[HPforGrownups] Addressing a friend.

[Sushi]

No: HPFGUIDX 48900

         Tzvi of Brooklyn wrote:

>"Fancy seeing you here Professor McGonagall" says Dumbledore in chapter one
>of PS/SS. Does anyone else find this strange that he would call her by her
>teaching name. He calls her Minerva, he calls Madam Pomfrey, Poppy. So why
>would he address her like that?



         I've always taken it as a combination of introducing the 
character, and a bit of an in-joke between friends.  Albus strikes me as 
the sort of person who would chide Minerva about shedding on his couch, 
scratching up the school tapestries, yowling at the moon, that sort of 
thing.  Therefore, the relative absurdity of a respected teacher sitting in 
cat form in a Muggle residential area would probably strike him as 
hilarious (grave situation aside).

         On the matter of character, we find out quite soundly how strict 
and harsh McGonagall can be.  However, as the one person at Hogwarts to 
whom she has to bow, Albus probably teases her about it mercilessly.  I can 
see her being a bit of a hellion at school (smoking behind the broom shed 
after Quidditch practise, running in the halls, pranking Slytherins, that 
sort of thing); it would explain quite a bit about why and how she knows so 
much about her students getting in trouble, and why she's so hard on 
them.  If Albus were to use her title ironically from time to time, just to 
remind her in a sidelong way what she was like once, it might have the 
effect of keeping her a little more "human" (especially when she's doing 
something that could be construed as deceitful - ie, surveillance on a 
house, the occupants of which have no idea with what they're about to be 
saddled).

         Sorry this is so disjointed.  It's 2am and, for once, I'm tired at 
this hour.  Bah.  I want my "up until dawn" metabolism back.

Sushi


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