Possibilities surrounding Nonverbal spells (esp. re: Snape w/ DD)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 134514

SSSusan:
> All of this raises an even greater question for me, re: Snape on
> the astronomy tower with DD.  And here is that question: IF one is 
> accomplished at performing nonverbal spells, is it possible to 
> perform a nonverbal spell while *simultaneously* speaking the 
> incantation for another spell?  IOW, can a highly talented wizard 
> manage to concentrate so hard upon a nonverbal incantation, that
> he SUCCEEDS at it, even while speaking another spell which does
> NOT come to fruition?

Jen: I agree Snape is probably extremely gifted with nonverbals. 
Learning nonverbals sounds similar to learning Occlumency and 
Legilimency--close your mind, focus your intentions.

Incidentally, I loved the scene where Snape is still trying to teach 
Harry a few last important lessons as he escapes from Hogwarts. That 
moment alone made me think Snape was not really evil. I'm sure some 
fans read this as one last chance for Snape to sneer & degrade, but 
it had echoes of an emergency Occlumency lesson to me ;).

And the scene tells us how powerful Snape is! He *knows* the spell 
Harry is about to cast nonverbally when he attempts the Levicorpus.

But back to your thoughts, Susan. I guess I'm leaning toward no, 
that a wizard can't perform one spell while nonverbally casting a 
different one. I say that for two reasons:

1) An Unforgiveable curse especially would require immense 
concentration. Even if smaller curses could be cast at the same 
time, I don't think an AK could.

2) During the fight bwetwen DD and LV in the MOM, we don't see 
either of them cast two spells/curses at the same time. I'd think 
we'd see it if it was possible.

But that does lead to a thought from Cory in #134510:
> Because we know that Snape is proficient at performing nonverbal 
> spells, we can assume that he *could* have performed the AK 
> nonverbally if he had chosen to do so.  I assume the reason why he 
> spoke the incantation is because he wanted the Death Eaters who 
were 
> present to *know* that the spell he performed was, in fact, an 
AK.  
> Alternatively, JKR may have wanted *us* to know that the curse was 
> an AK, thus eliminating any doubt as to whether Dumbledore is 
> really, truly dead.

Jen: We do have canon for performing an AK nonverbally! Voldemort 
casts several AK's silently at DD in the MOM battle. All we see is a 
green light. And I'd say he's definitely casting an AK because he 
asks Dumbledore, 'what, you do not seek to kill me'? He definitely 
expects that if he's attempting to AK Dumbledore, then DD would do 
the same. 

Sneaky!Dumbledore--now we know why he didn't attempt to kill 
Voldemort.

SSSusan:
> Not saying I buy this at all.  Actually, I'm in the camp which 
> believes Snape was following DD's orders in killing him – to 
> simultaneously save Draco from murder, release DD into the death 
> which was coming anyway from the potion, and to save Snape from 
> breaking his Unbreakable Vow.  But many of us suspect some mutual 
> legillimency in that brief stare between DD & Snape.  Could there 
> have been instruction to Snape about what to do in that moment?  I 
> like the possibility of this.

Jen: I'd like to think in that last moment, Dumbledore was reminding 
Snape to take care of Harry ;-). Wouldn't that be the kicker? 
Dumbledore leaving Snape as one last protection for Harry, who 
absolutely hates Snape with all his heart now. Snape will never be 
free from the Potter men until he dies. And to top it all off, DD 
never explained any of it to Harry. "Mistakes of an old man" rising 
up to bite him in the butt again?

Jen, who was guilty of saying 'this is Harry's story, let Snape go 
go play in his dungeon,' only to find out this is actually Snape's 
story, too.