harry potter - Can a single Killing Curse kill more than one soul?

If targeted at a group of individuals and with the intention to kill them, could a single invocation of Avada Kedavra eliminate an entire group? I am asking for, er, a friend who has, um, a pest problem.

For example, if I aim over an anthill and I mean to kill all the ants, will I have to kill one at a time? Again, asking for a friend. I don't have any problem with the ants.

Answer

It seems like once Avada Kedavra hits one living target, it’s “used up”. Fawkes was able to take a Killing Curse for Dumbledore. Once it hit him, it couldn’t hit Dumbledore.

“But even as he shouted, another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Voldemort’s wand and the snake 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.”
_{^{- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 36 (The Only One He Ever Feared)}}

For blocking the Killing Curse like this to be effective, Fawkes would have needed to be able to take the whole of it, with none of it being left over to still hit Dumbledore. Fawkes is also fairly small, so if he could block a whole Killing Curse, that shows it’s likely to be a one-target-only spell.

If there were two souls sharing space in the same body, like Quirrell being possessed by the Dark Lord, or Harry and the piece of soul in him, it’s possible that a single Killing Curse could kill both souls that were housed in the same body. One single Killing Curse killed the piece of the Dark Lord’s soul in Harry and would have killed Harry as well if it wasn’t for his mother’s sacrifice in the Dark Lord’s blood (and to a lesser degree his being the master of the Elder Wand).

Comments

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