As the 7th month dies...

[someoneofsomeplace]

No: HPFGUIDX 126301


Steve <bboyminn at y...> wrote:
> Well, my first thought is to make a distinction between...
> 
> 'WHEN the seventh month dies...'
> 
> and
> 
> 'AS the seventh month dies...'
> 
> Just my interpretation but 'WHEN' implies an event, a precise 
> point in time; whereas 'AS' implies a process, that is a general
> span of time. <snip>

John: 
Well, yes, Neville and Harry were, as far as I know, born a few days 
apart; the prophecy could have applied to either.

Steve again: 
> Also, as I'm sure you know, there has been an argument that 
> SEPTember was originally the seventh month ('sept' being the prefix
> for 7). <snip>
> I don't think JKR would enage in such an obscure reference. I think
> she says seven and means July.

John again:
Yes, I'd feel a bit cheated, wouldn't you?

Steve again: 
> All that said, I think there is tremendous room for Dumbledore to 
> have misinterpreted the Prophecy. Here is a classic example of a
> misinterpretation. Suppose, Voldemort kills Harry, and in a burst 
> of fury and daring, Neville kills Voldemort to avenge Harry. Perhaps,
> Harry dying opens a vulnerability in Voldemort that allows Neville 
> to truly kill him. That seems well within the scope of the Prophecy.

John, again:
Agreed. I have to say, I *did* lose a little respect for DD, having 
read OOTP. How could he have put such faith, based all his scheming 
plans around, such a stupid piece of crap like the prophecy. 
Notorious, the wretched things are; their meaning almost always 
becomes clear only after the event. This one seems to be 
particularly open-ended.

That's why I'd like to see DD survive the series and be left to chew 
over his having interpreted the prophecy incorrectly. A lesson, 
perhaps, of the futility of trying to engineer future events?

John.