McGonagall's Presence on Privet Drive

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 30269

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Cindy C." <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:
> Gabriel wrote:
> > WHY was McGonagall there? She is asking Dumbledore if it's true 
> that V is gone and the Potters are dead. So, she's way out of the 
> loop, right? So WHY is she at the Dursleys looking at them to see 
> what type of people they are? As far she she knows, the baby would 
go 
> to Sirius Black, right? No one knows (per PoA) that Sirius is "the 
> traitor" yet. Except possibly Dumbledore, which is why he tells 
> Hagrid to bring the baby to him at the Dursleys and not give him to 
> Sirius. So how does McGonagall know that Sirius isn't getting the 
> baby and the Dursleys are if she's so out of the loop?
> > 
Cindy:
> I think that McGonagall isn't entirely in or out of the loop.  I 
> think Dumbledore probably delegated to her the task of arranging 
the 
> special protection surrounding Harry.  

Good theory, particularly about the short, cursory owl.  It still 
doesn't really explain, however, why Dumbledore was surprised to see 
McGonagall in Privet Drive.

I'm not going to speculate as to how much McGonagall did know about 
what was going on with the Potters, Sirius Black and Voldemort; 
although I suspect that because she doesn't ask about Sirius she 
knows that it must have been him that betrayed the Potters.

I also don't think that she was there to start organising the 
protections around Harry.  

Firstly, she is absolutely appalled that Dumbledore is going to leave 
Harry with the Dursleys.  She says to him:

"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried 
Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number 
four.  "Dumbledore - you can't.  I've been watching them all day.  
You couldn't find two people who are less like us.  And they've got 
this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, 
screaming for sweets.  Harry Potter come and live here!"

So showing, as well that she has spent the day watching ("spying") on 
the Dursleys - to the extent that she can watch the news on 
television.  She simply wouldn't have had time to start organising 
other things as well, unless she was illicitly using a Time Turner.

Secondly, it actually says in the text why she is there:

Dumbledore says:  "Hagrid's late.  I suppose it was he who told you 
I'd be here, by the way?"

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall.  "And I don't suppose you're going 
to tell me why you're here, of all places?"

Therefore, it seems clear from this exchange that Professor 
McGonagall had heard rumours of what had happened, refused to believe 
them until she had them confirmed by Dumbledore, and set out to find 
him.  She discovers from Hagrid that at some point during the day 
Dumbledore will be visiting Privet Drive, so she goes there and wiles 
away the time Muggle-watching.

This leaves the question of how much in the loop she is, open-ended, 
but it does (I hope) clear up why she is there.  I am of the opinion 
that she is slightly in shock.  She *knows* the same as Dumbledore - 
ie. that Sirius is the Secret Keeper and therefore must have betrayed 
the Potters.  She doesn't, however, want to believe it, as her 
testimony in PoA proves.

Catherine