I HAD A DREAM OR HOW I REALIZED THAT I MAY HAVE BEEN WRONG./ PART 2 sort of

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 167064

> > Pippin:
> > Hitherto, I've been open to the idea that Dumbledore might
> > have ordered Snape to kill him, though I never liked it and I didn't
> > think it fit with the evidence that shows Dumbledore survived his
> > fall. But now I've got to rule it out. There may have been a ruse on
> > the tower, but I don't think there can have been a killing. Harry wasn't
> > prepared for it, and that to me means that Dumbledore never
> > envisioned a scenario where a loyal Snape would have to kill him.

> Neri:
> I agree. If Snape is to be DDM then there wasn't a murder on the tower
> and Dumbledore had never asked Snape to kill him. Not that I think
> Snape is DDM, but *if* he is, then complete and absolute innocence is
> the only solution that would be dramatic enough after the tower. I
> think Rushdie has also realized this, which was why he was so sure
> that Dumbledore couldn't be dead. The problem is that Dumbledore *is*
> dead, and a botched ruse would most certainly not be dramatic enough.

Jen:  I agree as well.  It's beyond Harry's characterization to understand
Snape is loyal if he really AK'd Dumbledore (orders or no orders).
Harry's learned that an Avada Kedavra is the Killing Curse, it was
used to murder his parents, that it is considered Unforgiveable
and that murder is the 'supreme act of evil'.  I could follow a gray
area reading of Snape's AK, but I don't believe Harry is set up to do that.

The Potterverse moral view on murder was made even more explicit
in the same book as an AK was cast.  I would expect if JKR wanted
to examine the gray area of mercy killings or killing on the order of
a commander in a time of war, she would have set up this premise
by diluting the significance of using an AK for Harry rather than
strengthening it.  Reversing her position now will say that
Unforgivables are not Wrong with a capital W but only wrong
in certain circumstances.  Once again I can't see Harry getting
to the point of understanding that after everything he's learned
and what he believes.  

I don't view the potion in the cave as parallel to Snape using an AK
on the tower.  An AK holds a different moral weight in Potterverse than
an unknown potion which is said not to kill immediately and has an
unknown effect in Harry's eyes.  Had Snape used anything besides an
AK on the tower, Harry might come to understand it was a mercy
killing or a killing on orders in a time of war and understand Snape's
loyalty is like his own. 

Jen