Snape didn't kill DD with AK!! And here's the evidence...

[lebeto033]

No: HPFGUIDX 138643

merpsiren:
 
 I was amazed when I read this from Valky... and really think
 everyone should read it carefully! Every previous description of AK
 is an instant death... so why not this one agaisnt DD? 
 <snips of the quotes to support the theory, which could be read UPTHREAD>
 Harry and the Death Eaters saw exactly what Dumbledore wanted them to
 see.  
<snip>
Blasted into the air???  Fall slowly over the battlements?  What
 happens to Dumbledore doesn't resemble the Avada Kedavra at all.  It
 rather appears that Dumbledore is transported either under his own
 power, or with the abilites of a non-verbal Snape spell... and then
 SLOWLY lowered off of the tower.  If Dumbledore was really hit with an
 AK... he should have died instantaneously and crumpled atop the
 tower... and at the same time the spell DD had cast on Harry
 immobilizing him, should have also instantaneously released him.  As
 Valky noted, it is only when DD is out of sight that Harry is
 released.  It could be argued that DD died as a result of the potion
 he drank combined with the fall off the tower, or you could believe
 that once out of sight of his "audience" he was able to release Harry
 to report the "death" he had just witnessed.



lebeto:

    Now for me to play devil's advocate.  If Snape were truly evil
then the expression on his face was rage and perhaps his anger fueled
the AK and blasted Dumbledore.  Every other instance is to kill
someone considered by the caster to be a lesser: a muggle, a "spare",
and two animals.  There is no real emotion behind the spell which we
know is important to spells such as the Patronus and perhaps an AK.  

    As for the slow fall I just assumed it was like the movies...in a
dramatic moment such as the death of an important character it nearly
always appears in a slow action.  I assumed that it was the way Harry
saw it and everything seems to be in slow motion but in reality he
just fell.

    And for the final point, I'm not sure but does it say anywhere
that one needs to be alive for their spell to work.  I thought it was
a time based thing.  For instance, in the first book when Hermione
hits Neville with the Petrificus Totalus I believe it runs off after a
certain amount of time otherwise she needs to keep concentrating on
having Neville frozen long enough for them to get to Fluffy's room.

Lebeto.