Unbreakable Vows

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 165592

> >>Bart:
> > <snip> Since Snape is no fool, then he should know that he has
> > agreed to finish the job in killing Dumbledore. Which means that 
> > it was his intent, at the time of makng the vow, to kill         
> > Dumbledore. Therefore, assuming that JKR is "playing fair" with   
> > the reader, the ONLY explanation that fits DDM!Snape is that     
> > Dumbledore was only being kept temporarily alive (once again, the 
> > major clue is the unhealable arm). Note there was no time        
> > constraint, and it is not necessary to kill a man who has already 
> > been killed (unless you're a passenger on the Orient Express,    
> > that is). 

> >>Neri:
> I think you need to make up your mind whether Dumbledore was
> "temporarily alive" or "already been killed". These are not a same
> thing at all, you know. Killing a man who has yet one month to live
> (or a day or an hour) is still murder. I don't see JKR justifying
> murder in her books because the victim was just temporarily alive. 
> We are all just temporarily alive.


Betsy Hp:
You're forgetting the very important word "kept", I think.  If Snape 
is artifically extending Dumbledore's life, through a spell or a 
potion or a combination of both, he would in effect "kill" Dumbledore 
by removing that support.  Or, if the support is no longer viable 
(i.e. the strength of the curse finally overcomes the barrier set up 
by the spell/potion) and Dumbledore dies, the Vow is null and voided, 
because there is Dumbledore is not alive to kill.  

> >>Neri:
> So are you saying DDM!Snape made the Vow because he thought        
> Dumbledore would die anyway before there will be need to kill him, 
> but when the moment had finally arrived, it turned out that        
> Dumbledore was not quite dead yet, so Snape had to help him a bit   
> along his way?

Betsy Hp:
Or the moment had arrived and Snape had to turn the death of his 
friend and mentor into a grisly play act.  Or the moment had arrived, 
along with a great deal of pain, and Snape acted mercifully while 
pretending to be cruel.  Or the moment had arrived and Snape honored 
Dumbledore's last wish and made sure Dumbledore's death had meaning.

> Neri:
> Sounds like lots of loopholes to me, and they're not required at all
> other than to get DDM!Snape out of the mess that JKR has put him in 
> to begin with. I sincerely hope she can end the series and solve the
> Snape mystery in a more convincing way.

Betsy Hp:
I don't know.  I think the messier the better.  We're looking for a 
rollicking good read after all.  That's what all the impossible 
connections and loopholes (when Quirrell shook Harry's hand he 
*wasn't* wearing a turban!) help bring about, IMO. <g>

Betsy Hp