Marking as an Equal

[Emily]

No: HPFGUIDX 82607

Hi everyone - longtime lurker, first time poster:

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
> Yes, but the prophecy was made before Harry was born. DD refers 
to "  
> a cold, wet night sixteen years ago..." Harry isn't yet sixteen at 
> this point in OOTP so it was prior to his arrival. If the 
character 
> who overheard Trewlany speaking to Dumbledore reported to 
Voldenort 
> promptly, he knew about the existence of the prophecy in the 
middle 
> of 1980. It still begs the question, why did he wait the best part 
of 
> a year and a half before doing something?
> Geoff

I think, Geoff, that the reason Voldemort waited so long is that he 
simply didn't have the information he needed until then - 
specifically, he didn't have Pettigrew.
In PoA, we're told that Voldemort came to the Potters' home *less 
than a week after* the Fidelius Charm had been performed. I assume 
that because of the prophecy, the Potters and the Longbottoms had 
already been put under various protections before then. Dumbledore, 
after all, already suspected that someone on their side had turned 
traitor. It's just that Pettigrew probably wasn't exactly in 
Dumbledore's inner circle, and his information wasn't quite useful 
enough (yet) to put Voldemort ahead of Dumbledore in the efforts to 
kill/protect the Potters. Dumbledore was, for the time being, still 
able to stay one step ahead.
Then, in 1981, Dumbledore's spy tells him that Voldemort is 
now "after the Potters." I take this to mean that, yes, Voldemort 
had been after them for a year already, but finally thought he might 
have just gotten enough information to actually *get* to them. 
Dumbledore then suggests the Fidelius Charm - which becomes the 
final key in Voldemort's plans. Pettigrew is made Secret-Keeper, he 
immediately goes to Voldemort, and Voldemort *finally* - in October 
of '81 - has everything he needs to be able to kill the Potters.

- Emily