Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died - Emerson Spartz [28]
The Death of Dumbledore (HBP)
As startling as Sirius’s death was, nothing compares to the shock of the way in which Dumbledore was killed in HBP. Fans were warned beforehand that something major was coming, and we thought we were prepared. Boy, were we wrong! First of all, hardly anyone thought Dumbledore would get the ax—he was too important to the story, too close to Harry—he was the headmaster of Hogwarts and the best wizard in the world, for crying out loud. But even those prescient few who saw it coming could never have predicted how Dumbledore died.
In HBP, fans were finally starting to get used to the idea that Snape, as much of a jerk as he was, was actually a good guy trying to protect Harry. But then, in that final, fateful scene at Hogwarts, as Dumbledore stands there weaponless and surrounded by Death Eaters, he looks to Snape and cries “Severus, please.” Readers assumed that Snape would rise to the occasion and blast the Death Eaters away. We were oh so wrong! Snape took one look at Dumbledore and blasted him right off the Astronomy Tower. How could he!? He was supposed to be a good guy! And now Dumbledore, Harry’s strongest ally, was dead and gone… forever. Fans were stunned with grief and couldn’t put the puzzle together in their minds.
Verdict
Voldemort’s life never ceases to amaze (or repulse) us, and fans reacted strongly when he appeared as a reptilian baby in GoF, and then—even more so—when they first saw him emerge as his fully formed, snakelike self. Sirius and Dumbledore both fall to their deaths suddenly—one disappears through the mysterious veil, another tumbles off a high tower. The hearts of the fans fell with them, and the shockwaves still reverberate from unexpectedly losing two beloved characters. But which moment left readers stunned the most? Verdict: It’s a tough call, but nothing had fans flipping back pages to reread faster than Sirius’s sudden death. At least Dumbledore went out with some fanfare.
Which character is most surprising?
Mad-Eye Moody/Barty Crouch, Jr.
Harry has quite a memorable and surprising fourth year at Hogwarts in GoF with the Triwizard Tournament going on, but he has a great Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to help him prepare for the contest—Professor Mad-Eye Moody. Or, at least he thinks it’s Mad-Eye Moody. In fact, the crusty, old Auror is Death Eater Barty Crouch, Jr., hopped up on Polyjuice Potion. So when Professor Moody is supposed to be teaching the kids about the Unforgiveable Curses, he is actually enjoying their horrified responses. When he puts Harry and others under the Imperius Curse, it is because Death Eaters like to control people. When he is nice to Neville, Crouch/Mad-Eye is really remembering that he helped the Lestranges drive the boy’s parents insane with the Cruciatus Curse. Fake Moody does it all to help deliver Harry to the Dark Lord.
At the beginning of the Third Task of the Tournament, Moody leads Harry into the symbolic and dangerous maze that could have spelled death for the young wizard, but Harry outduels the Dark Lord and returns to Hogwarts. And guess who is there waiting for him? Professor Moody, who gets Harry away from everyone and then starts to freak out from lack of the Polyjuice, unable to avoid the Death Eater urge to brag about his evil plan. Surprise! The real Moody is locked in a dungeon down inside Barty Jr.’s magical trunk and has to be saved by Dumbledore. It’s such an impressive masquerade that most readers forget that, that year, Professor Moody was not the real Moody at all.
Severus Snape
Professor Snape’s character is always so sarcastic and nasty to Harry, Hermione, and Neville that quite a few Harry Potter readers started looking forward to Snape’s long, slow, painful death, even wondering how quickly Harry would kill him off in DH out of revenge for