The AK (was: My HBP Review)

[pippin_999]

Luke
Skywalker
Is
Princess
Leia's
Brother
Glug!
Glug!
Glug!
(Believe
me, I know
How it
Feels
To
Have
Your
Ship
Blown
Out
From
Under 
You!)


Constance V:
 "Furthermore, Harry's curse didn't relax until after
> Dumbledore went over the parapet. If the AK had killed him outright,
> the curse would have relaxed then. The AK did not kill Dumbledore."

Jim Ferer:
> We don't know any such thing. Here's the quote:
> 
> «A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit
> Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never
left him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore 
was blasted into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang
suspended
 beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a
great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight. Harry felt as
though he too were hurtling through space; it had not happened. . .
.
> It could not have happened. ... "Out of here, quickly," said Snape.
He
> seized Malfoy by the scruff of the neck and forced him through the
> door ahead of the rest; Greyback and the squat brother and sister
> followed, the latter both panting excitedly. As they vanished
through the door, Harry realized he could move again.»
> 
> That doesn't say Harry's immobilization lifted only later. Harry
> *realizes* that what was holding him was horror and shock.  We have
> never heard of an AK, unmistakably uttered, with a blast of green
> light, hitting someone – and it's a fake.  We've just made up
> something new if we do that.


Pippin:
I don't think so.  Harry's cruciatus, unmistakably uttered,
hit Bella, but didn't work properly.

 "The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and 
shriek with pain as Neville had--" and then she says, "Never used an 
Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled[...]"You need to
 _mean_ them, Potter!"

We also have Fake!Moody's statement that just pointing your wand
and saying the words won't kill.

Jim:
> Draco thinks his job is to kill Dumbledore.
> « Malfoy gave a harsh laugh. 'You care about me saying
"Mudblood" when I'm about to kill you?'»

Pippin:
Sure -- but Draco didn't *try* to kill Dumbledore. He lowered his
wand. Snape tried, thus carrying out the deed Draco failed to
perform, the one he was ordered to do, and also failed to kill him.  
Mischief managed.  Snape made much of the fact that the Dark Lord 
_didn't _ expect Draco to succeed. And Narcissa agreed. So Snape
did just  _exactly_  what the Dark Lord had ordered Draco to do.

Dumbledore died of the poison, IMO, before he ever reached the
ground, and this give us the delicious possibilty of 
Accessory!ESE!Lupin, who could have learned of the raid from his 
werewolf contacts and failed to warn the Order. 

That's just like what he did in PoA, when he knew
that Sirius might gain access to the castle, but failed to warn
Dumbledore. I think Dumbledore might have been saved from the 
poison by Snape if there had been time, but the raid forestalled it.
That realization would explain Lupin's anguished reaction, which is so
much more intense than the emotion he displayed over losing
Sirius.

A human body is what,  70% water?  -- I'm no forensic specialist, but
it seems to me a trickle of blood from the mouth is either too much or
not enough. Forgive the imagery, but Dumbledore should have splatted 
like one of Peeves's water balloons. I suspect Dumbledore's luck ran
out about thirty feet from the ground ( advice from my physician
brother, whatever you do, *don't* try to kill yourself  by leaping
from a
third story window. Go upstairs a floor first.) That would be enough
to break all his bones and cripple him for life if he were a Muggle,  
but not to kill him -- if he hadn't been dead already.

I submit Dumbledore fell, but slowly, magically, until the poison
caught up with him. Oh wait, there's canon! " ..and then he fell
slowly backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out
of sight."

Harry realized he could move again, it was only shock holding him --
but that realization came *after* Dumbledore's slow fall off the 
battlement. Before that, he wanted to scream, but he  couldn't -- 
the full body bind still had him at that point. It's not *like*
Harry to stand paralyzed with shock when someone needs him --
he was moving toward Sirius before Sirius had even begun to
fall.

Of course it seemed to take Sirius an age to fall too, 
but it's just like Jo to confuse the issue, as we should all know well
enough by now. 

Pippin
who keeps thinking of the verse, "Though he slay me, yet I will
trust in him."