her at home for two months, she felt that this was not bad. It was good that she could live the life of an ordinary wizard."

"That's it."

……

“Harry, now you believe me, Trelawney is a charlatan.”

"Professor Levent didn't say that, did he..."

Harry scratched his head and sighed. "Although the prophecy trick was exposed, Professor Levente actually approves of Professor Trelawney, saying that she made world-changing prophecies."

"That's just a polite way of saying it between colleagues."

On their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Hermione was indignant, while Harry and Ron were cautious, worried that the professor might overhear their harsh words.

Hermione snorted, glanced down at her watch, and asked, "What's the next class?"

"Professor Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

Harry's tone was somewhat complicated. "Professor Levent said that Professor Lupin was once a very good friend of my father. Hermione, Ron, do you think that's believable? I mean, he was Ilvermorny's student, how would he know about Hogwarts' past?"

"Professor Flitwick told him that in a casual conversation," Ron said dismissively.

"What do you think, Hermione, Hermione?"

As Harry passed the one-eyed witch statue on the third floor, he was about to consult a wise person when he suddenly realized that Hermione, who had been walking beside him, had disappeared. "Where did Hermione go?"

Just as Ron and I were about to turn around and look for her, we suddenly saw Hermione emerge from behind the statue, her steps hurried, carrying a large book that looked like a dictionary, "The Magic Phonics Table".

Ancient Runic reference books?
Did you find it in your schoolbag?

Harry saw strange symbols on the spine of the book, none of which he recognized, but similar runes appeared on the diagrams of George and Fred's prank props.

Hermione stuffed the thick dictionary into her bag, looked thoughtful, then belatedly remembered something and turned back to ask:

"Harry, you just said that Professor Lupin is your father's friend?"

“Professor Levent told me.” Harry opened his mouth, feeling a little strange.

After passing the statue of the One-Eyed Witch and turning the corner, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was not far ahead, but Professor Lupin was not there.

After they had all sat down and taken out their books, quills, and parchment, Lupin rushed into the classroom just before the bell rang and placed his tattered suitcase on the teacher's desk.

She was still wearing the same clothes she wore at the beginning of the school year, patched and somewhat tattered, but her face was no longer pale and bloodless, and her smile was gentle.

"Please put all your books back in your bags. Today is a practical class, and we need to go to the faculty lounge on the first floor. You only need to bring your magic wands."

The whole class was confused but also interested. When they walked down the deserted corridor and stairs to the first floor and turned a corner, they found that someone was already waiting in the faculty lounge.

"Professor Lewinter?"

(End of this chapter)