Why I'm not convinced DD is dead (long)

[gelite67]

No: HPFGUIDX 148348

I know others have offered their opinion on whether DD is dead.  
Since I'm iced in this weekend and can't go anywhere, I thought I'd 
offer mine (while the electricity in on!).  I hope I'm not merely 
repeating what others have said previously.

I will admit that I don't want DD to be dead. I'm tired of Harry 
losing people, period. I won't say for certain I believe DD's alive, 
but I'm not fully convinced that he's dead, for the following reasons:

First, simply because Snape pointed the wand directly at DD's chest, 
uttered the AK curse, and a green jet of light shot from his wand and 
hit DD in the chest doesn't mean the AK curse was actually and 
successfully performed.  Bella told Harry in OOP that you have to 
really mean an Unforgivable Curse.  IMO, Snape didn't want to kill 
DD.  

Second, I don't believe canon supports that ONLY the AK curse 
produces a green jet of light. I can easily envision some sort of 
scenario in which Snape, alone or acting with DD, could have produced 
a fake AK-curse with a green jet of light.  I know DD was wandless 
and weak (and I believe, dying), but surely the most powerful wizard 
of the age could have used a nonverbal spell without his wand. It's 
also possible that Snape performed a nonverbal spell at the same time 
the did he fake AK.  Especially given the emphasis that is placed on 
nonverbal spells in HBP, I really think this is a strong 
possibility.  It's also possible DD at some point had taken the 
Draught of Living Death (also emphasized for the first time since SS 
in HBP), but that the effect of the spell could only be activated by 
Snape performing the AK-type curse.  

In addition, nowhere else in the books did an AK curse blast someone 
in the air.  I suppose it could, like the disarming spell, if uttered 
with enough force.  But why have DD go over the rampart?  It just 
seems to fishy to me, like it was just done "for effect" and to keep 
anyone from immediately examining DD's body. Others have posted, 
noting that the Riddles, for example, died with their eyes open, as 
did Cedric.  DD's eyes were closed.  While the blood could have come 
from hitting the ground, I suppose, again, it seems to be 
mentioned "for effect" and doesn't jive with what we've previously 
been told about the AK curse.  For example, Harry noted when 
FakeMoody AK the spider that it was unblemished.  The book also says 
that except for the odd angle of his arms and legs, DD could have 
been asleep.  Couldn't that have been arranged, as well?

Nor am I convinced the fact that DD's portrait is in now in the 
Headmaster's office means that he is dead.  It may be that all of the 
former headmasters prior to DD are dead (although has it ever 
actually been established that all of the former headmasters are 
dead?), but a former headmaster is not necessarily a dead 
headmaster.  Simply because all of the pictures are of former 
headmasters who are dead doesn't mean that the portraits were hung 
only after the former headmasters died.  We don't know when they 
died; the portraits could have been hung after they retired but 
before they died. Certainly if DD was going to make it appear he was 
dead, he would arrange to have his portrait hung -- it would have 
been a very glaring omission had he not done so.  Not the sort of 
thing Anal Albus would overlook.

Interestingly, when Harry first ventured into DD's office in COS, his 
POV was that "the walls were covered with portraits of old 
headmasters and headmistresses." U.S. edition, softcover, at 205.  
Note: old headmasters and mistresses, not dead ones.  Of course, 
Harry's POV changed in HBP, which reads: "And a new headmaster had 
joined the ranks of the dead headmasters and headmistresses at 
Hogwarts."  U.S. edition, hardback at 626.  That is the way Harry 
views DD's portrait joining the other portraits b/c apparently the 
other headmasters/mistresses are dead.  

If the point of having the former headmaster/mistresses' portraits is 
to advise and give service to the present headmaster, why wait until 
they die to hang their portraits?  If someone is alive, of course, 
they could be summoned and consulted in person or consulted by other 
means, but wouldn't having their portrait on hand be easier and 
quicker both on the current headmaster and on the former, who 
probably wouldn't relish having his retirement disrupted?  Seems like 
JKR has been conditioning us to come to the conclusion that 
portrait=dead, but if it says somewhere definite that only dead 
headmasters/mistresses may have their portraits hung, I missed it.

On a more corporeal note, even though we didn't see DD's actual body 
at the funeral, I do believe that it was DD's body that Hagrid 
carried at the funeral. I don't know what wizard custom is in regard 
to viewing a body. We don't know who prepared the body.  We only know 
that Hagrid moved DD's body and at the funeral carried what he 
obviously thought was DD body.  I'll admit that Hagrid at least 
thought he was carrying DD's body because I don't think he is 
sophisticated enough to fake his grief.  But primarily, I believe it 
was DD's body b/c Harry thought he saw a pheonix arise from the 
flames (see below).

The impression I got was that DD's body bursting into flames and then 
somehow becoming encased in a white tomb was not the ordinary funeral 
service (which it shouldn't be, given DD's exalted status in the 
wizarding world). But how very clever of JKR, in literary series 
replete with wizard deaths, to give us no other funeral service to 
compare DD's to.  We could have Harry asking about this parents' 
service, or Harry asking Ron if he'd ever attended a funeral.  It's 
not inconceivable that Hermione knows all about it, since she seems 
to know so much about the WW.  But no, we are left in the dark on 
this subject, and deliberately so, I believe.

It seems odd to me that when DD's "body" burst into flames, several 
people screamed.  Even if it were expected, I would understand gasps 
but wouldn't it only be shocking enough to cause people to scream if 
it was unexpected?  The book says that the "white" flames, which 
seems odd itself, spiraled into the air and made strange shapes" 
(U.S. edition, hardback at 645).  And of course, Harry thought he saw 
a phoenix fly from the flames. We know from SS that a potion will 
prevent you from being consumed by flames and from one book (can't 
remember which) that a freezing charm will do the same (re Wendelin 
the Weird, who enjoyed being burned at the stake) Anyway, after Harry 
thought he saw the phoenix, the flames vanished and a white marble 
tomb encased DD's body.  We don't know who or what caused this to 
happen.  In short, DD's whole service to me seems designed to 
convince the WW that he is dead without actually allowing those 
present to see his body.

On another note, Snape knew, which means LV knew, that DD's reactions 
were getting slower — or at least DD wanted it to appear that way.  
DD's cursed black hand could have been for show as well.  I think 
this is important b/c otherwise, it would have been hard for anyone 
to believe that Snape got the drop on DD.  Seems important for Harry 
in particular to believe this.  JKR, especially in OOP, made clear 
that Harry began to see DD as an aging wizard and I wondered why.  
Now I think I know.  Harry's belief in DD's ability/power had to 
change so that he would believe DD was dead and not spend his time 
(as we in fandom do) pondering about it. I can't ignore the benefit 
to the Order if LV and the DE think that DD is dead, but he, in fact, 
is not. 

Harry is convinced that DD is dead, in part, b/c the freezing charm 
was lifted on him after DD "died."  But if DD didn't die, of course, 
he would have lifted the freezing charm.  Or perhaps Snape did it 
nonverbally.  To me, the lifting of the freezing charm is weak 
evidence, but in Harry's shoes, I probably would have concluded the 
same thing.

I also can't ignore JKR's unquestioned ability to write an 
unequivocal death scene, if she had wanted to do so.  But no.  She 
gave us more than enough to question DD's death, far more than in 
Sirius's death scene. She made it appear that Snape did not want to 
kill DD.  If she wanted an unequivocal death scene, she would have 
had another DE or Draco do it and would have described the 
traditional AK curse and results (of which we are aware based on the 
Riddles' deaths and Cedric's deaths).

All of the above combined with all of the statements DD has made 
about death (especially right before he "died" telling Draco how well 
they could make the other side believe he was dead), certainly leaves 
room for speculation, which is what I believe JKR intended, even if 
it turns out that DD is truly dead.  On the other hand, I will 
concede that all of the phoenix references and imagery support DD 
coming back from the dead, not the appearance of being dead.  
Hmmmm . . . .

Angie (still pondering)