Why didn't Dumbledore perform a Memory Charm on whomever overheard the prophecy?

[gLaMDrInG]

What I don't understand is that during the prophecy, there was an eavesdropper and Dumbledore caught him. Now it's written that DD got him thrown out of the pub. Why didn't he just put a memory charm on him? And if you don't want to use a memory charm, just send him to Azkaban...However, DD just let him go...

And Trelawney wouldn't have stopped to predict and waited for the evesdropper to be thrown out. She was in a trance and even if she wanted to, she couldn't have stopped.

Here's the whole Prophecy:

"The One with the Power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...The One with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Have you noticed all those frequent pauses (...)? What if this was the prophecy as DD heard it and those pauses are used where DD had missed some parts because he was busy making sure that the eavesdropper was out?

But my main question is that why did DD let the eavesdropper go?

[Puffskein]

The idea that Dumbledore didn't hear the whole prophecy is a very interesting one, but IIRC, he didn't say that it was he himself who caught the eavesdropper. The pauses could have been periods when Trelawney didn't speak. As for why the eavesdropper was just thrown out, I've got no idea right now.

[Picko]

What I don't understand is that during the prophecy, there was an eavesdropper and Dumbledore caught him. Now it's written that DD got him thrown out of the pub. Why didn't he just put a memory charm on him? And if you don't want to use a memory charm, just send him to Azkaban...However, DD just let him go...

Put him in Azkaban? What did he do? I find it highly unlikely that eavesdropping is a criminal offence in the wizarding world.

Ultimately Dumbledore probably wouldn't have known that the individual who had eavesdropped had sided with Lord Voldemort and therefore had no reason to contain him.

[MotherBear1975]

I don't think that Dumbledore *did* catch the eavesdropper.... at that point he had his attention focused on Prof T. I believe that whomever it was was either a known Death Eater, and thus universally hated, though this is doubtful as the person probably would not simply be kicked out... or someone who had been banned from Hogs Head. Now in saying that, I am *not* accusing Mundungenes, but it *is* possible that whomever overheard the prophecy didn't report *directly* or even *knowingly*. Like Hagrid in The first book... it could have been wheedled or tricked out of the person. So, if Dung heard it, got drunk and blabbed, anyone could have picked it up and run to Voldemort.

[gLaMDrInG]

Put him in Azkaban? What did he do? I find it highly unlikely that eavesdropping is a criminal offence in the wizarding world.

Ultimately Dumbledore probably wouldn't have known that the individual who had eavesdropped had sided with Lord Voldemort and therefore had no reason to contain him.

Dumbledore can perform Legilemency...He would've known...

And if eavesdropping is not an offence, why was the person thrown out?

[Dedalus]

I don't think it was Dumbledore who threw the person out. He can't be in two places at once, and he was there listening to Trelawney's prediction.

And the person didn't have to be doing anything illegal. If someone's snooping around the rooms of an inn where they shouldn't be, especially if they're not paying, they'd be kicked out anyway. But they may have been barred as well.

[Picko]

Dumbledore can perform Legilemency...He would've known...

It also appears that he doesn't like to overuse his talent.

And if eavesdropping is not an offence, why was the person thrown out?

You aren't seriously trying to suggest that eavesdropping is an offence because the person was thrown out? If Dumbledore wanted privacy then the person eavesdropping was in the wrong and was therefore thrown out. However eavesdropping isn't going to result in an individual being arrested or contained against their will.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Dumbledore said the person eavesdropping "was caught and throw out", not that he did the catching. It's in passive tense, which means the person who did the catching is not identified, so we have no idea. We don't even know that the eavesdropper was thrown out for listening in (although that is slightly implied). He might've just been snooping around, like Dedalus said, and gotten tossed on general principles.

[gLaMDrInG]

But don't you think that it's a bit stupid of Dumbledore to let go of a person who just overheard a very important prediction?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Are you sure Dumbledore knew at the time that there was an eavesdropper? I suspect that he did not, since he was a inside a room, presumably with a closed door, and was either informed later as he left the Hog's Head, or found out much later from one of his spies.

[Picko]

But short of sticking him/her in Azkaban for no real reason what could he have done? The end result is Lord Voldemort would've found out regardless.

[AffectedMangoO]

Azkaban would have been really wrong, DD wouldnt do something like that. But a simple memory charm would have worked, nobody would have known.

But off course it was important to the story that Voldy would find out half of the prophecy, so it really doesnt matter. :)

[Picko]

Azkaban would have been really wrong, DD wouldnt do something like that. But a simple memory charm would have worked, nobody would have known.

Because we all know how impenetrable memory charms are ;) If the guy had any links with Voldemort then Voldemort was going to find out. No memory charm would stand a chance.

[Bee]

Dumbledore is getting pretty old. Since Trelawney came out of the Pensieve, what she said has got to be what Dumbledore remembers, and what's in his memory, and his alone. Remember that the Pensieve may not always be completely accurate.

I don't think it's a mistake to think that perhaps Harry didn't here the prophecy in its entirety when it came from the Pensieve. Also remember that when Neville and Harry had the prophecy in the MoM, is smashed and they couldn't hear what was being said because of all the noise... if JKR had wanted us to know the whole prophecy, maybe she would've let Harry and Neville hear it when it broke... I guess we'll jsut have to find out if Dumbledore is, in fact, wrong.

[Baron_G]

Dumbledore did not throw out the eavesdropper. I do not believe there is any case for this to have happened. In his memory his vision was pretty much fixed on Trelawney while she was in her trance. If the eavesdropper was Mundungus, we can assume that the barman threw him out- that Sirius had rounded off and it was 16 and not 20 years ago that Dung was thrown out.

I believe that DD heard as much of the prophecy as we're going to ever know because I don't believe the prophecy record was something distinct that was created by magic out of nowhere. I think DD himself made a copy of his memories to create the record, perhaps so that the One in time would find it, should DD not be around to tell him.

We don't know if Dumbledore even knew there was such a person being thrown out at the time. He might have been told after the fact, when he emerged from the room. It might have been too late to do anything then.

If that is true, maybe DD wasn't sure then how much the eavesdropper had heard. The person who threw him out (Hagrid is another possibility) may not have heard the goings-on in the room and consequently couldn't tell DD at which point he/she had made the interruption.

Then we can't even be sure that DD believed in the prophecy in the first place. Maybe he didn't. But the eavesdropper had reported it to Voldemort, so the parents of the two boys were in danger, perhaps needlessly. With Voldemort after them, he would have advised them to go into hiding regardless. The confirmation for the prophecy may have only come when Voldemort fell and Harry was marked.

If it was Mundungus, DD may have found out later just how much he had told him. Mundungus, after LV's fall, would surely have had DEs wanting to do him in, like they did with wormtail. He might have gone to DD for protection and told him then just how much he'd told LV, which would piece together the tale for the headmaster.

I don't like to push any theories out there. But from what we're told, these are possibilities.

[Doggy]

Dumbledore, just like Voldemort, has spies. I'm pretty sure that what happened was that X (the Death Eater who overheard the prophesy) was thrown out in the middle by the bar man, for some yet unknown reason. Dumbledore didn't know X had listened. He may have had an idea that he was followed into the bar, but that was it.

Then a spy for Dumbledore (probably Snape) heard X telling Voldemort about the prophesy, and reports back to Dumbledore.

As to the prophesy being complete or not; this is something I've wondered about too. It would really give JKR a perfect loophole if she wants to surprise us in book 7. However, I do think that what Dumbledore's memory of Trellawny showed was what he heard - if he heard the whole thing is another question. Trying to tamper with a memory is probably very difficult, and it seems like a thing Dumbledore wouldn't do.

[tk_ravenprime]

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HELLO FELLOW FANS....
I had originally posted this elsewhere under my thread and I was refered to post here instead. I want to apologize for not doing a better key word search.

I am using as reference the harry potter (HP) books US version, paperback, except for Order of the Phoenix. I am abbreviating the book titles in order of print SOR, COS, POA, GOF, PHX. When I write "POA 12", I am refering to prisoner of azkaban, chapter 12. I have been privately messaged that using initials is not very accepted, so I will use names for most persons being talked about. I however use HP for harry potter and Dd for dumbledore. that said....


LORD VOLDERMORT AND THE PROPHECY

You have to see how when Dd tells harry in PHX 37 that he is going to tell him everything, you get the sense of just how slippery the word "everything" really is with Dumbledore...

what he tells harry is *about the prophecy* *why that made him a target* *why he didnt give him lessons, but snape did* *why he wouldnt look at him* *and why he didnt make him prefect* thats not everything in the true sense of the word, that was only everything this year and not very much at that.

Dd DID NOT show harry the complete prophecy. Taking for granted the "..." means pauses during the time sibyll is talking, the prophecy is not repeating. the first line states "the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches"....this we take to mean that his time was near, since hp was about to be born.... the last line says "the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord...." and shes gone. I have not come to believe that it was repeating, but that she was going to say more about him (harry).

What I think she was going to say but didnt (JKR playing with us again and we love it):

>>that she was going to state his lineage (true gryffindor, possible slytherin), maybe even his blood line (from a family point of view). Yes she said "defied thrice" and Dd inerprets that for harry to mean after tom became voldermort...it could have easily meant on his rise to power, as he did take revenge on his father for past wrongs

>> she was possibly going to state his suffering (how his parents had died or would die, suffering at the dursley's).

>> Harry's special magical powers (powers the dark lord knows not). I believe that Harry is a natural animagus and perhaps even might become the gryffindor lion (just a guess on shape though, but it would be very cool). When talking to Dd, Harry tells him he could never fight like that and such. these are things JKR emphasizes as reverse psychology. these are things that HP defintely will do in book seven

>> Identify charms and attributes that are unique to Harry (immune to poisons perhaps?) In COS Harry fights the basilisk and fawkes cured him. In GOF harry faces off in the maze with the giant spider and we the fans are given to understand that the spider stung him with the poisonous tip. maybe since it was participating in the maze it didnt use a full poisonous dose, just enough to paralyze (like chelob in LOTR/ROTK) but we dont see that it had any effect on Harry as he not only finshed the maze, but was captured, fought LV and death eaters, returned and then still had to provide a report to Dd and Sirius before going to the hospital wing and seeing the healer. Seeing that, what else is harry capable of that he doesnt know but Dumbledore does? Maybe something else that he might consider to be a "burden"? for harry? count on it.


Dd uses 2 distinct phrases regarding the prophecy:
"on a cold night 16 years ago"....."born at the end of july NEARLY 16 years ago". This make me think that he heard the prophecy in May, not june...Does anyone else feel the same way after reading it? (phx 37, 840-1)

Also consider other information that we have received:

*Dd knew of the prophecy about 2 months b4 "the one with the power" was born (which still might not have been Harry OR Neville since lots of kids are born "as july dies") however voldemort didnot attack until harry was 15 months old (harry had to be 11 to enroll, and in sorcerer we know it took 10 years b4 he got his letter)
> why did voldemort take so long to attack, as half of the prophecy was heard the same day?

>What did Dd do for/to Harry during that one year? In GOF in his office Dd tells harry that voldemort "passed that particular barrier". This implies harry has more. Are they unique did or did he conjure them for harry's benefit?

>Did it really take Voldemort that long to hear that there was a possible prophecy out there about his downfall?

We know from Prisoner that the potters were in hiding, but the longbottoms arent mentioned as being in hiding. Sure dumbledore had a shrewd idea who it could be (neville, or harry) but since neither one was "marked by the dark lord as an equal" at the time, why dont we hear that the longbottoms were being protected? My personal theory is b/c LV knew that the potters were family to Dumbledore, and by killing them he might make Dd act rashly or stupidly and expose himself as an easy target. He didnt anticipate harry was well protected on his own. OOOPS.

This is it for part one....more later.

[onetruegryffindor]

remeber if someone hadn't eavesdropped on the prophecy then it couldn't have come true because voldemort wouldn't have known what was going on. the fact that he was thrown out and didnt hear the rest of the prophecy was also important because otherwise he wouldn't have gone after Harry. you see, its a bit of a paradox in a strange sort of way

[Jaredd]

Dumbledore, just like Voldemort, has spies. I'm pretty sure that what happened was that X (the Death Eater who overheard the prophesy) was thrown out in the middle by the bar man, for some yet unknown reason. Dumbledore didn't know X had listened. He may have had an idea that he was followed into the bar, but that was it.

Then a spy for Dumbledore (probably Snape) heard X telling Voldemort about the prophesy, and reports back to Dumbledore.



Ah, but this is 16 years in the past and Snape wasn't hired on as potions master until 14 years (after the Voldemort attacked Harry and failed). We know that Snape turned to Dumbledore before the attack, but how far? He could still have been a loyal Death Eater at that time.

What I'm most interested in is who overheard the prophecy? My money's on Snape.........there's alot we still don't know about his involvement in the whole Potter incident.

[SnorkackCatcher]

Perhaps the eavesdropper was Voldemort; I mean no one is going to be capable of putting a memory charm on him without some form of handicap given back to the caster, such as death.
No way. No-one's going to be capable of throwing him out either ... Also, if Voldy had turned up at the pub personally, Dumbledore would probably have noticed something (such as panicked screams coming from the bar as the patrons rushed to get out of the way).

Even though the eavesdropper may have been thrown out of the pub, for Dumbledore to know this, his attention must not have been 100% on the prediction at the time. So he could have missed out something very important.
Nope, DD could also know this simply by being told about it later (by the person who threw out the eavesdropper, or by someone who had come into possession of the information the eavesdropper had). There's no suggestion that he did the throwing out, and the language used suggests he didn't.

The other prediction that Professor Tweny makes is not disjointed at all when she went into that trans during PoA; it flowed fluently, which make me suspicious of the prophecy.
There were gaps in the PoA prophecy though - after the first sentence, and in the last one, obviously intended to indicate Trelawney pausing. The OotP prophecy reads much the same way.

If something was missing then where about would you think it should be placed into the prophecy. I was looking at it and really there are two places that might be only a part sentence because they start with And suggesting something came before it because in the English language you never start a sentence with and.
Maybe not according to the formal books of grammar, but in ordinary everyday written English it's not uncommon. And it doesn't really cause any confusion. And in spoken English, it's even commoner. And the prophecy was given in the form of speech, not written down.

The born as the seventh month dies....and the Dark Lord part sentences do not make sense nor form proper sentences, it is the same for the next sentence as well. They are too disjointed and don't follow on from each other. I could not say what could go in between those two sentences though. Perhaps the prophecy actually told Dumbledore what that power was because he seems to know what it is but is reluctant to tell Harry.
Well, they read just fine to me. That whole structure with repeated "And"s seemed to have exactly the right cadences for me.

[tk_ravenprime]

hello fello fans
picko and sherlock both make good points
1> He was probably thrown out on general principle. Dd was interviewing for the divination position...this means he was the headmaster, or about to become headmaster. Considering he got a room (or maybe using the barman's office?? as we dont what type of room it was), they saw him loitering outside a closed door known to be occupied and tossed him like a salad. Afterall, Dd had been with the school already so he was well to everyone

2 >> If the guy was snooping for voldemort, the memory charm would not last forever once the person went missing and didnt report back properly...However a partial memory charm could be used to have voldemort THINK he got the whole thing and make it seem like a good plan to kill them now, not later.

Also consider the time span: this prophecy was heard around May (I believe) however the attack on harry doesnt take place until he is 15 months old (he received his letter 10 years after the death of his parents) So why did it take him that long? it could be that he was not a chronie and voldemort had to find out about the prophecy 2nd, 3rd hand and then track him down to listen to the prophecy....OR if you want to be really devious not being the chronie to the worst guy makes a good plan to be bait>>(and this is twisted) the memory charm is used, life goes on....once Dd thinks are ready he partially lifts the memory charm and lets "slip" that someone that overheard Dd has "memory problems"....What would voldermort think or do? He would think Dd was losing it since a memory charm had come partially undone, and now would be a good time to take care of it.....
lets compare

[RubberSoul]

Dd DID NOT show harry the complete prophecy. Taking for granted the "..." means pauses during the time sibyll is talking, the prophecy is not repeating.
For some reason the fact that Dumbledore doesn't have a complete record of the prophecy doesn't make sense to me. In Snape's worst memory, things were remembered that Snape couldn't have possibly seen, such as what James was drawing on his paper. So why couldn't a record of the entire prophecy be made, even if Dumbledore didn't hear all of it?

Also consider the time span: this prophecy was heard around May (I believe) however the attack on harry doesnt take place until he is 15 months old (he received his letter 10 years after the death of his parents) So why did it take him that long?
I think it might've taken Voldemort that long because maybe - just maybe - there hadn't been a wizarding family that had defied him three times as of yet. Perhaps when he finally attacked the Potters, he had finally run in with them and the Longbottoms three times.

[whizbang121]

It's in passive tense, which means the person who did the catching is not identified, so we have no idea.

Is this a prophesy thread? :evil:

Sherlock, watch the 'tense' stuff. I always get murdered for using tenses to back up an argument. :sigh:

[Dedalus]

I think that the damage was already done before Dumbledore even had a chance to act. The eavesdropper might have been booted out of the pub before Dumbledore knew they were even there, and perhaps Dumbledore was only told afterwards that someone was listening in on him, and then he wouldn't have been able to do a thing, especially if the person had already gone of and blabbed or if they were hard to trace.

I also think that the pauses in the prophecy mean nothing whatsoever. There were pauses in the one Harry heard ("Tonight ... before midnight ... the servant", etc) and it could just be the way in which the thing is said. I don't think Dumbledore would somehow miss these points, he wouldn't just keep rushing off then coming back seconds later several times, nor is his memory going or anything like that because memory doesn't go that selectively that you can remember snippets of sentences perfectly, but forget whole ones after that.

[whizbang121]

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HELLO FELLOW FANS....
I had originally posted this elsewhere under my thread and I was refered to post here instead. I want to apologize for not doing a better key word search.
keyword searches are tough. :agree: I'm not sure this is the right thread for this, but .....
-----

LORD VOLDERMORT AND THE PROPHECY


Dd DID NOT show harry the complete prophecy. Taking for granted the "..." means pauses during the time sibyll is talking, the prophecy is not repeating. the first line states "the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches"....this we take to mean that his time was near, since hp was about to be born.... the last line says "the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord...." and shes gone. I have not come to believe that it was repeating, but that she was going to say more about him (harry).
Interesting. Perhaps, we don't have the whole prophesy, but if we compare the form of Trelawney's first prophesy to her second in PoA (ch 16, pg 324, Am ed) , there are pauses between the phrases marked by .... and the last phrases are repeated earlier phrases. So perhaps this is not the best proof that Dumbledore did not reveal the entire prophesy. -----
What I think she was going to say but didnt (JKR playing with us again and we love it):
>>that she was going to state his lineage ... Yes she said "defied thrice" and Dd inerprets that for harry to mean after tom became voldermort...it could have easily meant on his rise to power, as he did take revenge on his father for past wrongs Well, while the Longbottoms might have been older than the Potters, Lily and James were only about 21 when Harry was born. Voldemort was born in 1927, so he would have been 53 in 1980 and in his early 30s when the Potters were born. They could only have defied him thrice after that. He was calling himself Lord Voldemort before he left school.
-----

>> Harry's special magical powers (powers the dark lord knows not). I believe that Harry is a natural animagus and perhaps even might become the gryffindor lion (just a guess on shape though, but it would be very cool). When talking to Dd, Harry tells him he could never fight like that and such. these are things JKR emphasizes as reverse psychology. these are things that HP defintely will do in book seven I'm lost. Are you saying that in book 7, Harry will become an animagus and fight like ...... ???

-----
>> Identify charms and attributes that are unique to Harry (immune to poisons perhaps?) In COS Harry fights the basilisk and fawkes cured him. In GOF harry faces off in the maze with the giant spider and we the fans are given to understand that the spider stung him with the poisonous tip. maybe since it was participating in the maze it didnt use a full poisonous dose, just enough to paralyze (like chelob in LOTR/ROTK) but we dont see that it had any effect on Harry as he not only finshed the maze, but was captured, fought LV and death eaters, returned and then still had to provide a report to Dd and Sirius before going to the hospital wing and seeing the healer. Seeing that, what else is harry capable of that he doesnt know but Dumbledore does? Maybe something else that he might consider to be a "burden"? for harry? count on it.
This is very interesting. I'm not sure how it fits with Trelawney's prophesy, but the topic of Harry's ability to self heal is sometimes discussed. The iron bludger hit is another point that has been brought up. -----

Dd uses 2 distinct phrases regarding the prophecy:
"on a cold night 16 years ago"....."born at the end of july NEARLY 16 years ago". This make me think that he heard the prophecy in May, not june...Does anyone else feel the same way after reading it? (phx 37, 840-1) It was probably earlier than that because Trelawney tells Umbridge she'd been a Hogwarts nearly sixteen years before the first trip to Hogsmeade and well before Christmas.[QUOTE=tk_ravenprime]-----
Also consider other information that we have received:

*Dd knew of the prophecy about 2 months b4 "the one with the power" was born (which still might not have been Harry OR Neville since lots of kids are born "as july dies") however voldemort didnot attack until harry was 15 months old (harry had to be 11 to enroll, and in sorcerer we know it took 10 years b4 he got his letter)
> why did voldemort take so long to attack, as half of the prophecy was heard the same day? Good question. We don't know when Voldemort heard it though. We also don't know what else was going on at the time. too many unknowns.-----

>What did Dd do for/to Harry during that one year? In GOF in his office Dd tells harry that voldemort "passed that particular barrier". This implies harry has more. Are they unique did or did he conjure them for harry's benefit?I still question that Voldemort did pass that barrier, especially since in her last interview, JKR said that Voldemort did not get any of Wormtail's life debt to Harry from his arm. I wonder if he did get any of Lily's protection from Harry's blood? Lily's sacrifice which Dumbledore used as a bond of blood to perform the actual protective charm, only worked in the house where Harry's his mother's blood dwelt, Petunia's house. This is why after the dementor attack, Harry received a number of owls instructing him to stay in the house. This, of course raises the question of why quirrell couldn't touch Harry at Hogwarts. :eyebrows: But I suspect Voldemort would have been able to touch Harry in the graveyard anyway. Otherwise, why bother to send Harry back to Privet Drive at the end of the schoolyear?-----

>Did it really take Voldemort that long to hear that there was a possible prophecy out there about his downfall?

We know from Prisoner that the potters were in hiding, but the longbottoms arent mentioned as being in hiding. Sure dumbledore had a shrewd idea who it could be (neville, or harry) but since neither one was "marked by the dark lord as an equal" at the time, why dont we hear that the longbottoms were being protected? My personal theory is b/c LV knew that the potters were family to Dumbledore, and by killing them he might make Dd act rashly or stupidly and expose himself as an easy target. He didnt anticipate harry was well protected on his own. OOOPS.Interesting. We don't know much about this period. There was so much confusion. No one knew who to trust. And we really don't hear much about the Longbottoms at all.

[Spirit]

I don't think that Dumbledore was the one who threw the eavsdropper out of the Hogs Head. I think it was someone else. And by the time that happened, the eavsdropper probably got away.

[Alastor D]

Who else than the barman would normally throw people out from a pub? The eavesdropper was perhaps disguised, as we know the Hogshead clientele frequently is.
Probably no-one ever knew whom to put a memory charm on.

I agree that the pauses don't prove that the prophesy was incomplete in any way. There were pauses in her second prediction too. And that one Harry heard himself. In full.

[rotsiepots]

Gah, hypothetical threads aren't my favourite form of discussion (no offence intended to anyone involved, but I just find the endless stream of "what ifs" frustrating).

I agree with Alastor D and others when they say that the "eavesdropper" was never identified and therefore couldn't have had their memory modified. The revelation about who this person was may be important to future books (a Death Eater in Hogsmeade -- I smell controversy!) so it was probably left out for a reason.

[tk_ravenprime]

HELLO FELLO FANS
by rubbersoul:
"For some reason the fact that Dumbledore doesn't have a complete record of the prophecy doesn't make sense to me."

I didnt explain well I think....I DO believe Dd does have/heard the complete prophecy. I dont think he told/showed harry ALL of it. He showed/told harry just enuf to explain the why he kept having visions on getting thru that door.

The rest of the prophecy will come into play in book 7... :cool:

all kidding aside...lets get ready...who has the popcorn?

[SilverStar]

I think DD is still hiding something from Harry. I think he did hear all of it, and he didn't tell Harry everything. Still.

I think the eavesdropper simply got away too quickly. They could easily have apparated.

I don't understand why the prophecy has to be kept secret!

[Nys]

Dumbledore has made it quite clear that the actions of people have greater causes. How was he to know that the prophecy being overheard would lead to James and Lily dieing... After all in he prophecy being overheard, the prophecy was forfilled...

[FluffyEarmuffs]

Maybe he was close to the eaves-dropper emotionally, so didnt have the heart to remove their memory. It could have been Aberforth, or if he has any children it could have been them.
I know this is not probable, but it is possible.

[atherella]

I think Bertha Jorkins showed that even a powerful memory charm can be broke by a powerful enough wizard.

[whizbang121]

Wormtail was already on Voldemort payroll. Maybe he was the eavesdropper.

[Mumps]

Lily's sacrifice which Dumbledore used as a bond of blood to perform the actual protective charm, only worked in the house where Harry's his mother's blood dwelt, Petunia's house. This is why after the dementor attack, Harry received a number of owls instructing him to stay in the house. This, of course raises the question of why quirrell couldn't touch Harry at Hogwarts.
I've often thought about this. Dumbledore sends Harry to Privet Drive every summer. If he gets some lingering protection then Voldemort shouldn't have been able to touch him in PS or GoF. So what if he doesn't? What if it only takes effect while he's in the house? Hence all the letters.

As for why Quirril couldn't touch Harry. Well what happens before he faces Quirril? Hermione hugs him! This sort of ties in with the love thread, but if Harry's weapon is indeed love then it might explain a few things.

The House: Dumbledore says he used a lot of charms to give Harry the greatest protection he could. By the sound of things, this strongest protection (His mother's blood) only takes effect while he's in the house.
At Hogwarts, Dumbledore's there! Voldemort probably wouldn't consider attacking Harry while Dumbledore's around. Dumbledore could probably protect Harry himself at Hogwarts; he manages to in the DoM.

Then when Hermione hugged Harry (I.e. shown love) that might have triggered some sort of protection spell of Dumbledore's. Then he is able to attack Quirril.
I also think that Dumbledore's arrival is very convienient, also it seems strange that they are trying to keep the stone secure, yet 3 first year students can get it! I think that says something about the level of security! :huh:

In CoS it might have been some kind of loyalty protection? I don't know? Or Harry just has a habit of surviving.

PoA, Harry falls off his broom, caught by Dumbledore. Hermione has been crying her eyes out. Obviously very traumatised by this she's showing love to Harry (of the caring kind ;) ...platonic, if you want to use such a dangerous word!). Although she's had no physical contact with him. She might have touched him while he was in the hospital wing thought.
When he fights the Dementors Harry (the non-timeturnered one) has Hermione next to him. They "made a wall around Harry and Hermione" (aren't they after Sirius).

We know that Dementors can't see, they can sense emotion. Hermione and Sirius often have the same opinions and they both care alot about Harry. Could the dementors have been fooled into thinking she's Sirius? They make a wall around Harry and Hermione, could it be that they can't make up their mind who's who?

Sirius passes out first. He has injuries and he is the one the dementors are looking for, so they focus on him. Hermione could have had similar emotions to Sirius: fear (duh! They're Demetors!), care for Harry...etc. So the demetors are tricked into thinking that Hermione is Sirius. They focus their soul-and-happiness-sucking on her, and she passes out next.
Harry is the only one left conscious and possibly now has the strongest emotions, plus he might have slightly happy ones (he's trying to summon a patronus); the Demetors might have been fooled again. They now assume that Hermione/Sirius has stepped sideways and mistake Harry for Sirius. So now they focus on Harry and he finally passes out, but there's no one else to take the dementor's attention, so they think he's Sirius and try to perform the "kiss". And now that their efforts are focused on Harry he, guess what?, passes out! But not before seeing himself.

GoF: He has no contact with Hermione directly before the match (the champions are taken away first), so this might prevent Dumbledore's love/caring protection. Ron isn't exactly loyal after the previous events, so this might prevent some kind of loyalty protection.
He's not at Privet Drive, and so negating the blood/love protection.
So when he faces Voldemort he has no protection. So Moldy-Voldy can touch him. He thinks he's got past this protection but he hasn't. This might explain Dumbledore's "look of triumph".

Harry seems to have quite a few miraculos escapes too. And often Hermione is there. Perhaps this is the love/caring protection. When Ron is there too he might have the loyalty protection and so he has stronger protection with both his friends.

Of course, this is complete speculation and the fact he fought Quirril might have nothing to do with this.
It might be the potion he took. I think Harry felt hiself going cold when he drank it. After he went through the fire he wasn't cold, i.e. he's absorbed the heat/fire.
I think when he touch Quirril he blistered his skin, and human skin blisters if you put it in a fire (You can try that if you want, but I wouldn't reccommend it :p )

Wormtail was already on Voldemort payroll. Maybe he was the eavesdropper.
If so, then why a year to kill the Potters? Strange, perhaps there might have been more to this prophecy. At first maybe Voldemort dissmissed it as being complete rubbish. But then some other parts in the prophecy came true making Voldemort realise that it might be real.
Of course it could just be that Wormtail really was the evesdropper, but he didn't realise the information would be important. Similar to Bertha Jorkins. Voldemort tells us that Wormtail didn't realise she would have useful information.

It might be that Voldemort said something and Wormtail told him, not realising the value of the information. It is the reason Voldemort attacked.

Anyway....just my two knuts! :)