I am of two schools of thought on the Dumbledore: Dead or Alive issue.

On the one hand, I think he's probably completely dead, dead in the way most people would be after taking a swan dive off an astronomy tower after having a magic killing curse leveled at them. JKR is also fond of repeating the fact that once a wizard is dead, you can't bring him back. And if she repeats something, she means it. So, James ... he's dead. But it's that swan dive part that always makes me wonder if our beloved headmaster is just slightly less than dead, while not quite fully alive.

We have seen several instances of how the Avada Kedavra curse works in addition to it being explained in detail. Frank Bryce, Cedric Diggory, the Riddle Family and a rather unlucky spider in Professor Moody's DADA class were all victims of it: A wand was pointed at them, the words are spoken, a shot of green light comes out of someone's wand and they keeled over. Goodnight Irene. No balletic falls. No heart clutching. No death rigors and sputtering farewell speeches. They just died on the spot. Two other characters in the books have been victims of this curse, too, but whose response to it makes some readers (myself included) question just how dead they are and if they'll either come back or be heard from again. One is Sirius Black, who was struck by the curse and then fell back gracefully (practically floating) thru the mysterious veil, and Dumbledore who also did not just keel over, but tumbled -- also gracefully -- off the astronomy tower.

Dumbledore could come back as a ghost, but Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost had this to say about becoming a ghost:

"Wizards can leave an imprint of themselves upon the earth, to walk palely where their living selves once trod ... I was afraid of death. I chose to remain behind. I sometimes wonder whether I oughtn't have ... Well, that is neither here nor there ... In fact, I am neither here nor there..

That doesn't sound like Dumbledore. He's not afraid of death and would never make such a choice. ("There are far worse things than death, Tom.")

I certainly don't believe we've seen the last of him. Will Harry think to consult Dumbledore's portrait? Did Sirius have his half of the magic two-way mirror on him the night he passed thru the veil? Will Batman and Robin escape the Riddler's trap? Oh, wait ... wrong series.

Tune in to the next episode, "Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows" on July 21 to find out what happens.