Penseive, Slytherin, Lily's Parents and Time Travel

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 108685

>Jen said: 
>One theory (from Greywolf, I think) was the incident Harry saw was 
only a "cover memory" placed in the Pensieve to protect other
>memories. That way if Harry did get in there by chance, he would 
see perhaps a humiliating memory, but not the actual *worst* memory
> Snape is protecting. If this is true, then Snape probably
> specifically chose that cover memory because it was proof of James'
> arrogance. 
 
> Amey responded:
> Cover memory? Can anyone control what memories a person entering 
the penseive see? I mean you can choose memories out of penseive (as 
dumbledore does), but how can you control an intruder? And if it is 
true, does it mean that Dumbledore wanted Harry to see the trials? 
What did it show him?


Jen again: In GOF, the way Harry enters the pensieve makes it sounds 
like he goes into the first memory floating around on top, which 
would presumably be the most recent one DD pulled from his head. DD 
had to prod the surface to make other memories appear, so less 
recently-pulled memories would probably be underneath. I don't think 
DD intended Harry to see the trials; that just happened to be the 
thoughts he was pondering most recently.

So if the 'cover memory' idea is true, then Snape pulled that memory 
of James & Sirius last and put it on top of the others he pulled out.

As for controlling intruders, there doesn't seem to be another way 
besides the old standby DD points to--locking the pensieve away and 
charming the lock, no doubt. A cover memory would only keep an 
intruder occupied for a short time before they would move on to the 
next memory (as we saw Harry do in GOF, when he had more time to 
peruse DD's memories).

Jen Reese