Why did Voldemort wait so long?

[oh have faith]

No: HPFGUIDX 71531

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eay50" <rioandem at h...> wrote:
> Okay, this just occurred to me...
> 
> In the prediction, Trelawney is clearly referring to a birth that 
> will take place in the near future - as opposed to one which has 
> already taken place ("WILL be born as the seventh month dies").
> 
> So, Dumbledore knew that either baby Potter or baby Longbottom 
would 
> be "the one" BEFORE they were born ie. giving him plenty of time 
to 
> hide them beforehand if necessary.
> 
> Pettigrew was made the Potters' secret keeper and we would assume 
> that he went straight to Voldemort with their location (I can't 
> imagine he would still be alive if he'd hidden this HUGE fact from 
> Voldemort).
> 
> BUT Harry was born on July 31 and Voldemort came to Godric's 
Hollow 
> on October 31.  What took him so long?????  If he knew about the 
> prediction and he knew where the Potters were, I can't imagine 
that 
> he would wait for 3 months to try to kill the only wizard with the 
> power to defeat him.
> 
> Did Pettigrew not tell him straight away?  Did Voldemort not hear 
> about the prediction until the babies were 3 months old?  Were the 
> Potters protected by other means as well?  Or were they just left 
> unprotected until Harry was 3 months old?
> 
> There are about a million directions to go from here.  I haven't 
> decided which way to go yet.
> 
> Any thoughts, anyone?
> 
> EAY


Okay, thoughts, no particular order:

1) Pettigrew got cold feet and didn't reveal the information 
straight off.  Perhaps he had to be bribed or threatened first, 
after LV discovered that he knew something; this could have taken 
several months.

2) We know that the Potters changed secret keeper at the last 
minute; I always interpreted this as changing their mind about who 
would be secret keeper, but perhaps it's more literal.  Maybe 
someone else was their secret keeper at first, meaning Pettigrew 
*couldn't* betray them, but then they switched for some reason.  

3)  Dumbledore's man Snape was the one who overheard the prophecy, 
but being Dumbledore's man, he didn't reveal it to LV until he was 
later bribed/threatened/horribly tortured/suspected he might be 
backing the losers/Occlumency failed due to upset over Neighbours 
being postponed due to golf.  

4)  Voldemort walks really, really slowly.

5)  Voldemort had an over-confident "I'll do it tomorrow" 
kinda 'tude.  After all, how dangerous can a newborn baby really 
be?  Or a one month old?  Or a two month old?  Or an... Okay-goddamn-
it-stop-nagging-I'll-go-do-it-now-whoops!-eleven-year-death!  etc.   

6)  Voldemort thought that Neville was the real threat and spent 
three months trying to find him; as he couldn't, he decided to kill 
Harry just in case.  

^_^
Faith's Girl