The room was spinning before Snape's eyes. He raised a trembling hand to his forehead, trying to shield his vision from the motion. He closed his eyes, hoping to regain his sense of control. Instantly, a confused mass of images rushed into his mind ... The Dark Lord's taunting, "Who would protect you? Where would you go?" ... Dumbledore's smiling up at him in the Hog's Head ... Trust ... He knew what was going to happen to those children. Could he accept responsibility for their fate? ... Legilimency ... Lord Voldemort again, "You do well to fear me, for I could indeed destroy you." ... Dumbledore's voice, "I will provide what protection I can ... I will vouch for you should the Ministry ever ask you to testify." ... His own voice, "I will tell you nothing" ... Trust ... "Everyone deserves a second chance." ... Dumbledore smiling ...
He was shaking with fatigue now, as exhausted as he had been on the night Dumbledore taught him Occlumency. Someone in the chamber gently cleared their throat. Snape opened his eyes. There was a soft cough. Snape squinted into the shadows, as if he could make his eyes see in the dark just by concentrating. A slight movement from a figure just behind Mr. Crouch, and Snape noticed a sudden flash, light reflecting on glass. In his mind he heard again Dumbledore saying, "I will vouch for you."
Dumbledore! Had he used legilimency to pull these memories to the fore of Snape's mind? What was Dumbledore trying to tell him? He must have done this for a reason. Snape tried to make sense of the disparate images. There seemed to be a warning in there, that the Dark Lord would certainly destroy him once his defection was made public. A reminder that the children were more important than anything. And there was a reiteration of Dumbledore's binding promise to protect him. "I will tell you nothing." Why? What did it mean? It was too late for Snape to say nothing to the council. He had incriminated himself when he mentioned the Veritaserum. And now they also knew that he had no alibi. Damn Dumbledore! Why hadn't he warned Snape earlier? This was no help at all.
"Well?" said Mr. Crouch. "Have you any explanation?"
"Could you repeat the question?" Snape asked, buying time again.
"Why would you, an out-of-work and solitary wizard, have any reason to make Veritaserum?"
With the few extra seconds he had gained, Snape found no plausible answer. He decided to give up, admit his guilt. He was ready for Azkaban. He was ready to end this humiliating charade of a trial. "Because -- "
"Because he is working undercover, Barty. He is spying on our enemies." With a rustle of robes, Dumbledore stood up and walked to the centre of the chamber, until he was standing next to Snape.
"Do not be ridiculous, Dumbledore!" spat Mr. Crouch. "You have no proof of this! All afternoon, you have been arguing in favour of this man, without giving any explanation, and now you say he is a spy! Why didn't you say so before we began the trial?"
"I hoped I would not need to. One of the essential requirements for a spy is, after all, secrecy."
"Dumbledore, you don't have to d--" Snape began. He was longing to break free from his chains, to stop Dumbledore from saying too much.
"I do, Severus," said Dumbledore firmly. "This is my fault, and I will not allow you to be sent to Azkaban."
"This is irrelevant anyway," said Mr Crouch. "Without proof, you are merely making an empty assertion. We are under no obligation to believe what you say, Dumbledore."
"Oh, but I do have proof," smiled Dumbledore. He reached into his robes and pulled out a rather crumpled piece of parchment, fold-lines criss-crossing it in a complicated geometric pattern.
"What's that?" Mr Crouch snapped.
"A message I received earlier today from the accused," said Dumbledore, "warning me of new developments regarding Voldemort. We have only to ask Severus to jot something down for us now, and we will be able to compare the handwriting and have confirmation that he did indeed write this note."
"Let me see that." Dumbledore stepped forward and handed the parchment to Mr. Crouch. Realization dawned on Snape -- it was his phoenix-feather message. Well, at least he knew that Dumbledore had received it. Mr. Crouch snorted with impatience. "This is gibberish. It means nothing. Phoenix red? What serpent?"
"'Phoenix red' refers to the level of urgency. In this case, red -- which indicates a high level of danger and importance. The 'serpent' is Voldemort, of course. Here, Severus was warning me that Voldemort has become aware that his plans are known. The rest is self-explanatory, I should imagine."
"Well," sniffed Mr. Crouch, "it is possible, I suppose, that this man is in fact on our side. But a cryptic message is not enough to satisfy me completely, Dumbledore. I propose that we adjourn this trial until this day week, when there will be an opportunity for further evidence to be presented -- both for and against the accused. In the meantime, we shall of course retain the accused in our custody, in accordance with the guidelines laid down in Subsection 3.1 of the Treatment of Accused Felons Act 1733."
Snape lunged out of his chair again, forgetting the restraining golden chains. "Didn't you hear what Dumbledore just said?" he shouted. "We don't have enough time! The Dark Lord is making preparations, the Death Eaters will be active tonight! I must go!"
"You are in no position to address the council in such terms, Snape." said Mr. Crouch.
"People could die! And you talk of rules and regulations! If you don't believe what people say when the facts are laid before you, then how will you ever discover the truth?" With this last word an idea surfaced in Snape's mind. "As you know, I have a cauldron full of Veritaserum brewing back at my house. I am prepared to take a dose, if this will convince you of the veracity of my statements."
Mr. Crouch, busy placing various papers back into his briefcase, paused for a second. "A trap." he said, "You are trying to lure us away from the safety of the Ministry building."
"I am not!" replied Snape hotly. "We could summon the Veritaserum here, if that is your only objection."
Dumbledore had by now returned to the ranks of seats behind Mr. Crouch. He was whispering intently to two witches on the second row. The others were talking amongst themselves, but Snape could not make out any distinct words. Finally, an elderly witch with blue hair, sitting on the back row, got to her feet and said, "Mr. Crouch, I think we have heard enough to reach a verdict now."
"Really?" said Mr. Crouch. "Would it not be preferable to gather more evidence?"
"No, Mr. Crouch. Time does seem to be an issue in this case, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we have all made up our minds."
"Very well, very well," Mr. Crouch sighed, as though he already sensed defeat. "Would all those who find the accused guilty please raise their hands now."
Snape anxiously scanned the chamber, and allowed himself a thin smile of relief when he saw that only Mr. Crouch and two other wizards had their hands in the air.
"And those who find the accused not guilty?" asked Mr Crouch, with resignation in his voice.
One by one the remaining witches and wizards in the council chamber raised their hands, even Weatherby, Mr. Crouch's assistant. Snape saw Mr. Crouch frown when he noticed this, and Weatherby return the frown with a shrug and a wry nod of his head.
"So be it," said Mr Crouch. "Weatherby, let the record show that the accused, Severus Snape, was today tried by the Council of Law and found not guilty of the crime of being a Death Eater in the service of Lord Voldemort."
As these words were spoken, the golden chains holding Snape in his seat untangled themselves and fell to the floor. He was free again.
"And now, if you will excuse me, I have notes to prepare for a meeting with the Minister for Magic tomorrow morning," said Mr. Crouch, brusquely.
"One moment, Barty," said Dumbledore. "I would just like to remind everyone in this room of the promise that was made this afternoon. No information revealed during this trial can be repeated to anyone, once we have left this room. I have taken the precaution of sealing that promise with a magical charm that can only be broken by myself. Secrecy is of the utmost importance -- now more than ever."
"Thank you, Dumbledore," said Mr. Crouch, icily, and, in a flurry of robes, paper, briefcase and quills, he left the room, with Weatherby trotting behind him.
Taking this as their cue to leave, the various members of the Council of Law gathered their respective robes, hats, bags, wands, vials, cushions and flasks together and filed out of the chamber -- until, finally, Snape and Dumbledore had the room to themselves.