McGonagall

[Jim Ferer <jferer@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50221

Rebecca:"I also an unable to fathom Evil!McGongall."

Me either.
 
Rebecca:"And, it's not like she could lie about knowing; they have
Veritserum. Or maybe he'll tell her later but doesn't want
everyone else to know she knows.  Okay, so Isensew [?]
that makes no sense, but I'm a weirdo."

It's a basic principle of security that you don't tell anyone anything
that they don't Need to Know.  If you and I were spouses, both working
at the same top-secret agency, we couldn't share what we knew unless
we were cleared for the same things.  Dumbledore trusts all the Trio,
too, but there's things he hasn't told them, and he's right not to.
Trust hasn't got anything to do with it.

I also like the "deniability" factor, too.  There's sensitive stuff at
my job that I don't need to know and don't want to know.

I feel very strongly that JKR won't - can't - make any of the
principals turn out evil.  if Evil!Dumbledore, Evil!Lupin or
Evil!McGonagall were true, it would be one of the worst betrayals an
author ever committed on her readers, especially young readers, and I
couldn't forgive her for it.  What would it teach?

1. People are no damn good.
2. Don't trust anybody; they'll all betray you eventually.
3. Good is illusory; only evil is real.  Be a cynic.

I don't believe for a minute JKR is doing it.

I know betrayal happens, but this isn't the place for it.  The
exception here is that we might see someone turn away from good
because of rage or fear or jealousy, but it won't be someone we've
believed all along is good who is secretly evil.  So Fudge could be
evil, although I think he's just a coward, or Ron could fail at some
point, in a moment of weakness.