Dumbledore and The Future

[Amie]

No: HPFGUIDX 159675

Katie:
I am not really commenting specifically on anyone's ideas but rather 
got an idea from other people's thoughts that fit in with this 
thread. I think it is quite possible that he is using his pensive. 
As we saw in HBP DD was able to extract memories from people and 
place it in his pensive for viewing. I personally feel it is not too 
much of a stretch to think that DD can and has extracted memories 
from himself, his staff, and possibly the students. Also I don't 
know if it is possible he is able to extract memories from the 
portraits. The portraits I believe play a more valuable role than 
what we have seen so far.
 
As quoted from GoF. 
"At these times," said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, "I 
use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's 
mind, purs them into the basin , and examines them at one's leisure. 
It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when 
they are in this form."

At first I assumed that one can only use the Pensieve for your own 
thoughts as seen in use by DD and Snape. Except in HBP we see that 
DD was able to use other people's thoughts. So it is quite possible 
that instead of having some kind of omniscent power that DD just 
uses his wisdom to spot patterns in people's daily interactions.


Amie now:

Peering out of lurkdom to make one quick note...

I'm not 100% sure what Katie meant by "I think it is quite possible 
that he is using his pensive." I took it to mean that DD is using 
his pensive to help with the portriats...or something to that effect.

It made me think, what happened to DD's pensive after his death? 

We know that Harry has gone into Pensive memories without the 
owner's permission. What is stopping him from going into DD's 
pensive now.  This would give us an opportunity to go back and 
relive the fateful moment when Snape gained DD's trust.

I'm also not sure what controls which memory the observer goes to. 
It's a great plot device, because it gives an accurate 
representation of that person's memory of the event. Have we ever 
been told *why* that particular memory is chosen?

Pensives to me are a mystery....

-Amie