Killing Curse

Killing Curse
Incantation	Avada Kedavra
Type	Curse
Effect	Instantaneous Painless Death

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

— Barty Crouch, Jr. as Alastor Moody

The Killing Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses, causes instantaneous death. There is no known counter-curse or cure for it, however one may dodge the green bolt or use a physical barrier to block it. An explosion or green fire may result if the spell hits something other than a living target. Lord Voldemort was famous for using this curse regularly and indiscriminately.

The Killing Curse is not the only spell that will cause death to a living creature. Other spells may cause injury or bleeding, such as Fiendfyre, Sectumsempra, or Stunning Spell.

Avada Kedavra (pr. Av-ada Ked-av-ra) is the incantation for this curse.

File:AvadaKedavra.jpeg

Voldemort using Avada Kedavra against Harry Potter resulting in an inundating effect of Priori Incantatem.

Only one person is known to have survived a direct application of the curse: Harry Potter, who was saved when his mother, Lily Evans, sacrificed herself by blocking the spell with her body. Over a decade later, Harry would survive the curse twice more: Once when the effect killed only the Horcrux inside him, and again when the wand being used to curse him, the Elder Wand, refused to destroy him.

Phoenixes are also immune to the Killing Curse. Fawkes swallowed one intended for Albus Dumbledore. He burst into flames, and was reborn from his ashes.

Appearance and Effect

The Killing Curse is described as a jet of blinding green light, which causes the victim instant death. A death caused by this curse may be physically painless; "echoes" of previous victims have asserted the death felt "more easy than falling asleep."

Victims of killing curse examined with muggle methods show no signs of what could possible caused the death, this may hint that the curse may work in a very deep level, maybe cuting the conection between the soul and body.

Known Victims

Victim	Caster	Notes
Tom Riddle Sr [HP4]	Tom Marvolo Riddle	Slain in vengeance; death used to create Gaunt's Ring Horcrux.
Mary Riddle [HP4]	Tom Marvolo Riddle	Slain in hatred.
Thomas Riddle [HP4]	Tom Marvolo Riddle	Slain in hatred.
James Potter [HP1]	Lord Voldemort	Killed as he attempted to prevent Voldemort's entry into his home.
Lily Evans [HP1]	Lord Voldemort	Killed while protecting her infant son.
Lord Voldemort [HP1] [HP7]	Himself	Rebounded from Harry Potter three seperate times.
Bertha Jorkins [HP4]	Lord Voldemort	Interrogated, then murdered.
Frank Bryce [HP4]	Lord Voldemort	Killed for perceived trespassing at the Riddle mansion.
A spider [HP4]	Barty Crouch Jr (as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody)	Demonstration in Defence Against the Dark Arts class, while impersonating Alastor Moody
Cedric Diggory [HP4]	Peter Pettigrew	On orders from Voldemort, using the Dark Lord's wand.
Fawkes [HP5]	Lord Voldemort	Died a Phoenix's death while protecting Dumbledore.
Gibbon [HP6]	Thorfinn Rowle	Accidentally killed during First Battle of Hogwarts.
Albus Dumbledore [HP6]	Severus Snape	Killed by Dumbledore's request.
Charity Burbage [HP7]	Lord Voldemort	Slain for defending Muggles and Muggle-borns.
Hedwig [HP7]	Unknown Death Eater	Slain during the Battle Over Little Whinging.
Alastor Moody [HP7]	Lord Voldemort	Intended for Mundungus Fletcher, disguised as Harry Potter.
German Family [HP7]	Lord Voldemort	Slain for having no information on the whereabouts of Gregorovitch.
Gregorovitch [HP7]	Lord Voldemort	Killed after questioning regarding the Elder Wand.
Gellert Grindelwald [HP7]	Lord Voldemort	Killed in Nurmengard prison, after questioning regarding the Elder Wand.
Unknown Muggle Family [HP7]	Unknown Death Eaters	Five in total, part of a savage round of Muggle killings.

Known Attempts

• Voldemort attempted to curse Harry Potter in his infancy, but the curse was blocked by Lily Evans' magical protection. The curse backfired on Voldemort, who survived only due to the many Horcruxes he had created.
• Voldemort attempted to curse Harry Potter during their duel in the Little Hangleton graveyard in 1994. Harry's simultaneous Expelliarmus charm produced the Priori Incantatem effect between their two twin-core wands.
• Antonin Dolohov attempted to curse Hermione Granger during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He was disarmed by Harry Potter.
• Voldemort attempted to curse Harry Potter at the same battle, in the Ministry of Magic Atrium. The curse was blocked by Dumbledore, who transfigured a golden statue from the Fountain of Magical Brethren to protect Harry.
• Voldemort attempted to curse Dumbledore several times during that same battle, however Dumbledore blocked it successfully each time. Dumbledore was using the Elder Wand, which made him undefeatable in duels.
• Vincent Crabbe attempted to curse Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in 1997, but the curse missed them both.
• Voldemort attempted to curse Harry Potter twice in that same year, but Harry survived both curses, as is explained above.
• Voldemort attempted to use the curse to kill Seamus Finnigan and Hannah Abbott during the climax of the final battle.

Disputed Uses

• Barty Crouch Jr admitted to the murder of his father, Barty Crouch Sr, but never identified his method of killing as the Killing Curse.
• In 1995, Bellatrix Lestrange cursed Sirius Black with something that sent him through the Veiled Arch in the Department of Mysteries, but it has never been proven this was in fact the Killing Curse. (In the film she used the killing curse.)
• Bellatrix Lestrange slew a fox with a nonverbal spell producing a "flash of green light" in 1996. However, it is not explicitly clear that she used the Killing Curse.
• Alastor Moody was killed in 1997 by a curse that resulted in his death. Again, it is not explicitly clear that the Killing Curse was used.
• Molly Weasley killed Bellatrix Lestrange with a spell that struck her in the heart, but it cannot be proven that she used the Killing Curse.

Etymology

Avada Kedavra may originate from the commonly-used phrase Abracadabra, an Aramaic phrase meaning "Begone like this word." It is much more likely to be based on the Aramaic אבדא כדברא avada kedavra, meaning I destroy as I speak.

Behind the scenes

• In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film), Lucius Malfoy says "Avada" at Harry after he unwittingly frees Dobby. Dobby knocks Lucius backwards with magic to protect Harry, and he doesn't finish the incantation.
• In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film), Bellatrix Lestrange is shown using the curse and the incantation to kill Sirius Black, which was fundamentally different from the same scene in the book.