Pensieve

Blinking, Manus looked at Dumbledore somewhat tentatively.

"However, I remember mentioning this only in my letters with the wizard you introduced me to, Professor. Since you know about it, that means..."

"You are correct."

Dumbledore nodded, rose to his feet, and walked over to the window of the Headmaster's Office. There stood a stone pedestal topped with a shallow basin.

"This is the Pensieve you need. You may take it away and use it, but I hope you will only be borrowing it for a while. This Pensieve belongs to Hogwarts."

Apparently afraid that Manus would simply take it away like he had the Mirror of Erised last time, Dumbledore emphasized that this Pensieve did not belong to him, but to the school.

As though Manus had never returned the Mirror of Erised to him.

Manus shook his head inwardly and turned his attention to the Pensieve.

The stone pedestal and the shallow basin above it were not one piece, though both were made of the same kind of stone. The rim of the basin was wrapped in magical metal, and patterns woven from the same metal covered its exterior, with gems set at their intersections.

These things were not purely decorative. They were also the primary components of the Pensieve's magical effects.

And at the heart of these magical structures—

Manus reached out and ran his hand along the basin's rim. The uneven indentations beneath his fingertips formed a ring of Runes and special symbols encircling the Pensieve, broadly meaning memory, thought, storage, stability, insight, along with several auxiliary and guiding functions.

Pure Runes carried broad meanings and had very little specificity. The same letter could be interpreted in completely opposite ways in different contexts.

The Pensieve's maker had lacked the ability to impose restrictions and guidance on these