I agree with you on both accounts. IMO, Snape is on the side of right, he’s just a jerk with the people skills of bean bag. Like Sirius says in OotP, “The world is not divided up into good people and death eaters.”
I’ve got a feeling Neville is going to knock our socks off and show us why he was put in the house known for bravery.
And if he is the one who dies I am going to cry, cry, cry!
JKR has already said that one of the characters ends up as a Hogwarts professor. My bet is Neville ends up as Herbology professor, replacing Professor Sprout. But Hermione is damn good at Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagal is now Headmistress. I loved the killer canaries in HBP.
My predictions are that Neville ends up as Herbology Professor (as stated by another Freeper a couple of posts above this one), Snape dies saving Harry, Percy dies while redeeming himself, and Hagrid dies. I can't even think about Harry, Ron or Hermione dying in the book, unless it's a scene where Harry dies after retelling the story of his life (as has also been predicted by Freepers).
We're going to Wal-Mart at 12:01 and buying one of their copies, along with the audio tapes. I'll be reading the spoiler threads, though. I don't mind knowing what's coming up in the story.