Snape and Peter and Prophecy and Harry

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 145511

> Alla:
> 
> I said that earlier, but it bears repeating - I don't think we know 
> that Potters thrice defied Voldemort before Snape delivered the 
> Prophecy, I mean it is POSSIBLE of course and that would certainly 
> diminish Snape's culpability in my eyes, since that would mean that 
> Potters were already on "special hit list", but I don't think we 
> know for sure. I can easily see Potters barely escaping Voldemort's 
> wrath three times when they were already in hiding.

Pippin:
Okay, I'm confused. How did Voldemort decide that  the Potters
were the parents of the One if they hadn't yet defied him three times?

 
> Orna:
>   Someone must have told DD, the way 
> > Voldemort had decided to deal with the prophecy. 

Pippin:
This is interesting because the timeline Snape gave to Bella doesn't
match the one JKR has given to us. According to JKR the Potters were
already in hiding when Harry was christened, but Snape tells Bella he
defected when he took up his teaching post.  (According to OOP,
Snape had been teaching for fourteen years.) 

  If Snape was the spy who told Dumbledore that someone
was after the Potters, then contrary to what Voldemort thinks,
he actually  defected a year before Voldemort sent
him to Hogwarts. Of course Dumbledore had a number of spies,
but we're supposed to have met all the principal characters, so it
would be rather convoluted for JKR to introduce another DE spy now.

I gather the CoE doesn't believe that a child must be christened in
order to be saved, but since Sirius takes his godfather responsibility
very seriously, one would assume the Potters did too. I don't think
they would have put it off until Harry was a year old. 

Pippin