Possibilities surrounding nonverbal spells (esp. re: Snape & DD)

[pippin_999]

> 
>   Potioncat:
>   I don't understand why JKR had DD falling off the tower and that 
seems to be the big hint about whether it was an AK. But if I
were    choosing for myself, I'd choose AK before a fall off a tower
as my    means to an end.
> 
>   The only thing that might save Snape is if he knew DD had died
and     performed the curse a split second later. But still, why the
fall off    the tower? 

Pippin: 

The fall creates the same kind of ambiguity we had in Book One, when
Snape looked guilty because Jo shifted the narrator's PoV. If we'd
stayed with Harry instead of shifting to follow Hermione as she ran
towards Snape, we should have seen that the hex on the broom lifted 
the moment that Hermione crashed into Quirrell, not later when she
set Snape on fire.

Now Snape looks guilty because Harry thinks the body-bind curse lifted
when the AK struck Dumbledore, and it was only shock holding him after
that. But he doesn't *know* that. In fact, it's not like Harry at all
to stand paralyzed from shock when someone needs him. It's not the
first time Harry's assumptions have played him false. 

The fall keeps us from knowing when Dumbledore's eyes closed or when 
the  trickle of blood appeared from his mouth or when he assumed a 
peaceful expression. Surely he wasn't looking peaceful as he pleaded
with Snape?

Dumbledore stresses in his speech to Draco, as Snape did in his
speech to Narcissa, that Voldemort does not actually expect Draco to 
succeed in killing Dumbledore. This has vast implications, IMO, for
the definition of  what the Dark Lord ordered Draco to do. I can't
but think that Jo worded that vow very carefully. 

My take on it is still that the curse didn't kill Dumbledore because
it didn't work properly. No rushing sound. We are all set up for the
climactic moment in Book Seven which parallels the moment in 
Book One where Harry breaks through to the last obstacle and finds
that it isn't Snape, it isn't even Voldemort. 

As for what will happen to Draco, I think Snape will spirit him and
as his mother away as planned,  and report to Voldemort that he has 
killed them both. 

Pippin