Why Voldemort Didn't Retrieve the Prophecy Himself (WAS: OOP: Disappointing)

[Phyllis]

[also posted on HPfGU]

I (Phyllis) originally wrote:

> And we keep hearing that Dumbledore is the only one 
> Voldemort was ever afraid of (other than Harry, of course!), so it 
> doesn't seem as if any member of the Order other than 
> Dumbledore could have kept a disguised Voldy out of the 
> prophecy room.

and Pippin responded:

> This is explained. Voldemort thinks that Harry knows about the 
> prophecy. He knows that Harry detected his presence when he 
> invaded the prophecy room. He doesn't go back because he's 
> afraid he'll be detected by Harry and attacked by the aurors or 
> Dumbledore. 

Now me again:

On my second read-through, I now understand this. Before Voldemort 
was aware that he and Harry were sharing thoughts, Voldemort was 
operating under Avery's inaccurate information that he could send a 
DE or someone under the Imperius Curse into the prophecy room to 
steal the prophecy. In Harry's vision, he sees Rookwood informing 
Voldemort that if anyone other than the person to whom the prophecy 
relates attempts to take the prophecy from the shelf, he/she will go 
mad and will be unable to retrieve the prophecy. So Voldemort then 
has to change course, but at this point he's already aware that Harry 
can see into his mind, so it's now far too dangerous for Voldemort to 
attempt to retrieve the prophecy himself. In addition, he now knows 
that he doesn't have to retrieve it himself - he can lure Harry into 
retrieving it for him. So this really does hang together, and I 
retract my original criticism!

~Phyllis
who should know better than to doubt Jo