Pensieve question...

[Karen]

No: HPFGUIDX 76669

Do we know if the pensieve works more as a video recorder or as a 
personal recollection of events? In Snape's penseive, Harry saw 
Snape following James & Co. He was concerned that Snape wouldn't 
stay where he could see his father, but Snape stayed near them. It 
appeared as though Snape was deliberately staying in viewing/hearing 
range of the group in spite of the fact that Snape was a frequent 
target of their derision. Was Snape spying on them? Was he taunting 
them? Was he looking for a chance to show up James? It seems odd 
that he would be innocently hanging around so close by.

If the penseive records memories from the user's perspective, can 
those memories be trusted as fact, or are they tainted by the user's 
own feelings? Few of us can trust our memories to be completely 
accurate... too many things can "color" our recollections. If you 
were the person who was "picked on", you might imagine the events as 
being much worse than they actually were. If you were the "bully", 
you might remember the victim doing something to provoke the event 
that the victim never thought about. Either way, the memories would 
be less than 100% accurate. 

If the penseive works like a video recorder, it would be a 
convenient way to find out from any person whether they are telling 
the truth about a given event without having to use a veritas potion.
If it is a video recorder, then why couldn't the MoM use it with 
Harry to find out if Voldemort really returned or not? 

One more question... was Snape using Dumbledore's penseive or did he 
have one of his own? I can't imagine sharing such a personal item, 
though, can you?

Karen