Time and Space in The Portrait Universe plus a correction to the

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182730

Carol:

First a quick correction to an unrelated post in the escapist
literature thread:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/182726

Carol earlier:

>Carol responds: 
> > My question (to Julie or to anyone who can help) is how do you get
yourself to do this?  <snip>
> > Jerri, struggling to remain a HP fan, or did I waste several years
of my life?
> 
> Carol responds:
> As always, I can only speak for myself. <snip>

Carol again:

Sorry, Jerri! Obviously, I was quoting you and misattributed the quote
to myself. The second "Carol responds" is really me. Hope I didn't
confuse anybody.

Now to Steve's post:

Steve wrote:
>
> In the recent chapter discussion, a question was asked regarding
whether Phineas spend all his time hanging around in Hermione's dark
'beaded bag' just waiting for them to let something slip. Seems a very
dull existance.
> 
> But that does bring up another question in my mind, what is the
Portrait's Universe like? 
> 
> First, how many portrait Phineas's are there? Is there just one who
wanders from portrait to portrait, or is there one for each portrait,
all with identical knowledge and experience. <snip>

Carol:
Given that Phineas and the some of the other headmasters move from
portrait to portrait and that the canvas is blank when they're not
there, I'd say only one.

Steve:
> As Phineas, or any other portrait, perceives it, his personal
universe is merely a large room with a window for each portrait he
has. When he looks out one window, he see the Headmaster's office.
When he looks out the other, he sees out a window into Harry's bedroom
at the Black house. (Of course, only while the portrait is in the
Black house.)
> 
> I speculate that the other portraits at Hogwarts represent separate
rooms in which the individual portrait characters live. <snip>

> So, in this model, for Phineas to check on his Black House portrait,
now located in the Beaded Bag, he just has to walk to the otherside of
the room.
> 
> Not, just like a person stepping to the side on a window to be
hidden from view. A portrait subject needs merely to step away, or to
the side of, the portrait frame. Note when Harry enters his bedroom in
the Black House, he senses that Phineas is there, but he can't see
him. I believe this happens more than once. Likely Phineas is
listening for trouble, but is keeping out of sight.

Carol responds:
This is an interesting theory, but I don't think there's only one
room. In Phineas's case, there's the room he was painted in at
Hogwarts and the room he was painted in for his portrait at the Black
house. So when he steps out of his frame to listen to Harry, he's
still at the Black house. He can't eavesdrop on Harry from DD's office
(or converse with HRH from Snape's). He has to leave one portrait and
go to the other. (And if there were two Phineases, there would be no
need for either portrait to be blank; one could converse with the other.)

Steve: 
> But, do you get a sense of time as Portrait characters move around?
When the move within the castle, the seem to move in real time. Yet,
when the move between locations the times seems greater than simply
walking across the room. Remember in Dumbledore's office, the night
Harry had the dream about Arthur, Dumbledore sent various portraits on
missions for him. Not huge, but certainly a significant time seems to
have elapsed before they return with messages. Even when Dumbledore
sends Phineas to tell Sirius that the Weasely will come to visit, a
noticeable length of time passed before Phineas return. Still, I guess
other factors could account for that time. 

Carol responds:
I think they're also moving in real time. They can probably transport
themselves instantly from a portrait in the headmaster's office to a
portrait somewhere else using something like Apparition. (Being
two-dimensional, they wouldn't be bound by the anti-Apparition spells
that prevent living Wizards from Apparating or Disapparating in
Hogwarts or on its grounds.) In fact, they can probably move faster
that way than they would moving from portrait to portrait in Hogwarts,
just as live!DD can get from Hogsmeade to 4 Privet Drive faster than
he can get from his office to the Great Hall.

The time it takes for Dilys and Everard to return in OoP is accounted
for by their having to wait and watch what's going on. Everard has to
call for help and tell the security guards or whoever comes running
that he heard a noise downstairs, watch them bringing Mr. Weasley up
the stairs, and run to the Atrium to watch them carrying him out.
Dilys has to wait till they arrive at St. Mungo's, which would be only
a short time later if they can Disapparate carrying an injured man on
a stretcher, longer if they need to find some other means of
transporting him. As soon as they have the information that DD needs,
they return to their portraits. (Phineas Nigellus takes even longer to
return after he learns that his great-great-grandson is dead. Harry
imagines him wandering from room to room, portrait to portrait, in the
Black house, which seems to have at least four floors, looking for
Sirius.)
> 
> While this was just a lot of speculation, I can't help wondering
exactly what it is like and what is going on behind those portraits?
What are the perceptions of time and space in there? 

Carol responds:
I don't know whether portraits, which are not exactly alive and can't
die, even though they can sleep and think and talk and eat painted
food and drink painted wine and travel within severe restrictions, are
aware of time--except that they're aware of being bored when DD is
gone because they have nothing to do except talk to each other. As for
space, it must appear three-dimensional to them within their portraits
and other paintings or the Fat Lady couldn't eat and drink and Sir
Cadogan couldn't pick up a sword and attempt to ride a pony.
(Admittedly, these two portraits aren't in DD's office, but surely,
the headmasters' portraits are similar, and since Phineas can hide
inside his portrait and pretend to be gone, he must have some room to
move around.) At a guess, I would say that within their portraits,
they can move around the room they were painted in. They can also move
to other rooms or painted landscapes within Hogwarts or other rooms in
which they were painted. Each portrait serves as a window onto a small
segment of the "real" WW--Harry's bedroom at 12 GP or the headmaster's
office or the waiting room at St. Mungo's or a corridor in the MoM.
(Everard at the MoM, Phineas at 12 GP, and, theoretically, Dilys at
St. Mungo's, could move from portrait to portrait (painted room to
painted room) in those places just as they can at Hogwarts.) Of
course, when Phineas is in the beaded bag, his movements are rather
more restricted, unless he wants to go back to Snape's office, and he
has no view at all.

Poor Phineas. Only loyalty to Snape and the love of spying (and making
snippy remarks when he's out of the bag could compensate for such a
boring existence.

Carol, enjoying this topic and glad that JKR used Phineas so
effectively in DH