Minerva McGonagall Is Ever So Evil! (was TBAY)

[errolowl]

No: HPFGUIDX 39574





Oh! but these hedgehog games are addictive! There are several points 
that caught my attention:

1. 
Elkins while talking about Minerva as the first magical character 
ever introduced:
>Well, okay. How about we look at her appearance in the very first 
>chapter of the very first book then?

Uhuh! And what was she doing?

"It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first
sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. 
Dursley didn't realize what he had seen – then he jerked his
head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the 
corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight." (SS 1)

Something peculiar indeed! Now, we've debated if animagi get to
keep their wizarding powers when they transform. Padfoot perhaps 
reads the papers he picks up at Hogsmeade. But to conjure up a map 
and make it vanish again? That would require a wand. And where does 
a cat keep her wand anyway? An animagi that can keep wizarding 
powers as a cat would be exceptionally powerful indeed. If this 
isn't a flint, then it's an early hint at Minerva's powerfulness.
(Sure, she *has* to be powerful to eventually be deputy head at 
Hogwarts) 


2. 
Elkins also made the point about the *all day long* thing:
>> First off, McGonagall's very appearance on Privet Drive that 
morning is *highly* suspicious. Just what precisely is she doing 
there, anyway? She implies that she has been waiting there for 
Dumbledore --and yet she keeps herself hidden from him, only 
revealing herself once he makes it clear that he knows perfectly 
well that she is there.<<


Cat McGonagall spent the *whole* day at Privet Drive
the exact
same day that Dumbledore used to invoke all the protection for that 
place. With her powers, could she have been able to observe and 
figure out most it? Ahhh!  *that* was why she was there so early! 

I'd further speculate that she now has the ability to penetrate
the area without warning bells going off and alerting the guardians. 
After all, there must be some allowance for residents of that area 
to enter & leave with impunity, right? Assuming the spell 
went `anyone other than those rightfully present at this time
shall be subject to scrutiny'. Does her presence there that day get 
her counted as a `safe' resident/ pet? One of the regulars who
used the street before there was ever a need for screening?


3. 
The initial Privet Drive scene.

Elkins:
>> I don't believe that she came to Privet Drive because Hagrid told 
her that she could find Albus Dumbledore there. In fact, I don't 
believe that she came to Privet Drive to speak with Dumbledore at 
all.
 <snip>
>>Although it is perfectly obvious that McGonagall's interest in 
this conversation lies in her burning desire to know whether or not 
Voldemort has truly been defeated -- and if so, if it was truly 
Harry Potter who was responsible -- the narrative voice chooses to 
make this fact *explicit* -- just in case the reader somehow missed 
it:

"Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, 'The 
owls are nothing to the *rumours* that are flying around. You know 
what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what 
finally stopped him?'
It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was 
most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a 
cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she 
fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now."

Boy. Jo sure didn't want us to miss that, huh? It's *important* to 
the author that the reader understand how very anxious McGonagall is 
to learn the truth of this matter, as well as to note that she goes 
about trying to get this information out of Dumbledore in an oddly 
indirect fashion. It is absolutely essential that the reader 
understand this.<<
<<snip lots more impressive interpretation of that scene>>



Elkins put it very well indeed! Minerva was there to get information 
from Dumbledore and she was fairly overflowing with anger and 
irritability. Here she is, finally in a position at Hogwarts where 
she has Dumbledore's trust, things are going swimmingly with the 
infiltration plan – and now the whole thing appears to be off! No 
wonder she's upset! Elkins mentioned the anger - Consider:

"The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed"
"She looked distinctly ruffled"
"Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily"
" "Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right", she said impatiently."
" "I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably"
" " No thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly"
" "I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half 
exasperated, half admiring"
"Shhh! Hissed Professor McGonagall"
"She blinked her eyes furiously"

That's nine references in four pages!!


Besides, if she's a softy at heart, why didn't she get more 
emotional with baby Harry? (She `cries' in the we're-going-to-visit-
petrified-Hermione scene for goodness sake!) It's Hagrid that
kisses Harry goodbye. She's there pretending to cry – blinking her
eyes *furiously* and blowing her nose, but she didn't even *hold*
Harry! What ever happened to the feminine instinct where babies are 
concerned?

4.
Harry's first thought on seeing McGonagall "was that this was
not someone to cross". And she takes sternness to great heights.
These are new first year students – does she welcome them nicely? 
No! She's abrupt and sharp voiced with them
ummm, no wonder I
don't like Minerva that much! Besides, she smiles so rarely! (None 
of this necessarily makes her a bad person or bad teacher, but it is 
unsettling). 

And Harry is never quite as confident as he ought to be with 
McGonagall is he? He feels safe only with Dumbledore around. 
Even for the Quidditch match where Snape is referee – you'd
think she could handle Snape wouldn't you, if not Voldmort? 

5.
And she is *so* angry when they knockout the troll – 

"Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had
never 
seen her look so angry. Her lips were white." (SS 10)
She over reacts there, but remembers to calm down and uses 
Hermione's excuse to back off. 
Note - She also manages to keep on Hermione's good side –
Hermione's not going to suspect McGonagall like she did Lupin. 

6.
She is also present at the first Quidditch match overseeing the 
commentary when Quirrell is jinxing Harry's broom. So why is
Snape the only one doing anything about it? Couldn't ever-so-
powerful Minerva do something, even if she didn't know about 
Quirrell precisely?



Errol, who's having a lot of fun, but will have to stop now to
catch up with all that backlogged work.

(eyes Porphyria's squashy purple chair and that tumbler of scotch 
with great interest)
_____________________________________________________________________
"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or 
something," snapped Ron. (SS 11)