harry potter - What was the weapon Lord Voldemort was after in OotP?

In OotP, when Harry first arrives at the Blacks house, Sirius mentions to him that Lord Voldemort is after a very powerful weapon that he did not have the last time.

'What's he [Voldemort] after apart from followers?' Harry asked swiftly. He thought he saw Sirius and Lupin exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered.
'Stuff he can only get by stealth.'

When Harry continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, 'Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time.'

I never quite understood what they meant by this weapon? Did they mean Harry? How would that make sense, how could Harry be used as a weapon by Voldemort?

Answer

They mean the Sybill Trelawney's prophecy.

Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly before your birth. He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full contents. He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy. He discovered, to his cost, that he was mistaken, when the curse intended to kill you backfired. And so, since his return to his body, and particularly since your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that prophecy in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy you.

—Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter shortly after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries

Comments

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