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I haven't scrolled through everyone's remarks as yet, but I'm surprised that no one has brought up the Unbreakable Vow Snape made with Narcissa at the beginning of the book. That's the whole reason, imo, that Snape killed Dumbledore...if he didn't keep his vow to Narcissa, he would have been killed himself. No doubt (it's likely Dumbledore knew about the Vow, if Snape really IS loyal) this is why Snape was so adamant about not being a coward when Harry accused him of being such. Dumbledore and Snape probably worked this out ahead of time, to a certain extent. Snape was likely not happy to be killing Dumbledore, when he (meaning Dumbledore) had gone out on a limb for Snape and defended Snape against everyone who doubted his loyalty to the Order and to Dumbledore. But, the Vow was made, and there was no getting around it...and Snape was supposedly spying on Voldermort and the Death Eaters. Not easy to replace him, after all.

True. I'm also wondering if Dumbledore's trust in Snape may have something to do with a previously-made Unbreakable Vow...