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Reader Comments: (Page 25)

Heather - I completely agree that Jo uses words very carefully and that Hermione's not seeing Dumbledore on the list of registered animagi 'this century' closely mirrors Hermione's not being able to find any information about Nicholas Flamel because she was only looking in books with recent information. How could Dumbledore not be an animagi? What a breeze for a wizard who can make himself invisible without an invisibility cloak.

So many people have quoted Dumbledore as saying there is no way to resurrect the , and I agree that this is important. The confusion comes in knowing who is actually and who isn't. If they're not really , they won't need to be resurrected, just returned to their corporeal form. What if just their body is , but their soul is not? They may become a ghost, or they may become whatever it was that Voldemort became after his Avada Kedavra curse backfired.

Was Voldemort after the night at Godric's Hollow? Some people in the wizarding world thought yes, he was. Hagrid tells us in Book that others thought no, he was still out there biding his time waiting to come back. But, hang on, how could he NOT be if the Avada Kedavra curse rebounded on him? We are told that Harry is the only person ever to survive Avada Kedavra. If that's so, then Voldemort was truly . And came back. How can this be?

A word that Jo used in Book 6 really struck me as odd and may be a clue. At the end of the trip to the cave to find the locket Horcrux, when Harry and Dumbledore and talking with Madame Rosmerta back in Hogsmeade, Dumbledore appears very weak and has difficulty standing. He could be , he could just be in pain, or he could be...falling asleep? The word that Jo used that struck me as odd was "stimulant." She said that when Dumbledore saw the Dark Mark hovering over the school, it acted as a stimulant and he had a surge of energy to mount his broomstick and fly toward the castle, very coherently removing complex security charms he had placed at the perimeter of the castle as he went. Now maybe it's just me, but if Dumbledore was I would have thought the sight of the Dark mark might have acted as a tonic or a pain-er, but not as a 'stimulant.' The word stimulant makes me think of caffeine, of keeping someone awake while they're falling asleep. But not of a temporary cure while someone is .

So how could Dumbledore have been falling asleep instead of ? Well, he tells us in the cave that Voldemort would not want an intruder into the cave to without being questioned about how he knew to go there. So I think that pretty much eliminates the possibility that Voldemort would fill the basin with poison, even a slow-acting one. So the only poison Dumbledore could have drunk was the 'water' from the lake.

The green liquid seems to me to have had two functions: 1) to cause a great deal of anguish and pain to the unwanted intruder (think liquid-cruciatus-curse type stuff), and 2) to cause such extreme thirst that the drinker would have to have a swallow of what was in the lake. And again, here, if it was poison in the lake, Voldemort would have missed his chance to question the intruder. So what was in the lake that was so important?

Maybe it was that same clear, transparent liquid that Harry and his classmates in Advanced Potions made at the start of the term. The Draught of Living , a very powerful sleeping potion that puts the drinker into a -like sleep (how Romeo and Juliet...) Interesting, too, that this would be where the Inferi (the 'living' ) live, in the 'water' of the lake, the Draught of Living /.

Dumbledore was not on the tower, he was falling asleep from a very powerful sleeping potion ). This would keep Dumbledore, the intruder, alive until Voldemort could find out how he learned of the cave and the Horcrux.

Too bad Harry didn't cast the charm to end a spell, but said, 'Enervate' instead. We might have learned something.

Posted by Jan-Marie from New York on February 14, 2007 1:42 PM

Jan-Marie, you bring up some good points leading us to believe that Dumbldore may have drank a sleeping potion rather than a poison. The only problem is that we know that Draught of Living is a pale pink from HBP ch. 9. Harry makes it perfectly using the potion book of the half blood prince himself.

As for the water in the lake, I believe that the inferi are activated (for lack of a better word) once the lake water is stirred, or once they sense the water's motion. Dumbledore says to Harry in the cave, "Careful not to touch the water." he never says don't let me drink the water.

The drinker of the greenish liquid becomes thirsty forcing them to try to drink the lake water....this motion triggers the inferi. Harry "tipped the water clumsily over dumbledores face". I never got the feeling that Dumbledore actually drank it. I could be wrong, but that's how i read it.

Anyway, Jan-Marie, it does seems fishy. The rest of your last post i agree with. I do think there was more to it. In SS Snape says he can "stopper ". Does this mean he could have made that potion? or could he have STOPPED Dumbledore's from that drink. not sure.

I still think that Dumbledore and Snape new all along that at some point they were going to fake Dumbledore's . Dumbldore goes to the lake, drinks something that makes him "near" (maybe extremely sleepy), and then Harry witnesses Snape "ing" Dumbledore (Harry must see it so Voldemort knows it to be real). Dumbldore "s", and when the dust settles he is revived enough by Fawkes' tears. He then goes to his own , and is reborn. I may have said it better in other posts, but you get the point.

Posted by Heather from NJ on February 14, 2007 2:51 PM

But, isn't the ' man coming back to life' Peter Pettigrew? And, as that device has been used there is it likley that the author would re use it?

Yes, yes, Fudge is not convinced that Pettigrew is alive until he tacitly admits in to the Muggle PM at the beginning of HBP (when he says that it 'turns out that Black was innocent') but we do NOT know that he has or has not been told Harry/Sirius' side of that story when he makes the ' man' statement.

Posted by Charlie Tarbox from Gettysburg, Pa on February 14, 2007 4:37 PM

Heather, go to the FAQ for answers regarding Snape's comment on "stoppering ." This helped me a lot.

Posted by Lucinda from Alabama on February 14, 2007 5:00 PM

Charlie - "But, isn't the ' man coming back to life' Peter Pettigrew? And, as that device has been used there is it likley that the author would re use it?"

The man coming back to life is Peter Pettigrew and Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort. So far. It's been used twice now. Do we see it again?

Heather - The Inferi in the lake are a little confusing, aren't they? Dumbledore tells us Voldemort wouldn't want an intruder to before Voldemort could learn about how the intruder knew where to go, got past the barriers placed, and knew to look for a Horcrux. This makes sense. But if the Inferi were to the intruder, wouldn't that act against Voldemort's interests?

Posted by Jan-Marie from New York on February 14, 2007 5:12 PM

Heather:

I believe that Snape and Dumbledore knew that such an event would happen as the on the tower (or some such). Dumbledore was at risk, having had his hand damaged in a previous fight. He was a 'marked man' and as such I think they must have made arrangements about what to do next. After much thought I don't think Dumbledore is alive, but that his impact come through other means in Book 7, although the Draught of Living is such a tempting thought!. I can't see Harry, in spite of his growing up a lot, being able to suddenly negotiate his most challenging task to date without the help of his strongest mentor.

I did wonder if there was an Unbreakable Vow involved but have no evidence to prove this might be so. The way the Vow with Narcissa is structured does not preclude there being an earlier one that Snape could also have been bound to. It seems such an elaborate chapter to construct just to ensure Snape does what he would have done anyway.

I don't think that Dumbledore and his brother are twins, I can't really see it, in spite of some excellent arguments in previous posts I do, however, think that the Draught of Living has an important part to play (again it's just a feeling not based on evidence) as it stuck with me right from the start when Snape plagues Harry in their first lesson.

I wonder if Dumbledore might guide Harry towards the Horcruxes, then Voldemort - but via Pettigrew who has a life to Harry which I think be important in Book 7.

Posted by Marjorie from New Zealand on February 14, 2007 9:41 PM

I was just perusing the internet and came up with a new idea!... I wrote a rather long winded theory (see page 19 of forum).. ive thought of another as I perused JK's official site, I came across a rather obscure part of her page where she talks about patronues and their uses as communication devices between Order of the phoenix members... she states that "dumbledores patronus is indeed a Phoenix".. that leaves me to wonder... which order member was dumbledore sending a message to as he lay encompassed in a fire at his ? (yes i am aware that he is 'supposed to be '...) "harry thought for one heart stopping moment, that he saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue" (pg 601 HBP) why would she write that? ill tell you why... its because he isnt ... and he was passing a message on to somebody in the order about his plans.

Posted by Harry ponderings from Australia on February 14, 2007 10:52 PM

I gree that this site should be given an award. It really cleared up lots of muddles in my head.

Anyway, I was wondering about something. Have you guys ever thought why Dumbledore said that love was the most powerful magic in the world? It could have been that he stud about it but could it be something else...?

Perhaps he too was ill-treated at a young age or perhaps some sort of family matters just made him realise it?
I just have another thought. Maybe dumbledore really d...(I DO NOT HOPE THAT IT IS TRUE) after perhaps... changing his plans about something. Maybe something happened at the lighting tower that made him want to to sacrifice someone, other than draco, snape or harry?

Posted by Britney from Singapore on February 15, 2007 05:17 AM

could it be possible that Dumbledores blackened hand is the last horcrux?
That would make Harry have to both him and Voldemort in the last book?

Posted by Angela Brewer on February 15, 2007 05:31 AM

What do we really know about the blackened hand of Dumbledore?
In HBP Harry also wanted to know what was happened, but Dumbledore never told us... (I don't believe it's a horcrux)
Dumbledore also never told us where he had found the ring, or did he?

Posted by Anonymous on February 15, 2007 07:15 AM

Concerning the unbreakable vow - I always that the comment (and don't have the books) that "snape's hand twitched" was oddly placed. Could snape been making a movement a nonverbal spell that stops the vow from working as he was holding his wand?

Dumbledore's patronus was first seen in book 2 (I think it was book two) when he contacts Hagrid while walking the grounds with Harry. When Harry thought he saw the phoenix from the tomb, my guess it was a symbol to Hargrid "who he trusted his life to."

Posted by Michael from Philadelphia, PA on February 15, 2007 07:19 AM

Maybe the identical twin comment refers to Polyjuice Potion. Harry needs a decoy in the last book, and someone (Neville) uses Polyjuice. Maybe?

Posted by Patricia Mortimer from Quincy,Massachusetts on February 15, 2007 07:30 AM

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