What did Dumbledore have up his sleeve?

[Gary]

No: HPFGUIDX 168840

This is such an obvious theory that I was sure somebody must have
brought it up before, however, while searching various key words in
the 160,000 plus message history turned up various facts that bear on
the theory, I found no post that put the pieces together in this way.

Simply put, we were shown DD's withered (dead?) hand, but how
extensive was the damage? How far up his sleeve did it extend? And
more importantly, was the damage still spreading? If the spread of the
damage could be slowed but not stopped entirely, DD would be facing a
terminal prognosis; an irrevocable death sentence. Given that
possibility then DD's death wasn't so much "murder" as "assisted
suicide" or "euthanasia". Perhaps, knowing that, no matter what, he
must soon die, he wanted his death to serve some higher purpose,
namely cementing Snape's position with LV, making Snape that much more
valuable to the Order. Given the choice of watching DD die a slow and
painful death or "putting him out of his misery", the choice for
Snape, although undoubtedly difficult, might have been an ultimate act
of mercy performed for a respected friend.

For this "higher purpose" to be served, the most important element
would be that LV himself not know that DD's prognosis was terminal,
and thus that nobody but Snape be privy to that fact. That we (or
Harry) were not shown this prognosis would, therefore, be necessary.

--gary