Minerva McGonagall

Name: Nadeline
Livejournal: IridiumIris
Contact: foldathousandcranes @hotmail.com
Other Characters Played: Raimu “Rhyme” Bitou (carsharkkonishi) and Kagura (boundbyheart)
Are you 18 or over? No.

Canon: Harry Potter
Character: Minerva McGonagall
Timeline: Right after battling Snape , as she’s calling him a coward.
Personality: Minerva, on the outside, seems like a very proper old lady. She is courteous, wise, and rather conservative, as one would expect someone of her age to be. She rarely ever lets her hair down, and rarely jokes or jests. She takes most things rather seriously, even something as silly as a prank can earn detention in her eyes. She is very, very smart, and can think quickly on her feet if need be. She always uses her manners, and she rarely ever lets emotions show in a nonsense way. This leads many to believe she is just the average old lady.

Of course, this is not true. Extremely courageous, she'll stand up for anyone in need during their times of distress, no matter the consequences. She is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, either, and will fight you over it if it's important enough to her or her students. Her sense of justice is great, to the point where she’ll break rules if need be for the right thing. She’ll go against authorities, her mentors anyone—if she thinks what they are doing isn’t right. She is a great leader even in times of peril, standing strong and taking steps that need to be taken to achieve any goal. But, she knows how to be loyal, not needing to be a leader at the forefront all the time. She's sturdy, a true Gryffindor to the end, speaking volumes about why she is head of Gryffindor House.

Other than her powers, there is one more thing that makes her a very special old lady: her wit. Sharp as a knife, it is one of her many tools. She uses it on friends and enemies alike, and it's one of the only times you will ever see her in jest, especially if a colleague of equal wit (or sometimes not) is involved. But, her wit is a double edged sword--enemies will receive very pointed wit, to the point where even the most powerful of people can feel cut by Minerva. When she is on a roll, there is no stopping her, and it's best to stay out of her path. Generally, she's pleasant, but if you get on her bad side...there's no turning back. The fact that she’s Scottish might play into this a bit, because when her temper blows, it’s hard to reign it back in. She yells and manners tend to go out the window. But, over the years, she’s learned to make the best of it, trying to show her emotions without making too much of a fuss, and using her wit to replace her temper.

Her temper mixed with her personality that embodies Gryffindor House is how she manages to make a lot of people dislike her, at least, the adults that consider her just another old lady. As for the kids, it’s likely her strictness that makes them not care for her too much. But, really, what she wants to accomplish is to teach her students to the best of her ability, and teach them right, because she knows they all have potential. She wants to be a mentor to them, in the same way that Dumbledore was a mentor to her—always there, even if she has different methods than him. That’s why she was employed: she is strong, strict, and knows how to get the job done.

Background: Minerva was born to Isobel and Robert McGonagall in Caithness, Scotland, on October 4th, 1935. In the following months, she began to show signs of being a witch like her mother, which was unknown to her father. Realizing that Robert would have to find out sooner or later, Isobel finally told him that she was a witch, and surprisingly enough, the two stayed together despite what happened and raised Minerva as well as her two younger brothers, Malcolm and Robert Jr..

On Minerva’s eleventh birthday, she received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. When she was to be sorted, she was almost sorted into Ravenclaw, but was eventually put into Gryffindor. She quickly became top of her class, especially good at Transfiguration. She became good friends with the future Professor Sprout in her third year, and also was on the Qudditch team. She received outstanding in all of her O.W.L’s and N.E.W.T.’s, as well as Transfiguration Today’s award for most promising newcomer. It was also during this time that she became a Prefect and Head Girl, as well as a registered Animagus under Dumbledore, meaning she could now transform into a cat. In her final year, she got a concussion and several broken ribs from a nasty fall in Qudditch in a match between Slytherin and Gryffindor for the championship. Ever since then, she’s wanted to see Gryffindor beat Slytherin in a championship game.

She worked for the Ministry of Magici in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for two years after graduating, and fell in love with a human named Dougal McGregor. Later he proposed, and she accepted, only to change her mind the next morning. If she had accepted, she realized, she would have to give up all her ambitions. Bound by law not to tell him her reasons, she left.

Afterwards, she went back to Hogwarts to teach under Dumbledore the art of Transfiguration. A few years later, she also became Head of the Department when Dumbledore became Headmaster. Soon, she became the Head of Gryffindor House and Deputy Headmistress, a very large duty. Often, her former boss, Elphinstone Urquart, would propose to her, but she refused, still in love with the Muggle she had left for the wizarding world. She taught many students around this time, including the Marauders and the future Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

When the Dark Lord rose for the first time, she joined the Order of the Pheonix with many others, but was lucky enough to escape death. She spent the day after the Potter’s murders watching the Durseley’s, and feeling that they were horrible Muggles, tried to save Harry, but Dumbledore stopped her from doing so. She occasionally went to check on him during his first eleven years of life, but never interfered as that would have been against the law.

She spent the next eleven years after the First Wizarding War teaching at Hogwarts. Her former boss proposed to her again during this time, and now feeling more able to move on after her former lover’s death, she married him, but kept her maiden name. They moved to a cottage in Hogsmede, but sadly, the joy would not last. Her husband died 3 years later of a poisonous bite, and feeling that she did not want to live alone, she moved back to her study in Hogwarts.

When Harry Potter finally arrived, Minerva was rather kind to him, but in a discreet way. Other than just looking out for him, when he was caught on a broomstick when he was not supposed to be on it, she took him to see the Team Captain of Gryffindor, and eventually made him Seeker and arranged for him to have the fastest broomstick around for the games and practices. This did not mean she was very lenient, however. During that year, she Transfigured a large chess set to protect the Philosopher’s Stone, but the trio led by Harry Potter managed to get past this with Ron’s ability to play Wizard Chess well.

In the second year, she did her best to find the Chamber of Secrets, but with the staff, she could not find it. Eventually, she became Headmaster after Dumbledore was suspended after numerous attacks. Sadly, at this point she became gloomy, and despaired that Hogwarts would be closed within the year. Thankfully, the Chamber was found and Dumbledore returned, letting her go back to her duties as a teacher.

In the third year, she allowed Hermione to get a Time-Turner to arrive to all her classes, and she, with Dumbledore, was greatly against the use of Dementors at Hogwarts. She was very strict during this time, possibly more than usual. This was because she was one of the very few that knew that Sirius Black, the man who had escaped and was threatening Hogwarts, was Harry Potter’s godfather. When Harry received a Nimbus 2000, then, she assumed correctly that it was sent by Sirius, and afraid that it was jinxed, took it away to examine it. She also punished many that year, including Neville when it was found out that it was his list of passwords that got Sirius into Gryffindor Tower, and gave him detention, as well as Draco and his gang when they tried to scare Harry by dressing up as Dementors and going onto the field while a game of Qudditch was being played. She gave them detention and took 50 points away, since she was very agitated that any student would do such a thing. But, at the end, Sirius was no longer a threat, and she got to see her house team win the Qudditch Cup, which she was very proud of.

The fourth year, she was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. When Harry Potter was chosen to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, she agreed to let him go, and even fought for it, knowing that he did not cheat and that the rules were set in stone. She informed the school of the formal dance they would be hosting, and taught the students how to dance. After the second rise of Voldemort was found out, she guarded the fake Moody from escaping, and became very angry, angrier than she ever had been before, when the man had been given the Dementor’s Kiss, so angry that she had yelled more than any other time anyone had even seen her, and became even angered when she found out that the Ministry of Magic did not believe Harry, and that an investigation would be underway at Hogwarts during his fifth year.
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n the fifth year, she became very, very disgruntled. She hated Umbridge, to the point where she put her dislike of another co-worker, Trelawney, and brought her back to the school after she was dimissed. Sadly, she could not help Harry after he was given detention by the woman, and simply told him to keep his head down. She reacted coldly to the woman’s appointment at Hogwarts, and kept pointed wit at the woman during her time there, especially during her examination. One day, she went too far, and she told Harry during his career planning that he would never be an Auror, which to what Minerva said that she would help him in any way that she could. But things finally came to a head when the woman tried to remove Hagrid from the grounds, and when she tried stopping them, she took several stunning spells and was forced to go to St. Mungo’s, where she rested until after the battle at the Ministry, to which she awarded 50 points to everyone who fought, in response to Snape teasing Harry about how Harry’s house had zero points. Now, the whole world knew that the battle had begun, and Minerva worked hard to protect Hogwarts and Dumbledore.

The sixth year was very hard for her. She, along with Snape, examined a cursed necklace meant for Dumbledore, unbeknownst to her that Snape would eventually kill him himself. On the day Dumbledore was murdered, she let his murderer pass him and kill him, something she hated. But, with all the strength she had, she managed to try and be strong for the students and rid the school of the Dark Mark that had been cast above the school when Dumbledore was murdered. She held his funeral at the school, and became Headmistress for a time before Voldemort took over Hogwarts.

When, in the seventh year, Voldemort took over Hogwarts, McGonagall stayed to protect her students from the new Dark Arts teachers, the Carrow siblings, as well as from Voldemort. Harry returned in secret, and she helped him to find Ravenclaw’s Diadem after he performed a Cruciatus Curse on one of the siblings after he spit in her face. At that point, she led Neville and Luna to defeat the siblings, and then went off to fight Snape with the two other heads of House, and as he’s leaping out the window, she calls him a coward and that is when she is picked up from.


Abilities/Additional Notes:

Transfiguration: Being the teacher of Transfiguration, Minerva can do any Transfiguration, which means, by magic, she can transform one object into another object. Turning yourself or anyone else into an object or animal is considered Transfiguration. Also, she can animate any object, even if it is large. There is also the ability to conjure any object out of thin air. Transfiguration itself takes a lot of concentration and the ability to be very precise, and if either is unfulfilled, partial Transfiguration can occur, so it’s very impressive to be talented in this area. She is considered the best (besides Dumbledore) in the school on the art.

Animagus Minerva can transform into a tabby cat at will, which is a branch of Transfiguration called Cross-Species Transfiguration. Called an Animagus, her tabby cat form is gray with black stripes on her back and tail. She is one of the few registered Animagus of the century, and although most use this form of Transfiguration as a way to escape the law, Minerva simply uses it when she does not want to be recognised.

Witch Powers: Since Minerva earned top grades in all of her N.E.W.T.’s , she is very talented in all areas of magic, which include the ability to do charms ,the ability to identify and tell what a certain plant is used for, defend herself against the Dark Arts using high level counter jinxes, identify and take care of magical creatures, explain star positions and certain constellations in the sky, and talk about the history of magic. Because she’s very good at defending herself, she duels very well-although she cannot take as many spells as a younger person would be able to, her reflexes are quite good for someone her age. She has the ability to conjure a Patronus in the form of a cat. She can also Apparate and fly on a broomstick, though it is rare she does either.

Sample Journal Post:
[The PCD flickers to life on a woman, who is writing something on a piece of parchment. She disdainfully looks at the PCD, and now she is recognizable as Minerva. She does not look pleased; her lips pursed as she folds the paper and puts it into her robe.]

This contraption is absolutely absurd. It makes me wonder who would come up with such a thing. Maybe Slytherins, perhaps? They’ve certainly been quite inventive to win all those Qudditch matches. [She pauses a second, looking over her glasses at the PCD before becoming serious again.]
Miss Granger, expect me in 15 minutes. It shall not be long.

Sample RP: The house was falling apart, anyone could see that. Minerva pursed her lips as she entered the home, levitating debris out of the way as she inspected the house. It was small, which she thought was nice—she didn’t want to have a large house all to herself again, that had been rough. The best situation would have been to have something as small as her study for a room, but she would not live with her students-that would be unprofessional, no matter how much they insisted or how many times she considered it. She was an adult and could take care of her own house, she had just chosen not to over the years, since the room and board was supplied by the school. Here, she didn’t have that choice, and that would do just well. Boarding with someone she did not know was out of the question-again, she was independent and did not want to board with a stranger or give them one more mouth to feed if she could do it by herself.

But, even then, as she walked through the house, she knew work would have to be done if she wanted to stay there. The cracks would have to be filled, she’d have to Conjure or find a bed and other necessities-until then, she supposed, she could sleep on the floor as a cat. Not one to ask for help, Minerva would get started right away, magical zaps and noises visible through the window as she did her best to make the house her home.