Portrait-Person / re: the Black Sisters

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 84449

Paul "Griff" wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/84434 :

<< To sum it all up, the way I see it: If the portraits were only of
this world, they'd be ghosts and if they were only of the Beyond, 
they would have no interests, understanding, or willingness to
participate in the events of this world. So, to me, this simply says
that the portrait and person in this world or the other are one and
the same. >>

In my opinion, the magical portrait is a NEW PERSON who began as 
a copy of the model, with the personality traits and personal 
memories you mentioned, but after that the portrait has its own life
experiences, no longer linked to the life experiences of the model. 

Apparently several magical portraits of the same model are the same
portrait-person, moving from frame to frame. (That's why Dumbledore
chose the two he did to check on Arthur's wound, because they had
other portraits in appropriate places.)

I suppose that the spell for a later portrait is somewhat different
than the spell for a first portrait, and the painter knows that it
must be used because the spell for a first portrait isn't working. 
I suppose that the creation of a later portrait updates the model's-
memories of the portrait-person without wiping out the memories
accumulated by the portrait-person... 

But I firmly believe there is no telepathic link between the
portrait-person and model-person after the painting is completed. 
Can I make an analogy of a xerox of a laser-printed document? The 
two copies start out the same but go on to separate lives.

Lunatique wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/84447 :

<< Bellatrix is two years older than Sirius. (Reasoning: Sirius said
he hadn't seen Bellatrix since he was Harry's own age, fifteen. Since
there's little chance of not seeing her when they went to school
together, I took this to mean she graduated after Sirius' fifth year,
which places her in seventh year when Sirius was in his fifth.) >>

I hope Sirius *meant* he hadn't *spoken* with her, because I very 
much want Bellatrix and everyone else in Severus's little friendship
group of Slytherin schoolmates to be the same age as Severus and Sirius.

<< So anyway, I'd place Tonks at about twenty. McGonagall said being
an Auror required three more years of study after graduation, so that
seems about right. >>

IIRC other posters have placed Tonks at 22 or 23 ... McGonagall told
Harry that no one had been taken on as an Auror for four years, which
would fit with Tonks having been taken on, had three years of
training, and one year on the job. They argue that she was probably 
19 when she started training, having been 18 during much of her
seventh year at Hogwarts. Harry will be 17 during his 7th year but he
has a very late birthday, but he is not typical. Angelina must be 18
in most of her 7th year (OoP) as GoF told us that she turned 17 in
October of her sixth year. 

<< How old would Andromeda have been when her daughter was born? We
know Harry was born when his parents were 21/22, so let's take that
for now as the wizarding norm. (Only because there are no other
clues..) That would make Andromeda 41/42--older than Bellatrix. >>

With the adjustment in Tonks's age, that makes her 43 to 45.

<< With Andromeda as the middle sister, that automatically makes
Narcissa the oldest. This might also make Narcissa older than her
husband...but that's not exactly unheard of, is it? >>

I would rather have Narcissa be 41, the same age as Lucius (stated in
OoP). I like to think they made a love-match, based on a friendship
they formed during all those years together in Slytherin House, based
on their shared beliefs and values. That puts Narcissa as the middle
sister. Perhaps one of the evil deeds of the Dark Wizards is that 
they list siblings on family trees in a random order instead of a
chronological or alphabetical order.

On the other tentacle, at one time I wanted the sequence to be
Andromeda as the oldest and Bellatrix as the middle and Narcissa as
the youngest, but then I found that a Narcissa younger than Sirius 
wouldn't be old enough to be Draco's mother. If I accept your 
argument that Bellatrix is 2 years older than Sirius, then my 
sequence is rescued. I like for Narcissa to be the youngest, because
then she could be the offspring of a second wife who refused to go
along with astronomical name nonsense.