The AK (was: My HBP Review)

[pippin_999]

To the victor belong the spoils -- 

> 
> 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. 


Pippin:

Here's an analogy.

You and I are putting on a play. 
I, as the villain, fire at you with a pistol, 
using blanks. This triggers  a complicated bit of pyrotechnics which 
tosses you backward off a battlement. You expect to land, backstage,
on a nice comfy cushion. Most unfortunately, you took poison before 
the performance, and on the way down you black out. Despite the 
cushion, you muff your landing and break your neck. Am I the
murderer? 

Only if I gave you  the poison, which, as it happens, I didn't. 

Here, as of one re-reading, is what I think happened:

1) Dumbledore doesn't seek to kill Voldemort at the Ministry

2) Voldemort fears his secret has been rumbled

3) Voldemort decides that Dumbledore must die

4) Draco shares his interesting observation about the cabinet

5) Draco is marked, ordered to repair the cabinet and to kill
Dumbledore on pain of his entire family being murdered. 

This (The Plan) is shared with only Bella, Draco's
occlumency teacher, from whom it could hardly be hidden. Snape is
told that there is a plan to eliminate Dumbledore, but not what it
entails, since Voldemort trusts Snape about as far as I could kick a
hippogriff.

Snape suspects that the plan is to force him to kill Dumbledore,
since no other DE's can enter the school.

6) Snape reports the existence of a plan to Dumbledore.

7) Draco brags enough to convince Narcissa that he's up to something
on the Dark Lord's orders. 

(If Narcissa knew about the plan, then Draco wouldn't have had to
ditchher to go to Borgin and Burkes, and wouldn't have had to forbid 
Borgin to mention his visit to her)

8) Narcissa begs Snape for help with Draco. Snape puts two and two
together

9) Snape says he has to think about it and reports to Dumbledore

10) Dumbledore cooks up a plot. Snape will make the UV to Narcissa
to watch over Draco and protect him. That way, he will be able to 
spy on Draco, and Voldemort will not be able to order him to stop
without losing his spy. 

11) Snape tells Narcissa what she must do, and she brings Bella to
him. 

She pretends to Bella that of course, she, as Draco's mother, has
been informed of the plan. Bella sees through this, but is quite
amused.
Anyway,  she has some questions she's been itching to ask Snape and 
this is the perfect opportunity. 

 Narcissa is putting on an act the whole time she's at Snape's; he's
already agreed to help her. Hence the scenery chewing. The only
other person who has put on such a display of waterworks is Ginny,
when she was trying to convince her parents she had no idea the diary
was dangerous. We know that's not true, because she tried to destroy
it. Narcissa is acting.

The whole scene is cooked up in advance, with one little ad lib.
Narcissa bonds Snape to carry out the deed Draco has been ordered 
to perform. Snape, who can't refuse without blowing his cover,
must comply.

12) Snape reports  to Dumbledore who is completely unworried. In
the first place, not even Voldemort would expect Snape to try to kill 
Dumbledore without backup, and no DE's can get into the castle. In the
second place, Narcissa is right about Draco, he's no murderer, and
he's not going to be able to try to kill Dumbledore, so all Snape has
to do is try and the vow will be fulfilled. Not to worry, he will also
fail. Dumbledore has complete trust that Snape is not a killer
anymore. 

13)  Snape has a shouting match with Dumbledore in which he
tells Dumbledore he takes too much for granted, but in the end he
agrees to follow orders, much as Harry did. Snape is Dumbledore's
man through and through. But he's worried. Draco has made a
couple of efforts, not lethal, but they could have been.

14) Draco repairs the cabinet and signals Rosmerta to inform him the
next time Dumbledore leaves the castle

15) Dumbledore and Harry go horcrux hunting

16) Draco admits the DE's to the castle -- this is where I suspect
ESE!Lupin is complicit. 

17) Dumbledore and Harry return

18) Flitwick notifies Snape of the raid

19) Snape stuns the messenger as planned,
(it was supposed to be Harry, remember?) 

20) Snape arrives on the battlement

21) Dumbledore begs him to trust him and carry out the plan

22) Snape performs the AK which fails but blasts Dumbledore off the 
battlements

23) Dumbledore, overcome by the poison, fails to arrest his fall
and dies. Snape can't interfere since he no longer has eye contact. 

24) Snape escapes, with Draco in tow

There's no way Snape could have done anything
to  save Dumbledore once he arrived on the battlements, because as 
soon as he refused to try to kill him, he'd have died himself.

The phoenix lament has me pretty much convinced that Dumbledore
died. But if that turns out to have been faked, then maybe...

The foreword to the school books makes me wonder. Would Herself have
had Dumbledore write it, apparently in 2001, if she knew she'd have
offed him in 1998?


Pippin