JKR's FAQ poll -- Neville's potential as prophecy boy

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 129043

Dungrollin:

Not much time, but some quick thoughts.

It seems to me the question she's dancing around and not quite
leading us towards is "Why did Voldy choose Harry over Neville?"
If I remember aright, Voldy neatly skips this bit of the story in
the graveyard and starts with the killing of James and Lily, and all
I recall DD saying is something along the lines of "He saw himself
in you before he'd ever seen you."

But Voldy wouldn't have seen it as a choice between the two, would
he? He'd have killed both boys, wouldn't he? Unless there was
something else that we don't know, some other reason that made Harry
more obviously the boy to whom the prophecy referred...

DD is very evasive at the end of OotP:
"It seemed plain to the keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that
Voldemort could only have tried to kill you because he knew you to
be the one to whom Sybill was referring."

DD never once says "*I* didn't know until the attack at Godric's
Hollow that the prophecy definitely referred to you, Harry." So
whatever it was that led Voldy to attack the Potters, did DD know it
too? Did the Potters? More to the point, when will *Harry* find
out?

I do think it's a boring answer, but at least it's not another
tantalising "hmmm, it might be important, but you'll just have to
wait and see."

Dungrollin
Hoping (though not quite sure why) that Harry isn't the heir of
Gryffindor, and James wasn't the Half-blood Prince.

Snow:

Loved the quick take on JKR's long awaited answer to the Neville 
aspect of the prophecy. My own immediate response was Harry was BORN 
with The Power to vanquish the Dark Lord. Voldemort chose poorly who 
he reckoned was the biggest threat when he chose Harry and actually 
gave Harry an advantage. Voldemort chose Harry because he saw the 
likeness of "himself and all he felt" in Harry; muggle parentage, 
grew up with muggles. If Voldemort were to have chosen Neville, would 
Harry not have had The Power to vanquish the Dark Lord? I would say 
no because Harry was born with that specific power.

The way that I read JKR's answer was that, Harry was still capable of 
vanquishing the Dark Lord even if Neville had been chosen but would 
not have had the marking-him-as-his-equal magical powers that had 
been thrust upon him when the killing curse backfired. Harry's 
magical powers, because Voldemort did choose him, are equal to 
Voldemort's powers
plus one (The one power the Dark Lord knows not, 
that Harry was born with) This power puts Harry one up on Voldemort 
because Voldemort always seems to forget or underestimate this Power 
that Harry has in such abundance. 

As SSSusan has said it is a power that is extremely hard to put into 
a mere word. I'm going to have to go biblical here and say that it is 
what Job possessed; a man that was not willing to sacrifice, but did. 
A man that was so pure of heart that the devil made a deal with God 
and God was so sure of Job's choice that he allowed him to be tested 
and for anyone who is not religiously knowledgeable, Job did win in 
the end. Job had everything taken away from him and yet still 
remained faithful and God rewarded him for it. 

Such is Harry, faithful to a fault. Harry can't stop helping others; 
even at his own sacrifice, even to the point of being ridiculed. 
Others may criticize him but Harry doesn't stop to think what others 
perceive him to be, he just acts accordingly to the situation at 
hand; be it Luna or Neville. In short Harry thinks of others before 
he thinks of himself. 

Makes me think of a hymnal that we taught called JOY.

Jesus and Others and You what a wonderful way to spell JOY!

First there is what you believe (which in this religion is Jesus) 
then there are Others then there is You. 

Harry appears to obtain this same attribute. There are so many people 
that Harry defends from Hagrid to Hermione to Neville and yes even 
Dudley (who doesn't quite deserve it).  Harry has been in defense of 
all these people and more
because it lies within him to do so. 

If Harry has been condemned to the trials of Job, the worst and the 
best have yet to come.  
 
Snow