While this piece of pleasant whimsy makes a nice change from the hand-wringing which usually goes on here, I must ask what is the point. This topic has been done to death (weak joke intended) in several specialty Harry Potter websites. The notion that Dumbledore was not dead was being widely promoted on the internet only days after the Half Blood Prince was released. This pleasant piece of prose merely goes over some quite old ground.

My view, for what it is worth is that there are two possibilities:

1. Dumbledore is not dead and the whole thing was some kind of a set-up between him and Snape, or

2. Dumbledore, for reasons unknown, wanted to be killed.

Say Dumbledore is not dead (yet) then what has actually happened to him? Is this why Snape apparently rescues Harry from evil during the
Quidditch match?
Who dies in the Deathly Hallows volume?
Will the next volume really be the last?
Oh dear, a whole lot of adults counting the sleeps?
Must say that every volume from number three onwards has brought about the glorious sight of children and adults all over the place actually reading a book.

I always thought that there were dangers in homeschooling.

Darn, now I'm wondering how Harry and Ron's affair will span out. Maybe it'll all end in tears after a bondage threesum with Draco Malfoy.

Dumbledore is most certainly dead. His portrait, reserved only for past headmasters of Hogworts appeared on the wall in the headmasters office shortly after battle.

Hi ChrisC,

Quite true, but one can be a past headmaster without being dead!

And in any case, if DD faked his death he would also arrange a few other bits and pieces to maintain the charade.

Mind you I am not saying that he is not dead, just that his picture appearing is no proof of his death.

I guess we'll all know in another week and a bit!

I agree with In Snape's Defence theory. He will betray Voldemort and if necessary will sacrifice himself to save Harry. His love for Lily is the key. When she was murdered, Severus fled to Dumbledore a changed man, crushed by regret and torturous grief. Dumbledore pitied this sincere, tragic, penitent figure. Love is the only reason Albus would trust Severus implicitly.
Severus loved Lily because she shared his talent for and interest in brewed magic and also because she objected to James playing merciless pranks on him. It cut him to pieces that she married James. This wasn't a pleasant realization for Harry, tainting his image of his Father, but just as Sirius said “We all have light and dark in us”. Disillusioned by unrequited affection, Snape fell prey to the Death Eaters’ promises the way lonely young muggles have joined extreme organizations all through our history. It ruined him. Noone is more aware of this than Severus. It's why he's so unpleasant. He isn’t nice, but that doesn’t make him evil.
Harry evokes in Snape powerful, conflicting emotions, reminding him simultaneously of the people whom he loved and hated the most. It's so painful he can barely be civil. Despite this he has protected Harry from the outset. His enduring jealousy seeks to give Malfoy advantages the way he always wished to beat James.
That night on the tower Dumbledore didn’t beg Snape to spare his life, but to kill him quickly. Dumbledore, who cared for the welfare of all his students, be they good or misguided; would have wanted Snape to protect Malfoy from taking responsibility. Snape's vow to Draco’s Mother sealed it, his own life already ruined. Dumbledore knew his time had come. Harry must face that too. Dumbledore’s horcrux-like portrait appearing freshly painted in the headmasters office might convey that to Harry. Snape’s twisted misery has dogged Harry’s time at Hogwarts, but Snape is honorable. Snape is a bad man gone good.
PS. For mercy’s sake, Ron and Hermoine must snog. Go Ron! Go Snape!