“Enough, Mr. Potter,” said Professor McGonagall. “We shall be late for afternoon Transfiguration as it is. And do come back here, you’re still terrifying that poor Dementor.” She turned to the Aurors. “Mr. Kleiner, if you would!”
Is it just me, or does that NOT sound like someone who just found out that dementors, thought to be manifestations of fear, are afraid of her student? I’m guessing it’s one of two things:
She’s so relieved that one of her student isn’t going to be tortured to death that she isn’t really processing everything else that’s going on or
She thinks the whole thing is a trick Harry and Dumbledore came up with, and dementors aren’t really afraid of Harry.
Either one could lead to a very entertaining aftermath.
Unlike most of the room she knows Harry well enough that even him scaring a Dementor, no matter how surprising, wouldn’t make her personally afraid of Harry; she might be worried about what trouble he could cause but she knows perfectly well that he wouldn’t do anything to her. Besides it was less of a surprise for her since Dumbledore already told her Harry had developed a new charm.
~And furthermore, in her post-Azkaban-breakout council with Snape and Dumbledore, Dumbledore explicitly told her that Harry has unique magics that would help orchestrate an Azkaban breakout. She doesn’t know the specifics of Harry’s ability, but Minerva would certainly be able to deduce that it has something to do with Dementors.~
[EDIT: Apparently I did not read your last sentence before deciding to post this.]
There was a distinct body-hitting-the-ground-with-a-thuddish sort of sound.
“Thank you for taking care of that, Quirinus,” said Dumbledore to Professor Quirrell, who was now standing above and behind the unconscious forms of the three Aurors. “I confess I am still feeling a bit peaky. Though I shall handle the Memory Charms myself.”
However, both McGonagall and Snape know that Harry has developed a charm which can affect the behavior of Dementors:
Albus nodded grimly. “Unfortunately there is now another wizard who laughs at impossibilities. A wizard who, not long ago, developed a new and powerful Charm which could have blinded the Dementors to Bellatrix Black’s escape.
You have no idea how tempted I am to go back through the story and come up with a montage of Minerva sputtering incoherently / tearing her hair out / sticking her fingers in her ears and going la la la / at a loss for words / blurting something inadvisable / etc.
Or, you know, relief + dry sense of humour = exactly that kind of reaction as a coping mechanism.
I am reminded of why I prefer British comedy to American—in American comedies everyone tends to be very obvious and melodramatic, while in British the tendency is more towards understated and deadpan. McGonagall’s reaction fits perfectly into the latter category, trivialising the entire situation rather than mugging for the audience. (Not that some of the humour in the earlier chapters hasn’t been overblown melodrama. Harry’s parents leaving the room to have hysterics stands out as the most obvious example)
A possibility is that she thinks very fast* and realizes that Harry ought to move away from the dementor (since it is effecting him some) but that it must be done in a way that makes Harry look strong, not weak. Showing that Harry has no problem standing undefended next to a dementor but walked away out of pity reinforces his strength nicely.
*= fast may actually mean that Dumbledore went back and gave her carefully edited information so she could make plans in advance
Is it just me, or does that NOT sound like someone who just found out that dementors, thought to be manifestations of fear, are afraid of her student? I’m guessing it’s one of two things:
She’s so relieved that one of her student isn’t going to be tortured to death that she isn’t really processing everything else that’s going on or
She thinks the whole thing is a trick Harry and Dumbledore came up with, and dementors aren’t really afraid of Harry.
Either one could lead to a very entertaining aftermath.
Unlike most of the room she knows Harry well enough that even him scaring a Dementor, no matter how surprising, wouldn’t make her personally afraid of Harry; she might be worried about what trouble he could cause but she knows perfectly well that he wouldn’t do anything to her. Besides it was less of a surprise for her since Dumbledore already told her Harry had developed a new charm.
I agree that her being afraid of Harry isn’t something I would expect, but her comments make me think she isn’t taking the situation seriously.
~And furthermore, in her post-Azkaban-breakout council with Snape and Dumbledore, Dumbledore explicitly told her that Harry has unique magics that would help orchestrate an Azkaban breakout. She doesn’t know the specifics of Harry’s ability, but Minerva would certainly be able to deduce that it has something to do with Dementors.~
[EDIT: Apparently I did not read your last sentence before deciding to post this.]
Isn’t Harry’s destruction of a dementor public knowledge at Hogwarts
Edit: Oops, missed it.
Only Quirrel and Dumbledore know of it, since even the three accompanying Aurors were False-Memory-Charmed.
We don’t know what the cover story was that Dumbledore thought up to justify the lost Dementor.
« And so remained only Harry, Professor Quirrell, Headmaster Dumbledore, and an Auror trio.
It would have been better to get rid of the trio first, but Harry couldn’t think of a good way to do that.» from chapter 45
Harry ensured that very few people saw him destroying it.
I believe that the Auror trio was memory charmed.
-Chapter 46
However, both McGonagall and Snape know that Harry has developed a charm which can affect the behavior of Dementors:
-Chapter 61
Or, she’s simply ceased to be surprised at the extent of Harry’s abilities outpacing her expectations of them.
McGonagall is House Head of Gryffindor.
She is just that unflappable.
You have no idea how tempted I am to go back through the story and come up with a montage of Minerva sputtering incoherently / tearing her hair out / sticking her fingers in her ears and going la la la / at a loss for words / blurting something inadvisable / etc.
She’s so unflappable that she’s the best choice to demonstrate that a situation inspires the maximum amount of flap, I guess.
Or, you know, relief + dry sense of humour = exactly that kind of reaction as a coping mechanism.
I am reminded of why I prefer British comedy to American—in American comedies everyone tends to be very obvious and melodramatic, while in British the tendency is more towards understated and deadpan. McGonagall’s reaction fits perfectly into the latter category, trivialising the entire situation rather than mugging for the audience. (Not that some of the humour in the earlier chapters hasn’t been overblown melodrama. Harry’s parents leaving the room to have hysterics stands out as the most obvious example)
Fawlty Towers is a good example of the understated and deadpan nature of British comedy.
I’m kidding, by the way. Anyone who has seen it would know that it has a lot of broad slapstick humor.
Watch the original Bob Newhart series for understated and deadpan.
Or, she’s the head of Gryffindor, and she felt the need to at least appear to put up a brave front in support of her students.
Or, in addition to everyone else’s reasons, she’s already working hard to maintain a calm demeanor for the sake of Hermione and Harry.
A possibility is that she thinks very fast* and realizes that Harry ought to move away from the dementor (since it is effecting him some) but that it must be done in a way that makes Harry look strong, not weak. Showing that Harry has no problem standing undefended next to a dementor but walked away out of pity reinforces his strength nicely.
*= fast may actually mean that Dumbledore went back and gave her carefully edited information so she could make plans in advance
Or she already knew.