A Simpler Scenario

[davewitley]

Pip wrote:

> Presumably the big blonde DE didn't *intend* to kill one of his own 
> side, so I now have a strong suspicion that Bella's famous 'you have 
> to mean it' only applies as far as 'you have to mean to kill'. You 
> don't have to intend to kill the person the AK *hits*.

Aha!  So, as Snape was offing Dumbledore, he could have been getting 
the necessary magical extermination energy (or whatever it is) by 
thinking "that's for *you*, Voldemort!"

Which leads to the novel defence against a murder charge that the 
defendant was fantasising about the death of someone else at the 
time.  Hm...

> JKR's next project after she finishes Book 7 is to re-start the 
> Scottish Red Herring industry...

and what she's done for garden paths is nobody's business

David