Newbie here, some OoTP question(spoilers!)

[Anita]

No: HPFGUIDX 62665

Hi everyone, I'm Anita, and I'm new to the group. I finished The 
Order of the Phoenix yesterday and I am very sad to say that I am 
extremely dissapointed with the book, for many reasons...I had very 
high hopes for it (I think the other four are absolutely brilliant), 
and it fell far short. I haven't had a chance to look through the 
messages, so I don't know how the rest of you feel about it. 
However, I'd like to vent one of my main problems with the book 
right now, and see who else noticed this:

Ok, so the weapon that Voldemort has been trying to obtain is the 
prophecy, right? Now, all that the prophecy basically says is that 
Harry was chosen as Voldemort's equal and that one of them will have 
to kill the other (wow, big news). All that Voldemort knows is the 
beginning of the prophecy, the stuff about his equal being born in 
July and all that. And Dumbledore knows all this, and has the Order 
of the Pheonix risking itself protecting this weapon (although the 
only ones who can touch it are Voldemort and Harry, and I doubt 
Arthur Weasley would be able to stop Voldemort...). Right, but oh 
wait, HOW is the prophecy a weapon??? I find it rather surprising 
that this not so minor point was never addressed!! Dumbledore knows 
the prophecy, and the prophecy isn't a weapon (it's plausible that 
Voldemort would think that it could be), so where does that leave 
us? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Right now I think that 
JK Rowling should be swallowed up by her own gaping plot holes (such 
as..why did Crouch have to make the triwizard cup the portkey, 
instead of, say, Harry's pencil? But that book was brilliant, so I 
don't complain...).

Glad to be in the company of fans, 
Anita