OOP: The Prophecy was a Decoy

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 63092

The whole prophecy thing doesn't make sense unless 
Dumbledore was  using the prophecy as a decoy. 

If he believes the prophecy, Dumbledore knows Voldemort is 
going to be vanquished. That "The one with the power to 
vanquish the Dark Lord approaches" can only prove out if 
someone *does* defeat Voldemort for good. So, if the prophecy 
is genuine then Voldemort is doomed and Dumbledore knows it, 
but Voldemort does not. The prophecy does not, in fact, contain a 
loophole for Voldemort. At the end of OOP,  Dumbledore is still 
trying to keep Voldemort persuaded that it did.


 Dumbledore has never, since he received the prophecy, had to 
do anything with the object of  destroying Voldemort.  No matter 
how powerful Voldemort becomes, he's still going to lose. The 
real danger Dumbledore sees is twofold. One, that the one who 
vanquishes Voldemort will be even more evil than Voldemort is. 
Two, that Voldemort will realize he is doomed and 
concentrate on taking as many people as he can with him.

 Harry is not a good enough actor, or occlumens, to conceal this 
knowledge if he knew it, so Dumbledore dare not let him know. 
Logical Hermione will probably figure it out, but Voldemort isn't 
linked to her mind, and she's much better at keeping  her 
thoughts to herself than Harry is.  

Meanwhile, Dumbledore is doing his best to help Harry choose 
the good side. That is where Harry's choices count. Otherwise, 
Dumbledore's strategy was to keep Voldemort convinced that 
stealth was the best way to gain his objectives, so that 
Voldemort would refrain as long as possible from open war or a 
terrorist campaign against the populace.  

This was the goal of setting a watch on the Prophecy and 
tempting Voldemort to try to steal it. As long as Voldemort was 
after it, he would need to continue to keep his return a secret, 
and not unleash his Death Eaters. I believe this is why the Death 
Eaters did not use Unforgiveables on the DA. They couldn't risk 
either themselves or Fudge being blamed for that many injured 
children until their master was ready to reveal himself and they 
didn't need Fudge's blindness anymore.

I believe the  Philosopher's Stone was also a decoy. 
Dumbledore knew that even if Voldemort achieved the Stone, he 
would still be defeated.  The reason the Stone had to be 
destroyed was because it couldn't be guarded from Harry.  If 
Harry achieved immortality, he would also be prolonging 
Voldemort's life.

Pippin