DD's plan -- Minister of Magic

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189174

Pippin wrote:
> > > If Dumbledore believed in the prophecy, he wouldn't have thought he needed to make Harry do anything. He could have left everything to chance. His disbelief, ironically, made him act to bring the prophecy about.

Carol earlier:
> > 
> > Not necessarily. He seems to have thought (or known) that Harry and only Harry was "the one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord" and acted accordingly. (Sure, Harry has his mother's love and the soul bit inside him, all of which fits with the Prophecy, but why not arm him with knowledge as well, especially Voldemort's past and his psychology, so that he'll understand what he's facing? And why not train him and test him to make sure that he doesn't fail? After all, the Prophecy only says "either [meaning one of the two] must die at the hand of the other." It doesn't say which of the two will be victorious. In any case, his knowing the Prophecy and acting on it does help to bring it about even though he's not one of the principals involved.
> > 
> > Carol, quite sure that DD would not have drawn Sybil out of the Pensieve for Harry's benefit and explained the components of the Prophecy if he didn't believe in "the power that the Dark Lord has not" and the rest of it
> >
Nikkalmati responded:
> 
> I don't get this.  DD had no good reason to believe Harry would defeat the Dark Lord.  His original plan was to get Harry killed.  Then someone else could defeat the Dark Lord.  As it turned out, Harry did not remain dead, but that was not part of DD's plan.  At best it was a hope.  He told Harry the prophecy, so he would understand why LV was after him and why he had to fight him.  Wasn't the power to defeat the Dark Lord in the end his affinity with the Elder Wand - not something that could ever have been predicted.
> 
> Nikkalmati
>
Carol responds:
He would "vanquish the Dark Lord" by making him mortal. And But "either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives" suggests that Harry may somehow survive the encounter, as does "he will have  power that the Dark Lord knows not, which DD would know can only mean love. "The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal suggests what DD tells Harry in CoS, that LV unknowingly transferred some of his powers to Harry, as becomes manifest in Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue. 

Parts of the Prophecy have already come true (from "born as the seventh month dies" to those who have thrice defied the Dark Lord (true, we have to take that part on faith, but maybe as members of the Order, the Potters had three encounters with DEs). And LV has certainly "marked" Harry (if not exactly as his equal), both literally (through the scar) and figuratively (as his nemesis--Harry himself puns grimly in OoP that he has always been "a marked man").

So between the elements of the Prophecy that have already come true through LV's acting on it and DD's knowledge that LV will makes sure that the final confrontation takes place, he has no choice but to believe (or act as if he believes) the Prophecy, testing Harry (as he confesses to Snape in DH that he has done) and arming him bit by bit with knowledge as the need arises.

If he didn't believe in the Prophecy, he wouldn't single Harry out and watch him and, Snape points out in PoA, let him break rules that other students (except Ron and Hermione) aren't allowed to break.

Certainly, DD knows that *he* can't kill Voldemort or he would have done so at the DoM. Only Harry, who has an accidental Horcrux in his scar, can do that. (His own wand's affinity with Voldemort's wand would also have given him a distinct advantage had Voldemort not prematurely discovered that he couldn't defeat it; DD must have known that, too.)

The Elder Wand fiasco had less to do with Harry's victory over LV than the soul bit that enabled Harry to survive the first encounter and fight again or the power of Love that weakened Voldemort. Harry could still have used Expelliarmus whether or not he was master of the Elder Wand. Maybe the AK wouldn't have backfired on Voldemort if Harry had been using another wand, but if LV were wandless and friendless--and mortal--he could certainly be vanquished. Or Harry, who had intended all along, until he saw Snape's memories in the Pensieve, to *kill* Voldemort, would and could have done so.

DD, by trying to place the masterless Elder Wand in Snape's hands, by making sure that Harry knew (when the time came) about the soulbit in his scar, and by setting up the riddles that would eventually let Harry know about the Elder Wand, was trying to cover all bases. In the long run, he partially failed, but nevertheless, he knew that Harry and only Harry could destroy Voldemort (even if he died in the process), and he acted accordingly.

Carol, hoping that her position is clearer now