It is only after rereading the fourth volume of the Harry Potter saga , Goblet of Fire , that this funny detail jumps out at you. Indeed, it turns out that Harry and Ron had both completely predicted, and in order, all the events that were going to happen during the Triwizard Tournament.
It’s no secret that JK Rowling doesn’t seem to really appreciate what we call occult sciences. Very often, she made fun of them in these novels.
Even going so far as to depict the Divination teacher, Sibylle Trelawney as a woman resembling a large glowing insect, with large glasses and wrapped in a shawl, trailing behind her.
“At first Harry had the impression of finding himself in front of a large glowing insect. Professor Trelawney had just appeared in the light of the flames of the fireplace. She was very thin, her eyes widened by large glasses, and wrapped in a vaporous shawl decorated with sequins. An impressive quantity of chains and beads surrounded her gaunt neck, and her arms and hands were overflowing with rings and bracelets. » – Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
In short, the stereotype of the image we have of clairvoyants. Even the subject she taught, namely Divination, will be constantly mocked and denigrated throughout the saga.
Firstly by Harry himself. The latter was totally exasperated that she constantly predicted his death. Then, by Hermione, of course, who found that this very “vague” subject was just guesswork and who even ended up abandoning this subject. Also by Professor McGonagall, who had very little respect for her colleague and often denigrated her supposed clairvoyant gifts. Finally, by Albus Dumbledore himself, who will readily admit that the Divination professor had been right a few times.
Thus, we easily see that Harry and Ron never hid their contempt and cynicism for the art of divination. However, they ultimately turned out to be, ironically, quite talented.
Indeed, at the start of their fourth year of study, while trying to invent miserable predictions in order to impress their teacher, they inadvertently predicted all the dangers that Harry would ultimately face throughout the three Triwizard Tournament tasks.
“Okay, so… he said, on Monday I’m probably going to suffer… uh… let’s see… burns . “That might be true,” Ron said grimly. Monday, we’re going to find the Scroutts on fire. Let’s move on to Tuesday, now… I’m going to… uh… – Lose something you care about , Harry suggested, leafing through Lifting the Veil of the Future in search of ideas. “Great,” Ron agreed as he wrote. It will be because of… uh… Mercury. Hey, what if you were betrayed by someone you considered a friend ? “Ah yes, very good,” said Harry, who wrote in his turn. It will be because… because Venus will be in my twelfth house. — Oh, and on Wednesday, I think I’m going to get my face broken in a fight. — I wanted to do the fighting too. We’re going to replace it with a bet that I lost. — Yes, because you bet it would be me who came out victorious in the fight…” – Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Sure enough, all of these false predictions will actually happen during the Triwizard Tournament.
During the first task, Harry will have to try to recover one of the Spiked Horntail’s eggs. In fact, he was inevitably at risk of suffering horrible dragon burns.
During the second task, which consisted of saving Ron from a supposed drowning in the Black Lake, Harry will actually have to go and recover a precious possession that he had lost.
Lord of the third and final task, Harry will ultimately be stabbed in the back by someone he trusted, who he considered an ally. Indeed, Professor Mad-Eye Moody, who was in reality the famous Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr, will knowingly lead Harry into the cemetery, near Lord Voldemort. Before finally emerging victorious from his fight against Lord Voldemort himself.
Are we to conclude that Harry and Ron possessed incredible clairvoyant gifts? Obviously not.
In truth, this was a sort of wink from JK Rowling. She decides to demonstrate to us, via this type of proven predictions, whether from Harry, Ron or even Sibylle Trelawney, that divination is in no way an absolute science. Moreover, we see that very often the professor’s ridiculous predictions were right. Once again, this was certainly done consciously.
Ultimately, the goal was above all to prove that anyone can predict the future if they want to. Divination was more like luck than real magic. The wider you aim, the more likely you are to get it right, and that’s exactly what happened with Harry and Ron’s predictions.