Voldemort's interpretation of the prophecy

[sunnyskywalker]

Trelawney probably made her prophecy sometime between the fall of 1979 and early spring 1980. Harry and Neville were born in July 1980. So why did it take Voldemort until October 1981 to even try to kill one of them? Was he waiting for a significant date? Were the Potters and the Longbottoms just that well-hidden

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

Very good points! No one ever checked whether a centaur or a goblin was born in anything that could be considered the seventh month to anyone who could be considered to have thrice defied any Dark Lord. And they really don't consider Muggles.

I remember reading a short fic years ago in which Dean Thomas was the Chosen One. He used the power of a big yellow earth mover to crush Voldemort, iirc. It was great. (I feel like this is a game of Clue. Was it Dean, at the construction site, with the earth mover? Neville, on the battlements, with the Devil's Snare? Fleur, in the Great Hall, with distracting Veela allure and Incendio?)

There are so many "powers" that would have been interesting. Hermione set up some great foreshadowing in PS/SS when she pointed out that most wizards don't have an ounce of logic. Maybe the Chosen One is a Vulcan! They didn't consider extraterrestrials either, did they?

It's probably a good thing for Voldemort that didn't get the DADA job, or he might have had to mark a student's papers equally to his own.

Also, I should try to work out whether Dumbledore could qualify as the prophecy's Dark Lord. Eileen could have thrice mouthed off to him in class, and Sev could have been born a few weeks early...

[with_rainfall]

That does sound like an interesting fic! And yes, lots of plants that could’ve worked - a wall of anything, including Devil’s Snare, would be an obstacle at least. Mandrakes (fitting revenge for CoS?), Fanged Geraniums, Bubotuber pus...

Unfortunately the mimbulus mimbletonia seems to have become another victim of slapstick humour. Because god forbid Neville be anything but comic relief until he suddenly takes a level in badass in DH. That could’ve been a really good Chekhov’s Gun.

Haha! I like Jana’s suggestion that Eileen turned down Tom’s Yule Ball invite and that’s where he got the grudge.

[jana_ch]

Homely Eileen refused handsome Tom because she was already into muggles, and didn't think the boys at Hogwarts were sexy enough to bother with. Tom has resented muggles ever since. It would have saved Wizarding Britain a great deal of trouble if Eileen had never told Tom his equipment was too small.

Folks here at DTCL have mentioned before how magic seems to blunt the male libido, forcing witches to drug boys with love potions to get them interested in sex. Teenage Eileen preferred to spend her vacations hitting the dance clubs of Manchester, picking up guys. Eileen's marriage with Toby was not abusive but rather tempestuous: lots of screaming arguments followed by passionate make-up sex. Little Sev was soooo embarrassed.