Spoiler warning! There are some mild spoilers ahead – turn back now if you’re not familiar with the stories…
Predicting a student would die every year
Sybill Trelawney really did have a flair for the dramatic. Well, predicting grisly deaths is one way to get a class full of teenagers to pay attention. Even though it never came to pass, it’s a rather genius crowd control move!
The Grim
Here Sybill goes again with her gloomy predictions. Well, it’s true Harry did see a rather large dog… but that turned out to be Sirius and not some insidious omen that guaranteed a gruesome end!
Augusta Longbottom being poorly
This is one prediction that we know Sybill made up. Augusta Longbottom? Ill? Not likely! Neville’s gran was a force to be reckoned with – she would make germs quake with fear. We would happily bet she’s never been sick a day in her life!
Her ominous warning to Parvati
Well, seeing as Ron did end up getting together with Parvati’s best friend, Lavender, and then the pair spent so much time snogging each other they forget they had other friends… this prediction might actually be accurate!
She would get the flu in February
In both the books and the films there’s no mention of Trelawney being struck down by something as mundane as the flu… it’s Sybill’s inner eye that was on the blink!
A spring departure
Actually… Hermione did leave Divination for the last time in the spring – could Trelawney have been using her Seer abilities here? Possibly, though it was most likely a lucky guess!
Beware the 16th October
We have to agree with Hermione on this one. Yes, Lavender might have received the letter telling her that her beloved pet, Binky, had died on the 16th. Yet the demise of her poor rabbit actually happened before that date. So, we would put this down to another example of Sybill’s showmanship rather than any actual talent.
Mind the teacups
This is rather a self-fulfilling prophecy – don’t you think? Telling the clumsiest kid in the class not to break something is guaranteed to end with them breaking something… especially if that kid is Neville!
Thirteen at the dinner table
Once again, we maintain that Trelawney was never happier than when she was coming up with the most maudlin of predictions! This was another dud – seeing as Harry and Ron were the first to rise from Christmas dinner and they both survived!
What she predicted would be in their exam
It doesn’t take a gifted Seer to foresee what’s in an exam that you wrote yourself. Of course Trelawney knew crystal balls were on the horizon! It was her decision!
