Did the Potters know the prophecy?

[dungrollin]

No: HPFGUIDX 117280


Kate wrote:

In the middle of reading PoA (again), I began to wonder, did Lily 
and James know about the prophecy? 
<snip>
So, a spy for the Order tipped off DD telling him Lily and James 
were in danger, but didn't he already know they were in danger 
(either them or the Longbottoms, or both) because he heard the 
prophecy about a baby born to parents who defied Voldemore thrice. 
<snip>
To me, a cold, wet night indicates winter, or early spring. This 
would had to have been before Harry was born, Lily already pregnant. 
But the Potters don't go into hiding until Harry is around 1 year 
old.
I kind of just always assumed that James and Lily, and the Order for 
that matter, knew the contents of the prophecy because DD would have 
told them. Can anyone reference the canon as to if he did tell 
anyone? or is it just one of those things that we don't know, but 
will speculate about...


Dungrollin:

Hello Kate.  I've wondered about this too, though not for a
while, and your reminder got me to thinking again...  

I suspect that DD kept that prophecy very firmly to himself.  My 
reasoning is as follows:

Wormtail and Sirius were trusted with being the secret-keeper, 
and knowing about the secret-keeper switch respectively.  Sirius 
says in PoA (though whether he's entirely reliable is another 
question) that Wormtail had been passing info to Voldy for a year 
before the Potters died – so we can be sure that Wormtail was not 
in on the prophecy, otherwise he'd have told Voldy ages ago, and 
OotP would have been about other things entirely. Right? 

It's possible that the Potters and Sirius and Lupin *did* know 
about it - but if they didn't suspect Peter, and didn't tell *him*, 
I think it's unlikely they'd have told Lupin and Sirius.  

However, if DD knew that Sirius knew the prophecy, then he 
would also have realised that Sirius was innocent of betraying 
the Potters.  Voldy wouldn't have attacked the Potters knowing 
the full prophecy, and Sirius (if he were the spy) would have 
told Voldy all about it.  So Sirius can't have known either.

Lupin was the suspected spy, right?  From what we know of the 
relationships between MWPP, I can't imagine James telling Lupin 
something while keeping it a secret from Sirius, can you?  

However, if Lily and James had known, but not told any of their 
friends (which I think would be out of character), then 
they would have realised *exactly* how important Harry was, and 
they would not have taken the secret-keeper gamble.  The fate of 
the WW rested on keeping Harry safe.  They would have accepted 
DD as secret-keeper.  

That's why I think they didn't know, and here's what I make of it 
(not much, and more questions).

Not telling them was either another mistake of DD's – or was
a tactical necessity, unfortunate, but absolutely vital.  Without 
quoting the prophecy at them, DD had no good reason to convince 
the Potters to accept him as secret keeper, and thus they died.  
Though if he *had* told them, I doubt they'd have kept the 
information to themselves, and Peter would have told Voldy 
immediately.  Which is presumably why DD kept it to himself.

Can anyone think of a really convincing reason why it's
absolutely vital that Voldy doesn't find out what's in that 
prophecy?  Something that would be worth risking the murder of 
James and Lily, and the attempted murder and marking of Harry?  

You could say that DD thought it was important for Harry to be 
marked by Voldy – but he implies that if Voldy had known the 
prophecy he might have waited to see whether Harry or Neville 
turned into more of a threat, rather than attacking a baby.  (Or 
rather, Harry asks that, and DD agrees with him in a roundabout 
way.)  But surely keeping Harry alive was the priority?  Allowing 
the attack at GH is a huge gamble – you've got to be damn sure
that it's going to pay off before you allow LV to AK (or
`supposedly' AK) the only boy with the chance of getting rid
of him for good.  You've got to be damn sure that you've interpreted 
the prophecy right.  I wouldn't have taken the risk.  Unless... 
revealing the prophecy to Voldy was a far greater risk.

DD says that Voldy wanted the prophecy as a weapon - to find out how 
to destroy Harry.  It's always confused me, because the prophecy 
says no such thing.  Why would Voldy think that it did?  

Why is it so important that Voldy doesn't know about the power
that Harry's got in such quantities and that he has none of?  And 
most intriguingly: how could the prophecy mean something *more* to 
Voldy than it means to us?  

Dungrollin