I'm still halfway through book 4 (have been for a couple of years as it hasn't really fascinated me as much as 1, 2 and 3 yet), so I thought I'd read this thread as by the time I read book 6, we'll all be old and retired.
Anyway, I'm not entirely surprised that Dumbledore is the one who dies. However, I'm really, really amazed that Snape is the one who kills him, and I really hope there's some kind of trick where it turns out he's not the one doing that.
Like what you guys said, I always thought Snape was not really a bad guy, but just a very strict teacher. Okay, he's the head of Slytherin, but if Slytherin was totally bad, would it stay at Hogwart's? Unless Dumbledore somehow thinks he needs a balance between good and evil, but that would be kind of been there, done that, for plenty of other books and other creative works. And yes, he actually saved Harry's life in The Philosopher's Stone. So why would he do that if he'd been the one giving out the information to Voldemort about where Harry and his parents were hiding?
Also, as a H/H shipper, I'm of course not very keen on the Hermione/Ron relationship, although it was of course very much expected. Oh well, there's always fanfic.
I'll still read the book, though... once I finally manage to get past book 4 and race through book 5.
Kaethel
