Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today, we'll be discussing why Lord Voldemort didn't attack the Longbottom family after the prophecy, which inevitably upended the life of Harry Potter.

As many of you will know, the trajectory of Harry's life was determined before he was even born. For, just weeks before his birth on July 31 in the year of 1980, a somewhat inadequate soothsayer named Sybill Patricia Trelawney provided the wizarding world with a prediction that would forever change the course of history. She gave an authentic prophecy, that would one day go on to become infamous, while meeting with Professor Albus Dumbledore at the Hog's Head Inn. After going into a trance-like state during the meeting, which was actually an informal interview for the Hogwarts' Divination teaching position.-

Based on Trelawney's appointment of the Divination Professor soon-after, it's believed that she made this prophecy in June of 1980 - mere weeks before the birth of Harry Potter.-

After Harry's birth, the reasons for Voldemort targeting the Potter family are rather easy to explain. Most obviously, Harry was born on July 31 - the end of the seventh month. As for the "born to those who have thrice defied him" bit - that's a bit less obvious. But we do know that Lily and James Potter - Harry's parents - were both asked to join the Death Eaters while at Hogwarts and turned down the invitations. They were also part of the original Order of the Phoenix, which means they would have been part of the missions to fight against Voldemort and his followers. As the war against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters was ongoing, they most certainly had many opportunities to defy Voldemort repeatedly.-

So, all of this adds up as to why Voldemort targeted the Potter family and believed Harry to be the wizard described in Trelawney's prophecy. BUT the real question is: why didn't he ALSO go after the Longbottoms?

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices