I really think that Dumbledore did die because his portrait did appear inside the headmaster's office. As for JK Rowling being too obvious, I don't think that is the case. She knows what she is doing and I think that she would have anticipated everyone guessing what was going to happen next. As a result, I don't think that it will be anything that we can guess. But like it was said before, that is just my $.02.
I think that Dumbledore knew even before he left in search of the horcrux that he was going to die that night. When Harry was taking Dumbledore back through the caves, Dumbledore implied that he would trust Harry with his life. If this is true, why wouldn't he let Harry come and help him? I think the reason is that he knew that Harry would find a way to succeed against the death eaters and save him. This would be against Dumbledore's plans because he was considering the prophecy. The prophecy says that Harry, alone, would have to be the one to kill Voldemort. If Dumbledore lives, Harry would be too dependent on him and would never go in search of those horcruxes w/o him. As a result, the prophecy would not be fulfilled because it would not be Harry alone defeating Voldemort. Dumbledore said in OOTP that his weakness was that he cared for Harry too much. The only way to fix this would be to eliminate himself. Dumbledore said that he could trust Harry, I think he trusts him enough to be able to fulfill the prophecy.
As for Harry becoming an auror, I don't think so. I think that he will end up doing what nobody else could. He will become a teacher at Hogwarts and will teach his favorite class. No other teacher could last for more than 1 year when teaching defense against the dark arts. I think taht job was meant for Harry and this will eventually be realized.
Snape is a very complex character and it is hard to tell which side he is on. When he shouted "Don't call me a coward!" to Harry, this raised a flag to me. I think that Snape very reluctantly killed Dumbledore. It makes sense b/c in the OOTP, he was the one who alerted the Order about Harry's actions. If it weren't for him, Voldemort would have had Harry right where he wanted him. He told the Order and Dumbledore which allowed them to prevent Voldemort from getting the prophecy and killing Harry(the death eaters made it clear that they had every intention of killing Harry after they got the prophecy). I don't think that Snape would have wanted to foil his master's plans intentionally.
Like I said before, I am probably completely wrong. JKR will probably come up with some elaborate story that will put all of our speculation to rest. She will probably come up with something that nobody would have thought of or she will introduce some new element into the book. If I am not mistaken, the 7th book is coming out in the summer of 2007? So we now have something to look forward to. Hopefully, it won't be another War of the Worlds disaster where all the questions were left unanswered!!
(yes, i am still mad about that
)
BTW, I am sorry if I have mentioned something that has already been said. I keep losing track between all the HP discussions.
GO 1403!!!