Did the Potters know the prophecy?

[Eustace_Scrubb]

No: HPFGUIDX 117405


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tammy" <elsyee_h at y...> wrote:
> 
> Empooress wrote:
> 
> > Remember the bit about having defied Voldy three times
> > perhaps at the time of Harry's birth that had not yet
> > occured. And I would think that the Longbottoms also
> > had gone into hiding as well. I would think that both
> > sets of parents had been told about the prophecy. Come
> > to think of, I wonder how Voldy's followers knew where
> > to find the Longbottoms so soon after the attack.
> > While the canon does not give a specific time, it does
> > seem to indicate that it occured shortly after the
> > attack on the Potters, as the followers where trying to
> > find out where Voldy was, so that appears to me that
> > they did not know what had happened at Godic's Hollow.
> > 
> 

Tammy replies:
> 
> Actually it states in canon that the attack on the Longbottoms
> happened  "just when everyone thought they were safe" which seems to
> indicate that it happened after a decent period of time (I'm 
> thinking a month or two). No one knew what happened to Voldemort if 
> you recall, not even after it happened. That's why Bella & co. went 
> to Frank and Alice, as aurors, if anyone would know then they would 
> know (at least that's what the DEs would think). Thus if the 
> Longbottoms had goneinto hiding, they would have been out of hiding 
> by then, as it was "safe".

Now Eustace_Scrubb:
I suspect that both sets of parents were told of the prophecy, but I
am less certain of _when_ they were told.  I think that depends on how
much Dumbledore knew about Voldemort's plans/actions in the rather
long period of time between Trelawney's prophecy and the actual attack
on Godric's Hollow.  

As to the timing of the attack on the Longbottoms, it all depends on
exactly when "everyone thought they were safe." The canon evidence
from PS/SS indicates that many (perhaps most) in the Wizarding World
felt safe within about 24 hours--safe enough to throw caution to the
winds and send owls out in broad daylight; set off fireworks in
Cornwall that attracted notice on the muggle news; ignore the
convention of wearing muggle clothes when out in the muggle world; and
telling arch-muggles like Vernon Dursley that even they should be
happy, as You-Know-Who was gone at last.  Further, even Dumbledore
says that he and McGonnagal might as well go join in the celebrations
once they've put Harry on the Dursleys' doorstep.

None of these actions would I expect from people who still feared that
Voldemort might swoop in and AK them in mid-celebration--least of all
from Dumbledore, who was a leader in the opposition to Voldemort and
certainly wouldn't accept his enemy's demise (temporary though it
proved to be) without good reason. 

Because of this I'd assign the attack on the Longbottoms within the
first week or two after Godric's Hollow, maybe even sooner.

Now what I'd really like to know is _why_ the WW seems to have been so
quickly convinced that Voldemort was gone and no longer a threat.

Cheers,

Eustace_Scrubb