The Prophecy

Dumbledore told the Potters and Longbottoms the prophecy - both its contents and that Voldemort knew part of it. He may have told them this before the births of their sons, or immediately following. In case an Order member was captured and Voldemort used Legilimency on them, no one in the Order knew the contents of the prophecy outside the Potters and Longbottoms.

The only exception may be Sirius. The Potters are likely to have told their closest friends about the prophecy, but James may also have told its contents to Sirius. If this is so, Dumbledore, Lupin and Pettigrew weren't aware that Sirius had this knowledge.

Voldemort interpreted the prophecy the way Dumbledore thinks he did. He intended to attack Harry because he perceived Harry to be his equal. (Not because Harry was born closer to the end of the month, or because Voldemort first got access to Harry, or because Voldemort didn't know about Neville.) Either Voldemort wasn't able to learn the rest of the prophecy, or accepted he wasn't meant to, because he didn't realize at the time that there might be danger in attacking Harry.

The Spy Circle

When Dumbledore and the Potters became aware of a spy, Voldemort helped Pettigrew frame Lupin. Sirius and/or James were already slightly at odds with Lupin so they jumped to suspect him. Lupin was not aware that he was suspected. He assumed that everyone suspected Person X. It's difficult to know why Dumbledore didn't know who the spy was.

The Christening

Harry's christening is likely to have been within a few months of his birth. Lily and James only invited Sirius to Harry's christening. Dumbledore may have been too busy to attend. As of yet, I have no fixed explanation why Lupin and Pettigrew weren't at the christening. It may have been to do with their knowledge of the existence of a spy, or it may have been due to some sort of friendship rifts, or something else. We know, however, that JKR has planned this information, so there is likely to be a good explanation.

The Longbottoms

Pettigrew became a spy for Voldemort within a few months of Harry's birth. He told Voldemort that Harry was born on July 31st. He may have also told Voldemort that another boy existed, perhaps also saying who the boy was and that there were no other candidates.

Voldemort knew that the two candidates for "the one" were Harry and Neville. (If Pettigrew wasn't able to tell him about Neville, Dumbledore would have found a way for Voldemort to receive the information. It's less likely that there was a spy for the Longbottoms.) He had to consciously choose between the two. He attacked Harry first because Harry was the one Voldemort perceived as being his equal, due to being half-blood.

The Hiding

Lily and James thought they would have to go into hiding at Harry's christening in 1980. They used the Fidelius Charm to go into hiding in October 1981. In the middle, they were probably hiding in some other way by generally laying low, but as Voldemort isn't easy to hide from and could find them if he tried hard enough, it's likely that Dumbledore's spy knew somehow that Voldemort wasn't after the Potters.

As for Voldemort not pursuing the Potters for over a year, a possibility is that the year was devoted to planning and manipulating Dumbledore's side into setting it up for him. Voldemort was after the Longbottoms before October 1981, trying to find a way to gain access to them, because he planned to kill both Harry and Neville. Once he'd found a way to get the Longbottoms, he made it obvious that he was looking for the Potters, so that they would use to Fidelius Charm, with Pettigrew as Secret-Keeper. This would give Voldemort the opportunity to attack first Harry, whom he perceived as the greater threat, and then Neville, just in case Neville was also a threat.

5/21/05

Posted by: Nicole

If you would like to contact Esther, you may do so at eskimoe_girl at hotmail dot com.