Snape's AK Failed!!!

[Richelle Votaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 134392

smartone564 wrote:

> Secondly, and the important stuff, is... SNAPE'S AK ATTACK ON
> DUMBLEDORE WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL.  For evidence, I recall the deaths we
> have seen from AKs: Cedric, the three Riddles, the Riddle's gardener
> (GoF),

All of these, with the exception of Cedric, were killed by Voldemort.  Who, 
it's assumed, is the most experienced at AKing people.  It's been argued 
before that he "assisted" Wormtail in killing Cedric as well.

>  and DD.  I exclude the Potters and others because we don't
> have accurate after-the-fact accounts.

Ah, but we do know that something left the house in ruins.  Though it's 
assumed to be the result of the backfiring AK.  An AK out of control, so to 
speak.

> dropped dead.  DD was blasted from the top of the Astronomy tower.
> Wait, excuse me?

It's already been said that it could've been the result of a limp body 
simply falling, so I'll skip that.  What we do know is that Snape definitely 
performed this AK on his own, with Voldemort no where around.  I think it's 
also safe to say that Snape's AK is a little out of practice.

Now take, for example, Sectumsempra.  Probably what we saw used on James in 
a controlled fashion in the Pensieve scene in OOP.  It got Snape's point 
across, but James's life clearly wasn't in danger from a cut on his face. 
When Harry used it on Draco it was totally out of control and could've 
killed him.  The difference in these two being, most likely, experience with 
the curse and knowing what to expect from it, which comes from experience.

The difference in the results of the AKs could've been just that simple. 
Voldemort is clearly more experienced and completely in control whereas 
Snape's AK, due to lack of "practice" was a lot wilder.

Richelle