Confirmation that the heads' portraits DO roam free at Hogwarts

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

I don't remember the post, but a while ago there was an argument that depended on whether the head's portraits were as free to roam the halls of Hogwarts as they were to visit their portraits in other locales (Dilys to St. Mungo's, Everard to the Ministry, Phineas to 12 Grimmauld).

Rereading PoA, here's the canon verification; in "The Firebolt' (p. 230 in my edition), Sir Cadogan is found "guarding" the Gryffindor entrance at Christmas entertaining "a couple of monks, several previous headmasters of Hogwarts, and his fat pony."

So yes, the heads' portraits ARE free to leave the office and visit other pictures in the Castle.

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Thank you so much for this find!

So Albus didn't really need Severus to be the one to tell Harry to die, he could have done it himself. He just preferred not to.

[maidofkent.livejournal.com]

It was a Snapedom discussion - thanks very much for finding that bit of canon proof.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

he could have done it himself. He just preferred not to.

Sums up so much of his life, doesn't it?

[sunnyskywalker]

You know, this just sparked an idea for something I've been wondering about.

In "The Prince's Tale," Lily says she "heard what happened the other night." We know she hasn't talked to Sev and he's sworn to secrecy in any case, so how did she hear anything? There's a few options:

- The Marauders: It would be grossly unfair of Dumbledore to swear the victim of an attempted murder to secrecy but not the perpetrators, but this is Dumbledore we're talking about. He might have been very careful in his wording; maybe they can't tell specifically about the werewolf bit or that it was a prank, but he somehow neglected to make them promise not to mention anything about the incident. So James might, say, "accidentally" mention saving Severus (perhaps while pretending he didn't know anyone else was listening to them) and nobly clam up on the implied-embarrassing-to-Sev details. Of course, believing the Marauders' half-told version over her supposed best friend doesn't make Lily look very good.

- Dumbledore: he isn't a very hands-on headmaster, but he might think to call in Sev's best friend to mention that something happened and poor young Mr. Snape is traumatized... in fact, not particularly rational about the subject, especially since it was young Mr. Potter who saved him, and you know how much he dislikes Potter... I doubt it, though.

- The portraits: now that you've shown the former headmasters can wander about the castle, we have another way Dumbledore could leak James's "heroics" without incriminating himself or the Marauders. Those portraits are bound to serve him, so they can't tell anything he explicitly orders them not to (such as, oh, the bit about the werewolf), and would probably at least have to mention something he wants leaked. We know that a vague story about Harry, with the sword, in the Chamber of Secrets got leaked, but who says that was on the portraits' initiative? It could have been, but doesn't have to have been.

I rather like the idea of the portraits of Dumbledore's personal rumor machine. (Well, I don't necessarily like how he uses it, if my guess is right in this case, but you know what I mean.)

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I remember that discussion, and I remember seeing the argument that portraits could move from one frame to another, even if the picture they move to wasn't of them. I'm glad you found a quote showing the headmasters can move, though! Because the person or people arguing against were insisting that other portraits could move, but not the headmasters. :)

Excellent catch!

Snapedom

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Think I should cross-post, then?