Did the Potters know the prophecy?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 117294


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "katevldz" 
<kb1195 at h... wrote:
   Shouldn't they have gone into 
 hiding well before now, if DD had told them the contents of the 
prophecy?   Maybe DD didn't tell anyone about the contents of the 
prophecy.  Did he  think Trelawney was nuts at first? 

Pippin:

Welcome, Kate!  I presume what the spy told Dumbledore  was 
that Voldemort had found out part of  the prophecy. IMO, 
Dumbledore didn't realize  the eavesdropper had overheard him 
at the time, or he would have done something about it.  
Dumbledore would realize that Lily and James were in danger 
as well as Harry, because Voldemort would need to target at 
least one of the parents to keep them from having another child. 

Dumbledore takes sole responsibility for not telling Harry about 
the Prophecy, so it seems that he believes he is the only one 
who could have told Harry what it said. But he could have told Lily 
and James, as well as Frank and Alice Longbottom, since they 
were all out of the picture by the time Harry was old enough to 
talk. 

Unbeknownst to Dumbledore, Lily and James might have told 
some of their friends. It sounds like Sirius and Lupin know 
something -- they exchange "the most fleeting of looks" before 
starting to tell Harry about the 'weapon' in OOP. Lupin's boggart 
is always described as a "silvery orb" never as a full moon, 
despite what he implies in PoA.  Lupin and Sirius obviously don't 
think Peter knows. But he might have found out, listening in rat 
form. 


It's very very strange that  Voldemort doesn't seem to know much 
about the Department of Mysteries until he freed Rookwood from 
Azkaban.  We know the prophecy was stored there prior to the 
attack on the Potters, because it was relabeled afterwards. Why 
didn't Voldemort try to get the information from Rookwood 
*before* he attacked the Potters? 

Was it just a typical evil overlord oversight? Another "phoenix 
tears, I forgot"?  Or did Voldemort think he didn't need to hear the 
prophecy because  Wormtail  had already told him what it said? 
"Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information...and 
Voldemort met his downfall there" -- PoA ch 19


I theorize that someone told Voldemort the rest of the prophecy, 
but only *part*  of the rest,  conveniently leaving out the "and the 
Dark Lord will mark him as his equal but he will have power the 
Dark Lord knows not" bit. After the attack on Harry failed, 
Voldemort's followers began to suspect that the spy had 
double-crossed their master. They attacked the Longbottoms 
thinking they might learn something from them. But the 
Longbottoms either didn't know, or resisted to the point of 
insanity. 

When Voldemort began to plot his return, he  did not at once 
seek to confirm  his knowledge of the prophecy.  The spy had 
proved his loyalty by helping to provide him with a new body. But 
then Harry escaped from the graveyard and Voldemort began to 
wonder. Only then did he become obsessed with learning the 
prophecy for himself.

A problem with this is that Wormtail's motives for 
double-crossing Voldemort and still helping him to get his body 
back are obscure...but only if Peter is the one and only Wormtail. 
(I am irresistibly reminded of Luna's question "By Sirius Black, 
do you mean Stubby Boardman?") *Peter* is not trying to use 
Voldemort as a weapon to bring down the ministry. But there are 
those who would find such a proposition attractive. Goblins, 
giants, and just possibly, a werewolf.

Pippin
(goes back to work on her ESE!Lupin treatise--check out the 
original version at 39362)