[HPforGrownups] Re: Understanding Snape

[Silverthorne Dragon]

No: HPFGUIDX 91122

{Cindy here--}

That's exactly what I think, though.  For example, Snape *didn't* hear them
as a teen, but that memory is his as an adult?  How was he able to flesh it
out?  Even if he didn't slant it, how is he able to remember things he
didn't witness in the first place?

Or maybe, just maybe, that's the use of the pensive.  You drop your memory
in, and it magically completes it, so you can look around at things you
didn't notice the first time around.  (That's what you're saying, isn't it?)

{Anne}

Yep--that's about it. Somehow, the pensieve gathers the rest of the
information to complete the pieces of the puzzle, or else has a way of
'transporting' the veiwer (or at least thier mind/astral body) to that point
in 'real' time--such as through the 'science' used to describe the Mobius
Strip (also simply known as the symbol for eternity--the sideways eight--
for those who don't study metaphysics...) , where you can reach any point of
Time from any other point because time bends in on itself, or something to
that effect...now as to why Harry can't effect anything if its a matter of
time manipulation--perhaps it is because *only* his mind (or astral body,
take your pick), gets transported through the penseive--leaving his real
body left behind as an anchor--that same anchor that gets grabbed both times
to pull Harry 'back to himself'.


{Cindy}

 If that's the case, though, I'd suspect that teen witches everywhere would
have one.  I was a teenager once, and I would have loved to see and hear
what everyone was saying when my back was turned.  ;)


{Anne}

Or, more like they would WANT to have one....considering that you have to be
able to remove your memories, intact, from your own head (and not damage
yourself or somehow damage the memories), and then be able to put them back
in your hed without misplacing or scrambling them up once you were done,
that in and of itself would seem to raise a pensieve above the status of a
mere 'toy' meant for young wizards and witches to muck about with just so
they could spy on thier friends and rivals.

I also got the impression (if it wasn't outright indicated by Dumbledore at
some point), that the penseive is rare...perhapes even one of a kind (like
so many of the other things the Headmaster keeps in his study). So, although
a lot of people would love to have one, for whatever reason, they are rare
and difficult to get hold of, and so only a lucky few (or well-off, like,
say, Malfoy Senior)--otherwise, Snape would probably not have to borrow
Dumbly's (and would most likely prefer not to, I would think). I put the
penseive on the same level as Harry's invisibility cloak--useful, not a toy,
and rare enough that the few that are around are treated with care...

Not something, then, you would trust the average teen with...^^