Ooh, shiny...!

[rj_anderson]

neotoma just made a really fascinating suggestion in a post to snapesupport regarding Snape's use of the Pensieve before each Occlumency lesson:

From what Dumbledore says in Goblet of Fire, the Pensieve is used when one's 'head is too full'. If a Pensieve actually extracts the memories, and leaves more room in one's head for other thoughts, Snape could have been

Comments

[lydaclunas]

I agree with Rusalka's curiosity about the Pensieve's true purpose. I think Val's got it right about emotional detachment. I'm not sure a Pensieve removes a memory completely -- an impression of it is bound to be left -- but I think the finer details and the emotional associations with such a memory are what get put into the silver bowl. That way it does allow for a more objective analysis. Also, you'd be observing it from a different viewpoint, and that would probably be an asset for concentrating on less conspicuous details of a scene.

I'm sure Snape is well aware of both of the Pensieve's benefits for the situation, as a tool for emotional detachment and as a way of keeping Harry out of the more private aspects of his head. I don't think the Pensieve removed his memories entirely, but they probably got pushed to the back of his brain and would have been far vaguer had Harry been able to break through Snape's mind and view them there.

I'm sure *some* of his painful or embarrassing memories, though, he forgot to remove. Like little Severus crying in a corner -- unless that was merely the "leftovers" from something bigger that had been chucked into the Pensieve...

Teri