TBAY: Evil! McGonagall Revisited (WAS: Who Will Betray the Order?

[erinellii]

No: HPFGUIDX 84121

 "bohcoo" <sydenmill at m...> wrote:

> "erinellii" <erinellii at y...> 
> wrote in post #83919:
> > >  A forlorn shout echoes across Theory Bay, "Elkins! Elkins! Are 
you  here? Elkins! They've forgotten EverSoEvil!McGonagall!" 
 
 
 > Bohcoo comments:
> This completely intrigued me, so I went back and read Elkins's 
> staggeringly insightful post #39470 and the threads it spawned. 
(And, hat-tip to Erin here, no slouch yourself!) 


Erin now:
Hey, thanks!  But I notice I wasn't quite good enough to convince you 
McGonagall ISN'T evil :-)   Did you see Debbie's post, the one I was 
responding to?



Bohcoo:
> Okay, so I'm convinced: Minerva is evil to the core. She is the 
> spurned lover of Voldemort (or, as she was first to call him, Lord 
> Thingy. . .):) and inside the bun she always wears is a single lock 
> of his hair that she lovingly cut from his head when he still had 
> hair instead of scales.
> Unfortunately, poor Minerva has no idea the new form her precious 
> Tommy has assumed.... 


Erin now:
So THAT'S what the bun is for! I always wondered :-)   But seriously, 
which piece of evidence most convinced you of Evil!McGonagall's 
existance?  And what do you think of the glaring flaw in the theory?  
Namely, if McGonagall is ESE, why *does* Voldemort need to recruit 
Crouch Jr. to go to Hogwarts as his faithful servant in book 4?   Why 
can't he just tell ESE!McGonagall to turn the cup into a portkey?  
I've never heard a good explanation for this, and would be interested 
in how you think around it.


Bohcoo:
> And another mystery: Why did she latch onto Hermoine to mentor? 

Erin now:
Well if, like me, you don't see McGonagall as ESE, this is easy.  
McGonagall is head of Gryffindor House and a woman who values 
excellence, and Hermione is the top-performing student in Gryffindor, 
as well as often being described as being very similar to McGonagall.


Bohcoo:
What would her darling Tom Riddle think of her selection of a student 
who is 100% Muggle? Why would McGonagall mentor such a student UNLESS
> 
> (insert organ music here. . .)
> 
> she was so hurt by Tom Riddle ditching her way back then that she 
> rushed her loyalties over to Dumbledore in a fit of blind revenge --
 
> and -- wants to hurt him back by taking a student who embodies 
> everything he loathes and making her into the best witch Hogwarts 
has produced in a half-century.



Erin:  
But wait a minute!  The McGonagall you've just described *isn't* ESE.
You just said you think she's gone back to Dumbledore in a effort to 
hurt Voldemort.  Which means she isn't working for Voldemort.  She's 
not a Death Eater.  She's not ESE.  She is, in fact, actively working 
against him, doing things she knows he would hate?  Sounds like she's 
one of the good guys to me, no matter what her supposed motivations 
for the switch.  
  
In fact, this is very close to what I believe *might* be true about 
McGonagall.  It's not a ship I'd be entirely willing to crew (too 
leaky) but wouldn't it be fun if... Well, suppose there was indeed a 
relationship between McGonagall and Voldy.  Not an Evil!McGonagall, 
but a McGonagall who was taken in by Riddle's good looks and charm.  
And, because this is a book for children, Rowling is NOT going to 
come right out and say that they were "lovers".  That's never gonna 
happen.  No she will either have to say that they had "dated" (which, 
IMO, would not convey the seriousness of the relationship properly) 
OR that they were... married.  That's right, I think it possible that 
McGonagall was married to Voldemort, and furthermore, that she still 
is.
  
Picture it... Riddle reveals his evil overlord plans to his young and 
innocent bride, she is horrified, tells him to "get out" and he 
does.  In fact, he leaves that very day to go on his journey around 
the world,  learning more and more secrets of the dark arts.  
McGonagall wants to divorce him, but is unable to find him (and 
anyway, divorce is not *done* nearly so often in those days), so she 
goes back to her maiden name and tries to forget him.  She pours 
herself into her teaching.  When Voldy does surface again, he has a 
new name and is unrecognizably altered in appearence.  He doesn't 
contact McGonagall, and she has no idea who he is.  By the time she 
realizes Voldemort and her husband are one and the same, he is 
already Public Enemy #1, and she is terrified to reveal her 
connection to him.   

This also explains why so few people know who Voldemort once was.  
Dumbledore figured it out, and he is protecting Minerva by keeping 
silent.  So... whadd'ya think?

Erin