Incomplete Prophecy

[mz_annethrope]

No: HPFGUIDX 107311

-- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "esmith222002" <c.john at i...> 
> wrote:
> > It appears to me that Dumbledore did not allow Harry to hear the 
> > whole prophecy. 
> 
> Angie agrees:
> 
> Looks that way to me, too.  I know we are reading what Dumbledore 
> heard Trewlawny say, but the purpose of ellipses is to indicate 
> something has been omitted.  Further, if you read the prophecy, as 
> is, how can it be useful to Voldemort, Harry, or anyone?  It 
doesn't 
> tell Voldemort how to defeat Harry or vice versa.
> 
> And while I'm at it, I'd love to know who it was that overheard 
the 
> prophecy and spilled it to Voldemort.  Dumbledore refers to the 
> person as "he" and states that because "he" only heard the first 
part 
> of the prophecy, "he" could not inform "his master" about 
> transferring Voldemort's powers.



mz_annethrope has another idea:

The prophecy in PoA also uses ellipses: "TONIGHT...BEFORE 
MIDNIGHT...THE SERVANT...WILL SET OUT..." and so on. I don't think 
there's meant to be any omissions here. Ellipses can also be used to 
indicate faltering speech, or so my Chicago Manual of Style 
indicates. I think something like that is happening here, but 
instead of faltering speech we get big dramatic pauses. Four dots 
probably indicates the end of a sentence.

I, for one, have always favored Snape as the one who overheard part 
of the prophecy. I have no idea why, just intuition I suppose. Or 
maybe it's because I think he smelled a rat--without knowing it was 
Peter--and informed Dumbledore. It seems to balance, but I haven't a 
shred of evidence for it. A lot of other people here seem to favor 
that notion as well and they probably have better explanations.

I just read Steve's comment about why the prophecy might be useful 
and I thought it credible. It's number 107237.


mz_annethrope