Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Minerva McGonagall 892 |
| Gender | Female 37 |
| Affiliation | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 625 |
| Occupation/Role | Transfiguration professor; later Headmistress of Hogwarts. She also served as Head of Gryffindor House 625 892 989. |
| First Appearance | Chapter 17 17 |
Background / History
McGonagall oversees the arrival of first-years and teaches Transfiguration at Hogwarts. Her first-lesson demonstration involves appearing as a tabby cat before changing back into a human; when Leona fails to recognize her, McGonagall corrects her without deducting points. By the December described in Chapter 625, she says she will have served at Hogwarts for thirty-nine years 17 37 625.
She challenges Ministry Hit Wizards who try to take Hagrid away without presenting evidence. Later, when High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge observes her class and questions her teaching methods, McGonagall continues the lesson and rejects the interference 88 625.
Dumbledore announces his resignation and McGonagall's appointment as headmistress without first securing her agreement. She accepts rather than publicly disrupt the transition. As headmistress, she resists an attempt by a Death Eater and several governors to remove her, worries that knowledge of Horcruxes has spread too widely, and oversees the introduction of Alchemy Class 892 919 965 988.
Abilities & Skills
Transfiguration
- Demonstrates Animagus transformation by changing between her human form and a tabby cat. The markings around the cat's eyes resemble her square glasses 37.
- Turns a podium into a lifelike pig while teaching Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration 37.
- Teaches advanced human Transfiguration and the Vanishing Spell, including its relevance to O.W.L. examinations 479 625.
- Offers to teach Kyle Animagus magic; he declines 810.
Hogwarts Statues
- Knows Piertotum Locomotor, a spell used to command Hogwarts' statues. She tells Kyle that it works only for the headmaster or deputy headmaster, even if another professor knows the incantation 924.
Relationships
- Albus Dumbledore — Her predecessor as headmaster. She believes he maneuvered her into accepting the headmistress position without asking her first 892.
- Kyle — Former student and later fellow professor. She advises him, offers to teach him Animagus magic, and works with him to protect Hogwarts 366 810 919.
- Dolores Umbridge — Former student and later High Inquisitor whose attempts to scrutinize McGonagall's teaching meet firm resistance 625.
- Professor Sacia — McGonagall appoints her Potions professor and asks her to become Head of Gryffindor House, a duty McGonagall had continued to handle after becoming headmistress 984 989.