Author's Note: Okay, this is more of an essay rather than a drabble, alternate scene, or a brief selection on a certain character's thoughts. It's on the "power the dark lord knows not" that Harry is supposed to have to use on Lord Voldemort. Thanks to Rocky 235, Maegmel, and Mio Granger who reviewed! Blows them all a kiss It's much appreciated!

As soon as the prophecy was revealed to readers in the Harry Potter fandom, speculation ran rampant. Theories, essays, and columns on prominent Harry Potter fan sites have devoted plenty of time to trying to figure out the mystery of this power, and so far most people seem to agree that it has to be something involving love. The sacrifice Lily made to save her son is usually somehow involved in most of these theories.

However, this doesn't quite bode well in my stomach. First of all, 'the power of love' is so cliche that I highly doubt JK Rowling would use it as a plot device. There are so many things, in my opinion, that's wrong with this explanation, and a lot of the reasons don't have anything to do with it 'feeling bad' in my stomach.

Pg. 841, Order of the Phoenix

'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defined him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…'

Dumbledore, several pages later, describes this power to Harry in this manner.

Pg. 843-844, Order of the Phoenix

'There is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there.'

'It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.'

Alright then, thanks for clearing that up Dumbledore. Now, I know that it seems safe and easy to assume that this power is love. It's a predictable and feasible answer as well, however, that is part of the reason why I think this power is something else. JK Rowling is a brilliant writer, obviously, which is why her books have done so well in the market. Her story doesn't contain the typical Herculean god hero with the perfect blonde hair, shiny teeth, and dazzling blue eyes. (No, she gave us Lockhart for that!)

Which of course, leads one to believe that our favorite author, in fact, detests this kind of hero enough to make a likeness of one in the form of an easily detestable (not to mention shallow) villain in one of the books. Harry is the underdog in the story, which is why we all like him so much, because he's not perfect. He's not Mr. Suave with the girls he happens to like. ("Wannagobawime?" – Harry's way of asking Cho to the ball in the fourth book. Oh yeah. Really smooth.)

I'm slightly digressing, but case in point: JK Rowling loves to lead us around, chasing things that, in the end, have zero importance. (Anyone remember Mark Evans?) She's not the type of author to be obvious. Why on earth would she spend five books, and over 1000 pages building up to a moment when the secret is finally revealed, only to have one of the most intriguing parts of that secrets be easily apparent to even the most rudimentary of readers?

It doesn't add up to her pattern of writing thus far, because otherwise she wouldn't be getting so much pleasure out of screwing around with the heads of all the shippers in the Harry Potter fandom by being vague enough to give everyone a little grain of a hint that might lead somewhere. She's good at giving 'non-answers' to all the important questions and she wouldn't avoid answering them if they weren't important to theending.

So what is a reader to do with this information? Well, since this argument alone isn't nearly enough to disprove the "Power of Love" theory, there must be other evidence, correct? Well of course there is! I wouldn't base my beliefs on one theory!

Pg. 652, Goblet of Fire

"Voldemort raised one of his long white fingers and put it very close to Harry's cheek. 'His mother left upon him the traces of her sacrifice…This is old magic, I should have remembered it, I was foolish to overlook it…but no matter. I can touch him now."…. "I miscalculated, my friends, I admit it. My curse was deflected by the woman's foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself."

Clearly, Voldemort knew before hand that he needed Harry's blood to resurrect himself a body. He says as much to Wormtail several pages previous, and although Voldemort could have gotten any witch or wizard to supply him with blood, he specifically wanted Harry's. Why? Because then, as he says, he would have the protection of the sacrifice as well. He'd be able to touch Harry without having a physically painful reaction to it.

So, if Voldemort knew that he needed Harry's blood so the protection could extend to him, this would imply that Voldemort was informed of the power behind the sacrifice in the first place. Now, if you go back to the wording of the prophecy, it clearly states… "the power the dark lord knows not."

So, if Harry is supposed to have the "Power of Love" to vanquish Voldemort, and Voldemort isn't supposed to know about it, wouldn't that imply that the whole deal with Lily is completely irrelevant now? Voldemort clearly knew plenty about the sacrifice, and the power that it gave Harry. Now, Harry doesn't have that power anymore, Voldemort cancelled it out when he used Harry's blood to resurrect himself….how could it possibly be the 'power that he knows not,' if he knows what it is?

The idea that love can defeat Voldemort is not an original one, and plenty of other novels have played around with the idea that 'love conquers all'. The point is, is that the prophecy doesn't mention anyone else being involved with this power. It only speaks of Harry, and Harry alone.

"...and he will have the power that the Dark Lord knows not..." There's no mention of anyone else besides Harry or the Dark Lord in the prophecy.

This is also the problem: Harry has to go back to Privet drive every summer to 'renew' this protection, so Dumbledore says. Implying that after awhile, it doesn't work anymore. Otherwise, why should it have to be renewed? Once Harry becomes of age, he won't have anything, legally, to keep him from leaving the Dursley's permanently, anyway.

So, assuming that Harry is going to be at least 17 or 18 when he has the 'final' battle with Voldemort, wouldn't this so called 'love protection' that Lily left him be null in void, because legally the Dursley's don't have to keep him anymore? The sacrifice Lily made was to protect her child, and clearly, when someone reaches a certain age, they aren't a child anymore.

Okay then, so he would have to get this love (if this was the power) from another source.

It could come from almost anyone, because many people love Harry. How would a sacrifice out of love give Harry power?

Plus, we already know that Lily's sacrifice didn't really work in the long run, did it? If it had, then Voldemort wouldn't have been able to be reborn in the first place. Voldemort still existed in the form of a spirit, and inhabited the bodies of animals until he found Quirrell in the Albanian forests. This proves that the 'sacrifice out of love' theory didn't work the first time (completely) and so it most likely won't work again.

Voldemort is intelligent enough, after all he went through, to take precautions against any 'old magic' involving a sacrifice of some sort. Especially considering how close something like that brought him to death, he most likely went and studied it to make sure nothing of that nature would ever be tried, semi-successfully or otherwise, ever again.

If by some chance this does happen (someone dies for Harry) where would the power come from? His anger at their death? He would perhaps be enraged to the point where he felt like revenging that person's death.

However, as Bellatrix explicitly told Harry in the Department of Mysteries, you need to truly enjoy watching someone be in pain to use the Cruciatus Curse effectively. Self-righteous anger doesn't cut it, and I'm betting the same goes for any kind of unforgivable curse.

Harry's anger at someone's death wouldn't be enough to fuel a spell like that enough to be effective. Not to mention that if it's someone Harry truly cared for that did this for him, he would most likely be in no condition to fight Voldemort, much less completely destroy him.

Also one problem with revenge: it goes against what JK Rowling's been saying in the series all along, and that's that people deserve a second chance. Dumbledore gave Professor Snape a second chance as well as many others, namely: Lupin, Hagrid, and Mundungus Fletcher.

He looked past their shadowy pasts and pervaded stereotypes and gave them a chance. Dumbledore isn't powerful because he loves he's powerful because he forgives. He has a heart.

Perhaps Harry will give Voldemort a second chance to redeem himself ? Maybe…maybe it's possible that the force contained within that room in the Department of Mysteries isn't love. Maybe it's forgiveness.