-Did JKR cheat with the Prophesy?

[littleleahstill]

No: HPFGUIDX 124886



Lupinlore wrote:
>Well, the prophecy does say "The Dark Lord WILL mark him as his own."
>If the prophecy is true and therefore unavoidable, Voldy really
>DIDN'T have a choice in striking, as it was already foreordained. His
>only choice was in striking Harry rather than Neville. And even there
>he was sharply restricted, as the prophecy foreordains it will be one
>of those two out of all the wizard children born that year.


Leah:

Except that the prophesy didn't say 'will mark him as his equal at 
Godric's Hollow on 31 October'. It says that at some future undefined 
point, 'the one' will be marked. It didn't say that the marking had 
to take place by Voldemort striking at 'the one'.  As far as the 
prophesy goes, he could have marked with a kiss.  To get to that 
incident of marking at Godric's Hollow, the following 
choices/decisions were made:

DD (and we assume Voldemort) decide that the prophesy probably refers 
to Harry or to Neville
Voldemort chooses the 'half-blood'.
The Potters choose to go into hiding
James chooses Peter as secret keeper
Peter chooses to betray the Potters
Voldemort chooses to go to GH and kill the infant Harry 
Lily chooses to protect her baby with old magic and to die rather 
than run.
Voldemort chooses to kill Lily

A different choice made at any of those points would have altered the 
outcome of Godric's Hollow.  I can not see why the prophesy could not 
have been fluid up until the crystalliation of that particular part 
of it at Godric's Hollow, and the parallel possibility of the marking 
of Neville exist up to that point.

Leah