Faking Sirius' Death?

[Eustace_Scrubb]

No: HPFGUIDX 91566

:: Entropy :: started us all thinking by saying:
<all but the battle discussion snipped>
Of course, we are all aware of the mysterious second
curse. We all know that Bellatrix cast the first, which Sirius
dodged. But then "the second jet of light hit him squarely in the
chest." Not "Bellatrix's curse", not even a "green jet" which would
surely be an AK and would seal Sirius' fate. Just "a second jet".
Given that Dumbledore has already appeared, and all of the Death
Eaters except for Bellatrix have begun to run for it, who is it that
took the time to stop running from Dumbledore to cast a curse at
Sirius while he was already being held off by Bellatrix? Perhaps it
wasn't one of the Death Eaters, but an OOP member, simply giving
Sirius a convenient nudge.

Eustace_Scrubb whines gratingly:

Although JKR has not specifically attributed "the second jet of light"
to Bellatrix, the circumstantial evidence certainly suggests it was
her: 

First, "Only one pair was still battling", Sirius and Bellatrix.

Second, Sirius taunts Bellatrix after she missed the first time,
practically begging her to try again, something that would certainly
enrage her.

Now, as to what curse it was that hit Sirius and propelled him through
the veil...
1) we know that the first jet was red, but the second jet's color is
not mentioned; 
2) We do know what Sirius looked like after he was hit by the second
jet:  "his eyes widened in shock...Harry saw the look of mingled fear
and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face"
3) Sirius did not speak after the curse hit him, he fell straight
back, which happened to mean that he fell through the veil.

Do we know of any curses that have the result that is described here?
Well, we know that the Riddle family was found dead "with their eyes
wide open" by the servants and that the medical examiner recorded that
"each of the Riddles had a look of terror upon his or her face - but
as the frustrated police said, whoever heard of three people being
frightened to death?" (GOF Chapter One)
We also know that after Cedric was killed, Harry saw "his open gray
eyes, blank and expressionless as the windows of a deserted house, at
his half-open mouth, which looked slightly surprised."

The curse that resulted in wide-open eyes, a look of shock, fear
and/or surprise and results in immediate death, is Avada Kevadra.

We know that Bellatrix is very capable at Crucio.  I imagine that she
could do AK as well, although I can't remember any killings
specifically attributed to her.  

If Sirius had fallen where anyone had been able to look at his body,
it certainly seems likely that he would have had the classic AK
victim's expression on his face:  eyes wide open, shock, fear,
surprise.

Now this all makes sense to me, but I'm aware that there are gaps in
what we've been told that lead us to question the evidence:  why
didn't JKR tell us the jet was green?  Why didn't we hear the dramatic
cry of "Avada Kevadra" from Bellatrix?

I'd guess that it's the combination of the chaos in the room, the
arrival of Dumbledore drawing attention from everything else and the
fact that we're seeing this from Harry's POV--he's exhausted,
overstimulated and cannot possibly take in each detail--and perhaps
would have blocked this out anyway.

>From JKR's POV, I'd propose that she _wants_ us all to wonder whether
Sirius is "properly dead" or not, and had we seen green light and
heard "AK" we'd have no reason to doubt.

Now, all this still leaves the mystery of the veil to figure out, but
I've been rambling too long anyway.

Eustace_Scrubb