OOTP question: How do the paintings work?

[Claire Browning]

No: HPFGUIDX 62535

Cindy wrote:

> How do the paintings work? All the people in the portraits are 
dead, that's obvious, so how do their portraits 'stay alive'? Perhaps 
there is a portrait of Sirius somewhere, and Harry will be able to 
talk to his 'portriat', as if it were him? But I'd still like to know
the theory behind it all.
> Do only certain people get their portraits painted,and if so, who?
> People with money, and/or people in a position of power it would 
seem.  But then, what about the Fat Lady?
> And what do you need to do to a painting to make it come to life? >>>


I think the portraits are similar to photographs in the wizarding 
world.  Ack! Just realized that photographs don't talk though!  
Still it is a similar idea that a person's essence gets trapped in a 
specific space and can only move around in those spaces.  The 
person's essence doesn't change either, it is like a snapshot of 
their personality.  They don't change or evolve anymore, but they 
react as they would have at the time the portrait was made. Hope 
that makes sense.

Kind of like downloading someone's personality into a computer.


"Claire"