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Reader Comments: (Page 5)

Well, regardless of the elixir's properties, I really don't think that Dumbledore is .

To me, one of the most telling clues is the fact that he has the power to cast at least some spells without a wand (so why would he let Malfoy hold him defenseless?). And of course there's the dialog between him and Draco on the tower... I'll quote the relevent parts here with caps:

"That's right," said Malfoy. "But she said you were just going for a drink, you'd be back...."

"Well, I certainly did have a drink... and I came back... AFTER A FASHION," mumbled Dumbledore. "So you decided to spring a trap for me?"

"We decided to put the Dark Mark over the tower and get you to hurry up here, to see who'd been ed," said Malfoy. "And it worked!"

"Well... YES AND NO..." said Dumbledore.

Sounds pretty fishy to me. As if it isn't really Dumbledore there, or as if he'd counted on the Eater's springing a trap and had already planned ahead... and I somehow doubt his plan would necessitate his own . A possibility is that Dumbledore knew of the plot beforehand, and timed his illness (due to the potion) to coincide with the Eater's plan, that way he'd look really weak and would leave no doubt in anyone's mind (especially Harry's!) that he really d. Snape most likely would've known about this plan beforehand, and he could've told Dumbledore.

As far as I'm conerned, Dumbledore could have already known the real Horcrux wasn't in the cave, and just needed a good excuse to have Harry with him that night... because the people he really needed to convince were Voldemort and Harry. If Harry didn't see it firsthand, I think he'd be questioning things just like us fans are right now. But seeing Snape perform the curse (from just a few feet away!), and watching Dumbledore thrown from the tower would convince him. And then Harry would spread the news and nobody would question his story, would they?

Posted by April from Wisconsin on September 19, 2006 6:19 PM

Excellent point, and very well written April. I always believed that the HBP was hinting at non-verbal spells the whole book. I feel like Rowling has set up a scenario that makes everything appear that something is one way, while leaving the door open later for a surprise (which make perfect sense once fully explained). My point is, Rowling has a way of writing where she puts in weird facts, only later to be seen as extrmeley important. The potions from Snape's class are all good examples, basically all of those potions later come into the plot to play a makor role. The fact she explains, in such detail, how a spell can be activated by thought alone, we must assume this is important to the plot.

A lot of people make a HUGE mistake when reading HBP. April brought up an exellent point, but I emphasis something that simply breaks all theories of Dumbledore's . Snape and Dumbledore have a very close relationship, and even though Rowling tries her hardest to make the reader think he is an evil man, we all know in our hearts he is a good guy. Therefore, since Snape and Dumbledore are close, even so close as to say Snape sees Dumbledore as a father figure, there is no way he could have ed Dumbledore. I don't mean Snape couldn't gather the courage and power, I am saying that in order to use the AK curse you HAVE TO MEAN IT! Snape does not want to Dumbledore, this is obvious, therefore the AK curse would not even work. Dumbledore pleads with Snape to say the curse, while thinking of a blasting spell (to knock him off the tower). Whether the spell is green or not is not important, since color (I assume) can be adjusted by certain training or by certain spells (more spells other than the AK curse may be green as well). We clearly don't know the specifics of this situation, such as- How did Dumbledore act so convincingly (or was it even convincing to people like Hagrid).

The important thing is, it is IMPOSSIBLE for a person to activate an AK curse unless they mean to truly someone, and we can tell from this story that Snape did not want to Dumbledore, thus he could not have possibly ed Dumbledore!

Posted by Brett Johnson from Boulder, CO on September 20, 2006 12:23 AM

I think several of the previous comments regarding Alberforth Dumbledore and Albus switching places to be interesting. Another take could be what if they are the same person. Since Dumbledore is 150 yrs old who else is old enough to know whether Albus really has a brother or not or be able to identify an imposter (Albus from the future)in his place. Just a thought and on reflection probably silly and not up to JKR's standards. I'm more inclined to think AD is . HP needs to defeat LV on his own. Will probably have help via AD portraits, two way mirror - tossed thru the veil?, etc. JKR has already done the unregistered animagus thing so I don't think that's the answer although many clues point to it. I do think Snape end up being on the good side. He's had too many opportunities to do in HP or cause him serious harm and hasn't, most notably at the end of HBP. I think we'll find in Book 7 that he loved Lily Potter and left the DE's becaus LV ed her. As stated elsewhere, his worst memory (OotP) was likely calling her a mudblood rather than being bested by HP's dad. He probably had loads of those types of memories. Also, I think JKR's reference to scenes in the PoA movie revealing future plots probably doesn't refer to time travel as that is largely the same as in the book, but lesser references such as Lupin telling HP that Lily Potter was a "singularly gifted witch who was able to see the good in others even when they didn't see it in themselves" (Snape or what?)

Posted by bartholomew from Denver, Colorado on September 20, 2006 3:22 PM

I think Dumbledore is because... when he did the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa the last question was if Draco didn't Dumbledore, would he do it for him, and Snape answered... Yes!

Posted by Lucy Adams from England on September 21, 2006 09:59 AM

Dumbledore was never mentioned as part of the Unbreakable Vow... is it possible that Snape thought Draco's orders involved Harry instead? To either capture or him? If that's the case, and Snape's vow only binds him to what he thought he was promising at the time the vow was made, then Dumbledore could still be alive and Snape didn't technically break his oath.

Just a thought.

Posted by April from Wisconsin on September 21, 2006 1:17 PM

april has a good point. snapes pretty smart. it would be WAY easy to find a loophole in what narcissa said.

Posted by soy from texas on September 21, 2006 3:51 PM

1) this is a veery interesting article!
i luv it and hope that dumbledore is not just pray that j.k. rowling just does some magic to make him alive..
2) i also think that snape was pretty good at leglimency and occlumency.. (the magical method of breaking through ones mind/defending yourself from letting others breaking into yuor mind) and thus he could have protected himselff from letting dumbledore come to know what was going in his mind
it could be that dumbledore might have d (i hope it is not true)
april has a very good point too!
and plse can i know how did dumbledore live for 150years? (the post sent by bartholomew says that)

Posted by priyesh from Mumbai on September 22, 2006 09:00 AM

Dumbledore's Horcrux, by Jan-Marie Spanard on this website, stated Dumbledore's 150 yrs old. If that's incorrect than my apologies for accepting false data as true. I admit I don't recall it from the books. It does make sense from his association with N. Flamel.

Posted by bartholomew from Denver, Colorado on September 22, 2006 10:12 AM

On Dumbledore's age, Wikipedia says this: "Little is known about Dumbledore's early history or family. According to Rowling he is about 150 years old when the series begins, meaning he entered Hogwarts as a student in the 1850s."

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on September 22, 2006 10:29 AM

Speaking of Dumbledore's age, I'd really like to know more about his past. We know about the backgrounds of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, etc... and although I don't really see how Rowling would fit it into the story, it'd be cool to hear more about Dumbledore's life. All we know is what's on the chocolate frog card, that he taught Transfiguration, and that he became Hogwart's Headmaster...

Things I'd like to know:
-which house Dumbedore was in?
-does he come from a family of wizards or muggles?
-was he a Quidditch player?
-is he descended from Gryffindor? Related to Harry or Voldemort in any way?
-what's up with his brother Aberforth?
-did he ever work for the Ministry of Magic as an Auror before becoming a teacher?
-who (or what) was Grindelwald and how did Dumbledore defeat him/it?
-how'd he get that scar by his knee? (the one shaped like the London Underground)
-what caused his hand to become black and shrivelled?

...and so on. I hope once we find out Dumbledore is alive:) that a bit more of this background stuff is explained in book 7. There may be some key info. in Dumbledore's past.

Posted by April from Wisconsin on September 22, 2006 5:21 PM

Don't we all assume that Dumbledore was in Gryffindor? Doesn't it say that in one of the books? Or perhaps JK said it in an interview?

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on September 22, 2006 6:14 PM

I do believe Snape's good and not a Eater, whether Dumbledore is or not.

I do love the clues and I'm certain JKR has a lot more in store for us than we might expect. She's brilliant in writing between the lines.

I really hope AD is not and I truly trust Snape...

Posted by Fenix from Holland on September 23, 2006 02:18 AM

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