Wild theory
Okay - I seriously hate doing this HBP cut b.s. because someone might have not read the book. But what can you do. Anyway I had this new crazy thought that will probably get me in trouble with all the Dumbledore fans but I really want people's opinion.
Here are some various quotes from OotP and HBP.
'Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sybill Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My - our - one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building.'
'So he only heard -?'
'He heard only the beginning, the part foretelling the birth of a boy in July to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring power to you, and marking you as his equal.'
- Order of the Phoenix
" . . . and I remember I was starting to feel a little odd, I had not eaten much that day ... but then ...'
And now Harry was paying attention properly for the first time, for he knew what had happened then: Professor Trelawney had made the prophecy that had altered the course of his whole life, the prophecy about him and Voldemort.
'... but then we were rudely interrupted by Severus Snape!'
'What?'
'Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs, although I'm afraid that I myself rather thought he had been apprehended eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore - you see, he himself was seeking a job at the
time, and no doubt hoped to pick up tips! Well, after that, you know, Dumbledore seemed much more dis-posed to give me a job . . ."
Dumbledore tells Harry that the person was thrown from the building. But Trelawney says that the door flew open and there was the barman with Snape. Why would Dumbledore allow Snape to be thrown out if he knew Snape probably heard the phrophecy? Why wouldn’t he Obliviate him? And Trelawney didn’t say anything like, “And then Severus ran off.” So again why/how was Snape allowed to go?
"But Harry, never forget that what the prophecy says is only significant because Voldemort made it so. I told you this at the end of last year. Voldemort singled you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him - and in doing so, he made you the person who would be most dangerous to him!"
"But it comes to the same -"
"No, it doesn't!" said Dumbledore, sounding impatient now. Pointing at Harry with his black, withered hand, he said, "You are setting too much store by the prophecy!"
"But," spluttered Harry, "but you said the prophecy means -“
"If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been fulfilled? Would it have meant anything? Of course not! How you think every prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy has been fulfilled?"
"But," said Harry, bewildered, "but last year, you said one of us would have to kill the other -"
"Harry, Harry, only because Voldemort made a grave error, and acted on Professor Trelawney's words! If Voldemort had never murdered your father, would he have imparted in you a furious desire for revenge? Of course not! If he had not forced your mother to die for you, would he have given you a magical protection he could not penetrate? Of course not, Harry! Don't you see? Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different! Always he was on the lookout for the one who would challenge him. He heard the prophecy and he leapt into ac-tion, with the result that he not only handpicked the man most likely to finish him, he handed him uniquely deadly weapons!"
"But -"
"It is essential that you understand this!" said Dumbledore, standing up and striding about the room, his glittering robes swooshing in his wake; Harry had never seen him so agitated. "By attempting to kill you, Voldemort himself singled out the remark-able person who sits here in front of me, and gave him the tools for the job!"
All of this to mean that if Voldemort had not heard the first half of the prophecy or if he heard the whole prophecy, he would never have created someone who was his equal and consequently someone who could defeat him. So what if after Trelawney’s interview, Dumbledore had a long talk with Snape. Here it gets sort of murky. Snape heard the whole prophecy (because if he barged in half-way through, how could Trelawney remember that? And would she be able to go right back into the trance after Snape left and deliver the other half of the message? Remember also that when Dumbledore showed Harry the memory of the prophecy, Harry only saw the image of Trelawney rise out of the pensieve - he never went into it like for every other memory possibly because he might have seen Snape standing in the room listening as well) and Dumbledore let him go deliver only half of the prophecy to Voldemort.
The bottom line is that Dumbledore knew the only way the world would be rid of Voldemort is if his equal killed him. The only way to make someone into his equal would be to tell Voldemort that part of the prophecy.
So Dumbledore is keeping it secret that Snape only delivered half of the prophecy, therefore ensuring that Voldemort creates someone as his equal and this someone will destroy him. And Snape is keeping it a secret that it's really Dumbledore who is technically responsible for the death of the Potters. Even if Snape reveals this secret he'll be known as a traitor against the Dark Lord. Also, look at how angry Dumbledore get's when he wants Harry to understand that Harry will only be able to defeat Voldemort because Voldemort attempted to kill him and murdred his parents.
And finally there's this, let's assume that the stuff Dumbledore was forced to drink made you relive your worst memories sort of the way Dementors suck all the happiness out of you. Here's an exert from what Dumbledore was saying while drinking it:
"No, no, no, no, I can't, I can't, don't make me, I don't want to. . . ."
"Its all my fault, all my fault," he sobbed. "Please make it stop, I know I did wrong, oh please make it stop and I'll never, never again ..."
"Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please, please, its my fault, hurt me instead ..."
"Please, please, please, no ... not that, not that, I'll do any-thing ..."
"I want to die! I want to die! Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!"
"KILL ME!"
Perhaps, even though he knew it had to be done, he's regretting the fact that he allowed Voldemort to hear the prophecy and kill Harry's parents.
Here are some various quotes from OotP and HBP.
'Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sybill Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My - our - one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building.'
'So he only heard -?'
'He heard only the beginning, the part foretelling the birth of a boy in July to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring power to you, and marking you as his equal.'
- Order of the Phoenix
" . . . and I remember I was starting to feel a little odd, I had not eaten much that day ... but then ...'
And now Harry was paying attention properly for the first time, for he knew what had happened then: Professor Trelawney had made the prophecy that had altered the course of his whole life, the prophecy about him and Voldemort.
'... but then we were rudely interrupted by Severus Snape!'
'What?'
'Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs, although I'm afraid that I myself rather thought he had been apprehended eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore - you see, he himself was seeking a job at the
time, and no doubt hoped to pick up tips! Well, after that, you know, Dumbledore seemed much more dis-posed to give me a job . . ."
Dumbledore tells Harry that the person was thrown from the building. But Trelawney says that the door flew open and there was the barman with Snape. Why would Dumbledore allow Snape to be thrown out if he knew Snape probably heard the phrophecy? Why wouldn’t he Obliviate him? And Trelawney didn’t say anything like, “And then Severus ran off.” So again why/how was Snape allowed to go?
"But Harry, never forget that what the prophecy says is only significant because Voldemort made it so. I told you this at the end of last year. Voldemort singled you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him - and in doing so, he made you the person who would be most dangerous to him!"
"But it comes to the same -"
"No, it doesn't!" said Dumbledore, sounding impatient now. Pointing at Harry with his black, withered hand, he said, "You are setting too much store by the prophecy!"
"But," spluttered Harry, "but you said the prophecy means -“
"If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been fulfilled? Would it have meant anything? Of course not! How you think every prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy has been fulfilled?"
"But," said Harry, bewildered, "but last year, you said one of us would have to kill the other -"
"Harry, Harry, only because Voldemort made a grave error, and acted on Professor Trelawney's words! If Voldemort had never murdered your father, would he have imparted in you a furious desire for revenge? Of course not! If he had not forced your mother to die for you, would he have given you a magical protection he could not penetrate? Of course not, Harry! Don't you see? Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different! Always he was on the lookout for the one who would challenge him. He heard the prophecy and he leapt into ac-tion, with the result that he not only handpicked the man most likely to finish him, he handed him uniquely deadly weapons!"
"But -"
"It is essential that you understand this!" said Dumbledore, standing up and striding about the room, his glittering robes swooshing in his wake; Harry had never seen him so agitated. "By attempting to kill you, Voldemort himself singled out the remark-able person who sits here in front of me, and gave him the tools for the job!"
All of this to mean that if Voldemort had not heard the first half of the prophecy or if he heard the whole prophecy, he would never have created someone who was his equal and consequently someone who could defeat him. So what if after Trelawney’s interview, Dumbledore had a long talk with Snape. Here it gets sort of murky. Snape heard the whole prophecy (because if he barged in half-way through, how could Trelawney remember that? And would she be able to go right back into the trance after Snape left and deliver the other half of the message? Remember also that when Dumbledore showed Harry the memory of the prophecy, Harry only saw the image of Trelawney rise out of the pensieve - he never went into it like for every other memory possibly because he might have seen Snape standing in the room listening as well) and Dumbledore let him go deliver only half of the prophecy to Voldemort.
The bottom line is that Dumbledore knew the only way the world would be rid of Voldemort is if his equal killed him. The only way to make someone into his equal would be to tell Voldemort that part of the prophecy.
So Dumbledore is keeping it secret that Snape only delivered half of the prophecy, therefore ensuring that Voldemort creates someone as his equal and this someone will destroy him. And Snape is keeping it a secret that it's really Dumbledore who is technically responsible for the death of the Potters. Even if Snape reveals this secret he'll be known as a traitor against the Dark Lord. Also, look at how angry Dumbledore get's when he wants Harry to understand that Harry will only be able to defeat Voldemort because Voldemort attempted to kill him and murdred his parents.
And finally there's this, let's assume that the stuff Dumbledore was forced to drink made you relive your worst memories sort of the way Dementors suck all the happiness out of you. Here's an exert from what Dumbledore was saying while drinking it:
"No, no, no, no, I can't, I can't, don't make me, I don't want to. . . ."
"Its all my fault, all my fault," he sobbed. "Please make it stop, I know I did wrong, oh please make it stop and I'll never, never again ..."
"Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please, please, its my fault, hurt me instead ..."
"Please, please, please, no ... not that, not that, I'll do any-thing ..."
"I want to die! I want to die! Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!"
"KILL ME!"
Perhaps, even though he knew it had to be done, he's regretting the fact that he allowed Voldemort to hear the prophecy and kill Harry's parents.