Dumbledore and Unforgivables (was Re: Ghouls and Inferni)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 136265


> John K:
 But thing that bothers me about Dumbledore asking Snape to kill 
> him is that I don't think Dumbledore would /ever/ ask someone to 
> perform a Killing Curse on /anything/ for /any/ reason.  Doesn't he 
> say it's the supreme act of evil?  It tears the soul, which can 
> never be redeemed?

houyhnhnm:  

This reminds me of the argument over the meaning of the word "kill" in
the Ten Commandments.  Some say "Thou shalt not kill" proscribes any
taking of human life.  Some argue that it means "Thou shalt not
murder", murder being distinguished from killing.

I don't recall any statement in canon to the effect that committing an
unforgiveable damages the soul (other than Dumbledore's statement,
and, clearly, he is talking about murder); it only gets you sent up to
Azkaban. If Dumbledore has ordered Snape to kill him, then it wouldn't
really be murder.

Not that I think that Dumbledore just calmly told Snape, "Okay, you
got caught in a trap, but that's okay--just go ahead and kill me." 
That would be grotesque.  Or that he orchestrates things so that Snape
will have a better in with Voldemort, as some have suggested.  That
would be really grotesque.  More likely, Dumbledore realizes that his
pursuit of the horcruxes may cost him his life before the end of the
school year anyway, and the Draco plot may never come to a head.  He
make Snape promise *if and only if* Draco is at the point of
succeeding, Snape will step in to prevent Draco from becoming a killer.

And that is exactly what happens.

"'Draco, do it or stand aside so one of us--' screeched the woman, but
at that precise moment, the door to the ramparts burst open once more
and there stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand as his black eyes
swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to the four
Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf, and Malfoy.

"'We've got a problem, Snape,' said the lumpy Amycus, whose eyes and
wand were fixed alike upon Dumbledore, 'the boy doesn't seem to be
able--'" (p. 595, American scholastic Edition)

In other words, Snape appears on the tower exactly at the moment of
crisis, when Draco is either going to kill Dumbledore (we know he
can't do it by now, but Snape doesn't and neither do the Death Eaters)
or be revealed conclusively as unable to do it, and be killed, , along
with his mother, by Voldemort.