Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore are two very important characters in the Harry Potter series. Not only do they hold vital jobs at Hogwarts as the Transfiguration professor, head of Gryffindor, and the school’s headmaster, the two are also supposedly close friends and allies.
They help Harry through his years at the school and Dumbledore, in particular, prepares him for the eventual battle against Voldemort. But how is the relationship between them? We’re meant to believe they have mutual respect and strong friendship, but at times it doesn’t seem like they are real friends at all.
Dumbledore Didn’t Tell McGonagall Anything About Harry
Dumbledore had plans for Harry from the moment he picked him up from the rubble of Godrics Hollow and took him to the Dursleys. He didn’t tell McGonagall anything about what would happen in Harry’s life.
Even when he was beginning to do further research and learn more about Voldemort, Dumbledore never thought it important enough to give McGonagall much information. As one of his closest confidantes, one would expect he could have told her at least a little bit, but he mostly kept her in the dark.
He Trusted Hagrid More Than McGonagall
Despite Hagrid’s propensity to tell secrets he shouldn’t and reveal information to people that shouldn’t have said information, Dumbledore still seems to trust Hagrid more than he trusts Professor McGonagall despite the fact she has proven herself to be much more trustworthy.
While Hagrid is obviously loyal to a fault when it comes to Dumbledore, he is known for making a lot of mistakes. Why wouldn’t he have had McGonagall be in charge of the Sorcerer’s Stone, for instance? It seems strange that he would keep her out of so many important decisions.
They Didn’t Appear To Spend Much Time Together
Even though Dumbledore and McGonagall were said to be very close friends, they rarely seemed to spend much time together.
The only times we saw many scenes with the two in the same room were when there was a major event going on or mortal peril. It was very rare that the two of them were actually shown having a good time with one another or relaxing as friends typically do. It seems like they were more suited to being allies and working together as staff members than being very close pals.
McGonagall Didn’t Always Respect Dumbledore’s Wishes
After Dumbledore died, McGonagall, and several other adults in Harry’s life, wanted to know what Harry and Dumbledore were doing together exactly, despite Dumbledore’s wishes on the contrary.
Even when Harry tried to explain that Dumbledore wanted to keep it just between them, that didn’t stop McGonagall from prying. She insisted that things had changed in lieu of the headmaster’s death. The pressure Harry was under didn’t seem to be understood by many of the other adults in his life.
McGonagall Never Questioned Or Stood Up To Dumbledore
There was established mutual respect between Dumbledore and McGonagall, which means she was very respectful of his decisions, despite the times she disagreed. Real friends are able to critique one another and input their own thoughts and opinions when the situation calls for it.
We never saw much of that between the adults. It always seemed like everyone just went with whatever Dumbledore said and never questioned it. Even if McGonagall had misgivings about Snape, she would rarely bring them up to Dumbledore because of his implicit trust in the potions master.
Dumbledore Never Told McGonagall Much About His Life
After the series was wrapped, J.K. Rowling did release some extra information about McGonagall and Dumbledore’s backgrounds. We know that the two knew a little bit about each other’s backstories.
It is implied that McGonagall may have even known about Dumbledore’s affections for Grindelwald, and he knew about some of her own heartbreak. However, beyond that, it’s never clear if McGonagall knew much else about Dumbledore’s family or his upbringing. One would think that as real friends, they would know a lot more about each other’s personal history.
It Is Possible That There Was Unrequited Love Between The Two
Many fans have debated the possibility that McGonagall was in love with Dumbledore over the years. That’s something we may not ever know for certain since it’s mainly a theory, but there is some evidence of there being an unrequited crush on McGonagall’s end throughout the books.
For starters, she always gives in to what Dumbledore wants, even if she doesn’t agree with him necessarily. She doesn’t do that with other characters in the books. She might have even known he was gay and still not been able to control her affections for him.
Dumbledore Didn’t Tell McGonagall Anything About The Dursleys
One of the few times we saw McGonagall and Dumbledore butt heads was in their very first scene together when they deliver Harry to the Dursleys. McGonagall doesn’t understand why on earth Dumbledore would want the “boy who lived” to stay with such horrible muggles who have terrible and elitist views toward the entire wizarding world.
But Dumbledore is adamant about his decision. It would have been easier for him to just explain the reasoning for why Harry needed to live there and retain Lily’s protection, but instead, he just leaves her in the dark.
Dumbledore Hides Everything About Snape From McGonagall
One of the biggest points of contention between the professors and Dumbledore is his continued trust of Professor Severus Snape. Not many of the teachers like him, not even McGonagall. She has apparently voiced her concerns about Snape on several occasions, only to be shut down by Dumbledore.
It’s clear that he needed to keep most things about Snape secret so he could preserve the eventual triple agent game Snape would play with Voldemort, but why couldn’t he explain some of it to McGonagall? He needn’t have told anyone else, but she deserved to get at least a semblance of an idea of what Snape’s overall purpose and relationship with Lily was and why it was so important.
McGonagall Seems To Get Annoyed By Dumbledore’s Many Quirks
Dumbledore is not exactly a “normal” person and he doesn’t keep a low profile. He likes to eat candy and he enjoys wearing flashy clothing and whimsical outfits. At times it seems like McGonagall is annoyed by his antics.
She appears to disapprove of him eating lemon drops in their first scene together on Privet Drive. In other instances, she doesn’t exactly warm to his exuberant fashion choices. It makes sense since McGonagall herself is more of a straight-laced type of person with a low tolerance for nonsense.
