ESE!McGonagall (not what you think)

[caspenzoe]

No: HPFGUIDX 164341

Snip!
> blitz:
> I think you're on the right track, Caspen. She is a strong teacher,
> with a wry sense of humor that pokes up every now and then, not much
> of a politician, a tough-love kind of woman, with a big teddy bear
> inside. She's an old softie. And because she hasn't really had any
> major plot twists, we don't wonder too much about her. (Remember,
> folks, no one really was concerned about Snape's backstory until 
PoA's
> release.) No one has really been asking about her.
> 
> I think that McGonagall's weakest trait is also her best - she is
> intensely loyal, to a fault. She is willing to take on the Minister
> until DD tells her to stand down. She reminds me a bit of Sirius
> Black, though a bit more dilute - a bit of a hothead, stands behind
> her friends though hell and back, and stubborn as sin. Perhaps
> Dumbledore sees her as potentially making some rash decisions with 
the
> information he could give her? She was willing to risk inmprisonment
> when DD faced off with Fudge in his office in OotP - she would
> certainly have wanted to help with the Horcruxes in HBP, even though
> she is *needed* at Hogwarts as second-in-command.
> 
> My question is what did Minerva do before getting the teaching
> position? Practice? Work at the Ministry? Perhaps she was a wife?
> I don't think she has any children - the students (at least the
> Gryffindors) seem to fill in that role. Perhaps that's why she gets
> that catch in her voice in PoA when Harry wants to go to Hogsmeade
> without a slip and she won't let him. Maybe she feels like she's
> denying one of her own children the chance to have some fun. 
> 
> Maybe we're seeing someone who always wanted to be a parent, but 
had a
> child?
> 
>  <snip>
> > Whom, after all, is the other help Draco Malfoy claims access to 
at 
> > Hogwarts in HBP? Rosemerta seems to be of limited use at best.
>  <snip>
> 
> Where did he claim 2 people helped him? If I read that (I don't
> remember it) I must have assumed it was Snape or one of the 
students. 
> 
> ~blitz, the thread killer (we'll see if it works on this one!), who
> sincerely hopes that McGonagall married a Mickey Mcgonagall - Mickey
> and Minnie just make me want to smile!

Caspen:

You make good arguments blitz. I'll admit that Minerva seems loyal. 
However, when examined closely, as others have done better in earlier 
posts, she begins to seem almost as ambiguous as Severus. Certainly 
the earliest post on this subject (sorry, I don't have a ref. for you 
at the moment, but I believe it's outlined in T-bay) demonstrates how 
her behavior in her first scene at the opening of Book I (SS/PS) can 
be very convincingly interpreted in more than one way. And, as Julie 
asks, if she's so loyal, why doesn't Albus trust her more, and why 
doesn't he confide in her? It really doesn't make sense to me, 
regardless whether she's secretly a hot-head or not. Julie's 
theory, on the other hand, can and does explain it.

Suppose for instance that Voldemort's "enchantment" of McGonagall 
works something like various hypnotic devices we seen in otherwise 
realistic stories and films. What if a certain hypnotically/magically 
implanted word or spell sends Minerva into a hypnotic/magicical 
trance in which she can be made to report to Voldemort or his 
minions, or even, as a last resort (since Voldemort would want to 
keep her uses as a weapon secret) made to do Voldemort's bidding and 
take actions she otherwise never would, with no memory of having done 
so upon regaining consciousness? We already know this is part of 
Voldemort's M.O. because it's very similar to what happens to Ginny 
in Book II (COS).  

BTW and FYI, Draco does tell Severus that "..., I've got other people 
on my side, better people!," in Chapter 15 of HPB - at the very end 
of the chapter (p.324 in my American hardcover ed.)."People" 
certainly indicates more than one person to me. Since this 
conversation takes place in the context of Severus' criticism of 
Draco for using Crabb and Goyle to look out for him at the school, I 
have to conclude not only that Draco is referring to at least two 
people, but that however many more than one they are, he is also 
talking about assistants in the Hogwarts vicinity. In fact, I'm 
surprised this topic hasn't recieved more discussion here.

Sorry you are trying to kill the thread. I too want to know what 
Minerva did in her ten years between graduating from Hogwarts and 
becomming a teacher there; I love her. In fact, she may be 
my favorite character, but I find this ESE speculation fascinating 
just the same.

Caspen