The Story of Minerva McGonagall (Her Entire Life) - Harry Potter Explained

Hey everyone,

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be discussing Hogwarts transfiguration professor, and later headmistress, Minerva McGonagall.

Minerva McGonagall is a Scottish half-blood witch that attended Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Her age is a bit unclear- and actually a bit of a canon blunder. In Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald, we see a younger McGonagall, who appears to be in her 20s or so. But, this is not consistent with what JK Rowling had revealed about McGonagall in the original series. Originally, Rowling stated that McGonagall started teaching at the school in 1956, at the age of 21. However, Fantastic Beasts 2 takes place in the year 1927 - it just doesn’t really add up. In a 1995 conversation between Umbridge and McGonagall, McGonagall reveals that she had been working at Hogwarts “Thirty-nine years this December,". Which is consistent with what Rowling had said initially. Anyway, moving on..

McGonagall is a half-blood, which means that she was born to one magical and one non-magical parent. Her parents were muggle Robert McGonagall and witch Isobel Ross. She also had two brothers- Malcolm and Robert Jr.

Minerva had a bit of an interesting upbringing, because her father never knew that her mother, Isobel, was a witch.

"Isobel could not bring herself to mar the bliss of the honeymoon by telling her smitten new husband that she had graduated top of her class in Charms at Hogwarts, nor that she had been Captain of the school Quidditch team."

Like most other witches and wizards, McGonagall attended Hogwarts herself, and like Dumbledore and Tom Riddle, she was the most talented student of her entire year. She achieved top grades in her Newts and owls, and showed powerful magical ability from a very young age- showing a particular affinity for transfiguration, which we know she later teaches. Shortly after arriving at the school she went to the sorting ceremony, where students are sorted in to their respective houses. McGonagall’s sorting proved to be a rare occasion, as she was a ‘hatstall’ - something that only occurs once every 50 years or so. This is when the sorting hat takes longer-more than 5 minutes to be exact- to make its decision. It occurs when a student has a personality that could be considered equally suitable for more than 1 house, and in McGonagall’s case, the hat deliberated for 5.5 minutes on whether she should be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. She was eventually sorted in to Gryffindor.

When Mcgonagall was finished studying at Hogwarts, her future looked bright, as she had continually impressed her professors and peers while attending the school. Upon graduation she was offered a position at the department of magical law enforcement in the ministry of magic, the department of the ministry responsible for upholding wizarding law. However, before starting in her new role, she returned to her parents home for the summer to spend time with her family.

It was during this summer that McGonagall first met Dougal McGregor, a clever, handsome muggle farmer who lived in the same town. The two instantly hit it off, sharing common interests, a sense of humour, and just an overall outlook on life. The pair got along so well, in fact, that Mcgregor eventually proposed to Mcgonagall. Without hesitation, McGonagall accepted his offer, but as some time passed, she began to truly consider the implications of marrying Dougal. You see, similar to the situation with her parents, McGonagall had failed to inform Dougal that she was in fact, a witch. This was the exact mistake that her mother had made with her father, and McGonagall saw first hand the impact that this had on their family. McGonagall was a talented young witch with a promising future at the ministry of magic, and telling Dougal that she was magical would have jeopardized this future- breaking laws pertaining to the international statute of secrecy. If she told him that she was magical, she would be breaking wizarding law and throwing away her future job, and if she didn’t tell him that she was magical, and they wed anyway, it could mean following her mother’s unhappy footsteps. She could not bear the thought of ruining her future family in a similar fashion.
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