Prophecy misinterpretation?/Oho! in The Cave

[mompowered]

No: HPFGUIDX 134657

Hello,

Something about the prophecy Trelawney made has struck me as odd 
since I first read it.  After I read HBP, I've given more thought to 
it and wrote up the following ideas which may be unlikely, but 
interest me nevertheless:

Could the few who know the contents of the prophecy (or part of it) 
have misinterpreted it?  In other literarure, prophecies are often 
tricky and can be interpreted several ways.  It is important that LV 
interpreted the part of the prophecy that he heard in the most 
literal way; he seems to have waited to see which boys would be born 
at the end of July to parents who had defied him three times and 
chose to target the Potters because it resulted in his temporary 
downfall, Harry's scar, etc...and may, as Dumbledore put it, have 
given Harry, "the tools for the job" and created the very conditions 
under which the prophecy would be fulfilled.  Yet, not all 
prophecies are self-fulfilling as we saw in Prisoner of Azkaban -- 
Trelawney's prediction there came true on its own.  What if neither 
Harry or Neville are "The Chosen One", but someone else who has the 
ability to vanquish LV (Note that the prophecy never says that this 
person will be successful)?  These are some musings I have had 
lately about the prophecy, since reading HBP:

Take the prophecy line by line (sorry if I get part slightly wrong, 
I am doing this from memory and do not have the book in front of me 
right now):

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approches.

With the word "born" in the next line, this is usually interpreted 
to refer to the approching birth of the one who has this power. Who 
was literally approaching when this prophecy was made?  Severus 
Snape.  

Born to those who have thrice defied him. Born as the seventh month 
dies.

It seems that Snape's mother would have attended Hogwarts at the 
same time as LV/Tom Riddle based on Snape's age, and the date of the 
textbook, which was likely a hand-me-down from his mother.  Who 
knows what her knowledge of, or relationship to LV might have been?  
The word "die" referring to the seventh month is, of course, not 
literal...just meaning at the end of the month.  What if the 
second "born" is also not literal.  That is, the one with the power 
to vanquish LV became that way at the end of July/was reborn at the 
end of July as someone who could/would want to defeat LV.  In this 
case, it could have been at same time as the birth of Harry, when 
Snape realized that LV was now going to target the Potters and he 
realized that he had made a horrible mistake in telling LV about the 
Prophecy, and apparently changed sides.

And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal.

I had serious problems with this line after reading Order of the 
Phoenix when it was published.  Certainly, LV did unintentionally 
mark Harry and left Harry with some of his abilities and a link to 
him (though Harry's abilities, other than his caring and ability to 
love never seems equal to Voldemort's -- Snape is right about Harry 
having some luck and talented friends, but I think relying on and 
trusting his friends is one of his strengths.  However, this line 
(the "as his equal" part) seemed to me that LV was acually 
acknowledging this person as his equal, something which I cannot see 
LV doing as he thinks himself superior to everyone else.  The Death 
Eaters are "marked" by Voldemort, but are NOT equals -- they 
are "servants of the Dark Lord".  Who would be most likely to be 
marked as an equal by LV?  Someone who had killed the only one he 
ever feared.

But he will have a power the Dark Lord knows not.

Well, if this prophecy applied to Snape, as I've suggested above, 
who knows what this power would be?  Even if Snape does come out on 
the side of good, he has been mean consistently mean to many of his 
students, sneering, giving insults, etc and does not seem to have 
the power of love.  I kind of want this prophecy to apply to Harry 
as I like the idea that love will overcome Voldemort.

And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live 
while the other survives.

Well, Harry and LV and Snape and LV have been living/surviving at 
the same time for a while now.  I know it is a long shot, but could 
this refer to an internal conflict?..The one who the Dark Lord has 
marked as his equal cannot coexist within the same person as the one 
having the power the Dark Lord knows not?  At first I thought 
perhaps this perhaps referred to the part of LV that exists in Harry 
(though I'm still not sure if Harry himself is a horcrux, I think, 
probably, his scar is and that he will think he has to sacrifice 
himself to kill LV when he realizes this).  Certainly it must be 
difficult and conflicting to be a double agent and play both sides.

...and the last line is simply a repetition.

Also, to comment on recent posts about the possibility that it was 
perhaps Slughorn who went to the cave polyjuiced as DD, as he 
said "Oho!":  I don't think so...Filch also says "Oho!" in the book 
and both Slughorn and Filch are present after DD's death (plus Filch 
is a Squib and it couldn't have been him).  I think that Oho! is 
just a common expression of surprise and think it really was 
Dumbledore in the cave.

Your thoughts?
Cheryl