is Dumbledore really dead?

[Adam Chase]

No: HPFGUIDX 171616

Frankly I'm not really sure he is.  (please forgive me if these 
suggestions were made before, I finally organized my thoughts and if I 
don't type it and send it I'll never manage it)

To begin with when Rowling was asked if Dumbledore would be back her 
response was something to the effect of "he will not be another Gandalf" 
(not sure if that is the wording).  This is like how she dodged the 
question about what Harry would do after he got out of school and she 
said "Who says he'll finish school?"  There are many possible ways that 
Dumbledore could still be alive, or somehow return from the dead.  I 
have two theories about what could have happened.

The first is that Snape did not actually cast the killing curse, or cast 
it without the required focus.  In book 4 the fake Moody tells the 4th 
years that they could point their wands and cast the spell at him and he 
wouldn't even receive a nosebleed.  So if Snape were to have omitted the 
focus needed the spell would have failed to kill him.  For those of you 
who wish to retort with "what about the fall from the tower" don't 
forget that Dumbledore is a powerful wizard, and I believe he is capable 
of performing some decent magic without his wand so he could have used a 
spell to cushion his fall.  Snape also appears to be a master of 
non-verbal spells, so he could have said Avada Kadavra while using a 
non-verbal spell that could imitate all of the visible effects of the 
killing curse.

My second theory is that Dumbledore is an animagus.  I know this is a 
very far fetched theory but this thought has been bouncing in my skull 
since I first read book 6.  I think that Dumbledore might be able to 
transform into a phoenix.  Such a transformation would coincide with his 
other connections: his pet phoenix Fawkes and then there is his 
patronus, the description of it from book 4 makes me believe it is also 
a phoenix.  Some of the other signs that point to this thought include 
Dumbledore's flight from the minister and his entourage in book 5, he 
grabbed onto Fawkes' tail and they both disappeared in a burst of fire.  
The way he vanished makes me wonder if another person could do that or 
if there was something special about Dumbledore that allowed him to do 
it.  The biggest clue I believe is towards the end when Dumbledore's 
tomb was created by being engulfed in flames and Harry thought he saw a 
phoenix fly from it.  For those who say that it was most likely Fawkes I 
will respond with what Harry concluded.  When the phoenix lament ended 
Harry came to the conclusion that Fawkes had left Hogwarts for good.

I hope to hear responses from everyone for and against my opinions.  I 
wanted to get this out before the last book came out and everyone 
submits messages about what really ticked them off about the book.

drax_orion