"End it, Dumbledore"

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 149694

Re-reading OOTP at the moment and the scene where Voldemort is 
possessing Harry caught my eye. Here's the quote:

"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy..."

Let the pain stop, thought Harry. Let him kill us....End it, 
Dumbledore...Death is nothing compared to this...

(Chap. 36, page 816, Scholastic)

Mainly I think we're meant to get the idea that Harry, unlike 
Voldemort, believes there are things worse than death.  There could 
be a bit of foreshadowing in that sequence, though. Since Harry is 
the moral eyes through which we will understand the story of the 
tower, I think he could empathize with a Dumbledore who also wanted 
to be killed to stop something painful. It's doubtful physical pain 
would be enough for Dumbledore to want to be killed, but I do think 
it's very possible he was in a parallel situation with Harry by 
experiencing physical incapacitation and mental anguish so complete 
that he felt as powerless as Harry did while being possessed. And of 
course that exact scenario was foreshadowed in the cave 
sequence, "KILL ME!"

Jen, thinking a crucial part of a believable DDM Snape will be if 
Harry can identify and empathize with the reason why Dumbledore felt 
there was no option in that moment except being killed.