OOP A thought about portraits (spoilers)

[Mimi Barker]

No: HPFGUIDX 64285

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--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "happyduck1979" <swirskyr at r...> 
wrote:
> Up until now I was uncertain about portraits and there mental 
> capacities.  It now appears though that, although they might be 
> required to serve someone in particular, they do appear to be at 
least 
> somewhat sentient.  We have heard (I think) that in the anteroom 
> behind the great hall there are portraits of past head girls and 
> boys.  Would Harry not then be able to go there to 'talk' to his 
> parents?  Is there maybe a portrait somewhere of Sirius that Harry 
> can go to 'talk' to?  
> 
> IS it possible that portraits are sentient and photographs (like 
the 
> ones in Harry's album) only like mini movies?  But if this is the 
> case, how can Moody prod people out of the way when showing Harry 
> an old photo of the order?  One presumes they were not being 
prodded 
> when the photo was taken.
> 

Admittedly, I have not read all of the post OOP publication posts, 
but I did do a search on "portrait" and read those, so I think I have 
something to contribute that has not been pointed out yet.

The portraits have been around since the early part of the very first 
book, and we and Harry have been learning little by little what they 
are capable of. The students treat the Fat Lady, Sir Cadogan and 
other portraits as objects, objects that can communicate, but are not 
given the respect due to equals or even to the ghosts. Dumbledore 
treats them rather differently, which indicates that he (as usual) 
knows more than the students and probably more than most wizards. Or 
maybe the former Hogwarts headmasters are among the few wizards who 
would have more than one portrait of themselves in the wizarding 
world and thus can travel to another location. Note that the two who 
leave the headmaster's office do not automatically know what happened 
in the other locations where their portraits hang. They have to go 
there and find out. So each portrait of a person is independant 
although able to travel to and communicate with portraits of him or 
herself. Therefore, a portrait of Sirius or of Harry's parents would 
only be able to tell him information they could gather from the spot 
where they hang, or have been hanging, not necesarily things about 
the past or have a relationship with him as if they were the person.

On my second read through I sat up straight when I read about 
Christmas. Remember Harry's gift from Dobby? It went right by me the 
first time. Dobby gave Harry a portrait of Harry himself! Not 
immediately recognizable, but labeled on the back. And we already 
know that Dobby can do powerful magic. His last gift to Harry was a 
pair of socks he made himself. Harry wore the socks, but didn't pay 
much attention to this gift. I wonder if he just stuck it in his 
trunk and it is still there, but I bet we see it again.

Chocolate Frog cards were also mentioned repeatedly in this book, 
especially the number of students who actively collect them. I'm 
pretty sure Dumbledore's picture on the cards can travel between 
pictures and even report back to Dumbledore himself. If the students 
knew this, do you think they'd eliminate Dumbledore from their 
collections? It would be a great way for him to keep tabs on what is 
going on school-wide, but I'm sure he has a number of methods.

Phineas Nigellus is conspicuous by his absence from his portrait at 
the Black house. We know he's there because Harry hears him, but he 
stays out of sight. Also, his portrait is in the bedroom, not the 
hall with the others. Why? You would think as a former headmaster of 
Hogwarts, the family would display his portrait in a prominent place, 
not in one of the spare bedrooms. Maybe he is not so proud of his 
family after all, although he is not ready to admit it publically. 
After all, he was upset by Sirius's death, even though he was not 
positive in his comments about Sirius before that. Maybe Sirius 
himself moved him into the bedroom because he knew that he could 
communicate with Dumbledore through him, and did not want the other 
portraits to be in on their conversations. But then why put him in 
the bedroom Harry and Ron shared? He didn't know earlier that Harry 
would be staying there.

I wonder who the Fat Lady is and what her connection is to the 
Gryffindors?

Mimi