Minerva and Tom: 6 theories

[chrusotoxos]

No: HPFGUIDX 153839


Hi, I'm sorry if this question has been addressed before - I was wondering when Minerva 
McGonagall will tell us more about Tom Riddle and why she has not done so until now.

We know from the timetable that she was born in 1925, he in 1926 or '27. So she must 
have known him for at least six years, probably personally - I'm prepared to bet that she 
was prefect and Head Girl, so she must have shared chappy meetings with Mr Perfect-bu-
t-Overlord-of-Evil-Prefect. If Riddle was indeed quietly organizing his gang while at 
Hogwarts, Minerva must have noticed. As we see in the series and in real life, students 
often know a lot more than teachers about people and news in the school.

Dumbledore insisted that it was very difficult to get people to talk, and indeed, to find 
people to talk to. Is he implying that Minerva McGonagall, though Deputee Headmistress, 
right hand and founder member of the Order is too scared to offer her memories of 
Riddle? It seems doubtful to me.

So why doesn't she talk? I can only think that

a) maybe something shocking and VM18 happened to her: Riddle raped her, say, and as 
this didn't add anything to our knowledge of him and would be both distressing for 
Minerva and embarssing for young Harry, Dumbledore didn't mention it;

b) or, Minerva was a little Hermione without noisy friends, meaning that she spent 7 years 
in the library and didn't have useful memories of Riddle;

c) or, unknown to us, she didn't attend Hogwarts fully: maybe she had a fund for 
Beauxbatons or something;

d) or, she had her memory modified;

e) or, because of the war (her schoolyears were 1936-1943) her education, or Hogwarts' 
lessons were disrupted;

f) or, literary trick: Dumbledore is dead, nobody knows what to do and, deus ex machina, 
old Professor McGonagall steps forward and says: I knew Tom Riddle, and this is how 
you'lldestroy him. Ta-daaa!

What do you think?