Other Witnesses (was Snape's Liability/Snape's Loyalty (-long-) )

[Stefanie]

No: HPFGUIDX 101064

Stefanie writes:
> My trust in Snape is a bit rocky. I want to believe that he's 
> loyal because Dumbledore does and have it as cut and dry as 
> that...  <snip>

> Jo Ann:
 <SNIP> 
> I think we do have one other character witness for Snape, albeit 
> a silent and circumstantial one: Professor McGonagall.
> 
> Reading through the books, it occured to me that though Minerva--
> who seems a good judge of character--rarely speaks out plainly 
> against a fellow teacher, Harry sees plenty of evidence when she 
> doesn't like, respect, or trust a colleague.  <snip>
> 
> However, we also see that she's quite willing to take the side of 
> someone she considers a foolish fraud against someone she feels is 
> a greater evil (i.e., when Umbridge went to sack Trelawney in OotP.)
> <SNIP>
> Throughout the stories, I remember a few situations where the House 
> rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin has come into play between 
> McGonagall and Snape, but I don't recall that she has ever said or 
> done anything to indicate that she doubts his loyalty or trustworthiness, 
> or even that she holds a particularly strong dislike for him.  And I 
> doubt that knowing DD trusts the man would stop her from expressing 
> her own opinion, in one way or another.
<SNIP>


Stefanie:
McGonagall does indeed make a stand against Umbridge, but Umbridge 
has been appointed by the MoM. Teachers who Dumbledore has 
appointed, such as Trelawney, she may be shown to disagree with, but 
she hasn't taken a stand against any except Umbridge who was not 
directly appointed by Dumbledore, but forced into the school by the 
Ministry. Umbridge doesn't have a DD appointment to back up any 
reasoning for her being hired.

I have seen no evidence in the books that McGonagall did anything 
but disapprove of a DD-appointed teacher's way of going about 
things. As for her trusting her fellow DD-appointed teachers, in PS, 
when the trio sees her in the hallway before attempting to enter the 
trapdoor, they alert her to their suspicions that someone may be 
trying to get the stone. From her knowledge, the only people in that 
are in the school are students and DD-appointed teachers. If she 
*really* didn't trust Quirrell, would she have brushed off the 
notion so quickly? The trio has just shown that they were able to 
figure out about a top secret item such as the stone even being in 
the school...if she had any doubts about her fellow teachers, I 
think she would have given their accusations just a slight touch of 
a second thought.

>From this, I believe, that if Snape isn't trustworthy, McGonagall 
will not be the one to tip us off to this: she has shown that she 
will trust and respect DD's teacher appointments regardless of her 
personal feelings towards the teacher.