Two stumpers . . .

[Rue]

So I've managed to answer all of my other HP questions, but I've never gotten good reasoning for these two.  Anyone care to offer up ideas for answers?

1.  Harry has four roommates - Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean, so it would seem that each year of students would have about ten - fifteen students (we'll say five to seven boys and five to seven girls).   That means each house would have a maximum of about  100 students, yet in one of the books JKR mentions two hundred Slytherins alone cheering in the stands for a Quidditch game.  We never hear about Harry mentioning any other male Gryffindors besides those that bunk with him so are we just to believe that Gryffindor is an exceptionally small house, or that JK didn't really think this one through?

2.  There are negative consequences to avoiding death, JK takes a bit of time to explain them - the Resurrection Stone, being a ghost, drinking unicorn's blood.  She never mentions anything negative about the portraits in the headmaster's office, though.  At the end of the Deathly Hallows Harry has a very personal chat with Dumbledore's portrait which leads the reader to believe it's pretty much like talking to a live person.  Why are people sad that he's died if he essentially lives on through the portrait, and why, if that's the case, don't more witches/wizards get their portraits done?

[Psychee]

HI, Rue.  Welcome to the board!

Question 1.  JKR has been asked about this in interviews and she admits that she was never good at Maths.  In other words, she goofed up.  A similar situation exists when she wrote that hundreds of turkeys were on the tables at Christmas...  I think she had more than one turkey per person!

Question 2.  The portraits are not alive and are not ghosts.  The people in the portraits who have died have all crossed over into the next adventure.  JKR explains that the portraits are just a kind of lasting echo of the people in them - and I think she meant it to be like a magical version of a film that is left after an actor has passed away...the actor seems very much alive in the film, but the film was shot a long time ago.  The portraits can interact with the present environment but are apparently only able to act in ways that were already part of their "script" when they were alive.

There are aspects to these portraits which don't really fit that description -- like when the portraits do work for the Headmaster -- but apparently Headmaster portraits have a bit more ability to interact with the present enviroment than other portraits, or else JKR just doesn't see any contradiction there...

Hope this helps!

---

Rue wrote:

So I've managed to answer all of my other HP questions, but I've never gotten good reasoning for these two.  Anyone care to offer up ideas for answers?

1.  Harry has four roommates - Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean, so it would seem that each year of students would have about ten - fifteen students (we'll say five to seven boys and five to seven girls).   That means each house would have a maximum of about  100 students, yet in one of the books JKR mentions two hundred Slytherins alone cheering in the stands for a Quidditch game.  We never hear about Harry mentioning any other male Gryffindors besides those that bunk with him so are we just to believe that Gryffindor is an exceptionally small house, or that JK didn't really think this one through?

2.  There are negative consequences to avoiding death, JK takes a bit of time to explain them - the Resurrection Stone, being a ghost, drinking unicorn's blood.  She never mentions anything negative about the portraits in the headmaster's office, though.  At the end of the Deathly Hallows Harry has a very personal chat with Dumbledore's portrait which leads the reader to believe it's pretty much like talking to a live person.  Why are people sad that he's died if he essentially lives on through the portrait, and why, if that's the case, don't more witches/wizards get their portraits done?

---

[ctheller]

I agree with Psychee in both questions. For number two, I was thinking that if someon had made a portrait of Fred and he hadn't died, the picture wouldn't grow old when Fred did or talk like a older version of him either.

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Welcome, Rue!

~ConnieK

[delmerchic72]

---

Rue wrote:

So I've managed to answer all of my other HP questions, but I've never gotten good reasoning for these two.  Anyone care to offer up ideas for answers?

1.  Harry has four roommates - Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean, so it would seem that each year of students would have about ten - fifteen students (we'll say five to seven boys and five to seven girls).   That means each house would have a maximum of about  100 students, yet in one of the books JKR mentions two hundred Slytherins alone cheering in the stands for a Quidditch game.  We never hear about Harry mentioning any other male Gryffindors besides those that bunk with him so are we just to believe that Gryffindor is an exceptionally small house, or that JK didn't really think this one through?

2.  There are negative consequences to avoiding death, JK takes a bit of time to explain them - the Resurrection Stone, being a ghost, drinking unicorn's blood.  She never mentions anything negative about the portraits in the headmaster's office, though.  At the end of the Deathly Hallows Harry has a very personal chat with Dumbledore's portrait which leads the reader to believe it's pretty much like talking to a live person.  Why are people sad that he's died if he essentially lives on through the portrait, and why, if that's the case, don't more witches/wizards get their portraits done?

---

Well, as to the first question, I think it's just a matter of the qualities that define Gryffindors. I mean, they're known for exceptional bravery and loyalty. How many people of that kind do you think exist in the world? Especially when compared to the number of people that deal sleazy and go to business for their own, much like the characteristics of the Slytherins? I see it as just a matter of statistics. :]

As for the second question, I may be imagining it, but I think I remember reading a small excerpt in one of the books about the portraits in the Headmaster's Office. I think it's a special enchantment that allows the wisdom of the previous headmasters to be readily available to the current headmaster. The headmasters don't leave their souls or an imprint of their souls behind, they just leave their wisdom, their knowledge, their advice. It's as a courtesy to the new/current headmaster. But, since knowledge imbues a sense of character, one is not given without the other. That's why Phineas has the same demeanor as when he was alive, his knowledge and thoughts made it so.

Does that make sense? I'm a little muddled myself...

-The Visionary-