Sadism or not ? McGonagall and her punishments

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186784

Shaun wrote:
> > 
> > No, Harry doesn't show the same potential at 17 as Viktor - but considering  Harry only got to play in less than half the matches he normally should have while he was at Hogwarts, that doesn't really tell us much (Harry plays in nine matches while at school. 
> 
Magpie responded:
> A few more matches would make much difference, given Harry's description of the difference between Viktor and everyone in his league. Harry may always win, but he's not leaving everyone in the dust as if he's Viktor (who himself gets no matches for a year) flying like he did at the QWC. Even if Harry had played in every match he would only be that: a kid who practices with his team and plays in matches at school. Occasionally he plays pick up games at the Weasley's. He cares about it when there's a game against another house and otherwise is happy to follow professional teams. He never acts like a kid training to be a professional and he's never treated as one. That's not to say he couldn't have done that after Hogwarts since he has the talent, but that doesn't retroactively make McGonagall's actions in PS the first step in her personal nurturing of his talent. 

Carol adds:

First, a minor point. Only nine matches are depicted, but that doesn't mean that Harry played in only nine matches any more than the three or four Potions classes per year that we see are the only Potions classes he attended.

On more point in support of Magpie, whose snipped arguments I also agree with. If McGonagall were considered about Harry's future as a future professional Quidditch player, wouldn't she have rushed in to buy him a new broom when the Whomping Willow broke his Nimbus 2000 into splinters? But she does no such thing; evidently, having once or twice won back the Quidditch Cup from Slytherin, it's no longer a big deal to her. Instead, once Harry gets a Firebolt, an even better broom than the Nimbus 2000 (but not yet extant in Harry's first year), she confiscates it, acting on Hermione's fear that the broom was sent by Sirius Black and has been hexed or jinxed. She and Flitwick strip it down completely, keeping it for several weeks, IIRC, while Harry is forced to use a school broom to practice until and unless he buys a new one of his own (which he doesn't do because he only wants the Firebolt back). If she were so concerned with his needing a good broom to be the best possible Quidditch player, she's have bought or lent him a new one. Instead, her concern in this instance is his safety. She's not at all concerned with what Harry wants or even, for once, with winning a match.

Carol, who can understand a teacher "bending" a rule if it really concerns the students' safety or well-being, but in this case, as Magpie says, the whole point of the rule-bending is to give Gryffindor a Seeker who can beat Slytherin, even if that Seeker is eleven years old