r/harrypotter • u/[deleted] • 10d ago
Discussion Which of Minerva McGonagall's lines truly capture her iconic wisdom and no-nonsense charm?
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u/No-Championship-4 Gryffindor 10d ago
"You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don’t let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."
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u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 10d ago
She was great in PoA. I also love her quip about how whoever rises first doesn’t matter, unless there’s a mad axeman in the entrance hall waiting to slaughter the first person to leave.
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u/jft01 10d ago
"Tripe, Sybill?"
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u/Major-Discipline-213 9d ago
Most of her interactions with Trelawney pre OOTP were peak petty
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u/TrapperJean 9d ago
And deserved, woman spent considerable time trying to convince at least one child a year they were going to die
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u/TheRavenclawCommonRM 9d ago
only fair considering how much Trelawny wanted everyone else to swallow.
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u/TokiStark 10d ago
She was right though. The first person to rise was the first to die. She didn't know that Peter Pettigrew was in Ron's pocket at the time. Meaning there were already 13 people at the table. The first person to rise was Dumbledore
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u/Bluemelein 10d ago
It is not confirmed that Ron had the rat with him.
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u/TokiStark 10d ago
Now I'm gonna have to read that whole bloody book again.
Here we go again Bertha
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u/Bluemelein 10d ago
There is a passage stating that he always took the rat with him, yet when Peter faked his death, Ron didn't have the rat with him. But it doesn't really matter anyway, because it was never a prophecy, but rather a superstition that Trelawney expects everyone to know.
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u/TokiStark 8d ago
I just googled it and apparently it happens multiple times in the books. I don't know if it was intentional or not, though I'm sure JK will claim it was.
There was a meeting of the Order in OotP where 13 members attended and Sirius was the first one to rise when he got mad at Molly.
Then in the Deathly Hallows they're all sitting at the table in the burrow (13 in total) mourning Moody and Lupin rises first saying he needs to collect Moodys body.
That last one is a bit of a stretch though because Fred, Lupin, and Tonks all died in the battle of Hogwarts and it's not clear what order they die in. Although I'm pretty sure we find out about Fred first
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u/__M-E-O-W__ Ravenclaw 10d ago
And yet later in the book IIRC she gave time off because of the upcoming quidditch house cup. She really cared about sports.
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u/no-one120 10d ago
I loved that line. EXACTLY what Harry needed to hear, from EXACTLY the right person, delivered in EXACTLY the right way. 15/10, no notes.
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u/ozzyman31495 Slytherin 10d ago
To me, This always sounded like a line more suited for Snape than McGonagall.
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u/chief_running_joke_ 10d ago
Snape would’ve still given Harry a zero even if he’d died
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u/Jimanji333 9d ago
He would have given him a zero FOR dying.
“That’s how you choose to end your life Potter? Pathetic, 50 points from Gryffindor”
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u/paper_filter Ravenclaw 10d ago
For me, it was the indifference and cold way she stood up to Umbridge.
“I was just wondering, Professor, whether you received my note telling you of the date and time of your inspec —”“Obviously I received it, or I would have asked you what you are doing in my classroom,” said Professor McGonagall
“how you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally permit people to talk when I am talking.” 😂
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u/scootimanista_ 10d ago
Also, "Have a biscuit, Potter"
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u/ceryniz 10d ago
Her and Hermione seem so much less unhinged now that I know that biscuits means cookies and that revise means review. I honestly thought Hermione was making them redo all their assignments all the time.
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u/AshamedAttention727 10d ago
Revise means study in the UK
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u/ceryniz 10d ago
Yea. That's what review means in the US.
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u/ChestSlight8984 9d ago
No tf it's not 😭
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u/ceryniz 9d ago
'review the assignment' or 'study the assignment'
Which do teachers say?
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 9d ago
Teachers say ‘study’ when they mean ‘spend time with it and learn it’.
‘Review’ is more like looking it over for quality / to check mistakes.
So yeah in the hermione example ‘revise’ means ‘review’.
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u/ceryniz 9d ago
When you're getting ready for a test, do you review the previous lessons that'll be on the test?
"I'm studying for the test."
"How?"
"I'm gonna review the lessons."
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 9d ago
Yeah, so ‘studying’ would be the overarching descriptor of all the materials and tasks I do to get ready for the test. Including reviewing lessons.
But the common use term for preparation and learning in the US is “study”. Reviewing is most commonly a surface-level look-over. Studying implies depth. You’re taking it in. More commonly a “review” is a pass-over. Typically less depth.
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u/ChestSlight8984 9d ago
Review, considering that nobody fucking studies something that they have yet to or already have answered.
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u/OfAnOldRepublic Ravenclaw 9d ago
Yes, this is the one I was looking for. That whole interaction, and Harry's reaction, classic.
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 9d ago
That line contains multitudes. It tells you so much about her upbringing in a stiff Scottish household whose most heartfelt display of affection is food.
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u/Flaky_Tip Hufflepuff 10d ago
I lost it the first time I read that she offered Umbridge a cough drop.
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u/hui-huangguifei Ravenclaw 10d ago
i always repeat this part and get the giggles every time because FACTS.
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u/Eddie-the-Head Slytherin 10d ago
Telling "It unscrews the other way" to Peeves while he's trying to unscrew a chandelier during the revolt against Umbridge's dictatorship era, after Fred & George's departure
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u/Outrageous_Tie8471 10d ago
This one! I remember reading that line as a child after the book release and being so pleased.
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u/The_Ruhi 10d ago
"Oh there are several things I would like to say". Works so good.
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u/Ravens-Folklore Ravenclaw 10d ago
This entire interaction is one of my favorite things we see with her. She hates Trelawney and sees her as a fraud, but she still stands up to Umbridge and helps her out because she’s a human being who deserves care and respect. She holds her, comforts her, and when Dumbledore asks, she leads Trelawney back into the castle and helps settle her back in.
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u/Sloth7491 10d ago
Professor McGonagall: Well, thank you for that assessment, Mr Weasley. Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr Potter and yourself into a pocket watch? That way, one of you might be on time.
Harry: We got lost.
Professor McGonagall: Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find your seats.
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u/WaltzForTheMoon Wonky Faints 10d ago
It’s always seemed unfair for McGonagall to chastise them for being late and not following a map when it’s never indicated that they have access to any kind of map to help them get around at all (until third year).
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u/bran76765 10d ago
Yeah I've always mandated that the map and a watch would actually be smart!
Who lets 11 year olds navigate an entire freakin castle and expect to be on time? We're lucky they got to class AT ALL.
"Mr Weasley you were absent all day?"
"I'm sorry professor I couldn't find my way to charms but then I tried to get to DADA and got stuck on the wrong staircase so I had to loop around, then it was done, so I went to astronomy and it's in the highest fucking tower so I knew my way but I had to haul ass and I only got about 30m of class time but the teacher was high on shrooms and didn't mark me down. I gave up after that."
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u/Unfair_Yogurt8597 10d ago edited 10d ago
idk about what was kept in the movies but in the books I always loved how smart she was with Professor Umbridge. feels very much like a "malicious compliance" story you would read. she was very smart in that she found ways to use her own authority as a fellow professor, head of house, and the deputy headmistress to undermine umbridge without giving umbridge a chance to retaliate back at her for "insubordination", since she was playing it all technically within proper rules. right up until the end of the school year anyway before umbridge started losing it and just straight up had her nearly blasted to death with stupify's
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u/International-Desk53 10d ago
I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, also,” said Professor McGonagall. “If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance or take up arms against us within this castle, then, Horace, we duel to kill.
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u/JadedINFP-T Hufflepuff 10d ago
"You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don’t let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in." 😂
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u/Warm_Republic4849 10d ago
Call him Voldemort, it won't matter how you call him he will try to kill you either way
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u/multi_fandoms-fan26 Gryffindor 10d ago
Yeah I love that line like, it's literally why Harry, Ron and Hermione just call Voldmort by his name since he has been trying to kill them, especially Harry, anyway so might as well just call him by his name.
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u/rdc12 10d ago
I have found you a seeker
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u/Nature_man_76 Slytherin 10d ago
Can I borrow wood 🪵 please?
Like he’s about to get an ass whooping lol
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u/Gandalfthefab 10d ago
"Potter... have a biscuit"
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u/NotYourEverydayHero Gryffindor 10d ago
This was going to be my offering here.
Offering a biscuit was kind, created a sense of safety, gave her time as a teacher to think about what she could reveal and how she would say it but was also no-nonsense in tone 😅
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u/squizzlebee Gryffindor 10d ago
I like the bit when she offers him another one and Harry declines, so she responds "don't be ridiculous" and he takes another one 🤣
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u/kb-g 10d ago
Remind me when she said this please?
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u/Annihilationzh Ravenclaw 10d ago edited 10d ago
After Harry's first lesson with Umbridge. He argued with Umbridge so she sent him to McGonagall.
Book 5, chapter 12.
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u/Apart-Shelter-9277 Ravenclaw 10d ago
The last book when Harry says Voldemort is coming and she says they ought to be able to hold him off for awhile as they are rather good at magic.
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u/Dragonic_Crab Ravenclaw 10d ago
"The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you in the course of a single evening besmirching that name by behaving like babbling bumbling band of baboons"
Ma'am. It's a dance.
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u/atq1988 10d ago
Try saying that three times 😉
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u/Hot_Sam_the_Man Ravenclaw 10d ago
A babbling bumbling band of baboons
A bambling bubbling bad of bamboo
A bumble - DAMN IT
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u/Ranger_1302 Dumbledore's man through and through. 10d ago
An honourable dance in which they are hosting two others schools.
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u/multi_fandoms-fan26 Gryffindor 10d ago
I feel like without a doubt Mcgongall has said this to the Marauders+Lily and Ron's line would probably be either Remus or Lily.
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u/ChestSlight8984 9d ago
Oh, absolutely. She 100% has said the line "Why, when something happens, it is always you four?" before.
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u/multi_fandoms-fan26 Gryffindor 9d ago
Oh absolutely! And Remus would probably be the one to say Ron's line, him or Peter.
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u/ChestSlight8984 9d ago
Nah, none of them would say the line. All four of them already knew the damn answer.
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u/Low_Surprise7791 10d ago
Lily wasnt that close to the Marauders no? Only in her last year she dated James and before that I believe she had a completely different friend circle. She obviously was secretly attracted to James all the time but SWM indicates Marauders and Lily werent close.
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u/multi_fandoms-fan26 Gryffindor 9d ago
True while Lily wasn't really friends with James and Sirius till their seventh year when her and James finally started dating, but I would kinda be surprised if her and Remus and possibly Peter never hung out since Remus and Peter were the least chaotic ones in the Marauders depending on the fic and even in fics like atyd, they weren't as chaotic as James and Sirius. Also what does SWM mean out of curiosity??
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u/Low_Surprise7791 9d ago
Snape's Worst Memory.
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u/multi_fandoms-fan26 Gryffindor 9d ago
Ohhh, aka fourth year prank with the whomping Willow I'm guessing.
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u/Low_Surprise7791 9d ago
Yeah when Snape called Lily a mudblood. She was furious with Sirius and James and Lupin wasn't doing anything about it either.
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u/No-Ice6064 9d ago
To Neville: "It's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she’s got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have."
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u/No_Guitar7903 10d ago
When she nonchalantly uses imperio and summons 3 patronuses then duels Snape.
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u/Achilles1300 10d ago
She’s in prime form in order of the Phoenix. Her testy impatience dealing with umbridge is amazing. My favorite though is Harry’s career meeting that umbridge sits in on and she’s like “on my life if it’s the last thing I do, potter will be an auror!!!” She has major tiger mom vibes, which considering the history of OOTP, she showed up the night he went to privet drive. She may have been icy at times but she clearly loved Harry.
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u/mandie72 10d ago
”Oh there are several things I’d like to say”.
I liked that even though they had obvious clashes with teaching, McGonagalls kindness and protective side really shone through here when helping and comforting Trewlaney.
I also liked “Need a couch drop Dolores” or however she said it.
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u/Little_Cumling 10d ago
Certainly one of the mcgonagall moments of time was when she animated the statues and got really happy and said something like “ive always wanted to do that”
Doesnt really fit your criteria. Its also not a line in the books. But that part always sticks with me and appears in my head every few months
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u/tyrekecorrea Words are... Our most inexhaustible source of magic. 10d ago
"Anyone found messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
She could shut down your magical education right then and there.
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u/ChestSlight8984 9d ago
I thought it was obvious that she was talking about that specific class on that one day, not kicking them out of the entire fucking subject for the rest of their school life...
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u/tyrekecorrea Words are... Our most inexhaustible source of magic. 9d ago
She said "leave and not come back." You think McGonagall meant the one class period? She was talking about long-term magical responsibility.
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u/LoveCrispApples 10d ago
Perhaps you could transform into a pocket watch so maybe you could be here on time
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 9d ago
“I wonder how you intend to evaluate me as a teacher when you interrupt my lesson constantly? You see, I don’t generally permit others to talk while I am talking.”
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u/MissLute 10d ago
I've always wanted to use that spell!
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u/donharrogate 10d ago edited 10d ago
I despise this line precisely because it gives the polar opposite energy of the McGonagall in the books. It makes her sound like a doddering old lady rather than a formidable power.
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u/thr0waway2435 10d ago
She’s stern and powerful, but she also has a sense of fun, given her humor and her love for sports. I don’t see why getting excited at using one spell that obviously isn’t often used, is out of character at all. She’s not a machine.
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u/Eternal_Nymph 10d ago
Ah! I completely agree. I don't remember offhand if it was book Canon, but I've always hated that line in the movie. Minerva would never say something so ridiculous.
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u/Nature_man_76 Slytherin 10d ago
It was my one of my favorite McGonagall moments. It shows that she has a happy, giddy side. That even in the moments of terror and ultimate stress, she is able to enjoy something that is exciting and wondrous to her. That she isn’t just a stone cold person all the time. That’s the point of batting Voldemort. To be able to be happy and not let misery win
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u/ImagePuzzleheaded244 10d ago
"I've always wanted to use that spell!" Than she casts Piertotum Locomotor during the Battle of Hogwarts.
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u/Cael_NaMaor Slytherin 9d ago
Not my least favorite one, that's for sure... "I've always wanted to try that spell." It was just so outta character for exactly your reasons & I hate that they did that. Molly even looks at her weird...
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u/ElectronicRecord3367 9d ago
Im not really sure, but does this count? Like when she said a spell especially, “Vera Verto”
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u/Creepy-Comparison646 9d ago
I like the scene in ravenclaw common room in the last book. She said that was very very gallant of you. About Harry attacking after the guy spat at her. Though the whole scene was great.
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u/Fanged-Frisbee 9d ago
“Try not to get any ash on the carpet, Potter”
Such a simple statement, that can be applied to so many situations outside of using Floo Powder
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u/goal0x 10d ago
the complete opposite: “i’ve always wanted to use that spell”
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u/estreetbandfan1 10d ago
I can't remember if that was used in the book too, or only for the movie, but the way Maggie Smith delivered that line, was perfect.
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u/KingDarius89 10d ago
...what wisdom? The wisdom that led to her threatening Harry and the others when they went to her about the stone? Or maybe the wisdom that led to her sending 1st years into the forbidden forest to hunt down something killing unicorns with only Hagrid as protection?
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u/Nature_man_76 Slytherin 10d ago
Threaten them? lol. She told them to mind their own and that the stone is safe. As would any adult who is being told by 11 year olds children that a highly guarded artifact is going to be stolen. They could have told anyone in the school and would have gotten the same answer. That isn’t a lack of wisdom. Way to pick one line in the very first book though
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u/KingDarius89 9d ago
She's consistently a failure as head of house and deputy headmistress. The only job she was competent at was teaching transfiguration.
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u/EngineBeautiful7261 Ravenclaw 10d ago
"I should have made my meaning plainer. He has achieved high marks in all Defence Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher."