Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died - Emerson Spartz [39]
So that brings us to Dumbledore’s painting behind the headmaster’s chair, which has the useful task in DH of protecting the Sword of Gyrffindor in a secret compartment behind the frame. Guarding a treasure is a family tradition since his sister’s portrait in Aberforth’s house also hides a secret passage into Hogwarts. Without the help of Ariana’s painting, the Trio could not have reunited with Neville at Hogwarts.
Not every portrait has a totally useful reason for existing. Mrs. Black’s painting screams pureblood insults like a disturbed doorbell when the front door to Grimmauld Place is open in OotP, and the Fat Lady’s friend Violet exists just to gossip and eat chocolate liqueurs in GoF. Sir Cadogan in PoA is annoying with his changing passwords and galloping after people in other paintings, although he is trying to be helpful. But all the portraits do one thing well—they keep the memory of the past alive better than any other magical object.
The Pensieve
The portraits at Hogwarts can’t compare with the most useful object at all, which is under their noses in the headmaster’s office: the Pensieve. It’s not just a bowl of water, but a shimmering device that can immerse you in history with all the vivid detail of the present. Harry learns in GoF that someone can pull a silver thread of memory from their mind, swirl it into the basin, dive right in, walk around listening and learning, and then rise back out of it. The Pensieve doesn’t read your mind like the Sorting Hat or rant and rave with attitude like a magical painting. It’s a serious magical tool that is useful for analyzing memories. The Pensieve can reveal someone’s entire life story, showing the good, the bad, and the overlooked at the time. It shows the world exactly the way it was on a day in the past, so someone may take a walk through time.
What’s great about the Pensieve is that it always shows the absolute truth, without glossing over the facts. It’s not like listening to a nostalgic tale colored with emotion or hearing catchphrases from an old painting. And it’s not like the Mirror of Erised from SS, which only shows someone what they want to see, which might not be the truth at all. No—the Pensieve is much more like watching a video of an actual event. By splashing down into Dumbledore’s memories in GoF, Harry can see the actual trials of the Death Eaters from years before. When Harry is older in OotP, he watches Madam Trelawney rise up out of the Pensieve, speaking her prophecy about the Dark Lord just as it originally happened. Through the saved-up memories of various characters, some of whom are dead, the tragic and frightening life of Tom Riddle unfolds before Harry’s eyes in HBP, which helps him understand just who he is up against.
Without the useful Pensieve to clarify things, Harry would never have fully understood the friendship of his father and the other Marauders or his mother with Severus Snape that he first saw in OotP. That continues with the memories in “The Prince’s Tale” in DH, which give Harry the information he needs in order to vanquish the evil in the world. They are also some of the most important scenes in the books. Harry grows up not knowing his mother, and Aunt Petunia never talks much about her except negatively. So it is a rare gift that he gets to see Lily’s childhood unfold through Snape’s affectionate memories. Harry is also able to understand the plans that Snape and Dumbledore made together for helping the Order of the Phoenix, such as the seven Potters and the delivery of the Sword of Gryffindor. All these memories humanize Snape in a way that