The length of the Pensieve Scene

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 118160


Curlyhornedsnorkack wrote : 
" -In the scene, the sun is shining. Lots of people are going out to
enjoy the great outdoors. The Marauders choose the shade of a beech
tree, which allows quite a bit of sun through the leaves. Snape
chooses the "dense shadow of a clump of bushes". If you prefer dense
shadow, the best place to stay is indoors."

Del replies :
I happen to love being outside when the weather is bright and sunny,
but I will then systematically look for a nice patch of shade.

We know from book 1 that Snape likes cold and dark places. His
classroom and office are in the dungeons. In fact, the Slytherin
common room is there too. So I see nothing strange in a Slytherin boy
preferring the shade and the cool, his, er, natural environment ;-) to
the sun and the hot.

Curlyhornedsnorkack wrote : 
"-When Snape is in the dense shade, Harry isn't studying Snape to see
whether he is really looking at the exam questions, so we can't see
what he's doing. But when Snape's nickname is called, Harry thinks
that Snape looks like he has been expecting an attack."

Del replies :
When I was still living at home, I knew instantly from her tone of
voice when my mom was not happy with me. I suspect this is similar to
what happens in that scene : when James calls him Snivellus loudly,
Snape knows instantly what's going to happen.

Curlyhornedsnorkack wrote :
" -If Snape is so engrossed in his exam questions, he could not
incorporate into his memory words he couldn't hear.  He would be too
busy to have any awareness of whole discussions. But Snape manages to
incorporate into his memory a discussion that is heard behind another
group of people. In comparison, as far as we can tell, Harry only
hears undistinguished chattering and laughing from the girls nearby."

Del replies :
We don't know what Harry would have heard if he had actually tried to
*listen* to those girls. But he was completely bent on listening to
the Marauders. In my opinion, he would have understood and followed
the girls' conversation without any problem if he had tried. In fact,
I'm pretty sure that Harry would have noticed if the girls' chattering
had made no sense.

We hear much more than we realise. Have you never noticed how you can
be completely engrossed in something, and yet you will sometimes react
instantly when someone says your name ? That's because your ears have
actually been listening to everything, but you haven't been processing
their information consciously.

I believe the Pensieve works the same way. People's brain records much
more than people remember, but all that information is transferred
into the Pensieve anyway.

Curlyhornedsnorkack wrote :
"-Snape and the Marauders are about Harry's age in the scene, so,
assuming that Snape and the Marauders started in the same year, they
have had time to get to know each other pretty well. Lupin tells Harry
later that James and Snape have hated each other from the start. Yet
Snape just happens to stay close enough to his enemies to hear the
conversation, and, when they stride off across a lawn (I think we can
assume there is no path) he happens to go in the same direction." 

Del replies :
And so do the girls. I can see at least 3 explanations for Snape's
behaviour, other than yours :
- He meant to go to the lake all along, and it's a coincidence if the
Marauders wanted to go there too at the same time. After all, the lake
seems to be a popular place for students to relax.
- He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and he just
followed the group of girls.
- He deliberately followed the group of girls :-)

Curlyhornedsnorkack wrote :
"Finally, we have to examine Snape's reasons for hiding such a long
memory from Harry. If Snape doesn't care about the early part of the
memory, why would he hide it from Harry? Perhaps hiding his snooping
ways from Harry was important to Snape. It's interesting to me that in
this case Snape would not realize that Harry is more interested in
watching his father and his friends interact than watching Snape snoop."

Del replies :
If that's all Sirius (or was it Lupin ?) meant by saying that Snape
was spying on them, then I have to call that accusation unfounded !
I'm sure Snape has many more memories of real, *obvious* snooping.

You might be right, he might have been snooping. But your evidence is
not really convincing I'm afraid.

I would personally say that the likeliest explanation is that Snape
was following one of the girls. I did that all the time when I was his
age, pretending to inadvertently go to all the same places as any boy
I fancied :-)

Del