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Originally Posted by onesnowyowl
Yes, but then perhaps Snape would have burned his bridges too soon or too rashly. Severus is nothing if not patient and cunning.
This story isn't nearly as simple as it appears, and anyone who knows Snape at all knows that very well.
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True, but he wasn't acting of his own volition, entirely. We know that there was a lot of tension between Snape and Dumbledore during that school year; I'm inclined to believe that it's because Dumbledore was putting Malfoy's life before his own. Snape knows Dumbledore well enough to know that it's exactly the sort of thing he'd do and there was no ambiguity; Snape also knew that Malfoy was tasked with killing him and knew that Voldemort would kill Malfoy if he failed. The only course of action possible at that point that would both spare Malfoy's life and prevent him from having to murder someone is for Snape to kill Dumbledore. Dumbledore likely also considered that he was obviously getting too old to effectively oppose Voldemort, as evidenced by his losing his hand to the horcrux.
Everything in the book seems to point to Dumbledore's foreknowledge of his own death; throughout the book he can be seen putting everything in place so that the order can continue to oppose and eventually defeat Voldemort without him. He gives Harry all the necessary information to defeat Voldemort, he puts the whole affair of Sirius in order and he also spends a lot of time out of the school; while this could be seen as simply due to Voldemort being out in the open and requiring a lot more direct action on his part, it does beg the question of why he didn't come and go so much in OOtP, unless he did and it simply wasn't advertised; after all, when the ministry was denying Voldemort's return he would've had just as much or more to do, yet up until he's deposed by the Umbridge, he isn't noted as being absent from meals any more than usual. It could be construed as him preparing the school to run in his absence, by allowing it to occur as much as possible prior to his death.
Snape took the unbreakable vow at the beginning of the year, yet the plan of having Malfoy kill Dumbledore seems to have been in place for some time prior to that. It's entirely possible that if Snape knew of this plan, Dumbledore know, in which case Snape took the vow on Dumbledore's orders, as it cemented his place as a Death Eater. Narcissa wasn't likely to question his loyalty after that and given how influential Lucius was before his capture (and Narcissa through him) that would go a long way to quieting any grumblings amongst the Death Eater ranks.
And after Dumbledore's death, Snape finds himself in a prime position to strike when the time comes. He'll be trusted implicitly, I should imagine; after all, if he killed Dumbledore, he's clearly not working for him. It's necessary that both the Order believe that he truly did betray them and that he have no further contact with him, because either one of those circumstances could jeopardize his position as a double agent.
I think it's pretty much indisputable that Snape will play a large role in the seventh book either way. I could see him sacrificing himself in order to help Harry finish off Voldemort at the end.