Though you make some good points, I disagree that Snape is not brave. It takes a lot of bravery to change no matter what the reason. Lily's death opened his eyes to what he had become. He could have broken down and done nothing, left the DE's and been killed by his former 'friends.' Instead, he chooses to live and work with people who still despise and mistrust him(accept for Dumbledore)for a greater good. What ever his motivation. He was also brave by being a double agent, Dumbledore's man. He was willing to do whatever it took to see Dumbledore's plans out, even killing the man. As you say he had seen the darkness and lived through it, THAT in my book, makes him very brave. If you have ever known someone who was an alcoholic or drug abuser, it takes a lot of courage/bravery to face that and over come it. In some ways, at least to me, Snape went though that.

Hero, maybe not, but certainly brave.

I DO agree that i would have liked to see Snape and Harry come to some understanding/closer. "What I was expecting, and what would have made a much more compelling and consistent story, would have been for Harry, struggling with the temptation to darkness, to be aided by the only other character to have faced that kind of darkness-- Snape." I was so hopping for this too. It would have transformed them both.