dumbledore is not dead! / 6:33 AM

www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com

this webby got lots of suggestions as to why dumbledore is not dead. They analyse the various hints and doubts of the harry potter series. And i find them really convincing. Here's one example of the analysis. It sounds the most convincing to me :) go take a look too :) i was really touched that dumbledore is not dead :) i love dumbledore :)

4. The Flying Avada Kedavra [Updated 12/14/05]

As soon as I read the description of exactly what happened the moment that Snape killed Dumbledore, little red flags were popping up in my brain, but I didn't pay attention to them at first. This was actually the very first clue that alerted me to this whole thing.

Every other time we've seen the Avada Kedavra performed, the victim simply falls over dead:

He was screaming so loudly that he never heard the words the thing in the chair spoke as it raised a wand. There was a flash of green light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumbled. He was dead before he hit the floor. (GoF pg 15/19)
From high above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare." A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!" A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to ground beside him. Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead. (GoF pg 638/553)

However, in Half-Blood Prince, when Snape curses Dumbledore with the same spell, Dumbledore violently flies up and away from the tower:

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore. "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left him; silently he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he slowly fell backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight. (HBP pg 596/556)

Why would this application of the Avada Kedavra be so different from every other time we've seen it?

Perhaps his spell was different because even though those were the words Snape said, he didn't perform the killing curse at all. Remember all the importance this book gave to "nonverbal" spells? Perhaps Snape said Avada Kedavra, but the curse he was really thinking, the nonverbal one, was a different curse, one that only made it appear that Dumbledore was dead.
The idea that Snape said one curse but caused another to happen instead is supported by the fact that there is actually another example earlier in the books of Snape doing exactly the same thing, with almost identical results! Thanks to Brave Sir Blogger who brought this passage from The Dueling Club in Chamber of Secrets to my attention:

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. (CoS pg 190/142)
Expelliarmus is a spell that is just supposed to make your wand fly out of your hand. But notice here that Snape says expelliarmus and the same thing happens to Lockhart as happened to Dumbledore above, almost word for word, except for the color of the light.

In this example from Goblet of Fire, Snape said expelliarmus but somehow caused results we know are inconsistant with that curse. Either through his anger or direct intention, he added a nonverbal spell that blasted Lockhart backwards up into the air and into the wall. And we can now see that he did the very same thing four years later up in the tower, saying Avada Kedavra to Dumbledore but causing very different results to occur instead.

Even the title of the chapter this all takes place in is suspicous, "The Lightning-Struck Tower". Even though this is the name of the ominous tarot card that Trelawney was worried about back on page 543/507 in chapter 25, is it possible that J.K. is hinting here that the spell was not Avada Kedavra, just some green lightning sparks for show?

Sherry. 23. 10/02/89
i've hiatus-ed.

dumbledore is not dead! / 6:33 AM

www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com

this webby got lots of suggestions as to why dumbledore is not dead. They analyse the various hints and doubts of the harry potter series. And i find them really convincing. Here's one example of the analysis. It sounds the most convincing to me :) go take a look too :) i was really touched that dumbledore is not dead :) i love dumbledore :)

4. The Flying Avada Kedavra [Updated 12/14/05]

As soon as I read the description of exactly what happened the moment that Snape killed Dumbledore, little red flags were popping up in my brain, but I didn't pay attention to them at first. This was actually the very first clue that alerted me to this whole thing.

Every other time we've seen the Avada Kedavra performed, the victim simply falls over dead:

He was screaming so loudly that he never heard the words the thing in the chair spoke as it raised a wand. There was a flash of green light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumbled. He was dead before he hit the floor. (GoF pg 15/19)
From high above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare." A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!" A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to ground beside him. Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead. (GoF pg 638/553)

However, in Half-Blood Prince, when Snape curses Dumbledore with the same spell, Dumbledore violently flies up and away from the tower:

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore. "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left him; silently he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he slowly fell backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight. (HBP pg 596/556)

Why would this application of the Avada Kedavra be so different from every other time we've seen it?

Perhaps his spell was different because even though those were the words Snape said, he didn't perform the killing curse at all. Remember all the importance this book gave to "nonverbal" spells? Perhaps Snape said Avada Kedavra, but the curse he was really thinking, the nonverbal one, was a different curse, one that only made it appear that Dumbledore was dead.
The idea that Snape said one curse but caused another to happen instead is supported by the fact that there is actually another example earlier in the books of Snape doing exactly the same thing, with almost identical results! Thanks to Brave Sir Blogger who brought this passage from The Dueling Club in Chamber of Secrets to my attention:

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. (CoS pg 190/142)
Expelliarmus is a spell that is just supposed to make your wand fly out of your hand. But notice here that Snape says expelliarmus and the same thing happens to Lockhart as happened to Dumbledore above, almost word for word, except for the color of the light.

In this example from Goblet of Fire, Snape said expelliarmus but somehow caused results we know are inconsistant with that curse. Either through his anger or direct intention, he added a nonverbal spell that blasted Lockhart backwards up into the air and into the wall. And we can now see that he did the very same thing four years later up in the tower, saying Avada Kedavra to Dumbledore but causing very different results to occur instead.

Even the title of the chapter this all takes place in is suspicous, "The Lightning-Struck Tower". Even though this is the name of the ominous tarot card that Trelawney was worried about back on page 543/507 in chapter 25, is it possible that J.K. is hinting here that the spell was not Avada Kedavra, just some green lightning sparks for show?