A Question on Ariana

[laundry basket]

Okay, I feel really stupid asking this, as though I should know, but, was it ever mentioned specifically in DH what color hair Ariana has? Because in the fic I'm writing that features her, I want to make sure it's right. I initially wrote down auburn, but in the fics I've read since which feature her, she's got blonde hair. And since I sped-read through most of DH I have no recollection of which bits mentioned her at all.

So . . . anyone know? Help would be most appreciated.

[Drake]

I did not see that. I think people get blonde from the illustration.

[beMMADfabulous]

When I picture Ariana, I do think of her being blonde, but I suppose it is because of the illustration of the chapter in DH. Check www.hp-lexicon.org and do a search on her. That's how I figure out what's canon and what's not. Perhaps it will say something there.

[laundry basket]

Thanks for the link, but the Lexicon didn't have anything there So I'm left to defer that it was never mentioned what hair color she had. Thanks for the help!

[primadie]

In Ariana's portrait in the Hog's Head, her hair is blonde.

p. 557 American edition, bout halfway down the page

[silvertabby]

I'm not shure, but I pictured her with aubrun hair, I gues that should be because albus has aubrun hair and ussually children have aubrun or red hair only if both parents do, in which case they all have the same colour. 9From what I heared at least)

[silvertabby]

I'm not shure, but I pictured her with aubrun hair, I gues that should be because albus has aubrun hair and ussually children have aubrun or red hair only if both parents do, in which case they all have the same colour. (From what I heared at least)

[MMADfan]

silvertabby said:

I'm not shure, but I pictured her with aubrun hair, I gues that should be because albus has aubrun hair and ussually children have aubrun or red hair only if both parents do, in which case they all have the same colour. (From what I heared at least)

I have red hair; my mother does not. Both parents need to have the red-haired gene (from what I understand), but it can skip generations, so it's possible for both parents to have some other color hair and yet have red-haired children. I also believe (though I read this many years ago, and so it may be out-dated and incorrect) that the red-haired gene is a variation on the black-haired gene. But again, I don't know. There was some research going around a few years ago that said it came from Neanderthals, but given that there's a lot of debate still about whether Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons interbred, I have no opinion on that. However, my mother is my mother, and she does not have red hair (it's not even reddish -- well, was not, it is now white), yet I do. There have been red-haired people on my mom's side of the family, though, although none of her siblings nor her parents (my grandparents) had red hair. I think it's less likely for two red-headed parents to have children with hair that isn't at all red, although I imagine that some combination of genes might be required for the expression of red hair, and so it's possible that they might have a child with hair that was blonder than it was red, or browner than it was auburn. *shrugs* Ask a geneticist! Haha!

Back to Ariana, I don't think it actually says what color her hair is in the book, although since in RaM, Albus doesn't have a sister, I haven't paid much attention to those sorts of details. I think Auburn is a fine choice, though. If her mother was dark-haired, and her father was red-, auburn-, or dark-haired, she'd likely be either dark-haired or red or auburn. If their father was a blond, though, she might be a blonde. Does it say what color their father's hair was? I say, go with whatever color makes you happy!

[morgainegaunt]

Ariana's got blonde hair, it's said in "The Missing Mirror" (I looked it up):

"The staris opend on to a sitting room with a thredbare carpet and a small fireplace, above which hung a singel large oil painting of a blond girl who gazed out at the room with a kind of vacant sweetness." (page 449, British edition)

This piciture is later called "the portrait of Ariana" of "Ariana's picture" (page 459)

I hope this makes it clear now.

[MMADfan]

Cool! I had missed that reference to her being a blonde. So, to be canon, Ariana has to have blond hair. I won't have to worry about that in my fanfic, fortunately!