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harry potter - Did Lord Voldemort know of Neville's status as a "possible other Prophecy boy"?


There were 2 boys who fit the prophecy - Harry Potter; and the other one - Neville Longbottom, as per the Prof. Dumblefore.


Lord Voldemort himself went after Harry Potter.


A little bit later, his main second in command (Lestrange) went after Longbottoms - supposedly, to torture them into revealing the location of disappeared Lord Voldemort.


Is there any support in the books for a possibility that it was just a cover, and instead it was meant to be a (failed) planned ahead hit on Neville the baby, as a backup to killing Harry Potter?



Answer



There are 2 reasons to reject this particular possibility (which is actually, as far as I can tell, a popular fandom conspiracy theory - see #2. Guess you were not the only one who found it logical for it to end up as a FAQ on JKR website :)




  1. During Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort asks about Neville (who he is) and basically treats him same as any other pureblood DA kid, not as a possible archnemesis. This is from the books, as you requested.





  2. Moreover, Word of God. JKR herself said so. From now-defunct "J.K.Rowling Official Site", FAQ area, "Section: Rumours":





The Lestranges were sent after Neville to kill him (rumor)


No, they weren’t, they were very definitely sent after Neville’s parents. I can’t say too much about this because it touches too closely on the prophecy and how many people knew about it, but the Lestranges were not in on the secret.


(source: WaybackMachine link)




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