Did James and Lily know about the prophecy?

[mhbobbin]

No: HPFGUIDX 106690


  
Aggie wrote:
I didn't think that James, Lily, Frank, Alice etc
knew about the prophecy. It's not mentioned either way in canon (is
it?). It was my understanding that only DD, the eavesdropper and
then consequently, LV knew. Not sure where I got this idea from but
it's good to know that I'm not the only one!


David Gabbard:
I'm not sure if James and Lily knew about the prophecy, but Prisoner 
of Azkaban,
American Edition, Page 204:

"...Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of low rumble. 
Not many
people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know_who was after 
them..."


mhbobbin writes:
Further to this passage, it seems to follow IMO that Lily and James 
probably did know about the prophecy. Even (in PoA) 12 years after 
the GH attack, it was not well known--per Fudge anyway-- that the 
Potters had actually gone into hiding, and knew that Voldemort was 
specifically seeking them. 

It's easier to keep the motivation to their hiding, including the 
prophecy, secret if you keep the hiding secret too. Had one of the 
motivations for their hiding not been the prophecy--why would it not 
be well known that they were in hiding?  If the WW knew that 
Voldemort was specifically after the Potters,and the Potters knew 
it, wouldn't they ask, like we have been asking, why?

DD was working closely with the Potters and the Longbottoms in the 
OotP. When he advised the Potters, and maybe the Longbottoms, to go 
into hiding because LV was looking for them, it would have made 
sense to also tell them of the prophecy. Perhaps he didn't think 
they could handle this knowledge but I have trouble believing that. 
They had, after all, thrice defied LV. But then DD sometimes baffles.

And in the Harry's dementor-induced flashbacks, he hears a man 
believed to be James yelling to Lily to take Harry and run. That is 
certainly not definitive evidence as any parents would try to 
protect their baby, but I believe for all the reasons  above that 
Harry's parents knew about the prophecy.

As for the Prophecy--has Dumbledore told us everything about the 
prophecy yet? I wasn't satisfied that the prophecy was so important 
to the present--would LV know how to defeat Harry now if he only had 
the second half of the prophecy?  I don't think so---but keeping him 
ignorant is never a bad idea.

As for the Longbottoms: Why were the Longbottoms tortured? Other 
than revenge or because they might know what happened to LV. Etc. I 
wonder if Bellatrix and friends thought the Longbottoms knew the 
second half of the prophecy? and thought that might help them find 
LV.

mhbobbin