The hat says specifically: “I can go ahead and tell you that there is definitely nothing like a ghost—mind, intelligence, memory, personality, or feelings—in your scar. Otherwise it would be participating in this conversation, being under my brim.” It says memory specifically. Both a false memory and a ‘scar memory’ could at this point be treated as ‘foreign’ to Hermione.
Are you referring to this slightly earlier quote: “Anyway, I have no idea whether or not you’ve been Obliviated. I’m looking at your thoughts as they form, not reading out your whole memory and analyzing it for inconsistencies in a fraction of second. I’m a hat, not a god.”? Here the hat says it cannot detect deleted memories or do the sophisticated analysis required to discover tell tale ‘inconsistencies’.
If that is the case then the hat didn’t actually say “it couldn’t tell if Harry had any false memories.” It said it couldn’t detect deleted memories and seems to imply that ‘sophisticated analysis’ of all of his memories for ‘inconsistencies’ would be required to do so. The false memory given to Hermione is at the forefront of her mind and doesn’t require the hat to scan her memories (though Hermione could replay memories of event for the hat presumably). In addition the false memory is entirely out of character with Hermione’s personality which is something the hat, at a minimum, should be able to verify. Considering the quote specifically addressing foreign memory, it seems entirely possibly the hat may immediately detect the false memory for what it is.
The hat says specifically: “I can go ahead and tell you that there is definitely nothing like a ghost—mind, intelligence, memory, personality, or feelings—in your scar. Otherwise it would be participating in this conversation, being under my brim.” It says memory specifically. Both a false memory and a ‘scar memory’ could at this point be treated as ‘foreign’ to Hermione.
Are you referring to this slightly earlier quote: “Anyway, I have no idea whether or not you’ve been Obliviated. I’m looking at your thoughts as they form, not reading out your whole memory and analyzing it for inconsistencies in a fraction of second. I’m a hat, not a god.”? Here the hat says it cannot detect deleted memories or do the sophisticated analysis required to discover tell tale ‘inconsistencies’.
Yes, I’m referring to the second bit.
If that is the case then the hat didn’t actually say “it couldn’t tell if Harry had any false memories.” It said it couldn’t detect deleted memories and seems to imply that ‘sophisticated analysis’ of all of his memories for ‘inconsistencies’ would be required to do so. The false memory given to Hermione is at the forefront of her mind and doesn’t require the hat to scan her memories (though Hermione could replay memories of event for the hat presumably). In addition the false memory is entirely out of character with Hermione’s personality which is something the hat, at a minimum, should be able to verify. Considering the quote specifically addressing foreign memory, it seems entirely possibly the hat may immediately detect the false memory for what it is.