Can it be Impedimenta? Was: An AK Puzzle

[mt3t3l1]

No: HPFGUIDX 134690

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" wrote:
> I agree that there's something very strange about this AK. Not only 
is
> Dumbledore thrown into the air, but his eyes, in marked contrast to
> the Riddles' and Cedric's (in GoF), are *closed* and he looks 
(except
> for the odd angle of his limbs) "as if he might have been sleeping"
> (HBP Am. ed. 608)His eyes would not have been closed if he'd been
> killed by an AK, nor would he have worn a peaceful expression. He 
must
> have had time to close his eyes, to compose his thoughts and his
> expression, before he hit the ground and was killed by the fall. 
It's
> even possible that he died in midair, weakened by age and injury and
> exhaustion and poison but still a great wizard whose last act was to
> choose the moment of his death (which of course was inevitable and
> imminent in any case).
> 
> As for the spell, we know that Snape is an expert at nonverbal 
spells
> (he's been teaching them to his students all year) and we see him
> using them to deflect Harry's curses and hexes later in the chapter,
> so I rather like Valky's theory that he's thinking of some other 
spell
> as he casts the AK. (I don't think Occlumency would have been
> necessary, only that the spell be "nvbl.") She suggests a hover 
charm,
> but what about Impedimenta instead? It might block the force of the 
AK
> or even hinder it if he thought it before he spoke, and it might
> explain why Dumbledore was blasted into the air, as we've noted is 
not
> normal for a successful AK.

I've looked at some other instances of the use of Impedimenta, and it 
does seem to fit. For example, in OTP, Chapter 35. The members of DA 
are in the Department of Mysteries:


"Collo--" began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the 
door had burst open again and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling 
inside. With a cry of triumph, both yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!"

Harry, Hermione, and Neville were all knocked backward off their 
feet. Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view, 
Hermione smashed into a bookcase and was promptly deluged in a 
cascade of heavy books; the back of Harry's head slammed into the 
stone wall behind him, tiny lights burst in front of his eyes, and 
for a moment he was too dizzy and bewildered to react.


Impedimenta appears to knock the recipient backwards. If any damage 
is done, it happens when the recipient collides with something during 
that process. The curse is short-lived, and no countercurse is 
apparently needed afterward.

There is another element of Snape's AK curse which doesn't ring true. 
We see the green light, but we don't hear the rushing sound. When 
Voldemort killed Frank Bryce, it says, "There was a flash of green 
light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumpled. He was dead before 
he hit the floor." In the account of Snape killing DD we only see a 
green light, and there is no mention of a rushing sound.


On one hand, the question of whether Snape used an AK or a silent 
Impedimenta is irrelevant. The effect of the AK vs. the Impedimenta 
was the same--Dumbledore was murdered. On the other hand, we can hope 
that the use of a silent Impedimenta rather than a successful 
unforgivable curse is technically important in the Potterverse.

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