The one... to vanquish... approaches.... The one... to vanquish will be born

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 168166

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
 

Carol:
> Possibly the British version reads differently, but in the American
> edition, the PoA prophecy (the one that Harry hears firsthand) does
> contain ellipses:
> 
> "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers.
> His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before
> midnight . . . the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his
> master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater
> and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight . . . before midnight . .
> . the servant . . . will set out . . . to rejoin . . . his master"
> (PoA Am. ed. 324, ellipses in original).
> 
> The construction is very similar to that of the first prophecy except
> that it's not the first line but the third, "Tonight, before midnight
> . . . the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master,"
> that's repeated in slightly different form in the final sentence:
> "Tonight . . . before midnight . . . the servant . . . will set out .
> . . to rejoin . . . his master." Although the last sentence omits the
> words "break free," the ellipses indicate pauses, not omissions.
> Harry, as you've stated, heard the whole thing.
> 
> We need to look at the OoP prophecy complete with ellipses (which
> you've omitted) to see whether the same technique is being used there.
> Let's put them back in:
> 
> "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . . .
> Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month
> dies . . . and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will
> have power the Dark Lord knows not . . . and either must die at the
> hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives . . .
> . The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the
> seventh month dies . . . ." (OoP Am. ed. 841)

Geoff:
For reference, the UK versions are almost the same as your quoted 
examples. They are in italics but otherwise in lower case except where 
capitals would be normal.

The only differences are that each ellipsis is made up of three full stops 
only and - in the POA prophecy -  there is *no* ellipsis in the third sentence, 
i.e. after the first occurrence of "Tonight, after midnight".

I'm not sure whether this does indeed indicate missing material or merely 
pauses in Trelawney's delivery.

The relevant Bloomsbury locations for UK colleagues are:
POA ""Professor Trelawney's Prediction" p.239 UK edition
OOTP "The Lost Prophecy p.745 UK edition"