[the_old_crowd] Clues & Sirius Talk

[Catherine Coleman]

In message <bedi8o+6v6a at ...>, Randy <estesrandy at ...> 
writes
>To all you Sirius fans out there.  If Dumbledore can carry on
>conversations with a painting of Phineas Nigellus, then all he needs
>to do is give Harry a painting of Sirius Black to talk to when Harry
>needs encouragement.

Ah, I've been thinking a lot about this one.  I'm not sure whether it's 
possible.  I have been wondering quite a bit about how portraits work, 
and it seems to me that because the paintings retain the memories and 
personalities of the subjects,  the subjects must surely be there at 
some point to imbue the portrait, pensieve like, with the necessary 
qualities?

It does not seem likely that a portrait of Sirius existed prior to his 
death. His parents were probably the only people who would have 
commissioned a portrait, and considering that they burnt his name off 
the family tree, they would hardly be likely to keep a portrait of the 
miscreant son hanging around.

Unless - Dumbledore did this as a matter of course?  That would make 
sense - in times of trouble and great danger, make sure that portraits 
have been done of *everyone* important.   I can imagine Dumbledore 
having portraits of James, Lily and Sirius and not telling Harry, 
because he'd know that that's where Harry would end up spending most of 
his time....

Catherine