Snape and Dumbledore on the Tower/ Blood on DD face.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165430

colebiancardi wrote:
> > <snip> If DD was killed immediately when Snape AK'd him, then DD
would have been flung off the tower & hit the ground with such speed &
force that DD's body would be flat as a pancake with lots of blood,
guts and gore splattered everywhere.
>

Draeconin responded:
> Actually, no. There would have been broken bones, and the fall
itself would have killed him if he weren't already dead, but the human
body is pretty resilient. But the AK is supposed to be instantaneous.
And the being 'flung back' by the AK? Nope. In every other case where
the effects of the spell is shown, the victim simply slumps down, dead.
> Sounds to me like JKR didn't care about the discrepancy, and was
just going for dramatic effect.


Carol responds:

Or we're supposed to note the discrepancy and consider it significant.
This AK is as different as it can possibly be from the memorable one
in the graveyard where Harry hears a rushing sound and sees the
"blinding flash" even with his eyes closed (and Cedric simply falls
back dead with open eyes and a surprised expression). I don't think
there's a single point of correspondence between the two except the
words "Avada Kedavra" and the color green. (Other spells, as I've
noted, can shoot out a "jet" of green light; no other that we know of
causes a "blinding flash" of green light.)

For that reason, I think we should at least consider the possibility
that Snape's AK is a cover for some other (nonverbal) spell and not a
mere inconsistency on the part of JKR, who has been hitting the reader
with *blinding* flashes of green light since SS/PS chapter 2 (page 29
of the U.S. edition) and who is unlikely to forget the properties she
has assigned to the darkest of the Unforgiveable Curses. And all the
other AK victims have died with open eyes. Could DD possibly have
closed his eyes and composed himself for death even before Snape
pulled out his wand? If that's the case, we can only conclude that
Dumbledore wanted Snape, and only Snape, to kill him. Either that or
the spell wasn't an AK.

But it's also important that this AK--or some other spell performed by
Snape nonverbally--blasts DD's body over the battlements, where it
then floats like a rag doll and then comes, apparently, to a soft
landing (DD's glasses are still unbroken and there's no indication of
gore or broken bones) though the sprawled limbs (the rag doll again?)
indicate that DD was already dead when he hit the ground. Surely DD
himself could not have cast that spell, wandless as he was. It must
have been Snape.

Think what would have happened if Snape hadn't done that, or if any
other Death Eater had performed the AK, landing DD on his back on the
tower floor instead of getting him off the tower. Fenrir Greyback
would have rushed forward to have Dumbledore for "afters," Harry would
have been unfrozen and rushed out to fight the DEs, and mayhem would
have ensued. Snape would not have been able to snatch up Draco and
order the DEs off the tower. He would have had to protect both Harry
and Draco. Chances are that all three (Snape, Draco, and Harry) would
have died and Dumbledore would have died for nothing. It was crucial
to get DD's body off the tower, and my sense is that Snape did it by
casting a nonverbal spell, before or after he spoke the words "Avada
Kedavra."

Getting DD off the tower couldn't save Dumbledore, but IMO it enabled
Snape to save himself and the two boys as Dumbledore wanted.

Carol, who brilliantly forgot to sign the original version of this post