Still standing by the chair in the centre of the chamber, Snape could feel his whole body quivering with anger. It felt as though all the emotions -- frustration, confusion and irritation -- that he had experienced during the last few hours were coalescing into a ball of pure rage. He could feel it physically, as if his stomach was clenching itself into a fist. He could just make out Dumbledore's smile, through the gloomy light of the room. What was he smiling for? The trial had been a disaster, and Dumbledore had admitted that it was his fault entirely. Snape's position as a spy had been made public. He had wasted almost the entire day in the Ministry of Magic. He still didn't have his wand. There would be rumours, spread by the Alastor Moody no doubt, that he had been arrested. He suspected that the outcome of the trial would not prevent people from treating him as a guilty man. The simple act of accusation would be enough to tarnish his reputation forever. So much for trying to undo the damage he had caused.
From his seat on the second row, Dumbledore said, "Severus --"
As if the word had released a spring somewhere inside, Snape crossed the floor in five angry strides. He leant over the first row of seats, so that his face was only six inches from Dumbledore's. "What was that all about?" he hissed.
"Severus --"
"Subjecting me to a Legilimental attack in the middle of my trial! Warning me to say nothing when I had already said too much!" Snape had expected to feel a little better after this outburst, but instead the spring inside him seemed to coil itself more tightly.
"It was the only way I could warn you, Severus," replied Dumbledore. "From the moment you walked into this room, I tried to make contact with you, to use your memories to guide you. I had not expected to meet with any resistance."
Snape had already started to say, "What kind of help is tha-?" but broke off with a surprised, "What?" at Dumbledore's last words.
"I was saying that I was surprised to find you using Occlumency. Indeed, I do not think that you were aware that you were doing so at the time, were you?"
"No," said Snape, thoughtfully, his tension subsiding a little. Had it become an automatic reflex, now, when he was in situations that required him to be on his guard? He would have to take care, next time he was with the Dark Lord, to ensure that he was completely in control of his defences.
"It was rather difficult to break through your barriers, Severus, which is why my warnings came too late," said Dumbledore, with pleasure in his voice. "As your Occlumency teacher, I must confess that I am gratified to see how much progress you have made since our last meeting."
Snape enjoyed a brief moment of pride at Dumbledore's words, but then another thought struck him. "So, you were trying to access my mind from the very beginning? Is that why I became so light-headed?"
"Yes -- an unfortunate side-effect," said Dumbledore with regret.
"But I wouldn't have said anything in any way incriminatory if I hadn't been overcome with dizziness." The circularity of the situation annoyed Snape. He would not have said anything if Dumbledore had not been trying to warn him not to say anything. "They had no worthwhile evidence against me. I had planned to say nothing."
"Alas, I did not know this," said Dumbledore. "If there had been the possibility of conversing before the trial commenced, we would have fared better, I think."
"And why didn't we?" asked Snape, his frustration welling up again. "Where were you when I was locked up in a cell all afternoon?"
"I was trying to help you!" snapped Dumbledore in return. It seemed that he, too, was beginning to lose patience. "I came here as soon as I heard you had been arrested, and I spent several hours persuading the other council members to vote in favour of a closed meeting. I told them that you had been an excellent student at Hogwarts. I told them of your recent bereavement, and how I feared that you would not be able to cope with a public trial when you were still in mourning. I told them that I was worried about the reputation of the Ministry -- that so many trials had ended with a 'not guilty' verdict that the public would start to lose faith in our abilities to detect Death Eaters. I told them as much as I could, Severus, and it would have appeared deeply suspicious if I had then made any attempt to contact you before the trial was due to start."
Snape said nothing in reply. Instead, he made a kind of conciliatory mumbling noise, and turned back to the middle of the chamber. Dumbledore was right. They had both been striving for the same goal, after all. It was a matter of ill fortune that the trial had not gone as they had both hoped. As he looked at the golden chains lying in a heap at the base of the chair, he could feel his shoulders relax. He breathed out slowly. He did, at least, have his freedom now.
"I do feel, however," continued Dumbledore wearily, "that I should have foreseen that you would be defending yourself by any means you could. The fault was mine, for not expecting you to use Occlumency. I can see now that, since it was the only course of action open to you, it was inevitable that you should use it. For that, I am sorry."