A Simpler Scenario

[Judy]

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'. 

Yes -- and when Bella says 'you  have to mean it' to Harry,
she is referring to the Cruciatus Curse, if I remember correctly. So, 
for an effective Crucio, one would have to want the victim to
*suffer*. In some ways, an AK might require *less* evil 
intent than the Cruciatus Curse, because one might have a 
non-evil motive for wanting someone to die (self-defense; 
mercy killing.)  Non-evil motives for wanting someone to 
suffer are presumably hard to come by.

And David said:
> 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!"

Quite possibly, which would explain Snape's look of hatred and 
revulsion while casting the AK.  (Or maybe Snape got the proper 
motivation by thinking, "Dumbledore, this is for all the times that 
you refused to punish that wretched James Potter and his brat." Just 
kidding.  I hope.) 

Siriusly -- er, *seriously*, though, one would expect Snape to have 
a lot of experience summoning up emotions that he didn't really 
feel at the time. It would be very convenient -- necessary, really --
for him to call up hatred of Dumbledore and Harry every time he was 
with Voldemort. So, presumably Snape had lots of practice in forcing 
himself to feel hatred.  (Which is one of the reasons I can't fully 
blame him for how mean he often is -- his job as double agent
requires him to nurse his grudges.)

I, of course, am a big supporter of Loyal!Snape. As for the 
question of whether Dumbledore & Snape planned DD's death in advance, 
my theory is that Dumbledore told Snape, early on in the events of
Book 6, that Snape would have to kill him, but Snape kept refusing, 
which is why Hagrid heard them argue. At the time of the Tower scene,
Snape still hadn't agreed to kill Dumbledore -- which is why 
Dumbledore was pleading with him.  

-- Judy