Harry Potter - Pensieve

Harry Potter - Pensieve

Harry Potter - Pensieve

Dumbledore: "I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours 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."

Harry : "You mean... that stuff's your thoughts?"
Dumbledore: "Certainly."
— Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter

The Pensieve is an object used to review memories. It has the appearance of a shallow stone basin, into which are carved runes and strange symbols. It is filled with a silvery substance that appears to be a cloudlike liquid/gas; the collected memories of people who have siphoned their recollections into it. Memories can then be viewed from a third-person point of view.

History

1994
The first time Harry Potter saw a Pensieve was in Albus Dumbledore's office in his fourth year, which he used to view the headmaster's memory of Death Eater trials at the end of the First Wizarding War. It was there that Harry witnessed the trial of Barty Crouch Jr. and the others who tortured the Longbottoms to insantiy.

1995
The following year, Harry viewed the Pensieve of Severus Snape and witnessed his worst memory — being bullied by James Potter and Sirius Black and lashing out at Lily Evans when she came to his defence.

1996
In Harry's sixth year, he repeatedly used the Pensieve under Dumbledore's instruction to see how Tom Riddle grew into Voldemort. Professor McGonagall later used this to reveal the death of Albus Dumbledore.Harry entered the Pensieve again in 1998 with memories acquired from Severus Snape in his dying moments. Harry learned of Snape's friendship with, and unrequited love for, Harry's mother, the reason for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and that Voldemort had inadvertantly made Harry himself a Horcrux.

1998
Harry entered the Pensieve again in 1998 with memories acquired from Severus Snape in his dying moments. Harry learned of Snape's friendship with, and unrequited love for, Harry's mother, the reason for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and that Voldemort had inadvertantly made Harry himself a Horcrux.