In Chapter 6, when Harry was buying the trunk: his whole speech about planning fallacies and collaborators … wasn’t really necessary, was it? Even had he not stolen his own money, I doubt that the proprietor would have refused a down payment accompanied by a request to hold the trunk overnight, pending the remainder of the sum to be payed in the morning.
That said: what if he had simply withdrawn the eleven Galleons and presented them as a fait accompli, without preface?
In Chapter 6, when Harry was buying the trunk: his whole speech about planning fallacies and collaborators … wasn’t really necessary, was it? Even had he not stolen his own money, I doubt that the proprietor would have refused a down payment accompanied by a request to hold the trunk overnight, pending the remainder of the sum to be payed in the morning.
That said: what if he had simply withdrawn the eleven Galleons and presented them as a fait accompli, without preface?
I don’t believe the true reason for the speech was to get McGonagall to agree with his actions—It was to assert his dominance over her.
Well, yes. I’m wondering what McGonagall’s reactions would have been in the counterfactual where he wasn’t working to establish authority over her.