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How had the Potters 'thrice defied him'?


I noticed this in another question:


Sybill Trelawney's 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 . . ."


Order of the Phoenix - Page 841 - US Hardcover



Is any indication as to which three times the Potters had defied voldemort?




Answer



There is no direct canon evidence of 3 cases, but this is what JKR had to say:


From "PotterCast Interviews J.K. Rowling, part one." PotterCast #130, 17 December 2007.



MA: What about the three times-- The thrice-defying of Voldemort?


JKR: Of James and Lily?


MA: Of Neville's parents. Well, James and Lily, too.


JKR: It depends how you take defying, doesn't it. I mean, if you're counting, which I do, anytime you arrested one of his henchmen, anytime you escaped him, anytime you thwarted him, that's what he's looking for. And both couples qualified because they were both fighting.
.
Also, James and Lily turned him down, that was established in "Philosopher's Stone". He wanted them, and they wouldn't come over, so that's one strike against them before they were even out of their teens.




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