-Did JKR cheat with the Prophesy?

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 124891


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "littleleahstill" 
<cmjohnstone at h...> wrote:
> 
> 
> 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.

Finwitch:

I'd say it counts for what Dumbledore tells Harry in CoS: It's our 
choices, far more than our abilities that show what we truly are.

And yes, Voldemort DID make a free choice. He did NOT know about 
anything - except that 1)there was a true prophecy made. 2)It 
predicts that someone with ability to vanquish him would be born at 
the end of July - to those who had defied him thrice.

In other words, the prophecy told Voldemort enough to identify 'the 
one'. (Frank&Alice may have defied him four times, but Dumbledore 
didn't know that...)  Voldemort chooses to kill this child (because 
he's the Dark Lord and that's what Dark Lords do!) and this shows he 
indeed IS the Dark Lord. He attacks the one he considers will grow to 
be his equal.

Now then, after the 'marking as his equal' is done, Dumbledore knows 
that Harry is the one. Harry has the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, 
and marked as his equal now (meaning Voldemort transferred some of 
his powers to Harry).

As for the rest of it - ', but he has a Power the Dark Lord knows 
not'. Well, let's see: Godric's Hollow & Hogwarts, 1st year: The love 
of the Mother who sacrificed her life for Harry. Quite apparently, 
Voldemort did not know of this.

2nd year: Tom Riddle/Voldemort apparently doesn't realise the power 
of the Phoenix-tears... (called to Harry for his loyalty to 
Dumbledore)

3rd year - the rat escapes. I think he must of heard at some point 
what power defeated Voldemort previously, and now he tells the master 
that. However, there IS that life-debt business (what ever that 
means), and Harry learns his patronus (you know - if he had let the 
rat die, I think he'd have lost his soul there!)...

4th time: the graveyard. Voldemort manages to overcome 'that 
particular barrier' - by taking *Harry's* blood. (Harry's marked 
*Twice* now! He's got another scar in his arm...) Harry still has, 
despite of being *equal* - a power Voldemort knows not - the 
*brother* wand.

5th: Apparently, pain over losing Sirius (Harry's Heart) was the 
power Dark Lord knows not *this* time...

But, of course, Harry doesn't know of the power either... in fact, no 
one really does until he uses it to defeat Voldemort. What his true 
power is, the one that was always there - it's more the way he 
*acts* - the power of improvisation. Plans can be spied out, but an 
act that's acted out without a plan - well, it's the surprise that 
works.

Finwitch