The blackened hand again

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 148950

I've been thinking about this subject and wondering, if Voldemort  couldn't
kill Dumbledore in OotP--and he couldn't even get close, as  Dumbledore
was pretty much swatting him around like Snape was swatting around 
Harry at the end of HBP--then who *can* kill Dumbledore? Voldemort is
the most powerful wizard after Dumbledore, or so we've been told, and
he was no match. Certainly Draco is no match. And while we heard
Snape say he suspected Voldemort wanted him to "do it" in the end,
Snape's no match either, not for a healthy Dumbledore in  possession
of his full powers. 
 
And that's where I keep going back to my first read of HBP, and how
the constant mention of Dumbledore's injury had me thinking "What is
it with that stupid blackened hand anyway?! Why do we have to  keep
hearing about it?" And that's really what I thought! So why was it  being
regularly brought to our attention if it wasn't significant? 
 
I think it was significant. An injury that even the WW's greatest  wizard
can't overcome? That doesn't heal? A dead hand that remains part of
his living body--because it *can't* be removed and replaced with a
false hand like Wormtail's, or because Dumbledore doesn't want it
removed (or covered, which also seems odd)--which is it? Does 
Dumbledore really enjoy waving that thing around at every  opportunity,
or is JKR trying to hit us over the head with it?
 
Combine that dead hand with Dumbledore's actions from the beginning
of HBP--taking the Dursleys to task for their treatment of Harry  while
also asking them to take Harry in one more time (as if he can't  be sure
he'll have an opportunity to do either later), going after the memory
Slughorn has always had *now*, giving Snape the DADA position when
he knows Snape cannot overcome the curse (a normal wizard can't 
survive it intact, let alone a double-agent already walking a  tightrope),
and suddenly taking a direct role in teaching Harry everything he  can
about Tom's past and destroying horcruxes--it's as if Dumbledore 
knows he has limited time. And I think he does know, not  because
he expects Snape to kill him, but because he knew since Snape 
saved him from the ring curse--not cured him, but "saved" him--that
he was living on borrowed time.
 
Whether this means Snape used a draught of living death,  a stopper
death potion or some other magic to halt death, I don't know. But  it
does mean Dumbledore is dying from the beginning of HBP, and
he knows it. In a sense it's semantics, since we're all in the  process
of dying as soon as our lives begin. However long our time is,  it is
always shrinking, and it will run out some day. (Sorry to be so  grim,
but I think Dumbledore does see it in those terms, and his time  is
just running out perhaps a bit sooner than he'd expected, but  not
soon enough that he can't get some critical tasks  completed--like
preparing Harry as well as possible in the time left.) 
 
Some posters say they can't believe Dumbledore is planning his own
death. But that's not what he's doing, any more than someone with
advanced cancer who is given X months to live is planning  his own 
death by getting his affairs in order to make sure his family is well 
provided for. Dumbledore is getting his "affairs" in order in HBP,
knowing full well he can only last so long. Perhaps he hoped to
make it through the full school year, certainly he wanted to prevent
Draco from killing him to protect Draco's soul, and I suspect he
also hoped to avoid Snape having to kill him. But he was prepared
to die, knowing it was coming within a finite time, and he was also
prepared to make his death count for something. 
 
I don't hold with the theory of a defined plan on the Tower, BTW, 
just that Dumbledore was aware of every eventuality, including 
Snape being put in the position of having to fulfill his UV or die.
For both their sakes, I'm sure he hoped it wouldn't happen, but 
if it did happen, then he expected Snape to kill him, as he was
a dying man who would soon not be able to provide the level  of 
assistance to Harry that the younger, healthy Snape would. 
This I suspect was the subject of the argument Hagrid overheard
in the forest, Snape not wanting anything to do with fulfilling the
vow, and Dumbledore insisting Snape keep his promise (and I
think the promise refers to something between Dumbledore and
Snape, probably along the lines of Snape assisting Dumbledore  
to defeat Voldemort/help Harry in any manner Dumbledore deemed 
necessary). 
 
It all fits. 
 
IMO, of course ;-)
 
Julie 


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