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Biography
Very little is known about Minerva McGonagall's early years. According to the Harry Potter Lexicon's timeline, she was born in October ca 1925, and was sorted into Gryffindor in 1936, two years before Tom Riddle was sorted into
Slytherin. She studied Transfiguration under Dumbledore himself, eventually mastering the difficult Animagus transformation,
and left Hogwarts in 1943. There is no information as to whether she was involved in Dumbledore's defeat of the dark wizard
Grindelwald in 1945, when she was twenty.
In December of 1956 she returned to Hogwarts as a teacher. We don't know what she taught, because Dumbledore didn't become
Headmaster until the early seventies, shortly before Severus Snape, Lily Evans, and the Gryffindor Marauders started their
first year.
The subsequent years are extremely sketchy. Professor McGonagall rose in the ranks, gaining a reputation for stern fairness,
and eventually became Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House. Her Head of House duties did not seem especially onerous,
but she was obliged to take special charge of the Gryffindors in any crisis. As Deputy Headmistress, she was responsible for
most of the school paperwork -- letters to students, permission slips, etcetera -- as well as supporting the incumbent
Headmaster's actions and policies, sometimes even when he had been forcibly removed from the school.
After the murder of Professor Dumbledore in June of 1997, McGonagall became Acting Headmistress of Hogwarts. As
Headmistress, her duties are much greater -- including taking part in the monumental decision of whether or not the school
should open again after Dumbledore's death.
About the character
Our lack of available McGonagall information is partly explained by the undeniable fact that she just isn't as mysterious
as some characters I could mention. Throughout the books her motives are entirely clear. She is, in fact, a model Gryffindor:
brusquely efficient, secretly kindhearted, completely straightforward, courageous to the last, and utterly intolerant of evil.
Externally, McGonagall is as tidy as, well, a cat. She favors emerald or forest-green robes and the tall, pointy black
hat of a classical witch, occasionally augmented with a tartan scarf. She is, in fact, quite fond of tartan. Her hair is black
and invariably tied up, and she patrols the school with a straight back and a quick, piercing gaze. Her love of order,
however, does not prevent her from plunging into chaos; she carries her battle scars with stern indifference.
In her Animagus form, a grey-and-black tabby cat with square spectacle markings around the eyes, McGonagall's mind remains
as sharp as ever; in the very first book Dumbledore comments that he has 'never seen a cat sit so stiffly'.
J.K. Rowling, according to various interviews, sees her "as a very strong female character". Rowling imitates Margaret
Thatcher when reading McGonagall's lines, and describes the professor's vocalization as "very clipped and very, very quite
upper class and very brisk, a governess", while still maintaining that "under that gruff exterior, Professor McGonagall is
a bit of an old softy, really."
Canon!McGonagall, therefore, is difficult to write on her own. Character is best revealed through conflict, and McGonagall's
battles are largely external: against evil, against the elements, against disorder in the castle. Her prim individuality
makes her an excellent foil for other characters, and in emotional genfic she is often reduced to the role of sidekick. The
best pure McGonagall stories, therefore, focus on plot, or on her reaction to some external event.
It may be argued that a woman as skilled and proud as Minerva McGonagall could not possibly have survived two wizarding
wars without experiencing pain, loss, and misery. We never hear of her family, or indeed anything of her youth, and it is
indeed possible that her very sternness masks emotional turmoil too deep-seated for daily school wear. Stories theorising
about these matters generally focus on inner conflict; but it is important to remember that her few breakdowns (COS, HBP)
were minor, and her dignity demanded a swift regrouping afterwards, accompanied by a sort of stiff-upper-lip dismissal of
her previous weakness.
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| The Professor advises Harry Potter, possibly her most famous student. |
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Vital statistics
Full name: Minerva McGonagall
Birth date: 4 October, ~1925; Libra
Age: ~80 in '05 [Note: HBP takes place in 1996-7.]
Best known as: Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Head of Gryffindor House, Transfiguration Professor
Current occupation: Acting Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Animagus form: tabby cat w/ square spectacle markings
View the McGonagall Coat of Arms
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| McGonagall and her predecessor, former Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore |
Quotes
You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day. --PS
People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping
rumors.... A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found
out about us all. --PS
Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous
-- a legend -- I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future -- there will be books written
about Harry -- every child in our world will know his name! --PS
While you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest
of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room..... Each house has its own noble
history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards.... I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes
yours.
--PS
Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my
class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.
--PS
The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter? ..He caught that
thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive. Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it. --PS
I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team
than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks.... --PS
I'm disgusted. Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! --PS
I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit
behind these attacks is caught. I would urge anyone who thinks they might know anything about them to come forward.
--COS
The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education. The exams will therefore
take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard.... Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school
running as normally as possible. And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year.
--COS
Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience
with it.
--POA
You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure
you that if you die, you need not hand it in.
--POA
An unworthy trick! A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points
from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake!
--POA
Now, don't panic. Just keep a cool head.... The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse
of you.
--GOF
The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to -- er -- let our hair down.... But that does NOT mean that we will be
relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student
embarasses the school in any way.
--GOF
You fool! Cedric Diggory! Mr. Crouch! Those deaths were not the random work of a lunatic!
--GOF
Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down and your temper under control!
--OOTP
I see no reason why everybody in this class chould not achieve an
O.W.L. in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work. You too, Longbottom. There is nothing wrong with your work except
lack of confidence.
--OOTP
Potter, I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing
I do! If I have to coach you nightly I will make sure you achieve the required results!
--OOTP
Hmph. It's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she's got,
rather than the one she thinks she ought to have -- particularly after what happened at the Ministry..... Take Charms, and
I shall drop Augusta a line reminding her that just because she failed her Charms O.W.L., the subject is not necessarily
worthless. --HBP
Potter, I appreciate you telling me this, but we cannot point the finger of blame
at Mr. Malfoy purely because he visited the shop where this necklace might have been purchased. The same is probably true
of hundreds of people.... And in any case, we have put stringent security measures in place this year. I do not believe that
necklace can possibly have entered the school without our knowledge. --HBP
He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape. I mean... with
Snape's history... of course people were bound to wonder... but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was
absolutely genuine.... Wouldn't hear a word against him! --HBP
Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little
more love in the world. --HBP
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