Outsider!McGonagall (was Outsider!Snape (NOT!))

[errolowl]

No: HPFGUIDX 43397



prefectmarcus wrote:
>>Snape trusts Dumbledore and Dumbledore trusts Snape. He trusts him 
enough to include him in the secret of Sirius's dog form. Even 
McGonagall can't claim that one! <<

Why sure! Snape has a higher `trust' standing with Dumbledore
than almost anyone else we know. Dumbledore keeps Snape's secrets
and Snape maintains his implicit loyalty (apparently!) inspite of the 
everybook nitty-gritty problems that crop up. At the end of GoF,  
Dumbledore shields Snape's story from Madam Pomfrey and McGonagall; 
even keeps his mission from Sirius, who leaves the room before Snape 
does. Snape knows what Sirius is up to – not vice versa...surely, 
that's a comfort to Snape? It might also be a show of confidence
from Dumbledore – a kind of "I trust you not to interfere or harm
Sirius though he's in your power - you know exactly where he is". In
fact, most of Dumbledore's communications with Snape seem to be this
way –oblique references in speeches or actions, that are left to 
Severus to interpret. Why? He gives direct enough orders (though 
crouched in terms of requests) to the other professors – hardly ever 
to Snape. Dumbledore seems to have supreme confidence in Snape to 
take his speeches in context. The subtlety of the Snape-Dumbledore  
interactions is amazing. For further discussion see, Pip's post 
#39662 "The Spying Game and the Shrieking Shack"

And unless sending out McGonagall before revealing Sirius's
secret was a show of solidarity with Snape (see, I trust you more 
than her!), I come to the conclusion that it's McGonagall
–that wise and capable head of Griffyndor house, the respected
deputy Headmistress - who gets shunted to the side each time!! Every 
time there is a crucial interview with Harry, our dear Minerva is 
quite pointedly asked to leave the scene, on the pretext of some 
minor task or the other (alert the kitchens, for goodness sake!). She 
gets to learn of crucial events from a third person (eg, Hagrid) and 
is curiously underdeveloped in her qualities and interactions as far 
as the storyline goes. Doesn't Dumbledore trust her?

Which brings be back to one of Porphyria's excellent posts:

>>I find McGonagall the most oddly underdeveloped character. I think 
Harry, boy or not, should be at least interested in the person who is 
his own Head of House and who teaches an important class he takes 
every year and who has shown favor towards him (bought him a broom, 
got him on the team early, went lightly on him over the Anglia 
incident). In theory he could half-notice her doing or saying 
something that might make her seem enigmatic or compelling or 
complex, even if he didn't care enough to interpret it. She just 
doesn't have Edge, she's not sexy from an adult point of view, we 
don't speculate much about her backstory. Again, we do do these 
things about Snape, Sirius and Lupin even though Harry couldn't care 
less. My attraction to the Evil!McGonagall theory, however farfetched 
it is, is that it makes her secondary, underdeveloped quality seem 
deliberate and gives her some juiciness. <<

Besides which, Dumbledore is frequently abrupt with Minerva. Some 
examples from  GoF (sorry, lost the page numbers!)

"'No,' said Dumbledore sharply."
"'He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand,' said 
Dumbledore curtly.""


Ummm! Poor McGonagall..and she's only trying to please! Is that
how she is usually treated? She now appears to be a strict old
lady, but how was she growing up? Popular? Nerdy? 
Outsider? ...Remember, that would have been about when Riddle was in 
School too.  

It could be Ever-so-lame McGonagall, it could even be Evil!McGonagall 
or...is it perhaps simply Outsider!McGonagall?


Errol
Who also wonders why Sirius gave Harry a lock pick for Christmas.