Did I Miss Something?

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 81175

Susan wrote:
> I am reading COS (my new UK edition) and something doesn't make 
> sense to me.  <Snip>
> When Harry is in the hospital ward having his bones regrown [Ch. 
10]and 
> they bring Colin Creevey in, McGonagall gets Madam Pomfrey.  When 
> Pomfrey asks what happened, Dumbledore says that Minerva found him 
> on the stairs.  A few lines down, McGonagall says that she 
> shudders to think...if Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for 
> hot chocolate, who knows what might have....
> 
> Ok what did I miss?  If McGonagall found him, what does that have 
> to do with Albus getting hot chocolate? <Snip>

Pip!Squeak:
Oooh, you've found an interesting point!

It may be as simple as Professor McGonagall thinking that whatever 
had just petrified Colin was going to come back and finish Colin 
off. Judging by her age (sprightly 70, in a JKR interview), she may 
have been in her final year at Hogwarts when the previous attacks 
happened. If so, she remembers that someone died - she didn't get 
the 'accident' version that Diary!Riddle talks about.

However, it might tie in with Minerva McGonagall being a perfectly 
normal Scottish muggle name when Professor McGonagall was born, and 
the fact that she wears a muggle coat and dress in OOP.

Looking at the coat and dress reference [OOP Ch. 6, p.109 UK 
hardback], I note that while Harry thinks she looks odd in a muggle 
dress and coat, he *doesn't* note that she's got the muggle costume 
wrong.

This is in contrast to the wizard-born adults, who always seem to 
get muggle costume subtly wrong. Mr Weasley, for example, wears pin-
striped trousers with a bomber jacket in OOP.

I've argued this before, but I think Professor McGonagall is muggle 
born. That's why she wears muggle clothing in the holidays *and* 
gets it right. In PS/SS she talks about 'their news', but obviously 
does recognise that a voice floating out of the Dursley's window 
might be from the TV/radio. [Chapter 1]

So, she *may* have said 'if Albus hadn't been on his way downstairs 
for hot chocolate, who knows what might have ...' because, quite 
simply, she is also a target.

Colin is lying there petrified. If Albus hadn't been on his way 
down, the muggle born teacher who'd found him might have been the 
next victim.

And she might have been found dead.

Pip!Squeak