The Protection of the Prophecy Plot (Was: Themes and theories)

[pippin_999]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoog
> 
> Magda:
> Obviously Harry should not have been told the contents of the
> prophecy; Voldemort would have picked them up through the 
connection.
> 
> However, destroying the prophecy would have meant that there 
would no longer be a risk of Harry falling into a trap by leaving the 
security of Hogwarts - and despite Umbridge's presence, 
Hogwarts was secure for Harry.  And after all the tacit 
encouragement and praise that Dumbledore gave Harry for four 
books when he did take matters into his own hands, 
Dumbledore should have considered the possibility that Harry 
would do it again.<

Pippin:
Now I'm confused. Even if Dumbledore destroys the prophecy  
Voldemort can still use it to lure Harry. (Ha ha, Dumbledore 
thinks he's put the prophecy out of my reach forever, but James 
told *you* about it, didn't he? Talk, Dog-man! Or do I need to 
loosen your tongue a bit more!") 


Magda:
> If Harry had known more about the mental connection - period - 
he might have known that Voldemort might try to trick him into 
doing anything at all.  That was a bit of knowledge that Harry had 
but that was never put into a realistic context for him to grasp 
strongly.  <

Pippin:
How could that have been done? Harry is a very 'hands on' 
learner -- verbal admonishments, even when delivered with 
maximum menace by Snape, go right over his head. It's true 
Lupin managed to convince him that he was risking too much by 
going into Hogsmeade,  but that was only after Harry had been  
caught. I doubt Lupin's words would have made much of an 
impression if Harry had managed to save someone's life while 
he was in Hogsmeade without leave.

Magda:
> I'm not sure that Harry would have believed that Sirius was 
being held captive somewhere else - the advantage of the 
MOM/DOM (from Voldemort's POV) was that it was a place that 
Harry felt he was familiar enough with to get to.  Had he seen an 
image of Sirius somewhere else, he wouldn't have known how 
to get there. <

Pippin:
This sounds like stretching to me.   First of all, Voldemort had 
never been inside the DoM himself --that's why Dream!Harry 
couldn't get through the door until after Rookwood escaped from 
Azkaban. Any location his Death Eaters recalled vividly, 
Voldemort could plant in Harry's mind. And where there's a will 
there's a way. Voldemort is well aware that 11 year old Harry 
managed to get through seven obstacles  designed to repel a 
full grown wizard.

Voldemort doesn't seem to have been worried that Harry 
wouldn't be able to get  to the DoM despite having never actually 
been there (as Hermione points out), and this even though his 
broom's been confiscated, the Floo network is being watched, 
and the Knight Bus crew would recognize him.

Sirius-as-hostage would have worked anywhere, I'm afraid, 
because there was no risk Harry would not have taken for 
Sirius's sake and Harry's own insecurities gave him the  
psychological need to prove that to himself.

It's like Molly's reaction to Rita Skeeter's article about 
Harry and Hermione. Intellectually,  Molly knew that Rita wasn't a 
trustworthy source, but the siren thought that Harry was in a 
situation where he *needed*  her was like a short circuit in 
her brain -- her need to to show that she would always protect 
Harry was too much for her. 



Pippin