Harry Potter .....?

Question

Do you think that Dumbledore really died in Book 6? If no, what do you think happened?

Answer 1

i am 50/50
dd(dumbledore) is dead-"From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and [journey] together through the murky marshes of memory into thickets of wildest guesswork."
- Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

I know you're thinking, "that's what we've been doing all along." But now we have a problem: our time together is growing quite short. We have only one book left, and being that it is the last, there will be nothing to predict that hasn't already happened. The reason for my long absence was my excruciatingly precise reread of Book Six. I analyzed in brutal detail all the various nooks and crannies, making sure all of my facts were straight before committing myself to theories that I will have to change. We, therefore, must cling to this new mission. Cling to it and hope that as true Potterphiles we may unravel the deepest mysteries, unlock the most hidden doors.

HALF-BLOOD, FULL HERO

The opening of Season Two, as I mentioned in my sneak peek is a five-part series called 'HALF-BLOOD, FULL HERO.' This series is designed to take all of the new nuggets obtained from Book Six and completely revamp our old theories and forge them into new, logical conclusions about Book Seven, all relating back, of course, to our hero: Harry. Our first installment concerns that of our dearly departed friend and headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. I submit for your entertainment and consideration (God, I've missed saying that): THE DEATH OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!

DUMBLEDORE IS IRREVERSIBLY DEAD

Is that harsh? Yes. Is it true? HECK YES! Dumbledore is dead, folks. I refuse to go through another two years of Sirius-esque "he's still alive" droning. I realize all the phoenix symbolism is there, but like Sirius, Dumbledore is dead and he's not coming back. I don't hate to say, 'I told you so' because when I did, certain people who shall remain nameless, cursed me (and not in a Voldemort fashion) and called me delusional (not Emerson - he's cool, and he's right shippers - you were quite delusional). I have no remorse whatsoever for throwing it in your face that I said pretty much from the beginning that Dumbledore was going to die. I know we didn't want it to happen, but it did and, like Harry, we must move on.

I categorically acknowledge his death not to chastise my readers but to prepare a point I have been stewing over. As you may recall from Season One, I said that I believe Sirius died for a reason and that reason was to show Harry the way to kill Voldemort (though I don't think he was thinking about that when he was battling Bellatrix). I feel that Dumbledore's death was no accident (well, obviously, as he was killed, but I mean in the larger sense).

You all have been thinking it, but I'm going to say it: I trust TFPWWNBN now more than I ever have because he killed Dumbledore. Do I hate him? Yes. Is he a slimy contemptible sewer rat? Of course. Was he acting under orders to kill Dumbledore? Yes. But whose orders? TFPWWNBN was told to kill Dumbledore by Dumbledore. Let us revisit the argument in the forest that Hagrid overheard. As usual, JKR loves to torture us with unnecessary vagueness. Have you noticed how, in all of the books, when the big baddies are talking to each other, they use a lot of unnecessary vagueness and euphemism? I realize they are afraid of being overheard, but still. But I digress. The forest:

- TFPWWNBN tells Dumbledore that Dumbledore "takes too much for granted."
- TFPWWNBN tells Dumbledore that maybe he, TFPWWNBN, doesn't want to do "it" anymore.

- Dumbledore tells TFPWWNBN that he agreed to do "it" so he has to do "it."

- Dumbledore questions TFPWWNBN about making investigations in his house.

If you'll notice, I have ignored all references to Hagrid's assumptions and merely reported what he HEARD and not what something SOUNDED LIKE. Based on this argument, I can make the following assumptions: TFPWWNBN is tired of playing both sides against the middle because he has perhaps the most dangerous job, being a double agent, and sooner or later, the side that he is not truly working for will discover his secret. Not to mention the Unbreakable Vow, which I'll address later. The "it" I believe TFPWWNBN is referring to is the culmination of Voldemort's plot. Using the vagueness of "Spinner's End," I have determined that TFPWWNBN knew of Voldemort's plan. From my point of view, the overriding plan of Book Six was to kill Dumbledore... but Voldemort has much more at stake than that. Voldemort is ticked at Lucius, as I said in Season One. But the reason I said then is certainly incorrect. I thought he was mad at Lucius for not coming after him after he died. What Voldemort was really angry about was the loss of one of his Horcruxes.

For Voldemort, after the battle in the Ministry, it became clear that possession of Harry was an impossibility, not to mention the fact that in a stand up fight he could never attack Harry so long as Harry had enough time to mutter a spell - ANY spell - thus activating PRIORI INCANTATEM." Voldemort could never have bested Dumbledore in a standup fight, as witnessed in the Ministry. Voldemort needed a new strategy. He decided the only way to kill Dumbledore was a sneak attack. He used Dumbledore's one weakness against him: his students. As Voldemort learned in the Ministry, Dumbledore would never purposely endanger the life of one of his students, and he would also do anything in his power to make sure that no outside force could harm one of his students. With that in mind, he decided to kill two birds with one stone.

It happened almost as I said with my Dracomort and Marauder's Map theories. Recall that my Dracomort theory was a laughable conclusion that Draco would volunteer to serve Voldemort by allowing himself to be possessed by the Dark Lord and used as the means to kill Harry. The Marauder's Map theory was my theory that not everything was on the map. I had my money on someone going down to the Chamber of Secrets and since it wasn't on the map, if Harry saw a villain disappear off the map, that the person was going into the Chamber to do some evil. Taking pieces of both, we can see that I was almost on the right track. Voldemort decided to stick it to Lucius and kill Dumbledore in one stroke.

This shows us how categorically evil Voldemort is. He never meant for Draco to succeed. He told Draco that he had a job to do and that if he did it, he would be honored above all others at Voldemort's side. However, if he failed, Voldemort said he would kill Lucius and Narcissa. The job: kill Dumbledore. Shouldn't be too difficult. He assumed that Dumbledore would see through any obvious attempts by a sixteen-year-old to kill him and do a preemptive strike so that regardless, Voldemort gets his revenge. Again, what he had not counted on was love.

Say what you want about Draco, but he loves his parents and risked his own life to save them. The question of whether they are worth saving is insignificant. What IS significant is that, for all intents and purposes, Draco succeeded in his mission. His mission was to kill Dumbledore. He may not have pulled the trigger, but he definitely loaded the gun. Dumbledore is dead, and he is dead because of Draco. I say this not to admonish Draco, but to warn him. Folks, I submit that Draco and his family are in even more danger at the hands of Voldemort than they ever were before. True, it is possible that Voldemort will be happy that Dumbledore is dead and no longer a threat and obstacle between him and Harry, but... at some point, it is going to be brought to Voldemort's attention that - despite all of his machinations, plans, schemes, powers and actual battles against Dumbledore - that the greatest wizard in the world met his end at the hands not of an equal and worthy adversary, like Voldemort, but at the absurdly simple machinations of a SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD WIZARD WITH NO EXCEPTIONAL MAGICAL PROWESS! It's gonna suck for Voldemort that everybody's going to know that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't kill Dumbledore... but Draco could.

Knowing what we now know about Voldemort's wonder years, we know that Voldemort loves glory. To me, the title of being the one who actually brought down Dumbledore would be the ultimate jewel in his scepter. No one would dare dispute that Voldemort was the best. But wait! That's not what happened. Dumbledore was lulled into a false sense of security by a little kid, and in a completely weakened condition, he was murdered by a Death Eater. That's not a good story for Voldemort. Sure, Voldemort might look at the big picture, but in the back of his mind there will always be a level of regret that he didn't kill Dumbledore himself and, most importantly, it was the damn Malfoys that screwed him over again.

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Of late, all my attentions have been on deciphering the importance of 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42. However, now that the book is finished, I can venture into the astronomy tower and, using my powers of deduction, reveal what really happened that fateful night to our dear friend. Here are just the facts, ma'am:

- The dark mark shines above the astronomy tower.
- Harry and Dumbledore land.

- Dumbledore instructs Harry to GO GET TFPWWNBN AND NO ONE ELSE.

- Harry grabs the door and hears someone (Draco) coming up the stairs.

- Harry readies his wand and the door flies open.

- Dumbledore uses a combination of Petrificus Totalus and Wingardium Leviosa to freeze and incapacitate Harry (now under the invisibility cloak) and pin him up against the wall so that he can see.

- At that precise moment, Draco bursts in and casts Expelliarmus on Dumbledore.

- They have their little conversation and the Death Eaters come in.

- TFPWWNBN enters.

- Dumbledore says, "Severus..."

- TFPWWNBN pushes Malfoy roughly out of the way.

- TFPWWNBN's face has an expression of "revulsion and hatred."

- Dumbledore says, "Severus, please..."

- TFPWWNBN Avada Kedavra's Dumbledore.

- Dumbledore falls off the Astronomy Tower.

This is everything Harry SAW and not what he deduced (aside from the mention of TFPWWNBN's face). Let us take each step one by one. The dark mark was an obvious ploy to summon Dumbledore back from the Hog's Head to the castle. Question: since Draco had absolutely no way of knowing that Dumbledore and Harry were really going to destroy a Horcrux and that Dumbledore had been weakened, how would he possibly have attempted to best him? If Draco thought he had a snowball's chance in heck of besting Dumbledore in a battle alone, then he is what I like to call "out of his frickin' mind." It always intrigued me why Draco never just went into Dumbledore's office on the pretense of needing to see him, and then Avada Kedavra-ing him. AK leaves no traces; he could say that Dumbledore had a heart attack and run outside of the grounds and illegally Apparate back home. With Dumbledore dead, he could openly declare himself a Voldemort supporter, and no one would dare attack him for risk of incurring the wrath of Voldemort. Simple, quick - it would have taken a day. But there is a tiny problem: Draco can't do it. Draco doesn't really want to kill Dumbledore; he just wants to protect his family. That's where the Death Eaters come in. He knows he can't do it so, like a true leader, he delegates that responsibility to lackeys. By sneaking Death Eaters into the school, he can take a long time to get it done, and like any little kid, he hopes that Voldemort will forget. But the Dark Lord does not forget, and he does not forgive.

Next point: why then did Dumbledore not summon Fawkes as he did in the Ministry? I know you all are saying Dumbledore didn't summon Fawkes to swallow that blast of Avada Kedavra, but I believe that Fawkes and Dumbledore share a connection. And as we all know, Dumbledore - with very few exceptions - has everything in his school under control. If he wanted to escape before the Death Eaters arrived, he could have. Why did he allow Malfoy to tell his story? Honestly, I think it was to give Harry the satisfaction of knowing he was right. What is intriguing about Book Six is that Harry did a lot of maturing post-Sirius. When it came down to the mystery of this novel (who was behind the attacks), Harry followed the old "MALFOY RULE OF GUILT." In the HP universe, there exists a blame continuum of all characters. Whenever something bad happens, the trio always first assumes Malfoy is guilty and in doing so, Malfoy will usually lead them to who is really behind the treachery. After five books of assuming Malfoy, Ron and Hermione were sick of being wrong. Harry, however, was unwavering in his conviction that Malfoy was culpable. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, Harry was right.

So why then did Dumbledore (since he KNEW all along that Malfoy was behind it) not tell Harry? It is the same reason Dumbledore died: to teach Harry a lesson. It is my conviction that not only did Dumbledore beg TFPWWNBN to kill him in order to save Draco and himself from incurring the wrath of Voldemort, but also to teach Harry a lesson in focusing on the task at hand. Dumbledore knew that Harry was single-minded in his quest to catch Malfoy. That is why he set him the assignment to get the memory from Slughorn. The top priority, and Dumbledore knows this, is for Harry to exhaust all means to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. Anything else distracts from this goal and could lead the whole mission into ruin. Remember what Dumbledore said about himself to Harry: "I am far wiser, far more powerful, and far less important that you." Translation (in the words of Ronald Weasley): "It's you that's got to go on. No me. Not Hermione. You!"

The Future of Dumbledore

Now we know why he died... but what does that mean for Harry? Harry now has a mission: destroy the Horcruxes. But how? I believe the key lies within "The Hand Story." The Hand Story is the story of how Dumbledore's hand became blackened and dying. Dumbledore promised us that he would tell Harry the story when he could "do it justice." Yet, we are never given a satisfactory answer. All we know is that in the process of destroying Marvolo's ring, something happened that nearly destroyed Dumbledore and had it not been for the quick thinking of TFPWWNBN, Dumbledore might not have been able to tell us that much.

So why is it important that we, or more importantly Harry, hear The Hand Story? Because Harry has to know how to destroy the Horcruxes. He saw how to FIND one Horcrux, but how does one DESTROY a Horcrux? Hermione can't exactly read about one. There's no more Felix Felicis to help them. It is for this reason that I think Harry WILL return to Hogwarts. I DID NOT say as a student, but he shall return on Dumbledore's orders. I believe Harry will receive a message from Dumbledore instructing him to return to Hogwarts. At that point he will then have an appointment with a certain painting in the Headmistress' office, namely the newly hung portrait of Albus Dumbledore. He needs that piece of information before he can begin his journey.

dd is alive-Harry and Dumbledore are up on the top of the tower underneath the Dark Mark. Harry is wearing his invisibility cloak, Dumbledore ordered him to put it on before they mounted their brooms to ride to the top of the tower. Harry hears footsteps and looks around, but Dumbledore orders him with a gesture to retreat. Harry draws his wand and backs away:

The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Harry's body became instantly rigid and immobile, and he felt himself fall back against the tower wall, propped like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak.(HBP pg 584/545)

It's interesting to note that things are happening so fast, even Harry is momentarily confused:

He could not understand how it happened -- Expelliarmus was not a Freezing Charm -- Then, by the light of the Mark, he saw Dumbledore's wand flying in an arc over the edge of the ramparts and understood... Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilzed Harry, and the second he had taken to perform this spell had cost him the chance of defending himself. (HBP pg 584/545)

Why did Dumbledore freeze Harry? Harry was already invisible to their attackers and in no danger.

The only explanation could be that Dumbledore already knew, had already planned, that he would die this night (or appear to die), and not only did he not want Harry to become involved and possibly be injured himself, he needed Harry to be a witness, to be able to tell everyone else what happened.

Dumbledore might have also promised Snape that he would make sure that Harry would not be able to interfere, knowing how Harry feels about Snape and what Snape was about to have to do.

The supposition that it was Dumbledore's plan to do this all along is supported by the fact that he acted so quickly to do it, almost without thinking, when Draco burst in on the scene.

Harry's own assumption that the Freezing Charm was done by Dumbledore is supported by the fact the curse lifted when Dumbledore left the tower minutes later.

2. Let's All Play Dead Together [Updated 2/25/06]

While Dumbledore is trying to talk Draco out of killing him, Dumbledore proposes an interesting way out for Draco:

"I can help you, Draco." "No, you can't," said Malfoy, his wand shaking very badly indeed. "Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'd kill me. I've got no choice." "He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine." (HBP pg 591/552)

Dumbledore then offers to expand his mother in the protection, and even Lucius when he gets out of Azkaban.

This is very interesting, isn't it? Draco doesn't take him up on it, but Dumbledore is saying he has ways that could make it appear that Draco died when he really hadn't. Doesn't that sound exactly like what we suspect that Dumbledore has planned for himself?

This clue in Half-Blood Prince is especially interesting when placed next to another passage written much earlier. In the introduction to Quidditch Through The Ages, which was released between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, J.K. writes as Dumbledore:

She [Madam Pince] suggested several alternatives, such as telling the people from Comic Relief U.K. that the library had burned down, or simply pretending that I had dropped dead without leaving instructions. (QttA pg viii)

Not only does J.K. mention fire in this passage (see clue #9 below), she also very clearly describes Dumbeldore himself suggesting faking his own death. Again, exactly what we suspect Dumbledore did at the end of Half-Blood Prince.
We've seen Fawkes come in at the last moment and save Harry's life in Chamber of Secrets:

As Harry trembled, ready to close his eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake. Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers -- Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sunk out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. (CoS pg 318/234)

And he also saved Dumbledore in Order of the Phoenix:

... one more jet of green light had flown at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand and the snake had struck -- Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide, and swallowed the jet of green light whole. He burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. (OotP pg 814/719)

We know Fawkes was nearby the tower, as he shows up after Dumbledore's "death". So, why didn't Fawkes come to save Dumbledore this time?

I think the fact that he didn't makes it possible to believe that Dumbledore didn't want his life to be saved, and this supports the theory that it was Dumbledore's plan all along to "die" up on that tower that night.

4. The Flying Avada Kedavra [Updated 3/9/06]

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 possibilty that Snape said one curse and cast another nonverbally might not be as likely if we couldn't recognize the curse that was really cast, but we can! Thanks to Brave Sir Blogger and Lindsay for bringing these passages 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)

Harry made up his mind in a split second. Before Snape could take even one step toward him, he had raised his wand. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled -- except that his wasn't the only voice that shouted. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out. Harry looked around. Both Ron and Hermione had tried to disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. (PoA pg 361/265)

In these examples from Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban, different wizards are issuing the Expelliarmus spell with the results being described almost exactly the same way, the victim being voilenty blasted up and backwards. This also happens to be similar to the description of when Dumbledore is attacked up in the tower. So, even though Snape said Avada Kedavra, the evidence from the books shows that the nonverbal curse he cast was Expelliarmus!

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, but some other spell that had lightening-type effects instead?

But there is even another clue that Dumbledore's flying off the tower that night was a prearranged ruse between himself and Snape. Back in chapter nineteen, when Harry orders Dobby and Kreacher to follow Malfoy around in an effort to figure out what he was up to, Dobby replies:

"Yes, Harry Potter!" said Dobby at once, his great eyes shining with excitement. "And if Dobby does it wrong, Dobby will throw himself off the topmost tower, Harry Potter!" (HBP pg 422/395)

Notice, Dobby says "throw himself", not something like "you can throw me". Also, Dobby specifically mentions "the topmost tower", exactly the place where the "death" of Dumbledore later occurs in the same way.

Now, even though we know Dobby gets around and probably hears a lot of things he shouldn't in the castle, we're not suggesting Dumbledore could so easily slip up and let Dobby be privy to such a secret plan. But what we are suggesting is that J.K. is not above using something Dobby says to plant a clue for us that later on in the story it would be Dumbledore, himself, who planned the whole death cherade, and caused himself, or arranged for himself, to be thrown from the top of the tallest Astronomy tower.

5. Don't Point That At Me Unless You Mean It

Several times in the course of the Harry Potter books, J.K. has told us that the Avada Kedavra is not a curse you can make lightly.

In Goblet of Fire, the fake Mad Eye Moody tells his DADA class:

"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it -- you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed." (GoF pg 217/192)

And in Order of the Phoenix, we learn more about Avada Kedavra when Harry tries to curse Bellatrix:

Hatred rose in Harry such that he had never known before. He flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed "Crucio!" Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe or shriek with pain as Neville had -- she was already on her feet again ... "Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain -- to enjoy it ..." (OotP pg 810/715)

If Snape was really working on Dumbledore's orders to make it look to the world as if Snape had killed him, even if he had used the real Avada Kedavra, if he had not really meant it, if he really didn't want to kill Dumbledore, then isn't it possible that the curse didn't kill Dumbledore, but only injured him badly?

6. Fawkes' Lament

Directly after Dumbledore's murder, as everyone assembled in the hospital wing, Harry tells everyone Snape did it. He stops, overcome with emotion, and right then, something very important happens:

Madame Pomfrey burst into tears. Nobody paid her any attention except Ginny, who whispered, "Shh! Listen!" (HBP pg 614/573)

Everyone was there, Ron and his parents, Hermione, Lupin, Tonks. Yet it is Madame Pomfrey who J.K. tells us is struck by this turn of events. Continuing:

Gulping, Madame Pomfrey pressed her fingers to her mouth, her eyes wide. Somewhere out in the darkness, a phoenix was singing in a way Harry had never heard before; a stricken lament of terrible beauty. (HBP pg 614/573)

J.K. spends another paragraph on how the phoenix song echos their grief, but while doing so mentions:

Harry felt, as he had felt about the Phoenix song before, that the music was inside him, not without ... How long they stood there, listening, he did not know, nor why it seemed to ease their pain a little to listen... (HBP pg 615/573)

And then McGonagall enters, changes the subject, and the phoenix song is forgotten.

Many minutes later, after all the retelling of the night's affair, J.K. mentions Fawkes is still at it:

They all fell silent. Fawkes's lament was still echoing over the dark grounds outside. (HBP pg 621/579)

...but Harry's thoughts move right on to other things, like wondering where Dumbledore's body is now. Many minutes later still, as this meeting breaks up and Harry is following McGonagall up to what is now her office, J.K. interjects:

The corridors outside were deserted and the only sound was the distant phoenix song. (HBP pg 625/583)

Whatever it was he was doing, Fawkes was working hard at it, and not giving up. Yet we are supposed to believe, as in the title of this chapter, "The Phoenix Lament", that it is only Dumbledore's pet echoing everyone's grief?

Are we so easily to forget that phoenix tears have powerful healing powers?

Significantly, it is the healer, Madame Pomfrey, who is brought to tears by the phoenix song. She knows the healing power of the phoenix well. She gulps with eyes wide. She recognizes something special is going on.

Also, J.K. goes out of her way to point out the healing qualities of the phoenix song, Harry feels it inside, the way he did last time he was healed by one, and most importantly, it seems to ease their pain!

From these passages, it certainly seems that J.K. wants us to know that Fawkes is doing some healing! Perhaps Fawkes is not powerful enough to bring someone back from the Avada Kedavra, but what if Dumbledore was not really hit by an Avada Kedrava, and instead hit with half a spell, or a spell to make him appear dead (as explained in the clues above)?

7. Anyone Seen Dumbledore's Wand Lately?

At the very begining of the big scene between Draco, Dumbledore and Snape, one of the first things that happens is Dumbledore loses his wand:

The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" ... by the light of the Mark, he saw Dumbledore's wand flying in an arc over the edge of the ramparts ... (HBP pg 584/545)

But where is his wand now?

We know a wizard's wand is very important to him, and a wand that belonged to a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore would be a very important item to know the whereabouts of, something you wouldn't want falling into the wrong hands.

This clue might not mean as much if we didn't know the customs of wizards in such occasions, but we do! Five chapters ago, when Harry and Slughorn were consoling Hagrid over the death of Aragog, Hagrid and Sluggy sang a song about a wizard called Odo, and Sluggy sang the lines:

And Odo the hero, they bore him back home,
To the place that he'd known as a lad,
They laid him to rest with his hat inside out
And his wand snapped in two, which was sad. (HBP pg 488/456)

But as far as we know, they didn't snap Dumbledore's wand in two. After the scene at the top of the tower, Dumbledore's wand is simply never mentioned again.

Is it possible that Dumbledore's wand is missing because Dumbledore still has his wand, still needs his wand, because he's not dead?

8. No Body, No Crime

The last time we really saw Dumbledore's body was when Harry is kneeling over it shortly after he has been killed by Snape the previous day.

Now, we see Hagrid carry the body of Dumbledore into his funeral, but it's covered:

Hagrid was walking slowly up the aisle between the chairs. He was crying quite silently, his face gleaming with tears, and in his arms, wrapped in purple velvet spangled with golden stars, was what Harry knew to be Dumbledore's body. (HBP pg 643/599)

We never really see Dumbledore's body at the funeral. How do we know it was there at all?

9. Caution: Dumbledore Is Flammable

As part of the funeral service, a fire ignites around the body of Dumbledore, and when it subsides, his body is encased in a white marble tomb.

Again, we don't see the body, either before or after the fire.

But more importantly, no one lights the fire, it just happens on its own. A body bursting into flame on its own. That sound like anyone we know? We've seen Fawkes do that several times now in the course of the Harry Potter books, and you know what happens to Fawkes after every time it does.

Earlier in the book, we saw several instances where Dumbledore uses fire, an important aspect of the symbol of a phoenix. When he first meets Tom Riddle in the orphanage, to demonstrate he's a wizard, he sets Tom's wardrobe on fire. And he conjures fire to protect Harry and himself from the infiri in the cave.

And after all this, in case we didn't get the allusions to a phoenix, J.K. reminds us just in case:

White smoke spiraled into the air and made strange shapes: Harry thought, for one heart-stopping moment, that he saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the fire had vanished. (HBP pg 645/601)

All these clues seem to suggest that if Dumbledore really did die, he has the ability to be reborn out of the ashes of his death, either under his own power, or with the help of the healing powers of Fawkes.

Besides, even if Dumbledore's body was there when it erupted into flame, we know that doesn't mean anything to a wizard!

Non-magic people (more commonly known as muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognizing it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. (PoA pg 2/7)

So, who do they think they were fooling at the funeral?

Answer 2

I go with yes and no.
Maybe Dumbledore knew Severus was going to have to kill him. Maybe he ordered Snape to kill him so that he could stay spy. He could have had plans that could only be followed out after his death. After all, didn't he have at least a little bit of wandless magic? He wouldn't of given up so fast.
Maybe when Snape threw that curse, it was a fake. Nothing was suppose to be impossible without magic. The curse could have been something similar to a stunner. just a bit stronger. It would make Dumbledore seem dead like in Romeo & Juliet. That way, Dumbledoor would have the element of surprise if he came back and, Snape would still be a spy. Dumbledoor can too go under cover and still have Snape to report to him.
There are many other posibilities, but which is the right one?

Answer 3

yea, im really sad! Im hoping in the 7th book a certain miracle will happen! Sirius and Dumbledore will come alive! Ahh, not so much chances, but ya cant blame a Harry Potter fan for hoping

Answer 4

How old IS Dumbledore anyway? I would guess at some point in the book series he'd die seeing that he is not a young whipper-snapper anymore. But maybe Wizards can live longer? Who knows.

Answer 5

No I don't think he is dead. My theory is pretty long. The short version is

Dumbledore was NOT Hit with the Killing Curse
Snape was Following Orders
The Headmaster is Alive
Hagrid is Keeping Secrets

for the reasoning behind these statements its much easier to ask you to go to my HP website
http://rpccstudent.tripod.com

it's on the My theories page

Answer 6

He's dead. It's the age old story told many times from Jason and the Golden Fleece to Rocky. The hero must go it alone and his mentor either disappears for a while or dies.

Answer 7

Yes, I do, but I think that he can come back mayeb as spirit, OR when his picture is put up in his old office, Harry can go there to talk to him for advice! But when he died, I cried SO MUCH!

Answer 8

"I can help you, Draco." "No, you can't," said Malfoy, his wand shaking very badly indeed. "Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'd kill me. I've got no choice." "He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine." (HBP pg 591/552)


I think Dumbledore is still alive. I got the above from
www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com
Go check it out.

Answer 9

It is done. Dumbledore is dead. :(
Oh you with the long answer: You copied that off of dumbledoreisnotdead.com

Answer 10

yeh I believe so
but I think he may return in book as a spirit or something like that to help Harry defeat Voldemort.

Answer 11

Yes and No. I think I want to think no because I don't want him dead. But I think it really happened. I cried when I found out.

<3,