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I can not begin to describe the pain and agony I felt at the description of Dumbledore's demise. I actually cried, and I don't think I've ever cried after reading a book. Ever. And not only did she describe what happened, but Harry was made to watch it happen. I can't believe I'm actually writing about this. I will readily admit that when I was first introduced to Harry Potter, it was because of the movies. And it wasn't until I joined the fabulous world of Role Play here on LJ that I truly began to enjoy the magic of Harry Potter. Never did I imagine that I would begin to connect with characters, to try and figure out their thoughts, their desires, nay, their histories, nor their secrets. Never did I imagine that the death of this character, this fictional image of a person, would affect me. Yet it did, as I sit here, tears falling silently down my face as the clacking of the keyboard continues rhythmically, punching through the small sound of the music emitting from my speakers. And then, as I sit here, silently cursing JKR for doing away with the wizened old wizard that I had come to love (and cursing Campbell for his ridiculous--no I'm not bitter I swear--hero's journey crap), my mind begins to stir, trying to recall bits and pieces of the battle that took place at Hogwarts, trying to fit together a reason behind why Dumbledore might not be dead, as all fanatics of a character do when such a thing as this occurs.
I will admit at the beginning, I am no brainiac. I'm no good at spinning tales, selling stories, or creating conspiracies. But I have thoughts and ideas like anyone else. Dumbledore is not dead; there are few who will know this, though. And yes, I may be a fanatic, reaching at those threads and the bits and pieces in hopes that her favourite character will return once again, but I honestly don't think that Albus Dumbledore is dead.
There are a few things that attribute to the conclusion I've come to. The first thing to consider, is that JKR has been showing us throughout the books that something that looks like death, isn't always death, or something that would indicate similar. The first "real" time this happens--in my opinion--is in Harry's first Potions class, when Professor Severus Snape tells them that he can teach them how to "bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death" (SS pg. 137, QP). Stopper death? Sounds like something to file away for the future to me. What he does next is interesting indeed. He asks Harry what the result of adding powdered asphodel root to wormwood infusion would get him. He later informs the class that those two ingredients would create the Draught of Living Death. A sleeping potion so strong that it's referred to as "Living Death"? Now, why would JKR use that specific Potion as Harry's first step into Potions, I ask you? Next, Snape goes on to ask Harry where he would look to find a bezoar. Now, as all of us who've read HBP know, Harry actually goes on to use a bezoar to save Ron. Not that that really matters at this point (and only because I haven't found any other connection to my reasoning than that). The third thing that Snape goes on to ask Harry is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane. The answer to this, is nothing, and that those two plants are also known as aconite which, according to the Lexicon (who references Scott Cunningham's "Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs"), informs us that "a folk name for the highly poisonous Wolf's Bane is 'Dumbledore's Delight'". Anyone else interested in that?
Let's bring it back full circle to Book 6. Now that Snape is no longer the Potions professor, Harry has managed to take Potions regardless that he only got an E on the OWL. And then what's the first potion they brew this year? The Draught of Living Death, which earns him luck (Felix Felicis), the same potion that Severus Snape introduced to him five years prior. Other indications throughout Book 6 that cause me to believe that, not only is Severus Snape NOT evil, he is also trying to help Harry become a stronger wizard in order to finally defeat Voldemort. Snape has been steadily becoming closer to the Dark Lord. He knows the innermost workings within the Death Eaters and he is privvy to the top missions that are apparently not supposed to be common knowledge among them. It is my belief that Dumbledore was well aware of the fact that there would be an attempt on his life soon after Snape was told of the plans, which was probably soon after Lucius Malfoy's failure at the Department of Mysteries.
As a random side note, I also believe that the reason Dumbledore trusts in Snape so firmly is because Severus Snape is probably one of the only Order Members who would have the balls to actually kill him in the end if it came down to it. And now that it has been introduced, he might even have gone so far as to have an Unforgiveable Vow casted on them to seal the deal. Perhaps this was why Snape was hesitant to agree to the same vow, but from two people? What happens if you agree to kill the same person in two different vows? Is it strengthened somehow? Yet the question that continues to brew in my mind is--in regard to Severus's vow to kill Dumbledore--if the vow is not fulfilled because Snape knew that, by in/direct interference, Dumbledore would, in fact, not be killed, does the vow still stand? Or is it merely that if Narcissa is being made to believe the vow to be fulfilled the bond is broken? That brings me to my next bit, though.
Throughout the book, Snape has been instructing the DADA class in nonverbal spell casting. Where have we ever seen that tought before? In years prior it has never been implied that students were being taught nonverbal casting. At least, not that I've seen. So why here? And why now? Perhaps it's because they've now got an accomplished Legilimens as a professor. Perhaps it was because readers had assumed that nonverbal spell casting was only possible for wizened old wizards who were stronger and more confident in their magic so as not to need the words to focus their magic. As noted in the book also, nonverbal casting is a benefit in that it allows the caster a split second advantage as one's opponent has no clue as to the magic to be performed, and therefore, a split second defense. But what does this have to do with Dumbledore's supposed murder?
Even though no one has ever survived the Killing Curse, it is in my opinion that he wasn't hit with the Killing Curse. Snape is an accomplished Legilimens, this we know. He must also, therefore, be rather accomplished in Occlumency. To know one's defense, one must also know the offense against which it is being pitted. The same could be applied to DADA. To better understand how to defend one's self against the dark arts, one must understand them. The difference between a good wizard, and a dark wizard, though, is the fact that they use the dark magic. But as Hermione stated in this very book, it's better to know what you're up against (I swear I will go back and cite the actual page for that later). So not only can Snape get into other peoples's minds, he can close his own mind. Useful when dealing with Voldemort, wouldn't you say? One might even go so far as to imply that perhaps Snape is equal with the Dark Lord on some level, in that respect? Perhaps, but let's not stretch things too thin already. Next comes his obvious ability in regard to nonverbal spells. He makes it painstakingly clear that it is essential to learn them. He does this in class. He also does it at the very end when he and Draco and feeling Hogwarts. "Blocked again and again and again unti you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!" (HBP, pg. 603) He says this with the common sneer that he usually gives to Harry, but would Snape say such a thing to Harry? Why would he remind him of the things he needs most in order to successfully cast against an opponent. Still, even now, he is teaching Harry the things that Dumbledore has been trying to reiterate to Harry. And then on page 604, when Harry is calling Snape a coward and "his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house..." Why would JKR use the word "pain" to describe his face at being called a COWARD? Why pain? Why not anger? Contempt? Or any other appropriate synonym? No. Severus Snape hated that he had to "kill" Dumbledore. He may have shown dislike of the elder wizard many a time, but underneath it all there was a healthy respect for the power and compassion that Dumbledore had. As for all that emotion and contempt, the "revulsion and hatred" that was in his face on page 595 of HBP, it was because of the fact that he had to kill him, not because he wanted to. He had to show some kind of emotion for the others to think it real. But this is where the Occlumency and the nonverbal spell casting comes in. Catching on to my bizarre way of thinking yet?
Severus Snape is definitely a powerful wizard. This we know. He's also an extremely cunning wizard. Could it be that he is so intelligent and imaginative, in fact, that he can block his own mind from himself? What am I getting at, you ask? Well, think of it this way. I'm sure at one point in time we've all been feeling hatred, or a strong dislike, for someone or something, while still feeling an incredible amount of love or compassion for either the same someone or something, or something else, but all at the same time? It is something along the same lines. While Severus Snape was gathering all of the thoughts that would be put into the Killing Curse, he was closing his mind to those thoughts and, even though he spoke the words of the Killing Curse, his mind, instead, was issuing forth another spell, any other spell that would make it seem as though Avada Kedavra had hit the best Headmaster Hogwarts has ever known. But then, what of Dumbledore? We are never told how long it takes for the Draught of Living Death to take effect. We are also never told how long they last, or how the sleeper is awakened from their enchanted sleep. And then someone will bring up the fact that Harry was released from Dumbledore's Impediment Spell at the exact moment that Dumbledore "died". Well duh. If the man can cast a nonverbal Impediment Spell, surely he can cast a nonverbal counter for it. "But what about his fall?" someone else will ask. We know that Dumbledore can do wandless magic. Slowing down a fall is certainly a spell he has casted before. Surely, even in his weakened state, he would be able to cast such a spell on his way down. And since there was no one who actually watched and saw him hit ground, we can leave that possibility open.
One other thing that can be speculated is that only certain members of the Order were ever told of this plan. One can be sure Hagrid couldn't have been told. Or perhaps no one but Snape and Dumbledore knew about it. It would certainly make sense. But then what about Dumbledore's body? Hagrid himself has seen to it that it was handled correctly enough for burial. But then, Dumbledore wasn't really buried, now was he? It was his wish to be laid to rest at Hogwarts for a reason. In the case of his death, or his faked death that I am so strongly clinging to, why not? The reasons are obvious. If he is dead, then he died trying to protect the students that he so loves, and through that love, has created another extra layer of protection around the castle and the children, perhaps made stronger by the presence of the body? If he isn't dead
But then, there is one thing that makes me think that all of this is moot. Animals, especially magical animals, seem to be well aware of when things happen. Why else would Fawkes lament, if not because Dumbledore had died? Unless, in some way unknown, Dumbledore had communicated to Fawkes what would happen, and what must happen, and Fawkes was simply reacting to what he knew must happen so that things could move on afterward?
And so, this is my cry, my plea, the pinnacle of my insanity, that I am pulling together jumbled thoughts and speculations in order to make myself believe that a fictional character is not dead. Perhaps I have immersed myself too deeply into the world that is Harry Potter.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 03:55 pm (UTC)From:PS: You forgot the argument that Dumbledore and Snape were having. Personally I think Dumbledore knew was Snape was bound to do the entire time.
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Date: 2005-07-17 06:45 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 04:03 pm (UTC)From:I think it was planned out though, merely because Snape wasn't as evil of a bastard as he should have been if he was really in the dark side.
*cuddles* Yeah, Dumbledore's death was really upsetting... However, it might just give Harry the extra little boost he needs to move on and battle Voldemort.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 06:50 pm (UTC)From:And really, just cuz we don't see him take it doesn't mean that he never did.
*is grasping at straws and not ready to accept that he's really dead*
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Date: 2005-07-17 10:12 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-07-19 02:15 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 05:34 pm (UTC)From:Dumbledore..I think knew alot more than he was letting on. There's a possibility Snape could have killed him with permission in that moment when they stood staring at each other - done it because Dumbledore would not have wanted his blood on Draco Malfoy's hands, because he still had a chance at life, at changing.
I also wonder why, when Dumbledore KNEW the D.A.D.A position had never kept a teacher for more than a year after Riddle had wanted it, why he chose to put Snape there this year? Did he know it was the year Snape would leave Hogwarts, and is it why he'd never given him the job in the first place? To preserve him until the time was right?
no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 07:04 pm (UTC)From:As for not wanting Draco to kill him, yeah, he's got this weird thing about trying to preserve youthful innocence and whatnot. You gotta love him for it though. =)
As for giving Snape the DADA position this year, I believe it's got something to do with the fact that he now had concrete evidence that someone was going to try and kill him. What's more, since he knew who would eventually do it, he knew it would eventually create a huge problem at Hogwarts and thusly, there would be no need for Severus Snape to return, thereby alotting him a chance at the position. And since he knew about the position being "cursed", he of course wanted to preserve Snape until the "time was right", as you put it. =)
But, *is a stubborn fangirl* I still don't think Dumbledore's truly dead, physical or otherwise. *sniffles and clings to her grasped straws*
no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 10:45 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-07-19 03:03 am (UTC)From: