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Even though many Wizarding families offered to adopt the orphaned infant, Harry was placed with the Dursleys for a particular reason. [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Lily Potter|Lily Potter's]] sacrificing herself to save her child created a magical shield that has safeguarded Harry from Voldemort. However, Harry must live in his mother's blood relatives' home to maintain the protection—that relative is [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Petunia Dursley|Aunt Petunia]]. Convinced Voldemort would return, Dumbledore's priority was to keep Harry safe. The [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Howler|Howler]] Petunia received was Dumbledore's stern reminder that she was obligated to protect Harry.
Dumbledore says aA [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Prophecy|prophecy]] madewas shortly before Harry's birth that Dumbledore says is the reason why Voldemort wants to kill Harry. Voldemort, however, never knew the entire prophecy, and was trying to retrieve the stored copy to learn its contents.
Dumbledore knows theThe prophecy's contents are known to Dumbledore because it was originally told to him. Sixteen years ago, Dumbledore interviewed [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Sybill Trelawney|Sybill Trelawney]] for the Divination position, meeting her at a pub in [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Hogsmeade|Hogsmeade]]. Although she was descended from a gifted Seer, she herself seemed minimally talented and Dumbledore declined her the post. As Dumbledorehe was about to leave, Trelawney fell into a trance.
Dumbledore then extractsExtracting a memory, andDumbledore places it in the [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Pensieve|Pensieve]]. Sybill Trelawney's veiled image rises, and in a [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Prisoner of Azkaban/Chapter 16|familiar harsh voice]] recites, ''"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..."''
DumbledoreAccording saysto Dumbledore, two boys fit the prophecy: Harry and [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Neville Longbottom|Neville Longbottom]], born days apart. Both Harry's and Neville's parents, who were Order of the Phoenix members, defied Voldemort three times. Voldemort probably attacked Harry because he is a half-blood like himself, and therefore considered him more dangerous; Nevillethan isNeville, a pureblood. By deliberately choosing Harry, Voldemort "marked" him as his equal, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. But Voldemort was only told the prophecy's first half. The second part predicted that the marked child would have powers that the Dark Lord could never know, and that one must die at the hand of the other, for both cannot live while the other survives. The power Harry possesses and Voldemort does not is love. Its power protected Harry from Voldemort's killing curse while ripping the Dark Lord's soul from his body. Dumbledore confirms that the prophecy means that either Voldemort or Harry must kill the other.
Finally, Dumbledore explains why Harry was not chosen to be a [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Major Events/Prefects|Prefect]]: "I must confess . . . that I rather thought . . . you had enough responsibility to be going on with."
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