A different interpretation of the prophecy

[Heather Lynn]

No: HPFGUIDX 103821

Man...take a few months off of HP for Grownups to adjust to college and 
you've got some *major* catching up to do! (::waves vaguely to see if anyone 
remembers me::) Unfortunately, since catching up would take all summer and 
then some, I'm just going to have to hope that this hasn't already been thought 
of and debated to death in my absence (in which case I'll beg someone to 
point me to the right thread).

I've been doing a lot of thinking about that blasted prophecy, who it really 
refers to, and what it really means. It's so ambiguously worded, yet when 
asked in the FAQ section of her website if it means both Harry and Voldemort 
must die, JKR answers that it's worded "extremely carefully, and that is all [she 
has] to say on the subject!" Which usually means she's hiding something, 
doesn't it?

So I read the prophecy over and over (and over) until I wanted to tear out 
page 841 in frustration...and the minute I gave up and slammed the book, the 
thought struck me: what if it refers to *both* Harry and Neville?

My reasoning is the strange wording of the prophecy: "either must die at the 
hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..." If her meaning 
was that Harry must kill Voldemort or vice versa, wouldn't it have been better 
worded as "one must die at the hand of the other for one can not live if the 
other survives"? Sufficiently mysterious, but much clearer :)

Yet her "extremely carefully" worded prophecy uses "either" and "neither." 
Could it then be read as "and EITHER (Harry or Neville) must die at the hand 
of the OTHER (Voldemort) for NEITHER (Harry nor Neville) can live while the 
OTHER (Voldemort) survives" ? 

And if either Harry or Neville *must* die, according to the prophecy, I can 
easily see a situation where one sacrifices himself to save the other, and in so 
doing destroys Voldemort. Self-sacrifice takes a lot of love, which we all know 
turns Voldie's stomach ;)

The only thing drawing me up short at this point is "the Dark Lord will mark 
him as his equal" bit, but there's still the issue of timeframe. Obviously neither 
of them has killed the other one yet, so the prophecy isn't entirely fulfilled - it's 
still a work in progress, you could say. Could Neville still be in some way 
"marked"? Has he already been, and we just don't know it yet?

I just never liked the automatic assumption that the prophecy refers to Harry. 
Introducing the frankly intriguing possibility that it might have been Neville, 
then immediately dismissing it out of hand just doesn't make sense. And that's 
not like our JKR at all :)

-Roo, who is betting big money on a "Neville takes down Voldemort and 
himself in a blaze of glory, thus sparing Harry" climactic finish.