[HPforGrownups] OOP: Thoughts on the pensieve and a bit of Snape

[Heather Gauen]

No: HPFGUIDX 65563

Replying to Audra, but accidentally deleted the post-
but I think I remember the relevant points :)

I agree that using the pensieve to listen in on
conversations you couldn't have originally heard would
be a pretty major invasion of privacy, but facts are
facts- that is *exactly* what happens in canon.
There's no denying that that is what Harry did, and I
think it is a very logical conclusion to assume that
Snape could have done the same. 

Whether Snape actually overheard the MWPP conversation
(or filled it in after the fact) is unclear at this
point, so let's forget that for a sec and look at
something more basic. Harry goes over to look at James
and sees that he was doodling a snitch and the letters
L.E. (awww, that's sweet) on his paper. Snape, whose
face was half an inch from his own paper while he
wrote furiously, could not have known this. All the
details- Sirius tilting his chair back, Lupin
scratching his chin, Wormtail biting his nails- are
things that Harry sees, but Snape would have no way to
have seen while absorbed in his paper. Somehow I doubt
that Snape's mind bothered to fill in those gaps.

The only way that a Pensieve would work to show *only*
a person's memory would be if Harry had entered into
Snape, been looking through his eyes, and had not had
the free will to move himself about. (Of course, a
chapter with nothing but Harry staring at Snape's OWL
paper wouldn't be that interesting, but it would make
the underwear bit all the more embarrassing, eh?)

One last bit that I just noticed as I was rechecking
the details is the line "...this was Snape's
memory...if Snape chose to wander off in a different
direction once outside the grounds, he, Harry, would
not be able to follow James any farther." (OoP 644) So
it seems that the pensieve does have the limitation of
the person needing to be in the vicinity. Which, of
course, raises the questions "How close do you have to
be to the person?" as well as "What happens if you
choose not to follow?"

Just a few more thoughts. I really do agree that this
is not really how a pensieve *should* work, but by all
canon, it does.

Heather, who thinks that Harry and Sirius are in a tie
for sexiest male character, and also wonders if
there's significance to the fact that the only two
males who are explicitly stated to be handsome (not
just implied) are Cedric and Sirius. Coincidence?
Let's hope she doesn't start calling Harry handsome :)



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