In Harry Potter, the portraits of people move and behave as though they are actual people. It's even possible to converse with them. So what's the deal with them? Are they simply extensions of the person(s) they're renderings of? Do they have the same memories of the actual person? Can they learn like people do?
As seen in the answer to this question
What causes the portraits of Wizards to behave interactively?
and this one
Why could the pictures and paintings in Hogwarts talk and the photos of Harry's parents couldn't?
Rowling basically says that they repeat catch phrases and then goes on to explain that if Harry had a picture of his parent's that they wouldn't have been able to help him. Yet Harry actually converses with the portrait of Dumbledore. Aberforth, actually gives instructions to the portrait of his sister. Gryffindor's fat lady actually interacts with the students. So, are the portraits 'sentient' beings that are capable of emotion, memories, and with learning potential?
