OotP: Dumbledore DIDN'T explain everything

[vjmullen]

No: HPFGUIDX 62726

I’ve been reading through the posts since yesterday, waiting for speculations 
to bloom into full-out theories, and I think we may have an interesting one 
here:

Kathryn writes:
The prophecy was given 16 years ago. Harry and Neville are only
15. This means it was given a full year before they
were born. Did anyone else find it peculiar that the
2 possible children know each other, their parents
knew each other, and they were all in the Order of the
Phoenix? Neville and Harry were not accidents. I
think Dumbledore told them, "Look, Potters and
Longbottoms, you are the only couples that fit this
'defeated him thrice' thing. You both need to try to
have kids at the end of next July. If you don't, no
one will be able to defeat Voldemort." But of course
Dumbledore would say it much more eloquently, but it
seems to fit.

I write:
This seems to me a chilling but plausible theory. Trelawney tells Umbridge she 
has been teaching for 16 years, and one would assume she interviewed with 
Dumbledore in the preceeding spring or summer. To have children born at the 
end of the seventh month, it has widely been pointed out that Harry (and in 
effect, Neville) must have been conceived around Halloween. Trelawney would 
already be two months into her first year at Hogwarts. So Harry and Neville 
were not already in the oven, so to speak, when the prophecy was made. Think 
of what a sacrifice the Potters and Longbottoms would be making if Dumbledore 
did indeed inform them of the prophecy and/or ask them to conceive children to 
vanquish the Dark Lord. They would’ve brought Harry and Neville into the 
world, knowing one and/or the other was fated to duel to the death with 
Voldemort. It would be a burden on them as parents, knowing the little one 
whom they loved so much would suffer, most likely more than they could 
imagine. And wouldn’t that once again change Harry’s perception of himself 
were he to find out? He was *made specifically* to bring about Voldemort’s 
downfall. Hmmm. Fascinating.

I think it’s also noteworthy that Snape has been teaching 14 years, as he 
tells the High Inquisitor herself. (Sidenote: Would JKR support Kathy Bates as 
Umbridge? She’s been keen that all the actors are British
) This would mean 
Severus would have started teaching two months *before* Voldemort’s attack on 
the Potters, when Harry was one year and three months old. The timeline does 
indeed support the theory floating around HPfGU for awhile now that Snape 
perhaps gained Dumbledore’s trust by informing him of the attack plot. I am 
pretty sure the Potters and Longbottoms didn’t go into hiding as soon as they 
had Harry and Neville. I am pretty sure that the Potters specifically went 
into hiding because there was a tip-off.

My more general thoughts on OotP are coming, but I want to keep up with the 
inflow of messages to the board.

vjoporter, who is disappointed we didn’t find out about the Missing 24 hours