I think that the whole excuse for Dumbledore "dying" is so he can track down, and destroy Voldemorts horcruxes without being bothered by Voldemort, or his followers. Maybe even Harry.

I think Dumbledore is alive and Snape faked AKing him, curing him instead and sending him down the tower where he pretended to be dead. then he left.

even i think Dumbledore isn't dead.. check out this link: Link

Dumbledore's dead, Snape had made an unbreakable promise, it wasn't in his power. Dumbledore is never coming back, he's gone

Anyways, it wouldn't make any difference even if he is dead.. The story will be much more interesting to be read without. Think if Dumbledore is alive, he would help Harry in some way or the other.

i agree with perdita. but i believe snape is not evil.

I m in favour of the dumbledore/Slughorn switch:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#scribbulus:essay:141

Either Dumbledore is dead, or he isn't... It doesn't make sence to me that Slughorn switched with him.

Read the article and you will no longer be confused.

About the whole unbreakable vow, it was to help Malfoy. And he did. It wasnt about killing Dumbledore.

'will you, if it should seem Draco should fail, perform the task that the dark lord has asked Draco to do?'

something like that anyway. what was the task? killing dumbledore

I'm not sure...i want him to be alive...but i dunno

I want him to be alive but I dont think that he is. But Snape is not evil. He is good and he should bring his sorry butt over to the light side right now. And bring Draco so that he can marry Ginny.

I agree, snape might no be 'good' on the outside but i'm pretty sure he's 'good' in the inside. There's one more book to go and we're all going crazy to see what the bloody hell snape is going to do.

But what gets me is why in the hell would Voldemort ask Draco to kill the most powerful wizard in the world. Somthing isnt adding up here.

We don't really know what Voldemort asked Draco to do... Therefore, we don't know what Snape was helping him do.

thats trues

from what i gather of dumbledore's personality in the books i would say that he faked the whole thing just so he could go on holiday in jamaica.

but if anyone finds any proof to deny that then i agree with adam and the theory on 'the-leaky-cauldron'. lol

lol oh yea thats what happened.

William: if the task was to kill Dumbledore (Finn, you have a point, ill come back to it), it weas because of Lucius' mistake. he was ordered to get the prophecy no matter what. what happened? oh dear, it broke. poor Malfoy Senior, not in the Dark Lords good books. lets think in Voldemorts shoes. someone just failed you, and his son just joined you........ hmm, 2 and 2 equals what?

4, yep, Draco is Lucius' punishment. hes expendable.

Finn, i think we do know what Draco was asked to do. Kill Dumbledore. a series of quotes (none say directly, but it adds up to that)

^here, Draco expresses that if he kills Dumbledore, he'd be Voldemort favourite. of course, killing dumbledore would make Voldemort happy whether he ordered it or not, but what if Voldemort needed Dumbledore somehow? i dont think any Death Eater would kill him unless Voldemort ordered it, because he could be useful to Voldemort, like Harry. remember, Lucius stopped Bellatrix killing Harry?

^yes, Voldemort doesn't expect failure. why would Voldemort consider it a failure if he never ordered it?

Never in any book of Harry Potter have I ever seen someone react so differently when killed. He got blasted into the air and fell behind the battlements and out of sight.... Why out of sight? I still think that Dumbledore is dead though...

-HP

um... how can you say that people dont die out of sight? have you read Sirius' death? he died out of sight and no-one has or will see him again. yep, he died out of sight, so i dont know why Dumbledore cant

I didn't say he can't... I just said it was a bit wierd.

-HP

Personally, I believe the Slughorn-DD switch theory. You have all of the info mentioned previously, plus the bit about Expelliarmus - AK... Every single time that Expelliarmus has been used aggressively, the target was lifted up and thrown backwards. Every time someone is hit with Avada Kedavra, however, they drop on the spot. When Snape Supposedly AK'd Dumbledore, he was lifted up and thrown back... plus, we have the first example in this book of Thinking of one spell while saying another aloud. When Harry is PT'd by Dumbledore, I can see Jo snapping her fingers and pointing at this instance saying, "Hey!... See? Spell Confusion? Remember this!" so.... meh.

We don't know what's behind the veil... we don't know if Sirus is dead really? right?

things that say sirius is dead:

the room was called the "death chamber" and the viel was the only thing in it.

Lupin: "theres nothing you can do Harry.... nothing... he's gone

Lupin: "He can't come back because he's d-"
Harry: "HE IS NOT DEAD!" (LUPIN WOULD HAVE STATED HE WAS)

Harry: "SHE KILLED SIRIUS, SHE KILLED HIM- I'LL KILL HER!"

Sirius' two-way mirror didn't respond when Harry used it

Fudge in HBP: "but anyway, as I say, he's dead. Murdered, as a matter of fact"

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i think its safe to say Sirius is dead.

heres my take on it, ive said this before sometime, i can't remember where

The viel is the gateway to "heaven/hell". its the gateway to the afterlife.

when the group went to the viel, they could hear murmuring. well, 4 of them could. Harry, Luna, Neville and Ginny. we know from before that Harry, Luna and Neville could see Threstals, so im willing to guess the same rule applies here. see death, hear the voices. Ginny is a different matter. she hasn't seen someone die, but in COS, she was so close to death, she surely understands it enough for her to hear the voices. she's been closer to death than any of the others (including Harry) so she knows.


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Hayden, you are incorrect in your statement

NOPE!

Harry is Pt'd by Dumbledore, yes. and at the same time, Expelliarmus is called. Harry thinks "wait, Expelliarmus doesnt freeze" and then sees Dumbledores wand flying through the air. EXPELLIARMUS WAS CAST BY DRACO, AND PETRIFICUS TOTALUS WAS CAST BY DUMBLEDORE NON-VERBALLY

hope that clears that up.


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and finally, Harry.

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT WITCHES, WIZARDS, DRAGONS, MERPEOPLE, SALAMANDERS, MOVING CHESS PIECES, VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES AND FIREPLACES THAT CAN TRANSPORT PEOPLE.

its a weird book. its Harry potter, its not normal. in normal world, people can die out of sight. if they are in a room, with no-one in there with them and they die, its dying out of sight. whats weird about it?

True, but Fudge said that Voldemort was dead too.

the world said that voldemort was dead for 13 years, and that only proves one statement wrong, not them all.