However, at the same time, we’ll learn much later that this is a horrible memory for much deeper reasons as well. Snape has certainly seen far worse, but this was the moment that forced Lily to break ties with him, and which in a sense set in motion all of the terrible things that ensued. It may not be the most horrific moment of his life, but I can certainly see it being the one which he recalls with the most regret. And that is a sort of ‘worst’ memory as well, if of a different type.

I always feel so bad when reading his particular chapter, when Harry – fully aware of how the Pensieve works – dives straight into it. Gah. I just cringe every time Snape stands there, as we know he will. Come to think about it, Harry doesn’t even know how to get back from the memory, does he? When he did it in Dumbledore’s office the previous year, Dumledore fetched him, just as Snape does here. I wonder what would happen if they hadn’t – would the memory play over, or would Harry move along to the next one as he does in “The Prince’s Tale”? Or would he be spat back up?
I’m betting on the second option, which I think is why Snape was so angry with him when they came back. Some of you have said this already, but still… imagine Harry diving head first into the story of Snape and Lily at this point, seeing everything Snape has been fighting to keep from him at all costs. No wonder he was so mad.

I also think the title of the chapter is a bit misleading, considering what we learn about Snape later on. Surely he must have experienced far worse things (Lily’s death, for instance).

As you mentioned, John, I also think Harry’s reaction is very interesting, and this experience teaches him some things about life the hard way. Up till now, he’s been idolizing his parents and his dad in particular, which is understandable as he is an orphan not knowing much about his parents. This is a painful wake up call for him in many ways – some of his childish innocence is indeed stolen while watching his father being such a prat. Being a victim of bullying himself (and a lot more mature at age 15 than his father was), his reaction is indeed different than Snape would ever dream of.

Ben, if one finds someone inside a Pensieve with their face in the bowl, then how does one get in the Pensieve to pull them out? The idea of the Pensieve magically enlarging just doesn’t make sense to me for some reason. I just don’t see it happening. Mental block or something. I always pictured the person maybe slumped over or unconscious on the floor. Or perhaps you find the person is missing and realize what might have happened? This has always been a question of mine when it comes to Pensieves.

I’m quite happy that I hadn’t been a part of a Harry Potter online community while I read the books. I had read a few fanfictions, but that’s it. I just feel like that’s how the books should be read for the first time (minus the fanfictions, though, possibly). The surprises are the fun parts, and you feel so accomplished when you yourself see through that “wool over the eyes,” rather than someone else bringing it up and thinking “oh yea!”. One of my examples: I was so happy when I found out I was completely correct about where the diadem was while reading DH (from the clue left in HBP). I knew there was something up with that statue bust! xD

Sara, I would be deeply concerned if Snape were to remove his bad memories and keep the good ones, and I think Dumbledore would be too. As I’ve learned over the years, bad memories make us who we are more than the good ones do. I would be concerned over who Snape might turn out to be if he hadn’t kept those lessons inside his head, and I think he had that same thought process. He didn’t want to forget Lily, good or bad memories, and he needed them to keep his objective in mind: to protect Harry at all costs and keep working for the Light.

Very interesting comments over the chapter, and a delight to read. I feel like I may have skipped over a few things I would have otherwise commented on (seeing as how there’s so much information to process!) but I think I did myself justice, either way.

I just think it’s one of those elements that JKR didn’t expect us to dig that deeply into. :)

Even so, this discussion made me think about the pensieve a lot, and I noticed a really glaring error (I DID read the above comments, forgive me if someone already mentioned this):
Why did Snape have to borrow the pensieve from Dumbledore at all? We learn in the next book that extracted memories don’t have to be kept in a pensieve. Dumbledore kept his collection of memories in vials until he needed them, and Slughorn gave his memory to Harry in a potion bottle–something Snape should have plenty of!

Pensieve aside, I am now very curious—and confused—about the act of removing strands of memory. It seems like it would be a very useful spell on its own. From the occlumency scenes, I have to guess that when the memory is extracted, the memory is completely taken away from the wizard. Otherwise, they would still be seen by a legilimens. This makes it much more powerful than the common memory charm done by average ministry wizards, which can be broken as we will see. Here are my questions, based on that conclusion, that make my head spin (Many of these observations are based on info from future chapters/books):

—Did Snape leave some memories with Dumbledore whenever he was about to visit Voldemort? We know he was a great occlumens, but for really sensitive information it seems like a wise precaution. It also seems like it would have been a good thing to teach Harry to do, since he wasn’t so good at occlumency.

—If Snape could remove his most disturbing memories, why not remove them permanently? I don’t think memories can be destroyed (otherwise Slughorn would have done it), but it seems like he could have kept his good memories of Lily, and locked the bad ones in a cupboard somewhere. Incidentally, this might also help protect against dementors.

—How many wizards know how to do this spell? We know Dumbledore, Snape, and Slughorn can, but they are all exceptional wizards. Dumbledore got memories from other people, but he could have performed the spell on them himself. It looks like another bit of magic that, if everyone could do it, would “turn the world on its head”. Imagine if everyone could take their secrets and bad memories and hide them in a vault at Gringotts! There is one advantage to keeping your thoughts in your head, though: apparently, it’s the only way your memories die with you.

—How many memories was Snape hiding from Harry? Harry only had time to see one before being caught, but Snape removed more than one. Did he remove all of the memories of Lily and James? If so, wouldn’t he have “forgotten” why he hated Harry during those lesson times and eased up on him?

—We know the extracted memory could be inserted back into the wizards’ head. If one didn’t have a pensieve, could they put another wizard’s memory in their head to see it? They wouldn’t have the same perceptive view as in the pensieve, of course. Would that wizard then think the memory was their own?

I have other thoughts, but I realize I may have already delved to much into things that happen later in the series. Looking forward to reading the rest of this site!