Let's pick at that prophecy a little more, shall we?

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 77697


Elle wrote:

> I do not believe that Voldemort has heard the part of the prophecy 
> that states that he will mark his foe as his equal.  DD indicated 
> that if LV had heard that part he would have been more careful 
about 
> attacking Harry as a baby.  


Me (Laurasia):

Yeah- you're right. Dumbledore says that whoever overheard them was 
expelled from the pub before them. So all Voldemort knows is that 
there is a boy being born who could defeat him. 

Voldemort thinks that the baby will be born with the innate gift to 
defeat him, whereas those who have head the entire prophecy see that 
the action of attacking the baby causes Harry to have the power to 
defeat Voldemort. That is- Voldemort thinks that the baby was *born* 
his equal hence wants to destroy him as soon as possible. We know 
that Harry *became* Voldemort's equal after Voldemort failed to kill 
him and tranferred powers, became obsessed with killing him yet 
failing continually- essentially making Voldemort fear him as a 
threat.

If Voldemort *had* heard the rest of the prophecy the smart thing to 
do would be never to mark anyone. That is, until he marks someone as 
equal there is no-one who can defeat him. Of course, then we're left 
with no books... :-)

~<(Laurasia)>~