Bang! You're dead.

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 86492

> Carol:
> That's the crucial question for me also, the one I've been trying 
to answer here. Why are they unforgiveable, and, if so, unjustified 
under any circumstances if we're going to maintain the 
distinction between Good and Evil that JKR so often mentions in 
her interviews.<

I don't think it's a coincidence that the three curses deprive one of 
three basic human rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness. (The Declaration of Independence has roots in the 
Scottish Enlightenment, so this analysis does not require JKR to 
have  American values.)

Carol:
> What I need and don't have is an example of Avada Kedavra 
used as self-defense. < 

Perhaps the relationship between being unblockable and being 
unforgiveable is that AK *can't* be used in self-defense. Maybe 
you have to perceive your target as at your mercy in order to work 
the spell. 

That would explain why Impostor!Moody is quite sure 
that a room full of fourth years couldn't make AK work on him, 
why it's so astonishing that a baby could defeat the AK, and the 
significance of the chapter title, "The Only One He Ever Feared."

Perhaps Voldemort fails to kill Dumbledore despite shooting 
several supposedly unblockable AK's because Voldemort  
fears Dumbledore so much that he can't convince himself that 
Dumbledore is at his mercy, even when he, Voldemort, has a 
clear shot.

Pippin