PICTURES AT HOGWARTS

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 176687

---  "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:
>
>  "jennifer" <fuzz876i@> wrote:
> 
> snip
> > Why couldn't  Dumbledore visit Phinellias Black's 
> > portrait in Deathly Hallows?  He said that they 
> > could commune with each other but that he could 
> > not bring Dumbledore into his portrait.  This is 
> > very confusing because if other paintings could 
> > visit each other then why couldn't the
> > headmasters not visit each other's pictures?
> 
> 
> Potioncat:
> My understanding is that Portrait!DD could visit any
> of his own portraits where ever they were; he could 
> visit any portrait at Hogwarts; but he couldn't travel
> via someone else's portrait out of Hogwarts.
>

bboyminn:

Right, let's see if I can come up with a better 
illustration. Dumbledore COULD visit Phineas Nigellus
portrait at Hogwarts, but he could NOT use that
portrait as a path to 12 Grimmauld Place. 

You can wander among the portraits at any location
that has your portrait, but you can not go to a 
place that does not also contain your portrait.

So, Dumbledore could visit Phineas at Hogwarts 
because the both have portraits there, but Dumbledore
could not come by portrait to 12 Grimmauld Place 
because Dumbledore does not have a portrait there.

The path between portraits only works in a location
which contains the portraits. So, Phineas and 
Dumbledore can visit each other at Hogwarts.

The portrait path between locations only works for a 
wizard who has portraits in BOTH locations. So,
Dumbledore has no way to get to The Black House
because he doesn't have a portrait there.

Consequently, Dumbledore can not use Phineas's
path to 12 Grimmauld Place. That is a road that
is closed to him.

Does that make sense?

Steve/bboyminn