Minerva McGonagall
Origin: Harry Potter
Hair:
Eyes:
Species: Human
Birthday:
Parents: Robert McGonagall & Isobel Ross
Siblings: Malcolm & Robert Jr.
Partner: Elphinstone Urquart
Residence: Bardilac Street 44 (25-119)
Occupation: Teacher (Transfiguration)
Affiliation: Shifty Business, Scots Chapter
Talent: Magic, Shapeshifting (cat)
Medical notes:
Sports/Instruments: Quidditch
Languages:
Import Date: 5
Pets: Hornbill
Professor Minerva McGonagall, O.M. (First Class),[13] (b. 4 October) was a Scottish half-blood witch, the only daughter of Muggle Robert McGonagall and witch Isobel Ross. She also was the older sister of Malcolm and Robert Jnr. Minerva attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was Sorted into Gryffindor House, but it took the Sorting Hat five and a half minutes to decide if she was Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, which made her a Hatstall. During her seventh year, she was appointed Head Girl.
After her education, Minerva worked for two years at the Ministry of Magic and later returned to Hogwarts, where she became Head of Gryffindor House and the Transfiguration professor. Though she wasn't a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the First Wizarding War, Minerva greatly helped the Ministry of Magic's resistance through spying on Death Eaters and bringing the Aurors crucial information on their activities.
Eventually, Minerva became concurrently, at differing times, Deputy Headmistress and Headmistress of Hogwarts. In 1995, she opposed Dolores Umbridge, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She also protected the students from Alecto and Amycus Carrow from 1997 until 1998. As part of the Order of Phoenix's new resistance movement, Minerva fought in several battles of both wars, including the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and the Battle of Hogwarts, where she led the resistance against Lord Voldemort.
Minerva survived the Second Wizarding War and became Headmistress full time, a title she still held into the early 2020s.[10]
Early life
Minerva McGonagall was born on 4 October to Robert McGonagall, a Muggle Presbyterian minister, and his wife Isobel Ross, a witch. She was the couple's first child and was named after her mother's grandmother, a very powerful witch. By then, her parents lived on the outskirts of Caithness in the Scottish Highlands, in a village where mostly Muggles lived.[1]
Her birth proved both a joy and a crisis: Isobel had given up the use of her magic for her love of Robert and never told him about her nature as she was afraid to mar the bliss of their wedding. However, the infant Minerva displayed small but noticeable signs of magic from her earliest hours. She had no control of her magic and thus inadvertently summoned toys that had been left on upper shelves to her cot, made the family cat do her bidding, and her father's bagpipes play themselves which would cause her to chuckle happily. Thus, Isobel often secluded herself with Minerva for days at a time. She knew she must confess to her husband about their daughter's wizarding abilities and so she finally did, explaining everything to Robert and telling him that they were bound by the International Statute of Secrecy and that they must conceal the truth about their magical abilities for their safety.[1]
The two parents remained together despite the shocking revelation, but their trust never was the same, much to the sadness of their perceptive daughter. She later had two brothers, Malcolm and Robert Jnr, who revealed magical ability in due course. As a child, Minerva helped her mother conceal from her father the accidents and embarrassments the young witch's magic sometimes caused. She was very close to her Muggle father, whom in temperament she resembled more than her mother.[1]
On Minerva's eleventh birthday, Minerva received her admittance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, at the time headed by Professor Armando Dippet. Before coming to the school, she visited Diagon Alley and purchased her wand from Ollivander's Wand Shop. The wand she selected was an unusual specimen, 9 and a half inches, fir and dragon heartstring. Now free to be with her kind and to exercise her talents, Minerva saw how her mother sobbed that day, not only out of pride, but also out of envy.[1]
At the age of eleven, Minerva attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. During her Sorting, she proved to be a hatstall: the Sorting Hat spent five and a half minutes wavering between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw before deciding to place her in the former. Minerva's school career overlapped by two years with that of Pomona Sprout, and the two students enjoyed an excellent relationship, both then and in later years.[1]
Minerva was quickly recognised as the most outstanding student of her year with a particular talent for Transfiguration. By the end of her education at Hogwarts, she had achieved an impressive record: top grades in O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, Prefect, Head Girl, and winner of the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer award. Under the guidance of her inspirational Transfiguration teacher, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva had managed to become an Animagus; her animal form, with its distinctive markings (tabby cat, square spectacles markings around eyes) were duly logged in the Ministry of Magic's Animagus Registry.[1]
Minerva played for Gryffindor Quidditch team in her student years, in which she proved to be gifted. However, she suffered a nasty fall in her final year: a foul during the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match which would decide the Quidditch Cup winner. This event left her with a concussion, several broken ribs, and a lifelong desire to see Slytherin crushed on the Quidditch pitch.[1]
After graduating from Hogwarts, Minerva was offered a position at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the British Ministry of Magic. She returned to her family's manse to spend one last summer with her family before moving to London. During these months an eighteen-years old Minerva met Dougal McGregor, a local Muggle, who was the handsome, clever, and funny son of a local farmer. The two shared a sense of humour, argued fiercely, and suspected mysterious depths in each other. Minerva fell head-over-heels in love with McGregor, being the first and only time in her life that she might have been said to lose her head. Eventually, McGregor proposed to Minerva on a ploughed field and she accepted his offer.[1]
That night, however, Minerva was unable to tell her parents of her engagement. Thinking about her future, she realised that wedding a Muggle who didn't know that she was a witch would mean Minerva would follow her mother's footsteps and live unhappily with her wand locked away, shredding all of her ambitions. Early next morning, Minerva went to tell McGregor she had changed her mind and could not marry him, aware that if she broke the International Statute of Secrecy and told him why, she would lose the job at the Ministry for which she was giving him up. She could give him no good reason for her change of heart, leaving McGregor devastated and left for London three days later. These months were to prove some of the most difficult of Minerva's life.[1]
Early career at Hogwarts (1910s–1945)
Though her feelings for the Ministry of Magic were affected by the fact that she had recently suffered an emotional crisis, Minerva didn't much enjoy her home in London and workplace, where some of her co-workers had an ingrained anti-Muggle bias. Given her adoration of her Muggle father and continuing love for Dougal, she deplored these ideas. Despite this, Minerva was among the most efficient, gifted employees in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and became fond of her much older boss, Elphinstone Urquart. After two years at the Ministry, she was offered a prestigious promotion, yet found herself turning it down as she missed her home in Scotland.[1]
Instead, Minerva sent an owl to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, asking whether she might be considered for a teaching post. The owl returned within hours, offering her a job in the Transfiguration department, under Head of Department, Albus Dumbledore. Through her efforts and work, Minerva proved to be a strict yet inspirational teacher, maintaining control of her students with a stern hand that made her someone not to be crossed.[1]
By this time, Minerva was shocked to learn from her oblivious mother (in the middle of a chatty letter of local news) that Dougal had married the daughter of another farmer. Albus discovered his former student and colleague in tears in her classroom late that evening, and she confessed the whole story to him. He offered both comfort and told Minerva some of his own family history, previously unknown to her. The confidences exchanged that night between were to form the basis of a lasting friendship.[1]
Sometime in the 1910s, among her first students were Newt Scamander and Leta Lestrange, the latter of whom was frequently in trouble with Minerva for magically retaliating against vicious gossip about her half-brother's death by hexing her peers. A notable example of this is when Leta sealed shut the mouth of a fellow student during her third year after the other girl had been speaking ill of her behind her back. Minerva was called upon to fix the situation, but Leta ran from her and Minerva was forced to chase her around the school, all the while docking points (Minerva ended up docking a total of 200 points). When she couldn't find her, Minerva removed the spell from the girl but promptly restored it with an irritated "Whisht!" when the girl continued to badmouth Leta.[14]
Global wizarding war (1927–1945)
During Gellert Grindelwald's rise to power, in 1927, Minerva stayed a close confidant to Dumbledore. She was quite critical of the Ministry of Magic's involvement at Hogwarts and was furious when Torquil Travers and a team of Aurors interrupted Dumbledore's Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, protesting that this was "a school". However, her protests fell on deaf ears and she was forced to escort the students from the classroom.[14]
In 1932, Minerva went to the Hog's Head Inn and alerted Albus to Anton Vogel's decision to absolve Grindelwald's crimes. After Dumbledore's first army returned to Hogwarts from their first missions, Minerva watched them in the Great Hall while Albus showed the rest a sculpture of the Eyrie where they were heading.[15]
Minerva remained close friends with her former boss in the Ministry, Elphinstone. During one visit sometime in between 1956 and the 1980s he proposed marriage to Minerva at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Surprised, embarrassed, and still in love with Dougal, she declined. However, the two still remained in contact for years.[1]
Later on in her career, Minerva rose to the position of Head of the Transfiguration department. Her lessons consisted of but were not limited to match to needle, animal to water goblet, beetle to button, and mouse to snuffbox transformations, as well as Switching Spells, Vanishing, and Conjuring. Furthermore, Minerva was appointed the position of Head of Gryffindor House, the house in which she used to reside whilst studying at Hogwarts. After he became Headmaster, Dumbledore would later on in his career also trust her enough to allow her to become Deputy Headmistress of the school and fill in for him on the occasions of his absence.[1]
First Wizarding War (1970–1981)
After the first rise of Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, Minerva took part in fighting back against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, though she still taught at Hogwarts during the First Wizarding War. Previously, she was suspicious of Riddle in spite of the fact that she wasn't his teacher and thus shared her fears with Dumbledore in private. Even so, McGonagall chose to not join the Order of the Phoenix, which was seen as a renegade outfit by the Ministry at the time. Instead, unbeknownst to her students, she spent many nights spying for them in the guise of a tabby cat, bringing the Aurors crucial information on the activities of Voldemort's followers.[13]
Despite her involvement in the Ministry's efforts to contain the threat of the Dark Lord's rise to power, Minerva got through the war unscathed. However, she suffered personal bereavements: the loss of her brother Robert; of two of her favourite students, Lily Evans and James Potter; and of Dougal McGregor, who was murdered in a random anti-Muggle attack by the Death Eaters, along with his wife and children. This last news was a terrible blow to Minerva, who wondered if she would have been able to save him if she had married him.[13]
Concurrently, as the war raged outside the castle walls, the school was plagued by a series of curses inadvertently unleashed by one of the students, Jacob, who began to meddle with the five fabled Cursed Vaults. Like the rest of the faculty, Professor McGonagall did everything she could to protect the students, although they were ultimately unable to prevent the injury of several students and the death of a Slytherin student named Duncan Ashe; this all led to Jacob's expulsion.
In 1981, baby Harry Potter "defeated" Lord Voldemort in his family home at Godric's Hollow after his parents James and Lily Potter (both members of the Order of the Phoenix) were murdered whilst protecting their son from harm. The fall of Voldemort ultimately ended the war and his followers were arrested and those that escaped went into hiding.
Minerva travelled to Surrey and spent an entire day observing the Dursley family seeing whether or not they met the standards of looking after Harry as they were his only living relatives with his parents now dead. What she saw horrified her; the Dursleys couldn't have been any less like Lily and James if they had tried. She was thus present, along with Rubeus Hagrid, when Dumbledore placed Harry on the Dursleys' doorstep, despite her objections to leaving him with these Muggles, whom she considered to be the "worst kind" of them. She kept a close eye on Harry from time to time during his early childhood, as did the members of the Order of the Phoenix.[3]
Between the wars (1981–1995)
After the First Wizarding War had ended, Minerva continued on with her career at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, carrying on teaching the art of Transfiguration. Elphinstone, who had never ceased to love her, proposed every now and then until she finally accepted after Dougal's death. Their engagement happened during a summertime stroll around the lake in the Hogwarts grounds. The retired Elphinstone bought a small cottage for the two of them in Hogsmeade, whence Minerva could travel easily to work every day. Although the couple had no children, her nieces and nephews visited often. This was a period of great fulfilment for Minerva.
In 1985, three years into their marriage, Elphinstone died from a Venomous Tentacula bite.[1] Minerva, who couldn't bear to remain alone in their cottage, packed her things after her husband's funeral and returned to her first-floor study in Hogwarts Castle. It is unknown whether she still owns the cottage. Always a brave and private person, Minerva poured all her energies into her work and few people – excepting perhaps Albus – ever realised how much she suffered.
During the second year of Jacob's sibling, when Ben Copper when missing, they asked Minerva about it as she was the Head of the Gryffindor House. She first asked if Jacob's sibling had seen him in the Hogwarts Express and if he had been acting strange and after learning that they didn't but Penny Haywood did and Ben seemed fine even though he was always a bit odd. She mentioned that the Cursed ice may have changed Ben and slightly chastised Jacob's sibling for their attempt to enter the Cursed Vault, asking them if they had learnt anything that said of a threat beyond the door and appealed to them that this involved all of Hogwarts, not just Jacob. Learning that they had found and read a message about an Ice Knight and Vanished Stairs, Minerva said she will discuss this with Dumbledore and accidentally revealed that she and the other teachers had once dealt with the Cursed Ice, which she quickly covered by telling Jacob's sibling that he is free to help in the search of Ben and ask for him to tell her personally should he succeed, promising to reward him.[16]
McGonagall and Snape eventually found the missing Ben Copper encased in Cursed ice and Jacob's Sibling and Rowan realised she knew more about the Cursed Ice than she revealed. Minerva was perplexed that the Knockback Jinx had no effect on the ice, noting on how they once could use it to shatter the ice, and even more so when Snape callously suggested they use Incendio to melt the ice while also burning him to death, as she realised from how the Cursed Ice had began to expand throughout the school that someone had been tampering with the Vaults. Ignoring Snape's frustrated questioning of Dumbledore's whereabouts, Minerva and Snape used the Fire-Making Spell to successfully free Ben from the Cursed Ice, taking care to target as further as possible from his body.[17]
Knowing Minerva was the only one left in the school with Dumbledore gone that could possibly teach them the Revelio Charm, Jacob's sibling turned to her to learn the spell. At first Minerva was baffled due to how advanced the charm was but ultimately agreed to teach them if they proved themselves sufficiently adept, impressed by their desire to help Hogwarts and study Transfiguration. Finding their abilities to have reached the level required in the class, Minerva called them to have their private lesson and after Jacob's sibling successfully learned Revelio, Minerva congratulated them and noted the usefulness of the spell.[18]
After learning that Bill Weasley had taught Jacob's sibling the Fire-Making Spell, Minerva was furious and scolded him heavily.[19]
In 1991 friend of Albus Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel, had the Philosopher's Stone that was keeping him alive moved from his safe in Gringotts to Hogwarts for safe keeping. Minerva contributed to the defences set up around the magical artefact by transfiguring an enormous chess set and animating it to behave as a normal Wizard's chess set would. As part of its protection duty, it required that the person or persons seeking to get past would have to take the place of a piece on the board and play an actual game of wizard's chess, at great physical risk to themselves. This larger than life version of Wizard's Chess was known to be brutally violent and sacrificial for wizards to have to take part in themselves.[3]
Also in this year, Harry Potter, whom Minerva had been watching over for many years, would start his first year of education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, not knowing this, as he did not know that he was a wizard. Once Harry eventually arrived at Hogwarts, after the delivery of many acceptance letters, Harry was sorted into the house of Gryffindor which Minerva was head of. Harry was therefore again placed under the watchful eye and care of McGonagall.[3]
Though Minerva often maintained her strict persona in regards to the boy, she wasn't above bending the rules for him on occasion, such as when she caught him flying on a broomstick without proper supervision. Instead of expelling him, which was Madam Hooch's stated punishment for anyone caught doing so, Minerva instead took him to see Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, to comment on his prodigious skill with the broom. Harry made the team, remarkable for a first year, and became the youngest Seeker in a century. She made arrangements for Harry to have a Nimbus 2000, the fastest broomstick of the time, for use during games and practices. However, several incidents marred the year.[3]
At Hallowe'en, the festive feast was interrupted by the arrival of Professor Quirrell, who came charging in screaming about a troll loose in the dungeons before fainting dead away. After restoring calm, Dumbledore ordered all students to return to their dormitories while he and the teachers made their way to the dungeons. The troll was not there upon their entry, but a terrible racket from an upper floor provided a clue. Upon reaching the site, Minerva was shocked to discover a wrecked bathroom, an unconscious troll and three bedraggled first years, one of whom was her best student Hermione Granger.
To her further shock, Hermione claimed that she had gone looking for the troll thinking she could handle it but would most assuredly have been killed had Harry and Ron not found her. Torn between anger and pride, Minerva took five points from Hermione but awarded five each to Harry and Ron for, as she put it, "sheer dumb luck." Over the Christmas period, she attended the Christmas feast and received a kiss on the cheek from a very drunk Hagrid; rather than admonish him, she instead giggled while blushing red in the face.[3]
However, her serious side appeared one night when she caught Draco Malfoy roaming the school at night. Dragging him by the ear, she sentenced him to detention and deducted twenty points from Slytherin when he claimed that Harry was also out of bed with an illegal baby dragon. Though the dragon in question was successfully released, Harry, Hermione and Neville were all caught and brought before McGonagall by Filch. Harshly disappointed with them, she told them all off before punishing them severely; a loss of fifty points each, 150 in total, and detention with Malfoy. This caused Gryffindor to drop to last in the House Cup.[3]
Towards the end of the year, McGonagall and the other teachers' protective enchantments down in the Philosopher's Stone chambers would come to test when Quirrell attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Also testing and facing the enchantments were Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. The trio was successful in stopping the stone being stolen and at the end of the school year, Gryffindor had won the house cup after receiving the most house points that year after getting bonus points for the trio's and Neville Longbottom's bravery. Thus, for the first time in years, McGonagall's house was the current house cup champions. Her reaction wasn't documented, but it's assumed that she was pleased with their efforts as Professor Snape shook her hand with a very forced look of congratulations.[3]
In the beginning of the 1992 school term, Minerva had to deal with Harry and Ron, who crashed Mr Weasley's Flying Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow, due to the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters being sealed by Dobby so the two couldn't board the train. This nearly exposed the wizarding world to Muggles, but Minerva was fairer than Snape, the one who brought the matter up in the first place. Minerva ultimately let them off with a mere detention and letters to their families. Also she didn't take any house points as Harry pointed out that term had not started yet when they took the car, which she confirmed and almost smiled at this remark.[20]
Later, Minerva was present for the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets. She, along with the rest of the teaching staff, scoured the castle for the Chamber, but to no avail. Minerva was worried over the messages left on the walls and was at a loss about what should be done. She also had to deal with the less than helpful Gilderoy Lockhart, who had been hired for the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. McGonagall had little liking or use for the man and by the end of the year was only one of the many staff members who utterly despised him. For example when he decorated the Great Hall in nauseatingly lurid pink hearts for Valentine's Day, she was observed to have a muscle twitching noticeably in her face. Throughout the year, two of Minerva's students, Hermione Granger and Colin Creevey were Petrified along with the House ghost Nearly Headless Nick.[20]
In the final weeks of that school year, Minerva served as temporary Headmistress of Hogwarts after the Board of Governors, under Lucius Malfoy's influence, suspended Dumbledore for failing to stop the attacks against the students. She was also quite shaken and softened up, as when Harry and Ron tried to sneak off to investigate the matter but were caught by herself. She let them off under the belief that they were trying to visit a petrified Hermione, though she normally would punish them with detention.[20]
When Ginny Weasley was later taken into the Chamber of Secrets, where "her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever", Minerva despairingly believed that they were facing the end of Hogwarts. Her temperament was not improved by the arrival of the hated Gilderoy Lockhart, who was completely oblivious to the worry of his fellow staff members, and immediately joined Professors Snape, Flitwick and Sprout in forcing him into a corner by recalling all of his boasts that he could deal with the monster easily. With him dealt with, as they couldn't care less if he succeeded or failed, the staff turned their attention to the thing they never thought would happen; the permanent closure of Hogwarts.[20]
Thankfully, this terrible reality never came to pass. While McGonagall received Ginny's distraught parents in her office, along with a returned Albus Dumbledore, she was astonished to see Ginny herself walk in, accompanied by a slime-covered Harry, Ron and Lockhart, the ragged old Sorting Hat, Dumbledore's pet phoenix and the silver Sword of Godric Gryffindor. Harry then explained that he and Ron had gone into the Chamber to find Ginny, having realised the mystery, and had slain the monster within. Dumbledore then declared the crisis over and sent Minerva down to the kitchens to organise a celebratory feast, which she subsequently attended with great joy as the monster was dead and Lockhart banished.[20]
The summer of 1993 also saw the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban. When the school year began in September, Minerva had to deal with the effects that the Dementors had on her students, such as Harry Potter. She also authorised Hermione Granger to use a Time-Turner in order to take extra classes, a decision that would prove more useful in future events that year. This year at Hogwarts would prove to be another difficult year with Dementors guarding the castle, though they were forbidden from entering the grounds properly by Dumbledore. Minerva heartily approved of this, as she despised the foul creatures.[21]
At the start of the year, when McGonagall demonstrated her Animagus form to her first class, she notes how quiet they were, as every class she demonstrated it to prior clapped. When Hermione explained about their first Divination, McGonagall understood and asked her class which of them would be dying this year. Harry Potter raised his hand. McGonagall assured him that Sybill Trelawney's predictions were a way of greeting her class and that no deaths of any students have occurred yet. To further put him at ease, she demonstrated one of her rare glimmerings of humour by stating that she still expected him to do his homework, but if he did die then she would excuse his not handing it in.[21]
Professor McGonagall and the residents of Gryffindor Tower in the common room after Sirius Black's break-in
Throughout the year, Minerva assisted in guarding the school, yet nonetheless Black was able to infiltrate the castle. After Black had attacked the Fat Lady, McGonagall tried to tell Harry that Black was after him, but was cut off by Harry, who told her that Mr Weasley had told him, before she could explain. Later in the year, Minerva was summoned to Gryffindor Tower when Ron Weasley claimed to have been attacked by Black. She initially dismissed him as Black could not have possibly got in without the password (unaware that Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, befriended by Sirius and gave him a discarded list of passwords) but was rendered speechless when the new guardian, Sir Cadogan, confirmed that he had indeed let him in because he had the passwords written down. When Neville Longbottom admitted to having written the passwords down, McGonagall banned him from future Hogsmeade visits for the rest of the year, gave him a detention, forbade anyone to give him the password into Gryffindor Tower and wrote to his grandmother. As a result, Neville received a Howler from her during breakfast.[21]
When Harry received a Firebolt following the destruction of his Nimbus 2000, McGonagall had it confiscated to be "examined" because she believed it to have been sent by Black (and correctly so), and therefore lethally cursed (which was incorrect). This incident caused Harry and Hermione to have a row, because Hermione had alerted Minerva about the Firebolt. It was returned to him later after having been declared safe. During the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, and Marcus Flint posed as Dementors to sabotage Harry's performance, only to get struck down when Harry reflexively cast a Patronus Charm at them. Utterly furious at this downright trickery, she deducted fifty points from Slytherin and put the quartet in detention.[21]
In the spring of 1994, though disgusted by the Slytherin Quidditch team's dirty tactics during the final Quidditch match after witnessing Draco Malfoy grab onto the end of Harry's Firebolt to stop him from catching the Golden Snitch (which infuriated her to the point where she stopped telling Lee Jordan off and actually joined him in firing furious comments at Malfoy), she witnessed the Gryffindor Quidditch team win the Quidditch Cup for the first time since Charlie Weasley had played for the team during his Hogwarts education. McGonagall was delighted by Gryffindor's victory, openly sobbing — even louder than the already sobbing Oliver Wood — into a Gryffindor Flag, but was upset to see Oliver Wood leaving. Later on in the year, three students from her house — Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger — would run into trouble when Sirius Black returned to Hogwarts.[21]
In the autumn of 1994, Hogwarts hosted the magical schools, the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute for the Triwizard Tournament. Harry Potter was selected as a Triwizard Champion, despite being under age and McGonagall worried for his safety after having looked after him for so many years. Minerva pleaded with Dumbledore and Crouch to withdraw Harry from the tournament, as the tournament was highly dangerous. But withdrawing would go against the rules of the tournament and Potter had to continue on, as there was a binding magical contract in place.[22]
During the year Minerva more than once exhorted her students to provide a good appearance to their guests at the castle. She attended the Yule Ball with Albus Dumbledore and notably wore her hair down for the first time since Harry started his education at Hogwarts. While at the Ball, Minerva danced with both Ludovic Bagman and Dumbledore, among others. In the case of the former, Harry Potter noticed Bagman kiss Minerva's hand once they had finished dancing.[22]
Minerva loaned her classroom to Harry, Ron and Hermione so they could practise spells for Harry's preparation for the Third Task. She did this after having walked in on them practising so many times around the school. At the end of the Tournament, Minerva accompanied Dumbledore and Severus Snape in the rescue of Harry Potter from the Death Eater that had spent the entire school year impersonating the Auror Alastor Moody, that year's DADA professor.[22]
She was instructed to guard Crouch Jnr after he revealed his part in the rebirth of Voldemort but was unable to prevent the Dementor brought by Minister Cornelius Fudge from giving the Death Eater the Dementor's Kiss. She was intensely furious at Fudge for this blunder, and severely shaken from having witnessed the unspeakably horrible act, screaming more than Harry had ever seen before. Thus, when the Minister refused to believe Dumbledore and Harry Potter about the return of Voldemort, Minerva nonetheless stood in support of her superior and her student. In the return of the Dark Lord, Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory was carelessly murdered and a memorial feast was held at the end of the school year. The Second Wizarding War had now begun, despite the Ministry trying to hush up any claims of this.[22]
Second Wizarding War (1995–1998)
Once the Second Wizarding War had begun, Minerva joined the Order of the Phoenix and spent much of the summer of 1995 doing work for the Order. She would come and go from 12 Grimmauld Place wearing a Muggle dress rather than her robes, which Harry thought made her look odd. Though these duties took up much of her time, Minerva would face even greater challenges at Hogwarts.
Because Dumbledore was unable to find a new professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts, the Ministry of Magic appointed Dolores Umbridge, a senior Ministry official and stout supporter of Fudge, to the Hogwarts staff. Minerva saw this appointment as an affront to the school itself and did little to hide her disgust.[11]
When Harry Potter crossed Umbridge, earning a detention in his first class with her, Minerva was sympathetic but warned him that Umbridge was not to be trifled with and that he should keep his head down. McGonagall did all she could to circumvent Umbridge's authority without risking her own security as Deputy Headmistress. Indeed, she treated Umbridge with as little credence and respect as possible while Hogwarts was under investigation by the Ministry of Magic and even gave Peeves tips on how to unscrew a chandelier when he was trying to cause havoc for Umbridge. McGonagall also managed to put aside her dislike of Professor Trelawney for a time in the face of Umbridge's persecution of Hogwarts' inhabitants. It is shown she brings Trelawney back to Hogwarts after Umbridge dismissed her.[11]
After Umbridge's appointment as High Inquisitor, Minerva was forced to endure the other woman's presence during her evaluation of Minerva's teaching. Minerva kept her temper under control, maintaining an icy exterior and yet still unleashed a dry and pointed wit on Umbridge. The encounter did serve to cheer students like Ron Weasley who heartily disliked Umbridge; Ron even expressed delight at the prospect of seeing Minerva's classes inspected, remarking that "Umbridge won't know what's hit her". Still, darker times lay ahead.[11]
An anxious Minerva brings Harry to Dumbledore's Office following his vision of Arthur Weasley's attack
Despite Minerva's best efforts to thwart the Ministry's influence at Hogwarts, things continued to grow worse. After Harry's resistance group was discovered by Umbridge, Minerva was present in Dumbledore's office when Harry was brought in. When Umbridge revealed that anti-Muggle prankster Willy Widdershins had provided her with testimony that Harry was forming this rebel group, Minerva loudly voiced that she had wondered why he had managed to avoid prosecution for all his regurgitating toilet charges, joined in her vocal outrage by the portrait of Headmaster Dexter Fortescue.[11]
Dumbledore managed to save Harry by taking credit for the student organisation, which led to Fudge announcing his intention to arrest him and actually attempted to have him taken by force, sneering at the idea of Dumbledore taking on him and the others single-handed. Minerva, loyal to her mentor and friend, loudly declared that he wouldn't be single-handed and actually made to draw her wand, fully prepared to duel the Minister for Magic himself. She only stood down on Dumbledore's direct orders, as Hogwarts would need her.[11]
After Dumbledore escaped arrest, Umbridge was appointed Headmistress over Minerva, but had virtually no support. When Umbridge invaded the career advising of the 5th-year students, Minerva finally lost her temper. During Harry Potter's session, when Umbridge kept interrupting the conversation and declaring that Harry would never be an Auror at the Ministry, Minerva declared to Harry that she would help him in any way necessary to achieve his goal, even if it was the last thing she ever did. The atmosphere at Hogwarts continued to devolve under Umbridge's leadership.[11]
During the O.W.L. examinations, events came to a head. When Dolores Umbridge and several Aurors attempted to evict Hagrid from the grounds of Hogwarts, Minerva sought to intervene on behalf of her colleague. Charging out of the castle, she shouted at the Aurors to leave Hagrid alone. However, before she could even draw her wand, Minerva was promptly hit with four Stunning Spells in the chest, which required that she be moved from Hogwarts Hospital Wing to St Mungo's for treatment.[11]
Hagrid was so enraged and disgusted by this attack that he attacked two of her attackers before fleeing, furiously denouncing them as cowards, while Madam Pomfrey said that it would be very difficult for Minerva to be hit in broad daylight. She would have resigned in protest because of this cowardly attack if the students' well-being was not placed as her priority. Many students were also outraged with this attack, to the point of ignoring their Astronomy exam and even the proctor Professor Tofty expressed aloud his fury.[11]
Minerva didn't return to Hogwarts until after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. After being released from the hospital, she required the aid of a walking stick for several days. Upon her return to the school, she promptly gave the six students involved in the Battle at the Ministry 50 house points each for "alerting the world to the return of You-Know-Who", in response to Snape needling Harry about Gryffindor having 0 house points.[11] She also watched with some happiness when Peeves chased Umbridge from the school, commenting that she would've joined Peeves in chasing Dolores away in the school grounds, but Peeves had appropriated her walking stick.[11]
1996–1997 school year
Having resumed her duties within the Order of the Phoenix as well as her other responsibilities at school when the new year began after summer,[11] rarly in the term, Minerva was responsible for the distribution of schedules among the the sixth year N.E.W.T. students.[23]
Minerva was present after Katie Bell was cursed by the Opal Necklace. After Harry ran off to find someone to aid Katie, he bumped into Hagrid and led him back to the group. After learning the nature of the event Hagrid carried Katie to the castle, accompanied by Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Leanne. While in the castle Minerva appeared and asked Harry what he was holding in his hand, it was the necklace wrapped in his scarf.
She then proceeded to hand over the necklace to Professor Snape, through the Caretaker Argus Filch and questioned the the trio and Leanne on what they witnessed. Harry told her his theory that it was Draco Malfoy that gave Katie the necklace, but she scorned the theory and dismissed them. Snape was able to stop the curse from spreading any further, but Katie was taken to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, where she spent much of that year recovering from the effects of the curse.[23]
On 30 June, 1997, Minerva and the other teachers was informed by Professor Dumbledore that he would be leaving the school for a few hours, and instructed them to patrol the corridors as a safety precaution, and that they would be joined by Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Bill Weasley. Mindful of the stringent security measures that had been put in place in light of the Return of Lord Voldemort, it seemed impossible that any intruder could bypass the protective enchantments surrounding the school, and indeed, even as she began with her sentry duty, nothing seemed amiss until the sudden arrival of Ron, Ginny and Neville near mindnight, who explained that they had just come from the seventh-floor corridor, where a number of unknown individuals had just emerged from the Room of Requirement, hidden under the cover of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.[23]
Within minutes of this happening, Minerva, Filius Flitwick, and the two trios of students and Order members discovered that group of no less than six Death Eaters heading in the direction of the Astronomy Tower and, having immediately chase and thereby forced them to scatter, they were all quickly engaged in a fierce skirmish to try and stop the tresspassers: Although they were greater in numbers, the Death Eaters they fought were relentless, cursed-to-kill and seemingly prepared to duel to the death, and before long they had gained the upper hand, with Neville and Bill both having been brutally incapacitated in the struggle. Seeing the need for more wands on their side, Minerva sent Flitwick to get Severus Snape so he could help fend off the intruders, At the time of Dumbledore's murder, Minerva and the rest of the Hogwartsians was stuck on the level below them, having been prevented from passing on the stairs to reach them by a cursed barrier cast by the Death Eaters. When he arrived, Snape, by contrast, could (as he had the Dark Mark), and pushed past her.[23]
Having merely assumed that her colleague was simply in a hurry to pursue their adversaries, no one tried to stop him as he did so, and once when one of them caused a section of the roof to collapse and took the barrier with him, Minerva and those who were still standing rushed forward to pursue them as well; only for the dust to clear and Snape to emerge with Draco Malfoy in tow, Assuming they were running from the Death Eaters, Minerva let them pass before reengaging the Death Eaters that came down after them, whereupon she duelled and personally chased off Alecto Carrow, whom Minerva sent running for cover. Once the intruders escaped the scene of the crime, however, Minerva was devestated to find their esteemed headmaster, the man whom she had known nearly her entire life as a teacher, mentor and friend, lying dead outside on the lawn beneath the Astronomy Tower, and asked Hagrid to move the body.[23]
Having notified Arthur and Molly Weasley about what had happened and that their oldest son had been gravely injured at the hands of Fenrir Greyback, Minerva regrouped with the rest of the other combatants at the Hospital Wing, where they discussed what had transpired and Harry Potter elaborated on the plot to assassinate Albus Dumbledore. Upon learning from Hagrid that Horace Slughorn had notified the Ministry of Magic, Minerva promptly and prudently assumed the role of acting Headmistress of Hogwarts by having the Heads of Houses meet with her in what had now become her new office in the Headteacher's Tower to discuss the future of the school.
Before they arrived, she also tried to tried to comfort Harry about the death of Dumbledore, as well as to persuade Harry to confide in her the truth about what he and the late headmaster had been up to prior to their sudden departure from the school, only for Harry to refuse her, as Dumbledore had shared the facts of the matter in the strictest confidence. Eventually joined by Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick and Horace Slughorn, the five individuals proceeded to talk about the possible closure of Hogwarts and the necessary arrangements for Dumbledore's funeral.
When Professor Slughorn announced the emminent arrival of a delegation from the Ministry of Magic, led by the Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, she gave Harry leave to vacate the office so that she could prepare to receive the new arrivals and inform them about what had happened. During this exchange, Scrimgeour also agreed to let Minerva follow through with Dumbledore's previously stated wish of being put to rest at the school grounds.[23]
1997–1998 school year
As the war continued, Minerva remained at Hogwarts, even when it was taken over by Voldemort. This was most likely to try and make sure as little harm came to the students as possible, and because she could act as an insider so that the Order of the Phoenix was informed on what was going on at Hogwarts. Even when Severus was appointed Headmaster and Alecto and Amycus Carrow were given free rein in the school, Minerva did as much as she could to protect the students. The rebel alliance Dumbledore's Army founded by the students reformed and McGonagall helped to keep their meetings a secret.[12]
On 1 May 1998, Minerva was present when Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley returned to Hogwarts in the middle of the night in search of Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. That night, she found Amycus at the door to Ravenclaw Tower, furiously assaulting it and demanding to be let in. Dryly pointing out that perhaps his sister, whom Professor Flitwick had admitted earlier at their urgent request, could open the door and prevent him from waking half the castle. Minerva then intervened on his behalf after he told her that Alecto wasn't responding.[12]
When the door opened, they found Alecto unconscious on the floor, which Minerva surmised as the work of a Stunning Spell. Amycus then revealed that they had been warned that Harry might try to get into Ravenclaw Tower, to which Minerva responded with confusion as Harry was in her house, speaking of this with pride in her voice, before scanning the room. Amycus then horrified her by stating his plan to push the blame for Alecto summoning Voldemort on the children in the dormitories, without remorse or concern that they would likely be killed or horribly tortured.
Minerva refused to allow Amycus to place blame on the children, prompting the Death Eater to spit in her face, only to be flung across the room with the Cruciatus Curse when Harry, who had witnessed the whole thing from under his Invisibility Cloak, revealed himself in sheer anger. With both Carrow siblings now incapacitated, Minerva used the Imperius Curse to gain their wands, before she magically restrained and confined them to the Ravenclaw common room.
Realising that a battle was upon them, Minerva engaged Severus Snape, the Headmaster at the time, in a fierce duel. Whilst Snape did put up a good defence, McGonagall gained the upper hand in the duel quickly, and when Filius Flitwick, Horace Slughorn and Pomona Sprout arrived, Snape fled, now severely outnumbered. Minerva, believing his escape was motivated by fear, called him a coward as he fled the school.[12]
Harry informed McGonagall of a quest that Dumbledore had left him. In respect for Dumbledore's wishes, she offered to hold Voldemort and his army back whilst Harry fulfilled this quest. She then proceeded to lead the defence of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters with Kingsley Shacklebolt, personally animating virtually all of the castle's suits of armour and statues to help her defend the school.[12] Shortly before the battle, Minerva ordered Neville Longbottom with the aid of Seamus Finnigan and other students to destroy the Wooden Bridge so that the Snatchers could not sneak into the school grounds.[24] To ensure the advantage of chaos on their side, she also ordered Argus Filch to find Peeves and bring him to her, which he did in response to her agitation.[12]
After ordering the evacuation of younger students through the Hog's Head, Minerva began to help fortify the castle against the coming attack, with the assistance of her fellow teachers, Order members, and even the older students who had stayed behind to fight. When Pansy Parkinson suggested they take the deal offered to them by Voldemort — that of their lives in exchange for Harry Potter — Minerva ordered the cowardly girl and all those not willing to fight to leave.[12]
Minerva fought skillfully in the first part of the battle, during which she could have sworn she saw one of the statues that usually flanks the school's Main Gates dive-bombing a cluster of Death Eaters.[25] She also led a herd of enchanted desks into the fray at one point, during which she yelled "CHARGE!".
She stood defiant in the lull and among many students in a crowd when Voldemort himself walked into the Hogwarts grounds. It was only when she saw Harry Potter's body being carried by Hagrid that she began to despair, letting out a scream terrible to anyone who heard it, equal to that of Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's together. Nonetheless, Minerva continued to fight when the battle resumed after the attack by the Centaurs on Voldemort and the Death Eaters. In the final moments of the battle, she duelled Voldemort himself to a stalemate along with Horace Slughorn and Kingsley Shacklebolt. They were blasted aside by his fury when Bellatrix Lestrange was killed in a duel with Molly Weasley.[12]
McGonagall was also present when Harry and Voldemort duelled for the final time. She and many others witnessed Voldemort's Killing Curse connect with Harry's Disarming Charm. Voldemort's curse was rebounded, signalling his final defeat at Harry's hands. She, along with everyone else in the Great Hall, hugged Harry in an uncharacteristic display of great emotion, being one of the first to reach Harry after Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. This event signalled the end of the Second Wizarding War.[12]
In the aftermath of the battle, Professor McGonagall brought the winged bore statue's part in the battle to the attention of Professor Flitwick. Flitwick thought it an unlikely story, as no one was known to have enchanted them. This subsequently lead to a long-standing disagreement between the two, who could not agree as to whether or not the Winged Boar Statues had, in fact, participated in the Battle of Hogwarts.[25]
Having been duly awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, by Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt for her unwavering allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix during the historic conflict, Minerva was eventually immortalised on a Chocolate Frog Card (an accolade she later admitted she had never imagined receiving),[13] and four months later, by which time the damages done to the castle during the battle had been repaired and the protective enchantments around the castle and grounds restored, she had been officially appointed to the position of Headmistress by the Hogwarts Board of Governors.[26]
Upon assuming her new post full-time, she was advised not to confuse the Headmaster portraits for the actual people they depicted, as they were only paint and memory, and supposed to be nothing more than a support mechanism for the many difficult decisions that she would have to make while running the prestigious institution.[27]
Ultimately, the faculty was ready to accept a new batch of first-year students for the 1998–1999 school year on 1 September. During this term, the school also guided those who would have otherwise completed their studies had it not been for the Magic is Might Campaign of Lord Voldemort and his followers, such as Muggle-borns like Hermione Granger, in finishing their N.E.W.T.s.[28] Around this time, following a private conversation with Harry Potter, the new Headmistress, in view of the revelation of his true intentions and motives, made the somewhat controversial decision to add Professor Snape's portrait to the gallery in her office in commemoration of his true allegiance and the role he had played in the Second Wizarding War.[29]
In the time that followed, Minerva oversaw a very trying time for the rest of the denizens of Hogwarts Castle, as the final battle had left marks both seen and unseen upon the school. The castle for instance, though rebuilt, still bore scars decades later,[30] and for years after the the Dark Lord's last stand, nearly all of their students were able to see the Thestrals that pulled the Hogwarts carriages, serving as a constant, painful reminder of the cost of said event.[25] On the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, Minerva would also host memorials at the school, at least one of which involved those in attendance being treated to several expert demonstrations of the Shield Charm.[31]
Having also lost members of the staff during the battle,[24] she was also involved with the hiring of new members of the school faculty. In addition to find a suitable candidate to replace her as the school's Transfiguration teacher,[32] as well as a new, permanent occupant for the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor. She was also behind the eventual employment of her former student Neville Longbottom to the Herbology department, under head of department Pomona Sprout,[33][26] whom she eventually appointed as her successor as the Head of Gryffindor House.[34]
Having evidently decided to be somewhat more directly involved with the student body than Professor Dumbledore had been in his day, rather than delegating the task to another staff member, Headmistress McGonagall was also known to have continued to personally attend to some of the duties she had carried out on Dumbledore's behalf throughout her time as Deputy Headmistress, including sending letters of acceptance letter to children that had been selected by the Book of Admittance that were approaching their eleventh birthdays,[35] collecting the new First Years, escorting them to the Great Hall, and presiding over the Sorting Ceremony.[26]
Minerva ultimately earned recognition as a very successful and inspirational headmistress of the school, and when she took up permanent residence in Dumbledore's old quarters, her new study became the home to among other things a self-playing harp whose tones could often heard around midday between classes.[36] She also became part of the long line of headmasters and headmistresses that made use of the Hogwarts Pensieve, and who sought to contribute to the success of her eventual successors in office by adding to the invaluable library of reference at her disposal by leaving behind some of her own life experience in the form of memories.[37]
2002–2003 school year
Five years after the final battle, Minerva also wrote a glowing letter of recommendation to the Ministry of Magic's research wing regarding one of their graduating students: Having achieved no less than five 'Outstandings' and one 'Exceeds Expectations' on his N.E.W.T.s, Grim Fawley had been one of the students that were bereft by the Dark Lord's second rise to power; having lost both of his parents to the Death Eaters during the conflict. Still and all, he had remained an outstanding student that embodied all of the qualities that marked a true Hufflepuff, and given his perseverance and impressive record, Minerva was happy to help him land a job at the Ministry, where he was later taken on by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as a research assistant at the Auror Office.[38]
The new generation (2008–2015)
At some point in 2008, ten years after the Battle of Hogwarts took place, Minerva gave Hermione Granger, who had since joined the Ministry and risen to a high-placed office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, permission for Dumbledore's old notes on The Tales of Beedle the Bard to be published as part of her new translation of the book.[39]
Sometime before 1 September that same year,[40] Headmistress McGonagall charged Rubeus Hagrid with serving as a special messenger to the family of a young Muggle-born that had been admitted to the school in order explain to the child's parents about the existence of magic, to deliver their letter of acceptance and to take said student-to-be to Diagon Alley in London to purchase the necessary school supplies.[26]
2008–2009 school year
Start-of-Term
2008 Sorting Ceremony
Headmistress McGonagall welcoming the new students
Shortly before the annual Start-of-Term Feast, Headmistress McGonagall was informed by Mr Filch that a rather temperamental ghoul had found its way into an empty classroom on the third floor, a notice she passed onto the student body upon their arrival with the instruction to stay clear of said area until the intruding creature had been dealt with. Having continued to collect the new batch of first-years escorted by Professor Hagrid instead of delegating that task, Professor McGonagall brought the aforementioned Muggle-born and the rest of the new students to the Great Hall for the Start-of-Term Feast.
Addressing the students, she held a brief speech about the importance of unity in spite of their individual differences, citing their victory at the Battle of Hogwarts as a prime example of what the castle's residents may accomplish when they work together, and put nervous students at ease by reminding them that even the famous Harry Potter had once stood where they did, having both started out as a student like themselves and looked just as nervous.[26]
When the time came for the annual Sorting Ceremony, however, which saw the sorting of among others Kevin Farrell, Robyn Thistlethwaite, Cassandra Vole, Fischer and Colby Frey, Daniel Page and Lottie Turner into their respective houses, when the time came for the last of the newcomers on the list to come up to try on the Sorting Hat, however, Ivy Warrington, the Headmistress was surprised to find that they were one student short. Fortunately, Professor Hagrid had found her and brought her forward, explaining that she had been distracted by some of the bushes outside the castle. After issuing the dwaddler with a gentle rebuke for her tardiness and had her Sorted too, Minerva adviced the rest of the student body to enjoy the feast while they still could, as they would need to be well-rested before starting the new term.[26]
The following evening, Professor McGonagall learned that Ivy Warrington had wandered off once more and, what was more, this time been missing for a long enough time that there was actually cause for alarm. Having gone to have a look for her herself, the Headmistress eventually came across a small group of her classmates late in the evening in the Grand Staircase, whom she questioned about their classmate's whereabouts. Upon realising that they did not know either, Minerva tasked Hagrid with organising a search party to find her and turned down her peer's offer to lend them a hand. While Ivy was noted to have yet to turn up the following day, the missing pupil was eventually found later that evening by her schoolmates, who had decided organising a search party of their own.[26]
While the staff and students alike were happy to see her returned safe and sound, this was by no means the end of Ivy's aberrant conduct: Shortly afterwards, Professor Longbottom had caught her duelling in the corridors with one of her classmates, Cassandra Vole, on which occasion she had surprised everyone present by successfully casting a highly advanced Vanishing Spell and ended up dematerialising a suit of armour instead. Made more concerning than it was impressive by the fact that only a stroke of good fortune and a poor aim was to thank for Miss Vole's continued existence, however, while Ivy and her friends had been put in detention and told to think about the implications of using such a dangerous spell against a peer, when questioned about, Ivy had confessed to have no memory of how she learned it.[26]
Upon learning this, and presumably also about Ivy's rumoured involvement and guilt in the matter of the disappearance of her twin sister, which had both been publicised, gossiped about and become common knowledge outside of the school, the Headmistress contacted the Ministry of Magic to make some inquiries on the matter. Having been informed that while Winifred Warrington had indeed vanished shortly before Ivy arrived at the school, the incident had been ruled an accident, and that Ministry officials had even assisted the family in trying to get her back. With this in mind, and in view of Ivy's recent disappearance, Minerva still reached out to the Warringtons to keep Ivy's family informed about the situation, at which point she got in touch with Ivy's grandmother, whom the Headmistress eventually invited to the school in the hopes that she could help shred light on Ivy's erratic behaviour and apparent memory loss.[26]
As it happened, Mrs Warrington's visit also coincided with yet another nightly wandering through the castle on the part of Ivy and her friends, and when the Caretaker came to drop off the students in question after he had found them exiting the very place the former had gone off to when she went missing, the Headmistress asked them to explain themselves. She then learned that Ivy's journey was one of self-discovery. It began when she and her friends had asked themselves how Ivy could have known about, let alone learned how to cast, a Vanishing Spell against Cassandra Vole without remembering how, why or when he even learned it, and ended with a frightening encounter with her own worst fears in the Room of Requirement. This venture, which included new friends, unlikely destinations like the tower housing the ancient Book of Admittance and even an unschedueled visit to Minerva's own office in order to borrow the pensieve to review a memory found in Ivy's locket they had correctly deduced pertained to Winifred's disappearance, answered many important questions.[26]
After the students had given their side, however, Minerva pointed out that there were certain key points that appeared to be missing from their story, and announced the presence of Ivy's grandmother, whom she was confident would be able to fill in the rest of the gaps: When Mrs Warrington explained how Winifred, whose magic would sometimes manifest themselves in unpredictable, dangerous ways when her temper got the better of her, had been held back by their father for fear that she might hurt someone if she was allowed to attend the school before she learned how to properly control her magic, and accidentially made herself disappear in a failed attempt at vanishing Ivy's trunk so as to stop her from leaving for Hogwarts without her. Having found Ivy in a desperate state of panic and in more pain than she could bear to see her grandchild in, Mrs Warrington had tried to modify her memories of the event to make her forget what happened,[26]
The Memory Charm, meanwhile, had been too strong, and inadvertently erased not only the accident, but all of Ivy's memories of her sister, all the while failing to erase her entirely; thus accounting for her tendency to wander off with a vague notion of being looking for something. Having recognised what a precarious situation Ivy had been in, as well as sympathetic to the difficult position their grandmother had been in, the Headmistress commended the old witch for her good intentions, and assured her that in spite of everything, Ivy had grown tremendous over the course of her first year, and voiced the belief that she and the friends she had made had a bright future ahead of them.[26]
2009–2010 school year
Later that term, Minerva visited the Hog's Head Inn during a Hogsmeade weekend trip and discovered that several second-year students, coincidentally the very same friend group she had summoned to her office near the end of the previous year, had snuck out of the school without permission and visited the village despite the fact that they were not old enough to partake in said trips.
Having caught them red-handed, the Headmistress brought them all back up to the castle and asked them to explain themselves. Though their reason for being there was not one of ill intent, as they had been assigned some homework by Professor Gorski that required them to discover a secret at the school with historical significance, which in turn had led to their pursuit of a map that was believed to lead to a hidden treasure by following the leads given to them by various portraits,
Their most disconcerting revelation, however, was also the one that Professor McGonagall had the most difficulty believing. Apparently, their visiting professor appeared to be spying on them, and right before she had showed up at the inn where she had found them, they had seen him consorting with a cloaked wizard, to whom he seemingly had sold a Basilisk fang. As they had no evidence for this, however, and had knowingly broken school rules, she put them all in detention.[26]
Shortly afterwards, however, the Headmistress received word from the Ministry of Magic that confirmed there actually was something to their accusations after all: Gorski, who had spent some time travelling the world hunting for treasure and riches before he was invited to teach at Hogwarts, had eventually partnered up with a dangerous Dark wizard. Having been on the case and monitored Jakub Gorski's movements closely for several months in order to ferret out the evil-doer, Minerva was informed that Ministry agents would arrive before long to secure the castle. When she realised that Gorski had endangered the school by smuggling a dangerous lawbreaker into the school, the Headmistress rushed to find him in order to apprehend and question him.[26]
Already incapacitated and surrounded by the very students who had tried to warn her about him in the first place by the time she found him in his own classroom, Minerva was able to discern that Gorski, rather than the willing accomplice he was thought to have been, was instead being controlled by means of the Imperius Curse. When she learned from the students present that the wizard responsible was running lose somewhere on the premises, Minerva ordered the students back to their dormitories, and told them to leave the Dark wizard in question to the teachers and Ministry officials.[26]
Although Professor McGonagall would later discover that the students had disobeyed her, as the students had instead taken it upon themselves to find the artefact Bly had been searching for before he did, considering the violent confrontation that followed resulted in the capture of said intruder and no one was seriously harmed as a result, the Headmistress did not mete out any severe punishment for the transgression. After his capture, Professor Gorski was freed from Bly's control.[26]
During the same school year, Hogwarts was represented in the eighty-seventh Wizarding Schools Potions Championship.[42]
During Christmas later that term, Minerva was approached by Daniel Page, who explained that Ivy, whose memories had since been mostly restored, was not feeling the holiday spirit, as she was missing her sister too much, and that he had come up with the idea that Ivy might feel more connected to Winifred if she had a present for her and vanished it, hopefully to wherever Winifred was. The Headmistress, though aware that this was not how Vanishing Spells worked, could still appreciate it as a symbolic gesture and retrieved one memory from each of Ivy's friends about when they first met Ivy, which was then gift-wrapped and handed to her so that it could be 'sent to Winifred'.[26]
Later career (2015–2018)
2015–2016 school year
Having appointed Teddy Lupin the new Head Boy over the summer holidays leading up to his seventh and last year at the school; Minerva greeted the students for the new term; which at its conclusion would see the departure of said student, and at its beginning saw the arrival of James Potter, the oldest son of Harry and Ginevra. During the Sorting Ceremony, he was — to no one's surprise — sorted into Gryffindor House.[43] During the same school year, Hogwarts was once again represented in the enchanted garden at the eighty-eighth Wizarding Schools Potions Championship.[42]
2017–2018 school year
Ready to welcome a new batch of first-year students on 1 September 2017 for the new term; once the new students had been picked up at the Hogsmeade station, ferried across the Black Lake and escorted up to the castle, they were shown into the Great Hall to partake in the customary Sorting Ceremony; which was overseen by Minerva herself. Embarking on their magical educations that year was the sons of the alumni Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Albus and Scorpius. During said event, the latter was — to no one's surprise — placed in Slytherin House, as his ancestors before him. But so was — to the shock of everyone in attendance — Albus.[27]
Physical description
Minerva McGonagall was said to be a tall, rather severe-looking, and "sprightly" seventy-year-old woman. She had black hair which was rarely let down, and the majority of the time was combed back into a tight bun.[5] In her youth, Minerva was described to not be as beautiful as her mother, but she was still rather pretty according to her picture in that age.
Minerva always had a very prim expression. She also was known for her mouth to become very thin whenever she was angry. Harry Potter made analogies to McGonagall looking like she was going to explode, breathe fire and shoot sparks from her nose based on how transparent her anger could appear. When Minerva was happy or relaxed, she seemed like a different person entirely. She was capable of blending into Muggle crowds though Harry noted that the appearance didn't suit her.
Minerva often wore emerald green robes or her favourite tartan pattern. She wore square spectacles that matched the markings around the eyes of her Animagus and Patronus: a silver tabby cat. She also wore a pointed hat cocked to one side. As Minerva was a fan of tartan print and would often wear it to Quidditch games along with a woolly hat covering her ears.
Personality and traits
Minerva almost constantly exuded magnanimity and sternness, being held in great respect (and some fear) by nearly all students and staff. Used to having her way, she tolerated neither audacity nor silliness from her pupils and was known to turn cold towards people who said or did things in front of her that were stupid, or if she thought they were trying to be funny.[22] She was a woman who rarely smiled or gave compliments freely. Despite her stern demeanour, Minerva did exhibit a dry sense of humour which usually came out when times were tough. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and showed quite a sharp tongue, especially during arguments.[11]
True to Gryffindor, Minerva valued bravery and courage highly, believing cowardice be a heavy flaw. She fought the Death Eaters and protected her students, proving her bravery. Despite her loyalty to her house, Minerva was a fair-minded person who was known for docking points from students in her own House when she saw it must be done.[3] Although she permitted of-age students to choose whether they wanted to stay or evacuate for the Battle of Hogwarts as a respect for their valour and rights, she gave the strict orders for anyone underage to evacuate, prioritising their safety over their courage and refusing to let under-qualified children risk dying in battle despite their desires.[12]
For the most part, though, Minerva usually maintained great emotional composure, without being indifferent. Although she wasn't always particularly personable, she could be very warm and supportive during times of trouble or loss and cared a great deal about her students, both personally and academically. She was known to be extremely caring in times of tragedy, being known for her kindness in her own reserved manner. Though it rarely happened, Minerva showed a temper that could reveal itself on occasions when she was angry or flustered.[22] Apparently, she shared this temper with her father. Upon seeing Harry's alleged death, Minerva screamed in such despair that Harry never heard before.[12]
As the devoted instructor of Transfiguration classes, Minerva highly respected this specific branch of magic, which she considered be among the most difficult and sophisticated magic that Hogwarts students learn. She become an Animagus — a complicated, long process- to further her study in this subject and enjoyed correcting articles in Transfiguration Today. On the other hand, Minerva had very little patience for the field of Divination, due to its impreciseness and rarity of true Seers.[21]
Though she gave up Quidditch on leaving Hogwarts, the innately competitive Minerva later took a keen interest in the fortunes of her house team and retained a keen eye for Quidditch talent. She enjoyed watching Quidditch, and supported the Montrose Magpies.
Minerva inherited her cast-iron moral sense from her father. As a law-abiding citizen, she respected the particular law that all Animagi of Britain must register, insisting that Talbott Winger do so despite understanding his reason of secrecy. She wasn't inducted into the Order of the Phoenix during Voldemort's first climb to power because the Order was held as a renegade outfit by the Ministry, who feared Dumbledore's charisma and magical talent and were inclined to harbour fears that he wished to succeed them. Instead, she became their informant and bravely spied on Voldemort's followers in the guise of a cat.[11]
However, by the time of the second wizarding war, Minerva was no longer prepared to act as a spy for a Ministry she believed had become corrupt and dangerous. She is known to have a very severe dislike and hatred of those who abused power, such as her making an enemy of Dolores Umbridge for the latter's bigoted and sadistic behaviour. This also displayed her own distaste for racial prejudice and sadism.[11] Following the confrontation with the Death Eaters who had invaded Hogwarts at the time of Albus Dumbledore's death, Minerva became a fully fledged member of the Order of the Phoenix, which was now, more than ever, seen as an outlaw organisation. Similarly, she stood up to Amycus Carrow, despite the Death Eater's higher authority at the time, refusing to let him blame the students for Alecto's blunder and looked down at him with pure disgust.[12]
Albus Dumbledore believed that only a few people would have found out how funny and interesting she was.[75] She had loved to teach ballroom dance to her students[76] and in her free-time, Minerva was known to enjoy needlework.[1]
Magical abilities and skills
Minerva McGonagall was an incredibly powerful and talented witch whom none should have ever underestimated. Her magical prowess allowed her to be the teacher of Transfiguration, a remarkably complex field of magic which she proved to be an expert in. She was also highly capable in many areas of magic as well as Transfiguration. She survived both Wizarding Wars and a duel with Voldemort himself, as well as correctly brewing the extremely advanced Animagus potion at only seventeen years of age. She was also the only person ever seen to produce three Patronus charms at once, which she additionally did non-verbally.
Magical mastery: Minerva was an exceptionally powerful and talented witch, having inherited such talent from her mother and great-grandmother. She achieved top grades in her O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts when she was at Hogwarts, being quickly recognised as the most outstanding student of her year, with a particular talent for Transfiguration. During her school years, she was the recipient of several awards such as the "Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer Award". As an adult, Minerva displayed her tremendous skills and powers by successfully becoming the Head of Transfiguration, Deputy Headmistress, and Headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had extremely advanced magical knowledge, proving herself capable time and time again of mastering and performing highly advanced and difficult spells. Voldemort himself respected her ability, given that even when he controlled the school, and her unwavering loyalty to Dumbledore, she was kept on as Transfiguration professor. Her duelling skills were also exceptional, for she faced some of the greatest magical talent of the age and lived to tell the tale. When facing Snape in battle, one of the few wizards who could have rivalled McGonagall for magical skill, her magical assault was such he was forced onto the back foot almost immediately. Along with surviving both Wizarding Wars, she even went on to challenge Voldemort himself along with Horace Slughorn and Kingsley Shacklebolt at the very end of the second wizarding war, holding him at bay from harming the crowd that had gathered to watch. Though they were ultimately overpowered, neither side were able to hurt the other, further showing her extraordinary skill.
Wandless and nonverbal magic: Minerva was shown to be extremely skilful at non-verbal magic for a wide variety of spells, especially transfiguration spells and charms which she could perform with just a wave of her wand. This is a testament to her formidable magical skills, as both these branches of magic were difficult to begin with not to mention to do them non verbally which required intense concentration and focus. She could even perform certain spells intentionally without her wand, such as the Avifors spell[77] and often wandlessly conjured a textbook into her hands during Transfiguration class. She stalemated and gained the upper hand over Severus Snape in a fierce duel without uttering a single incantation which is further evidence of her extraordinary skills - lesser witches and wizards seemed to produce weaker magic when using non-verbal spells or under the influence of Silencing Charms, but she seemed unhindered. She was fully capable of disintegrating Snape's fiery serpent he sent at her with just a wave of her wand and instantly turning it into swarm of daggers without saying the incantation. They were so powerful even without the incantation that he was forced to hide behind a suit of armour.[9] She nonverbally untransfigured Draco Malfoy when he was turned into a ferret by simply pointing her wand at him.[78] When Neville Longbottom vanished one of the legs of his desk by accident during a lesson, she had it back very shortly after with just a wave of her wand. She also non-verbally conjured a length of shimmering silver rope to hang the Carrow siblings before the Battle of Hogwarts to incapacitate them.[9] If her ability to conjure three consecutive Patronuses at once was not impressive enough, it should also be noted she did so non-verbally, which is an extraordinarily challenging feat, considering the difficulty of conjuring a single one with the incantation.[9]
Duelling: Minerva was an immensely skilful duellist. She was described as moving "faster than Harry Potter would have believed", displaying an incredible amount of speed and precision with her spell work. Though she was hit by four stunning spells without warning by a group of Aurors, Poppy Pomfrey furiously insisted that they wouldn't have stood a chance in an actual fight.[11] During the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, Minerva easily overpowered Death Eater Alecto Carrow even when she had aid from her brother, sending them desperately escaping from her spells, and survived the battle unscathed.[23] In 1998, shortly before the Battle of Hogwarts, she proved herself capable of not only matching Severus Snape in a fierce duel, quickly and easily countering all of his spells and responding with her own, but she also managed to begin to gain the upper hand sending daggers so powerful after him that he was forced to take refuge behind a shield of armour when he couldn't counter her spell. With aid from Pomona Sprout and Filius Flitwick, she swiftly forced Snape to flee from the school by jumping out of a classroom window and flying through the grounds. Even without them, her ability to make Snape unable to counter one of her spells showed Minerva alone could have probably eventually defeated Snape (although it must also be noted that Snape wasn't fighting to kill her). Minerva emerged as one of the survivors of the Battle of Hogwarts and most likely defeated many Death Eaters given her previous results in duels. Alongside Horace Slughorn and Kingsley Shacklebolt, she even duelled Voldemort himself to a stalemate and they were only overpowered when Voldemort's rage of Bellatrix's death caused his magic to explode, although it must be noted that Voldemort was wielding the Elder Wand at the time without having achieved mastery over it and Harry's loving sacrifice was weakening the power of Voldemort's spells.[12] It should also be noted, in her favour, that she, Horace and Kingsley had been fighting Death Eaters for hours before facing Voldemort, whereas Voldemort had only just entered battle. Her duelling knowledge remained even as she grew older, with her instructing members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force how to improve their sight and teamwork.[68] She was also incredibly skilled in manipulating and using her environment to her advantage in battle, which made her an extremely formidable opponent in duels. Her most impressive uses of this came in the duel with Snape, where she utilised the torches on the walls to make a fiery whirlwind, and at the beginning of the Battle of Hogwarts, when she brought the various desks and chairs to life, leading them into battle against her Death Eater opponents.[12]
Transfiguration: Minerva was taught Transfiguration by Albus Dumbledore, showing an unusually high level of talent in the subject even at a young age. With Dumbledore's guidance, she was skilled enough to achieve the Animagus transformation at the young age of seventeen, a highly advanced and challenging process that could be disastrous if gotten wrong. Her record was so impressive that upon finishing her seventh year, she was awarded the "Most Promising Newcomer Award" by Transfiguration Today. Upon returning to Hogwarts to teach, she was offered a job as Professor of Transfiguration, under Head of Department, Albus Dumbledore.[1] Her mastery, skill and power in this immensely difficult branch of magic meant she took over the job as Head of Transfiguration upon Dumbledore's promotion to Headmaster, a job title she retained until she herself became Headmaster in 1998. She would later regard it as “some of the most complex and dangerous” magic taught at Hogwarts.[3] As an adult, her skills in Transfiguration were known to be exceptional, with even Voldemort himself respecting her skills given that she was kept on as Head of Transfiguration even when he controlled the school, despite her allegiance to Dumbledore making her a prime target. Minerva was therefore phenomenally accomplished in all branches of transfiguration, including Conjuration, Vanishment, Transformation and Untransfiguration. She could perform advanced transfiguration spells with just a quick flick of her wand, for example untransfiguring Draco Malfoy back into human form, which she did simply by pointing her wand at him.[78] Like Dumbledore, she seemed especially proficient at conjuration. For example, she was effortlessly able to conjure three chairs at once non-verbally for herself, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley in Dumbledore's office,[11] with a simple wave of her wand; silver rope and silver nets as restraints for the Carrow siblings;[12] conjuring a large fan out of thin air to "waft" Nearly Headless Nick to the Hospital Wing,[20] conjure flames[20] and also to effortlessly conjure a snake from the end of her wand.[79] In 1992, when Harry and Ron had to eat in Snape's office, she transfigured a plate of sandwiches that would automatically refill itself.[20] Like Dumbledore, she was highly skilled at using Transfiguration in battle, easily vanishing a massive black snake Professor Snape had sent at her in their brief duel, disintegrating it almost immediately into smoke without saying a word.[12] From this smoke, she quickly turned it into a swarm of pursuing daggers, which she directed back at Snape, who was forced to hide behind a suit of armour to avoid them.[12] At the start of the Battle of Hogwarts, she brought the various tables and chairs to life to fight the Death Eaters, in much the same way in which Dumbledore brought the statues to life in his duel with Voldemort. She was also trusted by Dumbledore to contribute to the defences of the Philosopher's Stone, which she did magnificently by enlarging an entire Wizard's Chess set to giant size and bringing them to life.[3] She was also highly skilled at teaching students Transfiguration, something she did for more than four decades. Her spells in class included transforming a desk into a pig and back,[3] transforming animals into water goblets,[80] changing the colour of eyebrows, Switching Spells, conjuring snakes,[79] conjuring birds[81] and turning lovebirds into love notes for Valentine's Day.[82] Jacob's sibling remarked how easy he thought Professor McGonagall made it look, when the reality was very different, further demonstrating her talent.
Animagus: Minerva learned how to become an Animagus under Dumbledore's tutelage during her time as a student at Hogwarts, transforming into a tabby cat at will. She often used this ability when she didn't wish to be recognised. An example of this usage was when she spied on the Dursley family before Dumbledore brought Harry to them.[3] On his notes of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Dumbledore stated that Minerva asked him to explain that she had never abused the ability for any surreptitious purposes, setting aside legitimate business for the Order of the Phoenix (and previously the Ministry of Magic) where secrecy and concealment were imperative to survive and get information from the enemy. Minerva demonstrated her transformation to the students in their third year, which usually got applause. When Hermione Granger searched for Animagus references in her third year, she saw that her Professor was one of the few registered Animagi in the 20th century.[21]
Charms: Minerva was shown to be incredibly skilled in charm-work. She was effortlessly capable of performing many simple everyday charms non-verbally without fail, such as the Fire-Making Spell, Mending Charm,[20] Wand-Lighting Charm,[83] Freezing Spell,[8] Disarming Charm,[84] Summoning Charm[78] and Levitation Charm.[12] She was also able to successfully teach her students various charms related to transfiguration such as the Colour Change Charm,[85] Mending Charm,[86] Hardening Charm,[87] Softening Charm[88] Bird-Conjuring Charm[81] and Revelio Charm[18] in her classes. Minerva had mastered the Patronus Charm, being able to create a powerful corporeal Patronus in the form of a cat — identical to her Animagus — , being the only person seen to cast three Patronuses at once. Many wizards and witches alike are unable to produce one Patronus whilst saying the incantation, further evidence of Minerva's world class ability. She also was able to use her Patronus as a means of communication, as taught to her by Dumbledore. Minerva was also proficient in the use of the Piertotum Locomotor charm, describing it as one of the spells she best excelled in and favoured, using it to such a great effect that with a single use, she animated virtually all of the thousands of desks and suits of armour in order to defend Hogwarts during the final battle with Voldemort.[12] She was also able to perform a powerful Amplifying Charm, which was capable of being heard across the castle, using it to summon the other Professors to the second-floor corridor when the Heir of Slytherin took a student into the Chamber of Secrets.[89] Minerva was additionally proficient in Silencing Charms, using one to great effect to control the chaos in the corridor where Justin Finch-Flecthley had just been found petrified. She non-verbally silenced the corridor using her wand, setting off a "loud bang", restoring order to the corridor.[90] She could also extract memories from herself[37] and others.[26]
Defence Against the Dark Arts: Minerva was exceptionally experienced and accomplished in defensive magic as she fought in the two wizarding wars and survived, having defeated powerful dark wizards and witches in process and even surviving a duel with Voldemort himself.[12] During her early years in teaching, Minerva effortlessly undid the effects of the dark charm Oscausi Leta Lestrange placed on a Gryffindor girl.[14] While not as powerful as her predecessor, it was nevertheless the case that Minerva, upon being appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts by the Board of Governors, as all those that had held the post before her, was charged with handling the protective enchantments surrounding the school, which, considering her still considerable abilities, she likely still did so very well. She was able to teach how to greatly increase the strength of the Protection Charm of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force.[68]
Dark Arts: Whilst she did not practise the Dark Arts, Minerva was surprisingly capable in the field. She seemed to have no trouble performing standard dark charms, such as the spell Oscausi on the girl who had had it cast previously on her by Leta[14] and the Knockback Jinx in a failed attempt to free Ben Copper from the cursed ice (openly noting she used it when it was previously unleashed upon the school successfully).[17] She also successfully cast an effective Imperius Curse on Amycus Carrow,[12] a remarkable feat as the Unforgivable Curses required both heartfelt intent and power in order to be effectively cast,[91] and was also able to discern that Jakub Gorski was bring controlled by the curse in a matter of seconds.[26] She was particularly proficient in the use of Deterioration Hex, enough so to teach them to the members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force.[68]
Elemental magic aptitude: Much like her mentor, Dumbledore, Minerva seemed to be exceptionally capable with manipulating fire. When freeing Ben Copper from the Cursed ice, she along with Snape were able to free him with the Fire-Making Spell while avoiding burning his flesh. When duelling the extremely powerful Severus Snape, she easily manipulated the fire from the torches into a fiery whirlwind first and easily blasted to smoke the fiery serpent he transformed her attack into.[12]
Flying: During her school years at Hogwarts, Minerva was a skilful player of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. However, while playing, she suffered a number of serious injuries — such as a concussion and broken bones— that forced her to give up playing. It is highly possible that the Slytherin Quidditch team had cheated in the process.[3]
Potions: Minerva had very advanced abilities in brewing potions, as she was capable of brewing the Animagus potion, which was known to be immensely difficult, complex and time-consuming with great consequences if brewed incorrectly,[13] showing her superior talent in potion-making.
Study of Ancient Runes: Minerva was highly proficient and well versed in the study of Ancient Runes or Runology, being able to understand and translate complex runic scriptures, alphabets and symbols correctly, often using the help of a highly useful and practical Rune Dictionary.[8][92]
Control of underage magic: As an infant, Minerva had early signs of magic. She inadvertently summoned toys that had been left on upper shelves to her cot, made the family cat do her bidding, and her father's bagpipes play themselves.[1] Further evidence of her staggering magical ability was that the only other person known to be able to control animals as a child was none other than Voldemort himself.[23]
Intellectual giftedness: McGonagall was an incredibly wise, observant, and intelligent witch. She was once given the option to become a Ravenclaw by the Sorting Hat, though she turned it down in preference for Gryffindor, with her officially becoming a known Hatstall.[1] In 1998, she effortlessly solved the riddle to allow Amycus Carrow into the Ravenclaw Tower.[12] Minerva's strategical-sense and deduction skills, along with her cautious nature, were shown several times: She confiscated Harry's Firebolt to be "examined" because she correctly guessed it to have been sent by Sirius Black (though she did this because she incorrectly believed it was lethally cursed),[21] did all she could to circumvent Dolores Umbridge's authority without risking her own security as Deputy Headmistress for certain time and gave Peeves tips when he was trying to cause havoc for Umbridge;[11] and helped to keep the meetings of the reformed Dumbledore's Army a secret.[12] Shortly before the final battle, Minerva ordered her students, with the aid of pyrotechnics, to destroy the main access to Hogwarts so the Snatchers could not sneak into school grounds[24] and ordered the caretaker to find Peeves to ensure the advantage of chaos on their side.[12]
Leadership skills: Minerva was an exceptionally effective leader, being able to take charge in any situation within minutes. During the long absences of Dumbledore, she was the one to step in to fill his shoes.[20] In the upstart of the Battle of Hogwarts, Minerva took charge of the school and secure it against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. She led the defenders of Hogwarts during the battle with great efficiency, persisting against the forces of darkness even at the face of so many casualties in the first round of battle before turning the tides with additional help and ultimately coming out victorious when Harry defeated Voldemort once and for all.[12] After everything returned to normal, Minerva became the permanent Headmistress of Hogwarts. Her leadership skills would help her when she became the leader of the members of the newly created Statute of Secrecy Task Force who desired to become a Professor, being able to lead both those under her charge and her fellow instructors into fighting the Calamity while remaining hidden from Muggles.[68]
Physical aptitude: It should be noted that Minerva was in excellent physical condition, despite her old age. She had great physical endurance as she notably fully recovered from four Stunning Spells aimed at her by Dolores Umbridge and some Aurors. Although she was hospitalised due to the severity of her injuries, many noted that the four spells straight to the chest could have been fatal, another testament to her overall strength.[11] She was also quite agile and displayed reflexes and speed rivalling the younger Severus Snape during their duel, which shocked Harry Potter who had never seen her move as fast as she did prior to that.[12]
Teaching skills: Being the Head of Transfiguration at Hogwarts, Minerva was an extremely skilled and efficient teacher during her time in this position and was one of the few professors at Hogwarts who could keep a class quiet with minimal effort as a result of her strict nature, making her one of the most respected teachers at Hogwarts. Her effective teaching methods were enough for her to pass Dolores Umbridge's inspection of her despite Umbridge's attempts to discredit many Hogwarts teachers along with making her the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and later the Headmistress after Voldemort's final defeat.
Wizard's Chess: Minerva was a skilled player of Wizards' Chess, and enjoyed playing the game with others,[93] along with giving tips.[94]
Possessions
Wand: Minerva's wand was 9½", fir, and had a dragon heartstring core. The wand was well suited to Transfiguration, proven by its owner, who was a teacher of the subject and an Animagus.
Alecto Carrow's wand and Amycus Carrow's wand: Minerva gained the wands of Alecto Carrow and Amycus Carrow after restraining and confining the latter to the Ravenclaw common room, using the Imperius Curse to obtain both his wand and his sister's on 1 May 1998.[9]
Hornbill: This male hornbill was owned by Professor McGonagall from 1992 or earlier. In that year, she used the bird to demonstrate the spell Vera Verto, in front of her second-years' class.[95]
Office: Minerva's office was a small study located off of the first-floor corridor,[96][97] to the right of a staircase to the Serpentine Corridor.[98] It had a large fire,[96] windows overlooking the Training Grounds[99] and the Quidditch pitch,[100] and a sparse stone-floored bedroom behind a concealed door.[1]
Cottage: During their marriage in the 1980s, Minerva and Elphinstone Urquart lived in a small cottage, which the latter purchased after he proposed to her in the summer of 1982. The cottage was located in Hogsmeade, from where Minerva could go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry every day to teach.[1]
Dress robes: Minerva wore a set of dress robes to the Yule Ball, which was held on Christmas Day 1994, together with a hat on which she arranged a rather ugly wreath of thistles. The robes were made of a red tartan fabric.[101]
Walking stick: Minerva used this walking stick after leaving St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, after being hit with four Stunning Spells. It was once borrowed, with her permission, by Peeves to chase and whack Dolores Umbridge with.[11]
Headmaster's office: Upon assuming the headship of Hogwarts following the legendary Battle of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall presided henceforth over the school from the office of her predecessors. It is unknown what, if any changes she did to the decor, or what the passwords were.
Self-playing harp: Minerva owned an enchanted harp, that could play by itself.[36]