Sorry to butt in. But this is a direct quote from HBP, and in regards to the prophecy I think this is important that everyone read this.
"But Harry, never forget that what
the prophecy says is only significant because Voldemort made it so. I told
you this at the end of last year. Voldemort singled you out as the person who
would be most dangerous to him -- and in doing so, he made you the person
who would be most dan-gerous to him!"
"But it comes to the same --"
"No, it doesn't!" said Dumbledore, sounding impatient now. Pointing at
Harry with his black, withered hand, he said, "You are setting too much
store by the prophecy!"
"But," spluttered Harry, "but you said the prophecy means --"
"If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been
fulfilled? Would it have meant anything? Of course not! Ho you think every
prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy has been fulfilled?"
"But," said Harry, bewildered, "but last year, you said one of us would
have to kill the other --"
"Harry, Harry, only because Voldemort made a grave error, and acted on
Professor Trelawney's words! If Voldemort had never murdered your father,
would he have imparted in you a furious desire for revenge? Of course not!
If he had not forced your mother to die for you, would he have given you a
magical protection he could not penetrate? Of course not, Harry! Don't you
see? Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere
do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All
of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be
one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different!
Always he was on the lookout for the one who would challenge him. He
heard the prophecy and he leapt into ac-tion, with the result that he not only
handpicked the man most likely to finish him, he handed him uniquely
deadly weapons!"
"But --"
"It is essential that you understand this!" said Dumbledore, standing up
and striding about the room, his glittering robes swooshing in his wake;
Harry had never seen him so agitated. "By attempting to kill you, Voldemort
himself singled out the remark-able person who sits here in front of me, and
gave him the tools for the job! It is Voldemort's fault that you were able to
see into his thoughts, his ambitions, that you even understand the snakelike
language in which he gives orders, and yet, Harry, despite your privileged
insight into Voldemort's world (which, incidentally, is a gift any Death Eater
would kill to have), you have never been se-duced by the Dark Arts, never,
even for a second, shown the slight-est desire to become one of Voldemort's
followers!"
"Of course I haven't!" said Harry indignantly. "He killed my mum and
dad!"
"You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!" said Dum-bledore
loudly. "The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power
like Voldemort's! In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the
suffering, you remain pure of heart, just as pure as you were at the age of
eleven, when you stared into a mir-ror that reflected your heart's desire, and
it showed you only the way to thwart Lord Voldemort, and not immortality
or riches. Harry, have you any idea how few wizards could have seen what
you saw in that mirror? Voldemort should have known then what he was
dealing with, but he did not! But he knows it now. You have flitted into Lord
Voldemort's mind without damage to yourself, but he cannot possess you
with-out enduring mortal agony, as he discovered in the Ministry. I do not
think he understands why, Harry, but then, he was in such a hurry to mutilate
his own soul, he never paused to understand the incomparable power of a
soul that is untarnished and whole."
"But, sir," said Harry, making valiant efforts not to sound argu-mentative,
"it all comes to the same thing, doesn't it? I've got to try and kill him, or --"
"Got to?" said Dumbledore. "Of course you've got to! But not because of
the prophecy! Because you, yourself, will never rest until you've tried! We
both know it! Imagine, please, just for a moment,
that you had never heard that prophecy! How would you feel about
Voldemort now? Think!"
Harry watched Dumbledore striding up and down in front ol him, and
thought. He thought of his mother, his father, and Sinus. He thought of
Cedric Diggory. He thought of all the terrible deeds he knew Lord
Voldemort had done. A flame seemed to leap inside his chest, searing his
throat.
"I'd want him finished," said Harry quietly. "And I'd want to do it."
"Of course you would!" cried Dumbledore. "You see, the prophecy does
not mean you have to do anything! But the prophecy caused Lord Voldemort
to mark you as his equal. ... In other words, you are free to choose your way,
quite free to turn your back on the prophecy! But Voldemort continues to set
store by the prophecy. He will continue to hunt you . . . which makes it
certain, really, that --"
"That one of us is going to end up killing the other," said Harry. "Yes."