Divination

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Divination is the ability to predict events in the future. This is a course at Hogwarts, starting for third-years and one of those you can select out of a list too long to take them all. The teacher for this course is Professor Trelawney, a long, thin witch rarely seen in the public rooms of Hogwarts. Firenze, a centaur, also teaches Divination for a period in Harry’s fifth year. He returns for the sixth year as well, sharing classes with Professor Trelawney, much to her disdain.

Harry, Hermione and Ron first attend this class in their third year, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Hermione Granger quickly became disillusioned with the course, declaring the subject "guesswork." She ultimately stormed out of the class and did not continue it past third year.

Harry and Ron persisted with this class up until the end of their fifth year, but never did well at it. Harry was the Object of Professor Trelawney's predictions, all of which foretold a dreadful death. Harry ended up scoring a P (Poor) on his Divination O.W.L.

Since the beginning of humankind, foreseeing the future has been a wish, a dream, or a nightmare depending on your perspective. From a scientific perspective, divination has four prerequisites which together make it unlikely even for wizards:

There must be a mechanism or a force which sends the message of the future event back in time. Obviously, this cannot be bound by the rules of time passing.
This mechanism or force must be willing to do so, and must have selected a recipient to whom this message is to be passed.
The recipient must be able and willing to receive the message (and then to transform it into human speech, writing, or any other type of normal communication.
The nature of time - and the nature of fate - must be such that this event (i.e., knowing the fate) does not alter the future in any way.

The mechanism or force had to be Godlike, and the recipient had to be an extraordinary person. So far, many Muggles and many wizards can think of it as something possible. But it is the fourth prerequisite that makes both sides skeptical: If fate is fixed whatever you do, where is the sense in doing your homework?
There are two concepts which discuss this problem from different angles. The first is the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that something will happen, it will happen - maybe not the day it was predicted but some time before or afterwards. This is simple psychology and works for Muggles as well as for witches and wizards, provided the believer is ready to abandon his/her own will enough.
The second approach postulates this: Whenever a decision is made, our universe splits into two. In the first version, the decision was Yes, in the second it was No. For most decisions, the differences are close to zero. For example, if you have to decide whether your next breakfast roll should have cheese or sausage, the two alternative universes are pretty much the same. Except of course if the sausage was deadly poisonous, because then in one of the two universes you are dead soon afterwards ...

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