Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 528, Section 526: A True Prophecy
"Many wizards, despite their talents in areas such as clattering sounds, various smells, and sudden disappearances..."

But they cannot see through the veil of mystery surrounding the future.

Professor Trelawney continued, "A pair of frighteningly large, gleaming eyes looked from one tense face to another."

"This is a talent possessed by only a few people."

"You, child,"

She suddenly spoke to Neville, who was so startled he almost fell off his cushion.
How is your grandma?

I think it's alright.

Neville was no longer as timid as before, but he still spoke somewhat shyly.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure, darling."

Professor Trelawney said the firelight made her long emerald earrings sparkle.

Neville stared blankly at Sheehan.

Sheen's gaze was slightly grave.

Hermione was surprised by the professor's "high emotional intelligence".

Sheen pondered, if this could be considered a prophecy, then it had come true.

Neville later carelessly placed the password, allowing Black to enter the Gryffindor common room, which infuriated his grandmother, who even sent him a yelling letter.

Professor Trelawney continued calmly:

"This year we will learn the basic methods of divination."

In the first semester, we focused on learning to interpret tea leaves; in the second semester, we began learning palmistry.

By the way, my dear,"

She suddenly threw a sentence at Parvati Petil.
Be wary of a red-haired man.

Parvati glanced in alarm at Ron sitting behind her and quickly moved her chair away from him.

"Hey!"

Ron muttered something under his breath, feeling wronged by the misfortune.

In a world without magic, Sheen would consider this a typical type of scam.

Just mention a small detail and let others figure it out.

For example, be wary of boys with black marks.

In this way, there are too many factors to refer to: black hair, black eyes, black clothes... even a name containing the color black can be used.

Anyone can become a prophet by matching a widely applicable detail to any event and using the right rhetoric.

This is a form of linguistic suggestion, also known as cold reading in the field of psychology.

But this is Hogwarts, a place of magic...

Sheen tried hard to recall, and realized that this seemingly casual warning might have implied the following:

Pointing to Ron Weasley: Ron was the red-haired man Parvati encountered most often in Gryffindor.

This suggests that trouble will come to her through Ron. Specific events correspond to:
Shortly afterward, Ron’s pet mouse “Spotted” was found “dead” (in reality, it had molted and escaped, leaving behind bloodstains), while Parvati’s pet was frightened into fainting by Spotted’s “bloodstains”.

As a redhead who was relatively close to Parvati, Ron did indirectly cause her fright and trouble.

Of course, there is also someone here who has absolutely no connection to Parvati.

A man with red hair who has turned into a rat.

"During the summer semester,"

Professor Trelawney continued,

"We'll start learning about the crystal ball—I mean, if we finish learning about the fire omen."

Unfortunately, classes will be suspended in February due to a severe flu outbreak. I myself will lose my voice.

Around Easter, one of us will leave us forever.

After that sentence, there was a tense silence, but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it.

"Honey,"

She said to Lavender Brown, who was sitting closest to her and cowering in his chair, "Could you hand me the biggest silver teacup?"

Lavender seemed relieved. She stood up, took a large teacup from the shelf, and placed it on the table in front of Professor Trelawney.

"Thank you, darling. By the way, the thing you fear most—will happen on Friday, October 16th."

Lavender immediately began to tremble.

This prophecy is also true.

On October 16th, Lavender received devastating news from home—her beloved pet rabbit, Beaulie, had been killed by a fox, which was exactly what she "feared most."

Professor Trelawney casually glanced at the young wizards.

Then, her gaze settled on Sheen.

"you you……"

Professor Trelawney suddenly slumped into his armchair, his eyes glazed over and his mouth agape.

What do you want to say?

Hermione shouted, her voice trembling with fear.

But Professor Trelawney seemed not to hear; her eyes began to dart around, and the wizards stood there in alarm, thinking she was about to have an attack.

"We'd better take her to the school clinic..."

Neville suggested, biting his finger.

At this moment, Professor Trelawney spoke again, in that same harsh voice, quite different from her usual tone.

"An unacceptable ending, a deviation from the predetermined path... He remains cunning, coming from nowhere, defying fate—beware... Seventh..."

Professor Trelawney's head drooped to his chest, making a gurgling sound.

Then, quite suddenly, she raised her head again.

"I'm sorry, my dear child,"

She said in a daze,
"It's so hot, you know... I took a nap..."

Sheen stared at her blankly.

Just now, Professor Trelawney seems to have made a prophecy for him.

Sheen's quill pen reacted faster than his thoughts, quickly recording every word Professor Trelawney uttered.

He stared at the writing on the parchment.

In this magical world, prophecy is by no means a baseless magical concept.

Moreover, what just happened seemed to be Professor Trelawney's true prophetic state...

Sheen decided to think carefully about the key points after class.

"Oh……"

Professor Trelawney sat up, and the startled young wizards moved away from her.

"Now, I ask you to split into pairs."

Everyone take a teacup from the shelf and come to me, where I fill the cup with tea.

Then you sit down and drink tea until only tea leaves are left.

Use your left hand to swirl the tea leaves in the cup three times, then invert the cup onto the tray. Once the last drop of tea has seeped out, hand the cup to your partner for interpretation.

You can refer to pages five and six of "Seeing the Future Through the Fog" to interpret the shape of tea leaves.

I walk among you, helping you, guiding you. Oh, dear ones—”

She grabbed Neville's arm as he was about to stand up.

"After you break the first teacup, could you please pick out one with a blue pattern? I really love the pink one."

Sure enough, just as Neville reached the teacup stand, the crisp sound of porcelain shattering rang out.

Professor Trelawney, carrying a dustpan and broom, strode over and said:

"Honey, if you don't mind, please take the blue one... thank you..."

(End of this chapter)