New Angle on the prophecy Neville and Harry.

[oh have faith]

No: HPFGUIDX 72193

> > `The one with the power to vanquish the- Dark Lord approaches
 
> born 
> > to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month 
dies 
> 
 
> > and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will havc
> > power the Dark Lord knows not 
 and either must die at the hand 
of 
> > the other for neither can live while the other survives 
 the 
one 
> > with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the 
> seventh 
> > month dies"
> > 
> 

Not at all a theory, just a thought to throw into the mix re -
marking.  If the specific word is important, could it have something 
to do with a Dark Mark?  This is the way that LV is most likely to 
be found marking people.  I can't see how this would work as I can't 
see Neville or Harry getting themselves a Dark Mark at any time in 
the future - so that's all I have.  Make of it what you will, 
people.  ^_^

And various thoughts, which I don't think have specifically been 
covered before but apologies if they have:

It seems to me the prophecy is percieved as kind of self-fulfilling -
 up until LV zapped Harry, it could have been either Harry or 
Neville, but by zapping Harry, LV somehow made it be Harry.  Maybe 
this was intentional; he planned to just pick a kid, mark the kid 
and then kill it, thus satisfying the prophecy at no serious cost to 
himself.  He picked Harry because he was the easiest one to get at, 
what with Pettigrew.  

But the nature of the prophecy wasn't that LV could pick any kid he 
wanted to fit the bill, as Dumbledore seems to think ("He chose you, 
Harry" etc).  LV could have gone round and drawn a big X on the face 
of every kid in Britain born at the end of July, and still only one 
of them would have been The One.  So LV tried to outwit the 
prophecy, and he lost out.  But now, because he couldn't kill Harry, 
he's assuming Harry was The One, as is everyone else.

The most compelling evidence I can see that it is Harry, is the 
word "equal" in the prophecy, and the fact that the wand that chose 
Harry won't oppose LV's, thus putting them on kind of an equal 
footing.  But this could be down to something in the wand-choosing 
that we don't know about; Perhaps Ollivander, albiet unconsciously, 
influences the process - he does make the wands, after all, and 
perhaps his belief in Harry's essential One-ness influenced this.  
Or perhaps it was something to do with Fawkes.  I don't know, but I 
think this can be got around.

As for how Neville fulfills the prophecy, well, he has everything 
but the Mark - he even has the power that the DL knows not.  In 
fact, all his power is a bit of a know-not for everyone, but maybe 
he commanded a bit of attention at the end of OOP.  

A burning question for me is that of why Neville's parents were 
attacked *after* LV fell - after he supposedly marked Harry.  Why 
bother exposing yourself to arrest like that if there's not a real 
good reason, and you no longer have a really bad-assed wizard egging 
you on?  Did the DEs who carried out the attack know or suspect 
something that meant it was still necessary to find Neville?  Note 
the ones who carried out this attack - the LeStranges and the 
fabulous funboy Barty jnr - were LV's most faithful servants; they 
were the ones who *knew* he wasn't dead, so they did their time in 
Azkaban and under House-elf arrest, and waited in the knowledge he'd 
return. 

 Maybe they were trying to remove Neville from the picture so he 
couldn't get in the way of the return - but Neville's parents 
wouldn't reveal where he was, and then the DEs got caught and a 
little bit sidetracked by years of imprisonment.  By the time they 
get out, LV is back and obsessed with the Potter boy - no "normal" 
boy could do such damage to the Dark Lord, after all, so his ego 
maintains Harry must be the One, and his DEs agree because that's 
what they do.  Bonus points for the big torture effort, but 
independant thought is not really encouraged. 

"either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live 
while the other survives".  Perhaps the very fact that LV couldn't 
kill Harry and so fulfill the prophecy shows that he *isn't* the 
One - LV can kill the One, our Sybill said so.  

I don't know!  Just thoughts.  Again, apologies for repetition of 
other people's points if there is any; I hoped OOP would answer some 
of my questions but it's opened up a whole load of new ones!

Faith's Girl