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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
For the record, I agree with those of you who think Snape will turn out for the good in the end. And I don't think he's in it for his advantage. Rather, he's trying to survive. Imagine being in his place. You're one of the more powerful wizards, a former Death Eater; being former, now that Voldemort is back, you are considered a traitor unless you can persuade and convince and demonstrate the opposite, just in order to save your skin. That means Snape is forced to play double agent. He knows that Dumbledore is going to give him the benefit of the doubt, yet is no fool; so he tried to do as much for Dumbledore as he can without appearing to do too much against Voldemort. A tricky proposition for anyone at all! Why he swore that oath, however, I'm still trying to figure out. At any rate, I think Snape is still merely trying to survive, especially having sworn the oath. Did he swear it in order to keep that aunt of Malfoy from getting the mind of Voldemort turned against him? That's the only thing I can think of.
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I also think Snape may turn out to be 'good' in the end. There are a lot of clues in the text that he will do so, only apprent to the reader after some digging, which is appropriate as I also think that only Snape and Dumbledore knew that Snape was in fact on the 'good' side - it would be far too dangerous for anyone else to know this.
Why is Snape willing to take an oath swearing allegiance to Voldermort and to kill Dumbledore? I think he will be instrumental in leading Harry to Voldemort and to their 'final battle'; he has managed to foster an incredible hatred in Harry, who will now pursue him and thus get to the real enemy who is very elusive. It also, from a narrative point of view, makes for a better story as we see Harry being distracted from his real task in order to go after Snape for revenge.
I also believe that Harry will be back at Hogwarts. In much the same way that his Aunt's house provides him with protection, I think Hogwarts also does the same. More importantly, I think that there is at least one Horocrux hidden there, so a return will be necessary. And there was one at Grimmauld Place, the locket, which in fact could now be anywhere if Mundungus or Kreacher took it. There may also be a return to Godric's Hollow as I think Harry may believe a Horocrux is also hidden there.
I have to wonder if there was this level of speculation in between publication of Two Towers and Return of the King? One thing both Tolkien and Rowlings do have in common is their ability to leave us wanting more, from leaving us hanging by a thread. Rowlings has developed this in the later books of the series which have been much more accomplished and dark, whereas Tolkien seemed to have developed this ability from the start - was this a result of his having written all three books at once, in comparison to Rowlings' more gradual writing process?