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The prophecy said that a child would have the "power" to kill Voldemort.

However, Harry Potter was average, and didn't kill Voldemort. Both times, it's Voldemort's own curse that rebounded. That wasn't because of Harry's power, but rather because of his mother's love the first time around, and the elder wand the second time around.

So what power did Harry have?

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  • The power was the wand?
    – Edlothiad
    Mar 14, 2017 at 20:11
  • Yes? It refused to kill its owner. That's a power.
    – Dame
    Mar 14, 2017 at 20:12
  • I mean, Dumbledore says it straight up: the “power the Dark Lord knows not” is love. Are we sure this is not a duplicate?
    – Adamant
    Mar 14, 2017 at 20:12
  • Done snd dusted
    – Edlothiad
    Mar 14, 2017 at 20:12
  • Yes, but it wasn't Harry Potter's love that did anything. It was his mothers. What did HP's love do? Nothing.
    – Dame
    Mar 14, 2017 at 20:13

1 Answer 1

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The power Harry had was love.

It wasn't all about killing Voldemort - it was about stopping him and his followers. Harry's sacrifice - walking wilfully into the Forbidden Forest to protect the defenders of Hogwarts - kept them safe them from Voldemort when he returned to the castle. Harry said this himself:

I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them.

The result of this was Voldemort, alone, his Death Eaters fled, killed or captured. At this point, Voldemort had lost. He had nothing left - no Horcruxes, nobody to fall back on. And the entirety of the Order of the Phoenix, countless other witches and wizards, and an army of centaurs was ready to tear out his throat.

The happy accident that gave Harry command of the Elder Wand was icing on the cake, and gave us the poetic justice of Voldemort killing himself, but that was irrelevant. He had already lost. The prophecy stated that Harry's power over Voldemort would allow him to defeat the Dark Lord, and that's exactly what happened.

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