Author's note: Hello readers! Just to let you all know, I uploaded these first two chapters instantly because I had already written them. The chapters after this will not appear nearly as quickly. Sorry, but classes get in the way, and unfortunately, I have no time turner.
The first task came and went, and Hermione was relieved that Harry performed wonderfully against the dragon. Best of all, though, was the fact that Ron and he were speaking again. Without the stress of having to play the go between for her two best friends, Hermione found herself with more free time to think. Unfortunately, Hermione's thoughts seemed determined to return to Snape's past, and she couldn't stop herself from wondering what else she would have seen if Dumbledore hadn't shown up when he did. He hasn't been thrown out, so clearly his memories were enough to convince the headmaster of his allegiance. Despite her conviction that Albus Dumbledore was the brightest wizard of the age, she couldn't help wishing that she could see Snape's motives for herself. After spending half a day speculating on what more his past could have contained, Hermione was forced to admit to herself that her motives behind her curiosity weren't merely limited to verifying her professor's trustworthiness. Watching the younger version of him in the pensive had stirred Hermione's sympathy, and after witnessing his rejection by his parents and his happiness at having Lily's friendship, she felt kindly toward the boy and was curious to see what the rest of his life was like.
The next day, however, as she walked into the potions classroom beside Harry and Ron, she wondered how she could have felt any warm feelings for Snape, even when he was a child. It was impossible to reconcile the vulnerable boy who had blushed after helping Lily with her potion with the man who now stood at the front of the room, scowling at the class as he informed them that their last essays had been less than satisfactory.
Watching him out of the corner of her eye as he walked around the classroom, checking potions, Hermione was suddenly struck by a terrifying thought: What if the memories weren't true? Was it possible to fake memories? If so, that would explain why Snape seemed almost decent in the past. It hadn't really been him. And if that was the case, then Snape could really be loyal to the Death Eaters, and Dumbledore would be falling right into a trap! Shuddering at the thought that Snape could pose a threat to them all, she decided to go to the library to do some research on memories later that day. With a plan in mind, Hermione was able to forget about Snape's past for the rest of the lesson, and as usual, she was one of the first students to finish brewing. She turned in her nearly perfect potion and left the dungeons, making a beeline for the library.
After poring over the library shelves for an hour, Hermione came to the realization that information about memories was scarce at Hogwarts. Biting her lip in annoyance, she wondered whether the lack of information was due to the fact that few students would need information about or be interested in such a subject, or whether it was due to the extremely personal and dangerous nature of the magic involved in manipulating memories. Either way, it was clear that she wouldn't find what she was looking for in the normal part of the Hogwarts library. Returning the books she had been looking at to their shelves, she resolved to ask Harry for his cloak that night so she could check the restricted section for any information.
Several hours later, Hermione was once again in the library. As she entered the restricted section, she raised her lantern to illuminate the titles of the books she passed. After only a minute of searching, a book with a blue leather cover caught Hermione's eye. She pulled it partway off the shelf, smiling as she saw the title: "Magical Memory Modification." Perfect. Hermione carried the book over to a table and set it down, placing the lantern next to it.
As she sat down and scanned the table of contents, Hermione was a little annoyed to find that she didn't even understand the titles of most of the chapters. I can't believe I never took the time to learn about such a fascinating subject before! Sighing, she turned to the chapter on pensieves, deciding that that would be a good place for her to start.
Pensieves are the simplest way for wizards to rid themselves of unwanted memories. The older a wizard is, or the more troubled a past he has, the more likely he is to own a pensieve. For the old, a pensieve is a way to store important thoughts safely, organize information, and ensure that when they die, they can pass their most treasured memories on to their loved ones. For the troubled wizard, a pensieve is a key to peace of mind. The wizard has simply to remove his unpleasant memories from his mind and place them in the pensieve to prevent them from plaguing him. Many wizards who have recently experienced trauma use pensieves in this fashion in order to allow them to sleep without having to resort to potions. This approach, however, may not bring as much peace as a dreamless sleep potion, for although the target memory will be removed, a memory of the memory will inevitably remain. Although this shadow memory will only be a faint reflection of the original, if the trauma is great enough, the wizard may find the reflection alone to be disturbing enough to distract them.
As was mentioned before, another common use for pensieves is the sharing of memories between one wizard and another. This practice is still common in some pureblood families, where memories of parents are passed down to their children in order to preserve traditions and past glory. Pensieves are also used by the Wizamagot in some of their most serious trials. However, due to the possibility of memories being modified by the wizard who experienced them, this sort of evidence must be verified through legilimency or other witnesses. For more on memory modification, see page 425.
Hermione's eyes glowed as she flipped to page 425. So Professor Snape's memories could have all been false, she thought triumphantly as she opened to the correct chapter and continued to read.
The modification of memories can occur in one of two ways: unintentionally or deliberately. The former case is very common when a great trauma has occurred. The wizard wishes to forget the trauma, and their denial of the memory can cause it to be distorted, or to disappear altogether, depending on the wizard's state of mind. If the trauma is an isolated event, the memory may be all but obliviated, with only a few signs that anything out of the ordinary occurred. In cases where the wizard has experienced a long string of painful memories, the modification of the memories is usually much less severe. The faces of people in the memories may blur together, the edges of the memory world may fade into darkness, or voices may sound distorted, but the essence of the memories will remain unaltered. Generally, the stronger-willed a wizard is, the less likely their memories are to change. It is possible for a wizard to prevent his memories from being distorted, no matter how traumatic, if he is unable to let go of them.
Hermione was surprised to realize that this book was so similar to muggle psychology books. But of course it makes sense; wizards undergo trauma too, and it only makes sense that they could repress memories as well. Hermione shuddered at the sudden thought of what Snape's memories would look like if he really were a spy and had been forced to join the Death Eaters against his wishes. Are his memories all blurred? Turning her attention back to the book, Hermione read on.
Deliberate modification of memories is very difficult, and few wizards possess the skill and knowledge to do so correctly. Destroying memories is a simple task, but changing them without leaving signs that they have been tampered with is a different matter entirely. Most attempts to modify memories will leave blank spots, odd time jumps, or dissociation between sound and image. The modified memory will feel odd to the one whose memory it is, and anyone else viewing such a memory in a pensieve will almost always notice that things don't match up perfectly. There are, however, a small number of wizards who have managed to intentionally modify their own memories before placing them in a pensieve with enough skill that legilimency was required to reveal the fact that they had hidden the truth. Because of the problems it causes for the Ministry of Magic's Department of Law Enforcement, memory modification is illegal in nearly every case. See Appendix A for a list of the circumstances in which memory modification has been judged to be justifiable.
Hermione closed the book and leaned back, brushing a hand through her hair in thought. The side of her that always assumed the best of teachers was telling her that Professor Snape would never do something illegal, but the suspicious side that she had cultivated over the years of breaking rules and sneaking around with Harry and Ron was responding that if Snape were a Death Eater, he would already have done far worse things than memory modification. If there's any chance that Dumbledore was tricked, I have to find out and stop Snape! Her mind made up, Hermione picked up her lantern and began scanning the shelves for titles related to legilimency.