Portraits and Punishment

Last night I had a dream which I think could become an interesting fic.

The premise was that one of the people in a Hogwarts portrait was a criminal. His punishment for the crime (crime yet to be determined) was to be trapped in a painting for 100 years. The story goes on from there, but before I write anything I want to know if it is even possible that a person could be locked in a painting. How long has Azkaban been around? What forms of punishment were used before Azkaban? If anyone could offer some insight, that would be great!:)

Why hasn't anyone repied to this yet?

Anyway, I love this idea, you should definatly write it. I had an idea once that maybe the HP wizards used transfiguration as an alternative punishment to prison, like in Sabrina. Personally I don't think a portrait is cruler than lifetime with dementors. I'd suggest you'd make it more than 100 years since it sounds like a more oldfashioned punishment, also since wizards become really old there'd still be a lot of people remebering this guy.

Hope I helped, looking forward to mayhaps reading this story.

MvH Johan

How long has Azkaban been around? What forms of punishment were used before Azkaban?
Well Dumbledore's Dad was sent to Azkaban and so were Morfin and Marvolo Gaunt so I'm guessing it's been round a while. I'm not sure about the Dementors, however. The way Dumbledore talks about them I wonder if they're more of a recent addition to Azkaban. Dumbledore thinks it's wrong of the Monistry to use them.

Grindelwald is in Nurmengard. I don't know what restrictions are on him there. It can't just be a normal prison. I wonder if they took away his magical powers or something. He must have been incapactiated somehow and not just by removing his wand.

I want to know if it is even possible that a person could be locked in a painting. I would think it perfectly possible he/she could be locked in a portrait- but I wonder what the crime would be. If it was murder then the felon would most probably be sent to Azkaban or given the Dementors kiss. Muggle-baiting usually results in a fine or a short stint in Azkaban- but I guess you could run the story along the lines of the Ministry trying out different punishment methods.

I really like this idea. There's a Dr.Who episode (don't know if you've ever seen it) where the Doctor traps someone in a mirror. It's quite spooky.

Carole