[HPforGrownups] TBAY: Minerva McGonagall Is Ever So Evil!

[wynnde1 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 39510


Oooh! I LIKE this one. I've never been all that keen on McGonagall in any 
case - she has always struck me as being Ever So Lame for someone who is 
deputy headmaster of Hogwarts. If she is really Ever So Evil, then that 
explains the apparent lameness - she's just pretending to be mostly useless 
to lull everyone into a false sense of security. <g> (AH! I hope there won't 
be a backlash from Supremely Competant and Useful and NotEvil!McGonagall fans 
over this statement). 

So here's my attempt to add to the "evidence" against her: I have often had 
the feeling that Dumbledore doesn't entirely trust her. I don't have a lot of 
canon for this (or even remember the specific moments) - but it has seemed to 
me in general that she is usually not as up-to-speed on what's been happening 
at Hogwarts as I would expect Dumbledore's second-in-command to be.

That said, I will present one clear example of Dumbledore showing what I read 
as a lack of trust in her:

GoF "Parting of the Ways" - After Fudge leaves and Dumbledore starts 
discussing plans for the future, he sends McGonagall out to get Hagrid, and 
then sends Poppy to care for Winky.

Then, "Dumbledore made sure that the door was closed, and that Madame 
Pomphrey's footsteps had died away, before he spoke again."

Obviously, he didn't want Poppy to witness what was about to happen (Okay - 
so far it looks more like evidence for Evil!Poppy <g>). But he also obviously 
didn't want McGonagall there, or he wouldn't have sent her away. (And JKR had 
to send MM away first, and PP second, or it would have been too obvious that 
MM was really the one Dumbledore wanted out of the way <G>). After all, he 
didn't mind that Molly Weasley was still hanging around. So why wouldn't he 
have wanted McGonagall, his deputy headmaster and seemingly faithful sidekick 
<g>, to be fully appraised of the situation, as well? So it certainly looks 
to me like Dumbledore has some trust issues with McGonagall. 

This leads me to question why he left her to guard Crouch Jr. If he doesn't 
trust her, isn't it foolish to leave her to guard the prisoner? My 
(admittedly shaky) explanation for this is that he did it as a test of her 
loyalty. After all, Dumbledore had already gotten everything HE needed from 
Crouch. So he gave her an opportunity to show where her loyalties really lie 
(which she has done - hence he sends her away before revealing Sirius' 
identity). But could he forsee that MM would allow the Dementor's Kiss to 
happen? Okay. It does seem really shaky. Perhaps someone else can come up 
with a better theory to explain this.

Going off on a small tangent here . . . Another question which has just 
occurred to me regarding that scene: On my first reading, I assumed that 
Dumbledore sent everyone he considered "extraneous" out of the room to 
protect Sirius' identity (or at least his animagus status). But now I think 
he is actually more interested in protecting Severus - doesn't want it to be 
common knowledge that he has a Dumbledore-sponsored secret mission to carry 
out. In fact, I just realised that he even sent Sirius away before mentioning 
Snape's mission. So I think THAT is really the bigger secret which Dumbledore 
is trying to keep. (Hopefully we won't end up with Evil!Molly or all 
Dumbledore's trouble in sending people away will have been for nothing <G>). 

So, Evil!McGonagall is currently my favourite candidate for the "who will 
betray Dumbledore" sweepstakes. Much better than Evil!Lupin. Not that the 
argument for that wasn't impressive (it is an awesome and very compelling 
argument, IMO) - it's just that I get all warm and fuzzy thinking about 
Remus, and it would break my little ole heart for him to prove the evil one. <
G> And since it is a near certainty that SOMEONE we trust will prove evil 
(and it WON'T be Snape, for whom I get even warmer and fuzzier than with 
Remus <GGG>) - one of these Evil! theories is bound to turn out correct!

:-)
Wynnde (who is pleased to be finally making her second posting to this group, 
after much lurking).


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