Chapter 251: The Principle Of Prophecy
The classroom was very quiet, with only the sound of chalk rubbing against the blackboard.
Melvin deliberately slowed his speech, removing those obscure and awkward nouns, and explained in simple and direct language:
“The Muggle World also has many legends about prophecy, because in recorded true history, many prophecies became reality, and many Muggle scholars were interested in the principles behind them, spending a lot of energy studying the process of prophecy, and finally came to the conclusion that when a prophecy is heard by the person involved, it begins to self-fulfill and ultimately achieve the prophesied result…”
The name of the Pygmalion effect comes from King Pygmalion of Cyprus in ancient Greek mythology. He was an artisan skilled in carving, and everything he carved was lifelike, but because he was abandoned by his mother and first love in his early years, he made a vow to never carve a statue of a woman again.
Vows in such stories are meant to be broken. One morning, he planned to carve a male discus thrower out of ivory, but the outline that emerged was of the maiden who had appeared in his dreams.
He firmly believed this change was guidance from a deity, so he carved with all his heart, ultimately creating a graceful and beautiful female statue. Pygmalion prayed to the goddess of love to turn this statue into a real maiden and make her his wife.
The students listened quietly, all finding it very interesting.
Muggle myths and legends contain shadows of many wizards, but some are purely religious allegories intended to spread doctrine and teach people certain reasons. This part is content fabricated by Muggles based on reality.
Little wizards can perceive the ideas that the storytellers wanted to convey through these fun stories, thereby understanding Muggle thoughts. This is also the teaching purpose of Muggle Studies class.
“Setting aside the religious parts of gods and faith in the story, what I want to tell you is that one person’s behavior and expectations toward another usually influence them, prompting them to realize those expectations.”
Melvin walked from behind the lectern to the podium, pacing between the desks: “Thirty years ago, there was a Muggle named Rosenthal. He was also a teacher. He made some positive prophecies to his students, claiming they had high intelligence quotients, were very smart, and diligent. After a period of time, this group of ordinary students really improved greatly and became confident and positive.
“In contrast is the Golem effect. When a teacher holds negative views toward students, this prejudice causes normal students to develop in the direction of negative expectations, making them impatient and lose interest in the corresponding subjects, ultimately confirming those negative views.
“There is prejudice between Hogwarts houses. Everyone thinks Ravenclaw excels at studying but not at Quidditch. Is that really the case?”
“…”
Harry immediately thought of Potions.
Before school started and he had contact with Potions, he heard Hagrid say his mother had great talent in Potions, so he was interested in messing with those cauldrons and herbs. But the first Potions class, he was targeted by Snape, mocked everywhere, which made him lose interest in Potions.
Daily after-class homework and several exams were just barely passing.
“No wonder I’m not good at Potions class!”
Ron muttered softly beside him, while Seamus and Dean nodded in deep agreement, whispering in support.
Harry turned to look at them, his expression slightly complicated. These guys’ homework was worse than his own; in class they either chatted or zoned out, and weren’t quizzed much. Their poor grades were simply their own issues, right?
“If anyone is really influenced by this kind of negative expectation, it can only be…” Harry looked at Neville not far away.
The thirteen-year-old pubescent boy was developing and growing quickly. In just two months, he had grown half a head taller, and his previously slightly obese figure had slimmed down, making his sleeves somewhat loose.
They had been subjected to Snape’s mocking and targeting after arriving at Hogwarts, but Neville had been receiving blows since childhood, even believing deep down that he was stupid, lacking talent, slow to react, and slow at everything.
With such cowardly and inferiority complex ideas, he naturally performed dreadfully in class. In the first Potions class, he even knocked over the cauldron, covering himself in red and itchy boils.
Until Professor Levent taught him the Summoning Charm and appointed him head of the Drama Club, gradually regaining confidence from these successes, slowly finding subjects he liked, and showing his strengths in the Drama Club and Herbology.
Neville silently watched the professor on stage, a faint light flickering in his eyes.
“Professor, even if expectations can influence future development, these are all expectations in terms of studying.” A Ravenclaw student shouted, “Professor Trelawney’s prophecies are about life. She thinks Lavender will have bad luck, Neville’s grandmother will encounter misfortune, and prophesies that Harry will be threatened by death.”
“This brings us to the content we’re going to discuss next.”
Melvin smiled mildly, his gaze sweeping over the students he mentioned, “Murphy’s Law is an aphoristic 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 surely make that choice. In other words, dreadful things will inevitably happen.”
Some students showed puzzled and troubled expressions.
“You must have encountered the following things…”
Melvin said slowly, “Bread falling to the ground always lands butter and jam side down; a partner can jump and tap dance on the staircase without issue, but if you hop up the stairs, you’ll definitely fall; leaving the dormitory on the dot to rush to the classroom will definitely make you late; during Quidditch training on a flying broomstick, someone always crashes into the scoring hoops or the stands.”
The classroom immediately erupted in noisy agreement:
“Exactly! That’s it!”
“I always feel particularly unlucky!”
“That’s how I was late yesterday.”
Melvin listened to their shouts, a smile in his eyes. Some ideas are ones everyone has. This is the field where Muggles painstakingly study statistics and psychology, trying to explore and explain.
“When a certain idea forms in your mind and you believe something bad will happen, your behavior will unconsciously change. Anxiety leads to behavioral withdrawal; when going down stairs, you worry about step frequency and stride; when reviewing, tension leads to insomnia, ultimately really causing dreadful things.”
Melvin broke down this process and showed it to them, “Additionally, prophecy will influence your attention. When you expect bad things to happen, your brain will mark bad signs, making them prominent and noticeable, causing you to ignore good signals, like bread not always getting the jam side dirty, not being late every time you leave on the dot…”
“Professor, I still don’t understand.” Lavender raised her hand hesitantly.
“Alright, let me explain it more intuitively.” Melvin looked into her eyes, “What prophecy did Professor Trelawney make about you?”
“She said the thing I fear would happen on October 15th, a Friday.”
“Please tell me, what does this thing you fear refer to?”
“This…” Lavender immediately frowned in distress, unable to answer for a moment.
“See, you don’t know yourself.” Melvin spread his hands, “I can list countless things you fear: waking up in the morning to find a pimple on your nose tip, going to the Great Hall for a meal and finding no jam you want, being quizzed by Professor Snape in class, after-class homework graded unqualified by Professor McGonagall, accidentally killing a rat in Magical Creatures class.”
Lavender’s eyes widened; only now did she realize she had so many things to fear.
“As long as any of the above happens, it can be said the prophecy came true, but do you need to live in fear now because of it?”
“…”
Lavender quickly shook her head.
“What about Neville’s grandmother?” someone else asked.
“That’s even simpler. I’ve met Old Mrs. Longbottom before. Though I don’t know this lady’s exact age, a woman at least sixty years old will encounter some ailments every year: colds and fevers, sore back and legs, perhaps straining her throat shouting while writing a Howler…”
Melvin looked at Neville in the front row, “But I can be sure Neville’s grandmother will absolutely not be in life danger.”
Neville nodded gratefully.
Harry, not far away, mustered courage, straightened his back, looked at the professor, hope shining in his eyes.
“About Harry’s mortal enemy and death omens.”
Melvin paused briefly, then suddenly laughed, “Hasn’t he encountered them in the past two years?”
The classroom went quiet for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.
Everyone knew that from Quirinus Quirrell who tried to take the Philosopher’s Stone to the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, death omens had always lingered around Harry and hadn’t stopped for the past two years.
Harry exchanged glances with his little partners beside him; their uneasy hearts quickly relaxed, no longer troubled by that vague prophecy.
Listening to the students’ discussion, Melvin returned to the podium and waited for them to quiet down before continuing the lesson: “When you realize a black dog is a death omen, you will pay extra attention to black dogs you encounter in life, just like pregnant women seeing pregnant women everywhere in life. The subconscious makes you notice things you previously wouldn’t have.”
“Muggles have a unique interpretation of prophecy and have proven that prophecies heard by the prophesied subjects tend to self-fulfill.
“But this doesn’t mean wizard prophecies are scams. In fact, magical prophecy has its unique aspects. A few talented prophets can see the future through certain rituals.
“So I don’t want everyone to abandon Divination.
“Professor Trelawney has made real prophecies, ones sufficient to change the world. Her grandmother Cassandra Trelawney was an even world-famous Divination scholar. There are records of some famous prophecies in the library; I won’t recommend specific book lists, but if interested, you can ask Professor Trelawney.”
Melvin spoke to here, checked the time; the first class of the term dragged on like this:
“That’s it for today. Next week we’ll formally start the Muggle Studies course.”
Melvin casually erased the blackboard, watching the students pack their schoolbags and leave class, chattering about prophecy, and couldn’t help smiling. He beckoned to Neville.
Neville hurriedly grabbed his schoolbag and approached: “Professor Levent.”
“It’s been almost three months since we met at St Mungo’s.” Melvin had come empty-handed and smiled as he asked him, “How are your parents recovering?”
“Their thinking abilities have mostly recovered, but they haven’t gotten their memories back, only remembering some simple things.”
“They remember their identity, writing and casting spells, these skills, and familiar family and friends, but all impressions from many years ago, with memories stuck long in the past, right?”
“Yeah, Dad still thinks Grandma is a thirty-year-old witch.”
“What does your grandmother think?”
“She started thinking she must restore their memories, but after bringing them home to live for two months, she felt this was fine too, able to live as ordinary wizards was good enough.”
“I see.”
…
“Harry, now you finally believe me, right? Trelawney is just a fraud.”
“That’s not what Professor Levent said…”
Harry scratched his head and sighed, “Although he exposed the prophecy trick, Professor Levent quite acknowledges Professor Trelawney and said she made world-changing prophecies.”
“That’s just polite talk between colleagues.”
On the way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom, Hermione seemed indignant, while Harry and Ron were cautious, worried the professor would overhear these impolite words.
Hermione huffed, looked down to pull up her sleeve and check her wristwatch, then asked: “What’s next class?”
“Professor Lupin’s Defence Against the Dark Arts.”
Harry’s tone was somewhat complex, “Professor Levent said Professor Lupin was once a very good friend of my father. Hermione, Ron, do you think that’s credible? I mean, he’s an Ilvermorny student; how would he know things from Hogwarts in the past?”
“Professor Flitwick told him during casual chat.” Ron said nonchalantly.
“What do you think, Hermione, Hermione?”
Passing the one-eyed witch statue on the third floor, Harry was about to consult the smart person’s opinion when he suddenly realized Hermione, who had been walking beside him, was gone. “Where’s Hermione?”
Just as he and Ron were about to turn back to look, they saw Hermione’s figure emerging from behind the statue, hurrying, holding a thick tome like a dictionary in her arms, 《Magical Phonetic Alphabet》.
A book of materials on Ancient Runes?
Did she pull it from her schoolbag?
Harry saw the strange symbols on the spine, didn’t recognize a single one, but there were similar runes on the prank props diagrams made by George and Fred.
Hermione stuffed the thick dictionary into her schoolbag, looking thoughtful, then remembered belatedly and turned back to ask:
“Harry, you just said Professor Lupin is your father’s friend?”
“Professor Levent told me.” Harry opened his mouth, feeling something odd.
Passing the one-eyed witch statue, then turning the corner, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom was not far ahead, and Professor Lupin wasn’t there.
By the time they all sat down and took out books, quills, and parchment, Lupin entered the classroom at the last moment before the bell rang, placing his shabby suitcase on the lectern.
His clothing was still the same set from the start of term, patches looking somewhat ragged, but his face was no longer pale and bloodless, with a mild smile:
“Please put your books back into your schoolbags. Today is a practical lesson; we’re going to the staff lounge on the first floor. You only need to bring your wands.”
The whole class felt confused but also interested. When they followed the empty corridors and staircases to the first floor and turned a corner, they found someone already waiting in the staff lounge.
“Professor Levent?”
