Fake Wand = Fake Death

[bohcoo]

No: HPFGUIDX 136506

(All text quotes taken from HBP, American edition. Page numbers as 
noted.)

Thought I'd throw some thoughts into the discussion about Snape and 
Dumbledore. I'm still up in the air about this part of Book 6 and am 
not even convinced myself that these possibilities are feasible... 
but, thought it would be fun to discuss:

Has anyone considered the possibility that the wand used by Snape 
to "kill" Dumbledore might have been one of Fred's and George's fake 
ones?  These wands were introduced prominently and mentioned 
repeatedly for a reason -- yet they have not played much of a 
significant part in the plot so far. Fred's and George's considerable 
magical talents had been thoroughly established in other ways 
throughout the books; the fake wands in and of themselves weren't 
necessary to accomplish that. 

Could this version of events be possible: Snape yells the Avada 
Kedavra words to the heavens (which would be completely ineffective 
without a real wand), points the fake wand at Dumbledore, and hits 
him with a harmless green light beam and a built-in Wingardium 
Leviosa spell.("Amuse your friends, scare your enemies -- try one of 
our Wingardium Kedavra wands. By the time your attackers realize the 
trick, you will have had time to make a clean escape.")

After being hit, Dumbledore appears to be genuinely killed, flies up 
in the air and falls "over the battlements and out of sight" (page 
596) -- where, unseen, he transforms into a wasp or bumblebee or 
whatever his Animagus is -- and floats peacefully to the ground. 

Harry "had known there was no hope from the moment the full Body-Bind 
Curse Dumbledore had placed on him lifted, known it could have 
happened only because its caster was dead..." (page 608) 
Or, because Dumbledore himself released it as he landed gently on the 
ground and resumed his normal form. 

Later, Hagrid scoops Dumbledore up ("I would trust Hagrid with my 
life," Dumbledore says to McGonagall in the opening scene of SS) and 
takes him somewhere (not disclosed in the book, hmmm, big surprise) --
and Snape, still loyal to DD, comes back around later and gives the 
antidote for the cave potion.


Also, notice the similarity in these descriptions:

"Hating himself, repulsed by what he was doing, Harry forced the 
goblet back toward Dumbledore's mouth and tipped it..." (page 571)
"Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and 
hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face." (page 595)

These identical feelings of hatred and revulsion, in my opinion, were 
felt the same by Snape and Harry, not toward the man but rather 
toward the deed at hand.

However:  "Snape's face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was 
suffused with hatred just as it had been before he cursed 
Dumbledore." (page 604)

Poor old Snape. Up to his bat-like armpits in a wretched mess he 
truly never intended to step into.  Sucked into the Unbreakable Vow, 
forced to "kill" Dumbledore, forced to tolerate Draco's bratty and 
arrogant treatment of him all year so as not to blow his cover, 
forced to leave Hogwarts (in my opinion, his only true home), on and 
on and on -- literally risking his life to remain loyal to 
Dumbledore -- only to be called a coward by the kid of a peer he 
hated. Yep, that would pretty much infuse a bit of hatred into one's 
expression, albeit for entirely different reasons than the look of 
hatred on his face over Dumbledore's "execution" at his hand.

Of course, isn't it a shame we all couldn't believe Sirius was truly 
dead -- and discussed every possibility that he was actually alive, 
how that could have been accomplished, etc. Poor Jo. Can you see her 
reading our discussions about THAT being a fake death when it wasn't, 
knowing that she was planning a real fake death in a later book? So 
here, now, is Dumbledore, truly not dead, and we are right back where 
we were after Sirius passed through the veil. 

Kinda like Harry tells Ron the reason he didn't hand him a bezoar as 
the antidote to the poisons in Potions because "It would've just 
looked stupid if we'd both done it!" (page 380) I wonder if we stole 
her thunder?

And lastly, the ta-da statement of the entire book:

"He cannot kill you if you are already dead." (page 591)

Just some thoughts that swirled to the surface,
bohcoo