keeping secrets

[slgazit]

No: HPFGUIDX 80866

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jwcpgh" <jwcpgh at y...> wrote:

> And clearly even the Order members are divided in what they think 
> Harry needs to know.  Only DD and Molly (each for their own 
unhealthy 
> reasons) feel Harry should be kept completely ignorant.  Arthur and 
> Lupin think he should be given the basics; Sirius wants to tell him 
> everything.

Firstoff, I don't think the order members know what is in the 
prophecy. Just as with Harry, there is no benefit in letting them 
know more than they need. What if they were told the contents and 
either one of them turned traitor or was captured and had the 
information extracted from him or her by force?

I suspect they either know nothing of the contents, or know only what 
Voldemort knows (i.e. only the first part).

Incidentally Molly does not say that Harry should be kept ignorant, 
she only asks that Dumbledore's instructions (to keep him so) be 
followed. I don't think she actually said he should be told nothing,
but took a more stringent view of the instructions than the others 
did.

> I also really don't understand what the big deal was about keeping 
> the contents of the prophecy a secret anyhow.  Why would it have 
been 
> a problem for the Order if everyone in the WW knew what the 
prophecy 
> said?

The prophecy should be kept secret from the general public to protect 
Harry - he has enough attention without having the entire WW know he 
is supposed to be their salvation.

The parts of the prophecy which Voldemort does not know are very 
important. There are three parts of which Voldemort is ignorant:

1. Harry has power that Voldemort does not have:

   If Voldemort knew that, and figured out what it was (probably - he
   is after all the smartest Wizard around, except possibly DD), he
   may have figured out a way to neutralize it.

2. Neither can live while the other survives.

   Several times in the past Voldemort did not try to kill Harry
   because he thought he could use him first: getting the stone,
   meeting him in the CoS, using him to revive himself (GoF) and,
   of course, using him to get the prophecy. So long as Voldemort
   thinks he can use Harry, he will not put all his efforts into
   killing him, giving Harry the time he needs to grow and prepare.

3. One must die at the hand of the other.

   Not knowing that means that Voldemort may try to get Harry be
   killed or captured by people other than himself, and presumably
   fail - again giving Harry more time.

That said, I believe that eventually Voldemort will eventually
learn the contents - either from Harry's or from Trelawney's
subconscious mind.

Salit