The AK (was: My HBP Review)

[potioncat]

space
the final
frontier...
to 
boldy go
where 
no
man
has
gone 
before
or 
not

 
> 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. 

Potioncat:
OK, one more time. Speak slowly and a little louder. I don't quite 
get this.

If DD died, what is the issue on whether it was Snape's AK or not. 
And how does that affect Snape? Are you saying that Snape avoided 
killing him by having him float to the ground as he died, or are you 
saying that Snape thinks he killed him...? I just can't understand 
how death by a horrible fall would be better than death by AK.

Secondly, do you think DD is really dead or just merely dead? I 
recall one Arthur/Merlin story (was it Stewart's?) in which Merlin 
was placed in the crystal cave, but he wasn't dead. He was able to 
live comfortably, and still had contact with Arthur. But I think JKR 
has stated that DD is dead. 

I think, after only one read, that Snape killed DD as agreed upon in 
a last ditch effort to some greater good. 

And back to SSSusan's question on probably a different thread, I 
would think that Snape could 'speak' a spell, but instead 'issue' a 
non verbal spell.

Kathy W.