Regarding the sequence of events, here’s how it goes:
Trelawney, who had been sitting behind him on the two-person broomstick that had just blazed through Hogwarts burning directly through all the walls and floors in their way, hastily pulled herself off and then sat down hard on the floor, a pace away from the red-glowing edges of a newly made gap in the wall. The woman was still breathing in gasps, bending over herself as though she were on the verge of vomiting out something larger than she was.
[Quirrell analyses the emotions he’d felt coming off Harry]
Unseen by anyone, the Defense Professor’s lips curved up in a thin smile. Despite its little ups and downs, on the whole this had been a surprisingly good day -
“HE IS HERE. THE ONE WHO WILL TEAR APART THE VERY STARS IN HEAVEN. HE IS HERE. HE IS THE END OF THE WORLD.”
(quoted from hpmor.com rather than the .pdf this time for greater accuracy)
I really don’t see how you can get any sequence of events out of that other than “Trelawney is about to make prophecy → Quirrell analyses Harry’s emotions and is happy with what he finds → Trelawney makes prophecy”. Quirrell doesn’t even get a full stop at the end of his thought before the quote marks open for Trelawney to speak.
I must admit, this makes my theory less likely, but I still don’t see your reading as the unambiguously correct interpretation, but I will freely cede that it look plausible that it is an interrupt, not an elaboration. This may, in part, stem from the fact that I am a big proponent of using “-” in my writing, and my usage is somewhat nonstandard.
Even if that is right, I don’t think it rules out my guess about Quirrell’s plan, but again, I’m significantly less confident now.
Regarding the sequence of events, here’s how it goes:
(quoted from hpmor.com rather than the .pdf this time for greater accuracy)
I really don’t see how you can get any sequence of events out of that other than “Trelawney is about to make prophecy → Quirrell analyses Harry’s emotions and is happy with what he finds → Trelawney makes prophecy”. Quirrell doesn’t even get a full stop at the end of his thought before the quote marks open for Trelawney to speak.
Fair enough.
I must admit, this makes my theory less likely, but I still don’t see your reading as the unambiguously correct interpretation, but I will freely cede that it look plausible that it is an interrupt, not an elaboration. This may, in part, stem from the fact that I am a big proponent of using “-” in my writing, and my usage is somewhat nonstandard.
Even if that is right, I don’t think it rules out my guess about Quirrell’s plan, but again, I’m significantly less confident now.