"More than they probably should be," says Maria. "In theory, you can keep your memories in any old bottle or dish, but a proper Pensieve comes with preservation spells and that handy preview you saw."

"Can you go in and look at them if they're in a dish? Can you put them back after you take them out? Do you still remember them, in your head, when they are in there?"

"You can go in and look at them in a dish - oh, that's another thing the Pensieve does, though: stabilizing spells to make entry and exit a little less rocky and ensure the vessel doesn't break when you come out. You can put them back after you take them out, no matter where you put them. How much of the memory stays in your head depends on how good you are at pulling them and whether or not you want it to; if you're not very good, it'll still be there, just with most of the detail faded. If you're good and you want to, you can pull one out completely or copy it without affecting the original at all."

"How do you learn without messing up your head?"

"Very carefully," she says dryly. "About the same way you learn to Apparate, actually."

"Do you have to be seventeen for this too?"

"There isn't an official age; not nearly as many people use Pensieves as Apparition," she says. "It would be a good idea to wait a few years, until you have a solid grasp of charms."

"Okay," says Bella. There are certainly other things she can learn in that time. "Thank you for explaining."

"No problem."

Bella proceeds to be lost in thought.

She can be lost in thought downstairs. Off they go.

At the bottom of the stairs, she asks, "Ghosts are real, right?"

"Yep," says Maria.

"Can they learn things?"

"I don't personally know any."

"Oh. Is there a good way to meet one?"

Maria shrugs.