The Second Prophecy

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 117983


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
<just a tiny little snip ;)>
> See? Both Peter and Sirius can be fitted into the first prophecy.
> And as a basic rule of thumb - when Jo offers alternatives, go for the 
> one that will surprise  Harry and many of the  readers.
> After all, what's the point of a story like HP without the BANGS?
> Predictability is no fun at all.
> 
> Kneasy

Nothing to argue with in your post; even though I'd be surprised if
Sirius turned out to have been ESE, it'd only be a mild one. Less of a
surprise than if it were Lupin!  And I proudly admit to being a
paid-up member of the Second-Prophecy-Doesn't-Mean-What-You-Say-It-
Does,-Mr.-Dumbledore Society (but then, it is quite a popular club).

I'm just wondering if we can add another name to the possibilities for
the first prophecy. I mean, Barty Crouch, Jr.  Here's something he
says in GoF, "Veritaserum":

"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup," said Dumbledore.

"Winky talked my father into it," said Crouch, still in the same
monotonous voice.  "She spent months persuading him[...] But Winky
didn't know that I was growing stronger.  I was starting to fight my
father's Imperius curse.  There were times when I was almost myself
again.  There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control.[...]"

So, some months before the Quidditch World Cup in late August, Barty
began breaking the "chains" of his father's control.  A night in June,
perhaps?  Admittedly, it would be a honking great coincidence if it
began shortly before midnight on the very same day that Peter and
Sirius escaped Hogwarts...

Reminds me of the crowd of DEs claiming to be the "faithful servant"
-- Barty knew he was, as did Bellatrix (who, in the courtroom, claimed
the title for Rodolphus, Rabastan and Barty as well), and Wormtail
assert that he, too, is a faithful servant.  Lots of people vying for
the titles of "to cowardly to return" and "left me forever," as well
as "killer of Sirius". Jo's left us plenty of rope to hang anybody,
including ourselves, with.

Just for fun :> can we make another case?

How about Hermione then? Nobody really knows how extensive her reading
has been. Suppose that in her first time in Diagon Alley, young and
impressionable, she bought a used old book, a copy of which both
Grindelwald and Riddle had perused many years ago; the harried
shopkeeper didn't even notice it in the armload of tomes she was
paying for.  A seductive book about the joys of powerful magic and its
practical uses.  But as a Muggleborn, she was for years prevented from
putting into practice the evil ideas she absorbed from it. She was
young and had a certain amount of native altruism to overcome, for a
start.  She also had no allies -- none of the Slytherins could see
past "mudblood" to the evil genius developing within.  For she soon
came to embrace her magical side so completely as to revile her Muggle
heritage. Why else does one suppose she spends as little time as
possible with her parents anymore?

Once she'd found out about Wormtail, though, she'd found her opening.
Carefully preventing Harry from messing up his escape, she used the
time turner for a second time that night, all alone, and stationed
herself in the path she knew the fleeing rat would take.  She
persuaded Wormtail to take a message to his master detailing what
she'd learned from the old book and how she could be of help.

In OoP she got to work. She kept Harry's temper raw by picking fights
with Ron all the time.  She got him into trouble with Umbridge by
insisting on raising her hand in class the first week, knowing Harry
would never be able to keep his mouth shut.  She sabotaged his date
with Cho and Evanesced the rest of his potion after Snape dropped
Harry's flask, thus keeping his emotions on the surface to interfere
with Occlumency lessons.  She disentangled Harry from Umbridge's
office so he could "save" Sirius when she could just as well left him
there relatively safe (a bit of Crucio being much preferable to
someone getting lured to the MoM and killed, after all).  She
positively goaded him into going to the MoM with that "saving people
thing" remark.

And it was all made possible the night she sent her note to Voldemort
with Wormtail.

Oh, and how does she fit with that little phrase from the prophecy,
"the servant will set out to rejoin his master"?  Ah.  Well, either
Hermione is indeed ESE but not the servant of the prophecy, or she's
Voldemort's offspring, conceived in the hope of opposing a son to the
prophesy boy, but rejected for being female, who wound up with a pair
of dentists eager to take in a foundling as they could have no
children of their own.  Yeah, that's it.  And Voldemort is glad to
have her now, because spending twelve years as a vapor can readjust
one's priorities a bit.

ESE!Annemehr