Possibly a *really* silly question about the prophecy

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 63805

I think we're missing the really nagging question about the prophecy:
   Why did they need to guard it?

While Voldemort did not know its contents Dumbledore did.  And
Dumpledore should have known that there was nothing the prophecy that
he did not here that could help him.  It was not a weapon.  There was
nothing in it he could use.  So why does the OoP have to guard it?

Destroying the prophecy may have made sense.  It would have denied
Voldemort what he was seeking.

Matt
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Grey Wolf" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "shelaghcol" <ShelaghC at a...> 
> wrote:
> > I'll start out with a rather nonsensical sentence to use up spoiler 
> > space along with throwing in some meaningless asterisks, pound signs 
> > and other non-letter-related keyboard symbols.
> > @@@
> > ###
> > ~~~
> > ***
> > +++
> > >>>
> > &&&
> > @@@
> > ###
> > ~~~
> > ***
> > +++
> > >>>
> > &&&
> > 
> > Okay, that should be sufficient.
> > 
> > Since this was such a pivotal part of the plot and ultimately, was a 
> > direct contributor to Sirius' demise, I'd like to throw this out to 
> > the group for discussion.
> > 
> > As I ruminated over the previous books and what I consider their 
> > biggest flaws (PS/SS - why even bother retaining the stone?; CoS - 
> > Harry's refusal to talk about the parseltongue; PoA - possibly Lupin 
> > forgetting to take the Wolfsbane draught?; GoF - why all that bother 
> > on Barty Jr.'s part waiting all through the school year just to get 
> > Harry into the graveyard where they could have portkeyed him easily 
> > enough from the beginning of the year), I looked at the big picture 
> > and came to this question:
> > 
> > Why the heck, when it was clear enough to those who knew just about 
> > everything but weren't imparting that knowledge to those who needed 
> > to know, instead of placing a guard at the Department of Mysteries, 
> > why didn't they just either move the bloody prophecy or destroy it 
> > themselves?
> > 
> > There certainly were enough people who belonged to the Order that 
> > worked at the MoM to have arranged somehow to do such a thing. And 
> > they certainly didn't *need* to have that particular prophecy 
> > recorded if Dumbledore had been a witness to it.
> > 
> > And, just like the stone, they *knew* Voldemort was after it. Yet, 
> > they left it there anyway.
> > 
> > So? Let us discuss.
> > 
> > Shelagh
> > encouraging a nice debate
> 
> Yep, and when Voldemort finally made a move to recover the prophecy, he 
> was spoted by the entire Auror force of the MoM, forcing Fudge to 
> accept that Voldemort had, indeed, returned. If Dumbledore had 
> destroyed the prophecy, Voldemort would've continued to hide and Fudge 
> would've continued his denial. Dolores would still be headmistress of 
> Hogwarts and Harry probably would've been expelled.
> 
> All in all, leaving the prophecy where it was seems like a good idea to 
> me.
> 
> Hope that helps,
> 
> Grey Wolf