"I came back ... After a fashion" (was: *When* did Dumbledore die?)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 145182


>Dave wrote:
> One thing has always puzzled me, and as it relates to the question
> of "When did Dumbledore die?", I'll put it in this thread:
> 
> What exactly does Dumbledore mean when, on the tower, he tells 
Draco,
> "I came back ... after a fashion" (HBP, US Ed. p. 590) -- Came back
> from what?  The cave?  And why only in a figurative sense?


Potioncat:
Well, if you ask me, DD is even slippier than Lucius. You never quite 
know what he's really talking about.

But let's look at this quote again:
>>>>"That's right," said Malfoy. "But she said you were just going 
for a drink, you'd be back..."
"Well, I certainly did have a drink...and I came back...after a 
fashion," mumbled Dumbledore.<<<


Draco pictures DD sitting at the bar, having a fire whiskey and 
returning to Hogwarts by the lane from the town. Of course, DD never 
planned to sit in a bar and have a normal drink. I doubt that he 
planned to have an abnormal drink, for that matter. 

But as it turned out, DD found himself forcing down a vile potion. He 
returned to Hogsmeade and wanted to send for Snape, but instead 
jumped on a borrowed broom and rushed back to the castle.

So, he had a drink and returned to the castle....after a fashion.