Faked death or faked AK? (Was: The Truth about the 6th Harry Potter Book)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 137162

Pat wrote:
 <snip> 
> Avada Kedavra shouldn't have made Dumbledore fly up into the air.  
> It didn't do that to Cedric.  He just had a surprised look and fell, 
> with his eyes open.  Dumbledore's eyes were closed. Jo also 
> mentioned he fell out of sight.  
> 
> So this is what I'm thinking. You have to really mean the 
> Unforgivable Curses to do them, that has been mentioned several 
> times.  Snape is one of the strongest at Occlumency and Legilimency, 
> maybe the strongest if he's fooling Voldemort, so he has excellent 
> mind control.  In this book, the usefulness of not saying an 
> incantation was also stressed.  What if Snape was able to say Avada 
> Kedravra, not mean it, and instead do a non-verbal spell to send 
> Dumbledore up into the air.  Once out of sight, he could use a spell 
> or turn into something to get him safely to the ground where he 
> could play dead. <snip>
> 
> As far as the portrait appearing in the headmaster's office, they 
> had time to think to include that in the plan, and to plan the 
> funeral. At the funeral, the flames, followed by Harry thinking he 
> saw a Phoenix fly away, followed immediately by the table being 
> covered leaves me convinced that Dumbledore either flew away or 
> Disapparated during that.  Previously, whenever Harry "thought it 
> was as if", it was, so why should this one be different?
> 
> The barman of the Hogshead was mentioned as being at the funeral.  
> That would be Aberforth Dumbledore, no? That reminded me that Albus 
> and Aberforth looked somewhat alike.  Albus could pass himself off 
> as Aberforth, and continue to come and go from the Hogshead, as he 
> had already been doing. <snip>

Carol responds:
I think we're fooling ourselves if we don't believe that Dumbledore is
truly dead. Setting aside the devastated child readers who will have
suffered for nothing if he returns in a form other than his portrait,
we have the following evidence: The fact that Snape is still alive (as
he would not be if he's broken his vow) and Harry is released from the
freezing spell, Dumbledore's broken body at the bottom of the tower,
the portrait itself (only the portraits of dead headmasters hang in
that office, and DD's appeared magically at his death), Fawkes's
lament, the phoenixlike spirit or Patronus (belatedly) leaving
Dumbledore's body, the tomb closing over him at the end of the funeral
. . . . Dumbledore, we must remember, was already dying from the
Horcrux poison. Snape had no time or opportunity to cure him, whether
he wished to or not. He could not defend himself from Draco except by
words. He was slipping down the wall, helpless, unable even to summon
Fawkes to save him. It is impossible that either Slughorn or Aberforth
(both of whom are present at the funeral) could be impersonating him.
Neither of them could have entered the Pensieve with Harry, taken the
poison, and returned with him, sweeping aside the protections against
brooms as they flew toward the astronomy tower. Nor would Dumbledore
have allowed their bodies to be enclosed within a tomb bearing his
name. (As an aside, I do think we'll have a faked death in Book 7, but
it will be Harry's and will involve the Draught of Living Death.)

More important, I think, Harry comes to terms with death in the
funeral chapter, understanding at last that death is not the worst
thing that can happen, that death is the next great adventure. He was
not given the opportunity to say goodbye to Sirius, but seeing
Dumbledore honored by everyone from the centaurs to the merpeople (and
 hearing the glittering generalities by the man in black who seems to
be the WW equivalent of a minister minus the religious implications)
gives Harry the opportunity to remember Dumbledore as he really was.
Twice he smiles or laughs unexpectedly, remembering Dumbledore's
eccentric sense of humor. Harry *must* move on. He can no longer be
dependent on a mentor. He has to be essentially alone (except for Ron
and Hermione and eventually without even them) to confront Voldemort,
facing the very real possibility of his own death without fear or
hesitation, and he must understand what death is and is not in order
to do so. And the fearlessness that results from hatred and the desire
for vengeance will not do if his secret weapon is Love.

However, I absolutely agree that Dumbledore's death is not what it
seems. I am certain that he's truly dead (and so is Sirius, as JKR
reitierates in the funeral chapter) and that he will not return as a
ghost (since he's not afraid to face what lies beyond) or as a phoenix
(Fawkes, the only phoenix we know, is a bird, not an animagus, and he
is not Dumbledore). *But* it is highly probable that he did not die
from an Avada Kedavra, as Harry (who judges by appearances) thinks he
does. As you say, Snape is an expert at casting nonverbal spells, and
if anyone has the mind control to disguise another spell as an Avada
Kedavra, it's the Occlumen/Legilimens/potions and DADA genius Severus
Snape. Also, as you say, Dumbledore's eyes are closed and he does not
wear a surprised expression (like Cedric and the dead Riddles, all of
them killed by unquestionable AKs). Dead Dumbledore looks remarkably
like Portrait!Dumbledore, peacefully asleep. Again, as you say, the
spell Snape casts does not act like an Avada Kedavra. There is no
rushing sound, no flash of blinding light. When Cedric dies, Harry
feels ill and can't see. Nothing of the sort happens when Dumbledore
is hit by Snape's spell--only a green light (fake Avada Kedavra?) and
DD "blasted" into the air and falling backward limply like a rag doll,
rather than falling to the floor, instantly dead. Harry is not
immediately released from the freezing spell when Snape's supposed AK
hits DD in the chest. There is time enough for DD to fall from the
tower, close his eyes and compose his mind, and strike the ground. I
have argued in my post # 134666

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/134666 

that Snape's spell was a disguised Impedimenta, and I have seen no
arguments to convince me otherwise. In any case, JKR has gone to great
pains to contrast it with the Avada Kedavra that killed Cedric, and as
I noted earlier, to describe the effects of an Impedimenta only two
pages after Dumbledore falls from the tower.

The question for me is not whether Dumbledore is dead (I'm sure he
is), but why and how Snape killed him. Yes, he had no choice but to
kill Dumbledore or break his vow and allow Draco to be killed; kill
Dumbledore (who was dying anyway and could not be saved) or die
himself (which from Snape's perspective might well be the lesser of
two evils, the coward's way out). But there is more going on, as we
know from that last look exchanged between the two Legilimens. We
don't know--only Snape and JKR know--what passed between Snape and the
dying mentor who had loved and trusted him. Also, as someone on this
list has noted, Snape knows that Harry is present, in his invisibility
cloak, watching. His eyes have swept the room, and he would not have
missed the second broom, which the other DEs, not being overly bright
or observant, seem to have missed. He must guess that Harry has been
immobilized for his own safety, to keep him from interfering and being
killed by the Death Eaters that Dumbledore knew were coming. And, as
I've noted elsewhere, Snape's look of hatred and revulsion (so similar
to Harry's reaction to force-feeding DD the Horcrux poison) does not
occur until after he has looked into the dying Dumbledore's eyes. 

Things are not as they seem. This is not ESE!Snape casting an AK at
the hated Dumbledore (when have we seen any indication that he hated
Dumbledore) and unconcernedly carrying out a long-cherished desire to
murder him for "glory" and power. This is Snape, careful and
inscrutable as ever until the moment when his (self?)hatred and
revulsion (at the deed he must do?) are revealed on his face: Snape,
the actor. Snape, the double or triple agent whose loyalties still
remain in question. There is nothing black and white or obvious about
it, unless, like Harry, we see through the eyes of prejudice and
hatred. Without Snape, Ron would be dead. So would Katie Bell. And
Dumbledore would have died from the ring Horcrux rather than,
tragically and ironically for both of them, at Snape's own hand.

Why would Snape cast a *fake* AK (assuming that he did so) when a real
AK would have assured DD's death, assuming that Snape had the will to
cast one? (That he has the power to do so is beyond question.) Because
an AK is a Death Eater's curse. The DEs would expect him to use it and
he has to fool them into thinking that he's done so in order to
maintain his position as second in command. (That they already fear
and respect him is evident from the moment he enters the room.) But
casting something other than an AK would be a statement to Harry (who
fails to see it) and to himself that he is not a Death Eater. An AK is
also Unforgiveable (whatever the implications of that term may be),
unlike an Impedimenta, which can be used for good or evil and will not
automatically land its caster in Azkaban (or corrupt his soul in and
of itslef). By casting an Impedimenta that knocks the already dying
Dumbledore from the battlements, Snape fulfills the terrible third
provision of his Unbreakable Vow and remains alive to fulfill the
first and second provisions (helping and protecting Draco) and
maintaining his cover with the DEs (whom he hurries off the Hogwarts
premises). What else it accomplishes, we do not yet know, but JKR is
not done with Snape and has not (I hope) invested so much time and
effort into characterizing him only to shock us with his perfidy at
the end of HBP.

Harry himself is now sidetracked from his destined task of defeating
and destroying Lord Voldemort by a personal hatred and desire for
vengeance. But as Snape tells him (in his characteristically sarcastic
and arrogant way), Harry must not use the Unforgiveable Curses. He
must not let hatred and vengeance conquer him. He must not take the
path that Snape himself took as a youth, wherever his loyalties now
lie. He must not be tempted by the Dark Arts. He must remain pure, and
to do that, he must close his mind to anger and hatred and the desire
for vengeance. Love, not hatred, will conquer Voldemort. And Snape, I
think, knows this and is trying to convey this message to Harry, not
only in their confrontation near the end of HBPbut through the faked
AK. It's the final lesson that Harry must learn before he destroys the
Horcruxes and defeats Voldemort: Appearances can be and often are
deceiving. Dumbledore was right to trust Severus Snape.

Carol