The Banes of Her Existence

This is Minerva McGonagall exactly as I picture her as Headmistress: seated, uncomfortably and perhaps eternally (if she gets her own portrait), between these two infuriating fellows. The little details are wonderful: the long fingers cradling her (no-doubt aching) head; the whimsical umbrella drink Dumbles' portrait is sipping; the infuriating smirk of a somewhat skeletal portrait-Severus, sporting what might be some kind of medal (as hazy as Severus' in-life allegiances were). Poor Minerva!, I love this Minerva. She looks almost exactly as I picture her: all sharp angles, salt-and-pepper hair, long fingers. I also love the premise of this picture, with Minerva stuck between sour Snape and twinkly Dumbledore, quite possibly for all eternity, assuming, as the picture implies, that she is now Headmistress and will eventually inhabit a portrait herself. The look on her face is classic Minerva: resignation coupled with weariness and an ever-so-slightly sardonic tilt to the eyebrows. I also really love the Dumbledore portrait, with its whimsical umbrella drink (with lemon wedge) and serene profile, contrasted with funereal Snape, whose quasi-amused "I told you so" smirk speaks volumes about the relationship between these characters.