The Veritaserum was brought in then, and Hermione looked for a brief moment like she was about to sob, she was looking at Harry—no, at Professor McGonagall—and Professor McGonagall was mouthing words that Harry couldn’t make out from his angle. Then Hermione swallowed three drops of Veritaserum and her face grew slack.
If Hermione’s testimony had changed from last time, I’d have guessed that McGonagall was mouthing a spell or trying to Confound Hermione so she gave a different testimony under Veritaserum.
Since that isn’t the case, she was either trying to:
a) provide moral support for Hermione (“Keep strong” and such)
b) communicating something. If it’s this, then I strongly suspect that McGonagall is cooperating with future Harry in some rescue plan. She might be communicating a simple message like “Don’t worry” or “We’ll get you out” which would imply that she has some extra knowledge about how things are going to play out.
But what she told Hermione shouldn’t be very important as there was no way to know that Hermione, in her tired state, would understand the significance of whatever McGonagall mouthed.
b) communicating something. If it’s this, then I strongly suspect that McGonagall is cooperating with future Harry in some rescue plan. She might be communicating a simple message like “Don’t worry” or “We’ll get you out” which would imply that she has some extra knowledge about how things are going to play out.
Extra supporting evidence for this: McGonagall isn’t the sort of person who would give false reassurance. If she didn’t see any way to get Hermione out of this, she would say “keep strong.” If she’s saying “don’t worry” then Hermione has some reason not to worry.
Dumbledore says “if it is not dismissed soon, some of us may miss their entire luncheon”. That means the hearing is taking place in the morning. The earliest future!Harry can show up is 3pm.
Of course, she could have information from future!Dumbledore or Harry could have sent a note via Margaret Bulstrode.
My running theory is because he’s a horcrux, but it’s hard to say. Apparently there’s one point where this fix departed from cannon, if we can pin point that you’ll have your answer.
Alright, fine. An actual non-sarcastic answer. He plays with the trope of being insane. He’s entire chaos legion cackles maniacally. He is very certain of strange ideas that are almost the opposite of that his experienced elders believe, about their areas of expertise.
From that point of view it’s easy to see why people would think he’s crazy. Not to mention the simple fact that he doesn’t adhere to social rules like normal people do.
The short answer is that this hasn’t stopped Hermione from trusting him and considering him her friend before. And she did look at Harry later (once convicted) begging for help.
The only open question is whether there was something significant Minerva mouthed to her that we’re not aware of. I consider this very unlikely.
What happened here?
If Hermione’s testimony had changed from last time, I’d have guessed that McGonagall was mouthing a spell or trying to Confound Hermione so she gave a different testimony under Veritaserum.
Since that isn’t the case, she was either trying to: a) provide moral support for Hermione (“Keep strong” and such)
b) communicating something. If it’s this, then I strongly suspect that McGonagall is cooperating with future Harry in some rescue plan. She might be communicating a simple message like “Don’t worry” or “We’ll get you out” which would imply that she has some extra knowledge about how things are going to play out.
But what she told Hermione shouldn’t be very important as there was no way to know that Hermione, in her tired state, would understand the significance of whatever McGonagall mouthed.
Extra supporting evidence for this: McGonagall isn’t the sort of person who would give false reassurance. If she didn’t see any way to get Hermione out of this, she would say “keep strong.” If she’s saying “don’t worry” then Hermione has some reason not to worry.
Dumbledore says “if it is not dismissed soon, some of us may miss their entire luncheon”. That means the hearing is taking place in the morning. The earliest future!Harry can show up is 3pm.
Of course, she could have information from future!Dumbledore or Harry could have sent a note via Margaret Bulstrode.
Maybe H&C’s final form was McGonagall? That’d be a fun twist.
She’s the only sane one of Hermione’s friends who was present?
(There may be more to it, but it’s hard to say)
Why would Hermione consider Harry not sane?
Because he’s insane.
How come?
My running theory is because he’s a horcrux, but it’s hard to say. Apparently there’s one point where this fix departed from cannon, if we can pin point that you’ll have your answer.
Alright, fine. An actual non-sarcastic answer. He plays with the trope of being insane. He’s entire chaos legion cackles maniacally. He is very certain of strange ideas that are almost the opposite of that his experienced elders believe, about their areas of expertise.
From that point of view it’s easy to see why people would think he’s crazy. Not to mention the simple fact that he doesn’t adhere to social rules like normal people do.
The short answer is that this hasn’t stopped Hermione from trusting him and considering him her friend before. And she did look at Harry later (once convicted) begging for help.
The only open question is whether there was something significant Minerva mouthed to her that we’re not aware of. I consider this very unlikely.
Yeah, I’m not arguing the point. I just have a weird sense of humour and “Because he’s insane” tickles my funny bone.