Voldemort and the Prophecy Was:Re: Intro pt II: Plotholes and Sirius

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 71077

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Rach" <rachrobins at h...> wrote:
> Annemehr wrote: 
> 
> > Since Dumbledore knew what was in the prophecy but didn't want 
> > Voldemort to know the whole thing, I think Sturgis Podmore was 
sent 
> > to try to destroy the prophecy and was caught.
<snip>> 

Rach replied: 
> I dont have my copy with me to check - but I think Sturgis was 
just 
> on guard duty (as Arthur Weasley was the night he was attacked). 
He 
> didn't go mad as Bode (under Malfoy's imperious curse) did when he 
> tried to touch the prophecy.  He was caught by Ministry wizards 
> somewhere he shouldn't be (i.e. outside the door to the dept of 
> Mysteries) on business for the Order and sent to Azkaban for 6 
> months.  Arthur's attack happened after this (Sturgis didn't turn 
up 
> to escort Harry to Kings Cross in September) so we can assume that 
> the Guard duty continued until the day of the altication between 
the 
> DE's and DA.  
> 

Annemehr again:
Sorry, as I reread my original post, I see I wasn't really very 
clear.  I had answers to all your objections (the book doesn't 
actually say Podmore was on guard duty; he was caught by MoM 
officials *because* he was trying to sneak in rather than just sit 
there in the invisibility cloak; and that the regular guard duty 
*did* continue after this because Dumbledore decided not to try 
entering the Dept. of Mysteries again).  However, I just found 
another objection to my theory, so I am going to post it here.

The problem with my theory comes at the very end of Ch. 9, after 
Mrs. Weasley's boggart.  When Harry goes up to his bedroom, "Without 
warning, the scar on his forehead seared with pain again and his 
stomach churned horribly."  This is just the night before Sturgis 
fails to turn up at Grimmauld Place, so it might well have to do 
with him.  Although it is not as intense a reaction as when Bode 
goes mad (where Harry actually sees and hears things), still, the 
stomach churning is significant.  Perhaps Voldemort wasn't as angry 
when this mere first attempt to get at the prophecy failed.

This leaves me trying to figure out exactly what Voldemort was doing 
in his attempts at getting the prophecy.  I am typing as I think 
now, but here goes:

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE BATTLE OVER THE PROPHECY:

Right in Ch. 1 Harry has already been dreaming of "long dark 
corridors, all finishing in dead ends and locked doors, which he 
supposed had something to do with the trapped feeling he had when he 
was awake."  So -- Voldemort's already planning on sending him into 
the Dept. of Mysteries is he?  He's already sending Harry these 
dreams?

The incident with Podmore happens.  Perhaps Voldemort somehow (in 
his snake incarnation which sees through invisibility cloaks?) comes 
upon Podmore on guard duty outside the Dept. of Mysteries, right 
before term starts.  I think it has to be the snake who finds 
Podmore as I don't know of any way any of the DEs have of seeing 
through the cloak.  V either performs the imperius curse himself or 
has a DE do it to try to force Podmore into the DoM, but Podmore is 
caught.  Either this, or my original theory is true.  Harry feels a 
pain in his scar at the end of Ch. 9, Podmore fails to turn up in 
the beginning of Ch. 10.

Avery tells V that Bode would be able to get the prophecy, so Malfoy 
is ordered to do the imperious curse on him.  Bode goes mad when he 
touches the sphere and is in St. Mungo's in time for Harry to see 
him while visiting Mr. Weasley.  Harry has no hint of this, but we 
can deduce it from later information, so no chapter cited.

Mr. Weasley is attacked by Snake!Voldemort, which Harry sees (end of 
Ch. 21).  The snake did not intend to attack as it had more 
important business, but it was seen.  Was its original intent to 
scout out the DoM in order to send Harry dreams about what lies 
beyond the door?  Did it go on after the attack or retreat?

During Harry's first Occlumency lesson, he sees the door of the DoM 
and tells Snape that he's been dreaming about it for months.  Harry 
now recognizes the door but still has never gone through it.  This 
is Ch. 24; incidentally, at the end of this chapter Harry feels V 
being very happy, which is when the DEs were freed from Azkaban.

After Valentine's Day, Harry dreams for the first time that the door 
to the Dept. of Mysteries is ajar.  He is about to go through when 
Ron snores and wakes him up. (Ch. 26).

Later in Ch 26,  Harry dreams the conversation between V and 
Rookwood about how Bode could not have taken "it" (they are talking 
about the prophecy).  V says he shall need all the information 
Rookwood can give him.  Presumably (am I mistaken?) it is only now 
that Voldemort would realise that only he and Harry could take the 
prophecy from its place.

After this, the dreams take Harry farther and farther into the DoM 
until, during the History of Magic O.W.L. when Harry is shown an 
image of Sirius being tortured.

Whew!  This took me a long time since I'm not yet really familiar 
with what happens when in this huge book, though I've read it 
twice!  What puzzles me now is, why was Voldemort sending Harry 
dreams about the door almost immediately after resurrecting, if he 
thought he was going to get at the prophecy some other way at 
first?   Was it always Voldemort, or could Harry have begun dreaming 
about a door he'd never seen independently?  How and why would that 
be?  If Voldemort was so worried about going to the MoM himself to 
take the prophecy, why did he go as a snake when he attacked 
Arthur?  Could a Snake!Voldemort have touched the prophecy or not?  
Did he intend to try that night and then get scared off, or was he 
only trying to see the inside of the DoM so that he could show it in 
dreams to Harry? 

Annemehr
lost and bleary-eyed