McGonagall (was unreg. animagi) /2x OT apologies

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 1252

At 02:33 09/10/2000 -0000, Scott wrote:

"As far as Animagi go we know that Minerva Mcgon. is one (registered) 
and there was maybe four other registered ones...I think."  


***
I think it was said, somewhere, that there are seven registered Animagi.
Hermione had looked it up.  

You made a good point about the number of unregistered Animagi roaming
about.  Maybe the unregistered ones aren't doing anything illegal as such,
but the few who are registered have, or had, a specific purpose.  Minerva
McGonagall teaches Transiguration to children, for example, which may be
enough to require her registration, but she may have another, less public,
role. Perhaps she also works for the Ministry of Magic in some capacity?  

When Dumbledore arrives in Privet Drive to deliver baby Harry to the
Dursleys he finds McGonagall, as a cat, sitting outside their house.  Yet,
when he reveals that he is there to deliver Harry Potter to No. 4, she seems
outraged that he would be leaving him with the Dursleys and says: "I've been
watching them all day".  Why was she watching the Dursleys' house if she had
no inkling that they were Harry's relatives?  If she planned to intercept
Dumbledore to find out if the Potters were dead, she must have known that he
was going to be at Privet Drive. An alternative conclusion is that she was
watching the Dursleys' house for another reason. Someone, ages ago,
suggested that the Dursleys House might be under a Fidelius charm and that
MM might be the Secret Keeper.  

I think I've mentioned before that it seemed odd that McGonagall was
surprised when Dumbledore recognised her Animagus, sitting on the wall.
Since she is his deputy at Hogwarts - regularly turning into a cat in front
of her students - *and* a registered Animagus, it was surely not that
strange for Dumbledore to have recognised her as a tabby cat.  Considering
their roles, Dumbledore and McGonagall don't seem to communicate too well,
do they?  

Neil

_______________________

PS - a couple of quick apologies...

1. I mistakenly assigned a quote posted by Steve Bates to Brooks Rowlett -
apologies to both.

2. I put an apostrophe in "Finnegans Wake" and MSN got upset. Aaaaargh!  It
did cross my mind that the title didn't have an apostrophe (in fact, I knew
it once, but I'd obviously forgotten). I didn't mind being corrected, but it
was a bit much to be corrected so bluntly by someone who, to my knowledge,
has never posted anything on Harry Potter.  Anyway, consider me shamed. 

            Flying-Ford-Anglia

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   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

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