You might know her as the plain-speaking, brilliant Head of Gryffindor who everyone at Hogwarts respected. Yet, there is more to Minerva McGonagall than Transfiguration and managing unruly students. Join us as we reveal some of her closely guarded secrets…

McGonagall was once engaged to a Muggle

Their engagement may have only lasted a day but it’s true! Minerva McGonagall was once engaged to the dashing son-of-a-local-farmer, Dougal McGregor. A Muggle (who was quite unaware of Minerva’s magical ability) became the person she laughed with, argued with and fell head-over-heels in love with. Caught up in a whirlwind romance, Dougal proposed to Minerva, and she accepted.

Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her parents. She had seen how the trust between her parents had broken in the aftermath of her witch mother revealing her magical identity to her Muggle father. She knew she would have to live a life of secrecy. And she realised it meant the end of any of her ambitions or dreams. Faced with an unbearable choice, Minerva chose herself and a life in which she was free to be exactly who she wanted. She broke Dougal’s heart when she told him, as the Statute of Secrecy prevented her from telling him the real reason she could not marry him, and her heart shattered too.

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Quidditch was a talent of hers

Professor McGonagall might be known for her tremendous Transfiguration skills (she did win the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer award whilst at school), but she had another passion in life, for one particular sport… Quidditch. Minerva McGonagall was a gifted player (like her mother before her) and member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. However, all that talent did not stop her from having a particularly nasty fall during a match in her final year. Thanks to a Slytherin foul, she was left with a concussion, broken ribs and a life-long desire to see the Slytherin Quidditch team crushed in every single one of their matches.

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She worked at the Ministry of Magic

She might have seemed like part of the Hogwarts furniture, but McGonagall had a totally different job before her illustrious career as a Hogwarts professor and eventual headmistress. After she left school, Minerva worked at The Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. Naturally, a witch as skilled as Minerva was a talented and efficient employee – but she was unhappy. The lingering heartbreak from her failed engagement to Dougal McGregor, the common anti-Muggle sentiment (which she found particularly difficult as she adored her Muggle father), and homesickness for Scotland meant she stayed for only two years. Ever determined, Minerva wrote a letter to Albus Dumbledore asking if she could return to Hogwarts as a professor… and we all know how that ended up.

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Professor Sprout was an old schoolfriend

This is such a cute fact about Minerva – we love learning more about who the professors consider to be their besties. Pomona Sprout and Minerva McGonagall might have been in different years and different houses, but despite their school careers only overlapping by two years, the two witches enjoyed a brilliant friendship both then and when they both ended up back at Hogwarts as teachers.

Her husband was killed in a Venomous Tentacula incident

After the heartbreak she suffered with Dougal McGregor, it warmed our hearts to see that Minerva found love again – with her Ministry boss no less! Having never lost touch after Minerva left her job in London, Elphinstone Urquart and Minerva eventually found their way to one another (though Elphinstone proposed multiple times before McGonagall would accept).

The pair lived happily together in a cottage in Hogsmeade, quite content in each other’s company. However, their little idyll was shattered only three years after saying ‘I do’ when Elphinstone was accidentally killed by a Venomous Tentacula bite. This was the moment Minerva returned to Hogwarts for good. Unable to bear the thought of remaining in the cottage alone, Minerva packed up her things and moved back to the concealed bedroom hidden in the wall of her study at Hogwarts.

McGonagall was a Hatstall

As the Head of Gryffindor house, this one might come as a bit of a shock. Yep, the Sorting Hat nearly didn’t place McGonagall in the house of courage and chivalry but thought the house of wit and wisdom, Ravenclaw, might have been where she belonged instead. The Hat was so torn, it took over five minutes to make its decision – thus making Minerva a Hatstall. Interestingly, the Hat faced a similar struggle when it came to Sorting a young Filius Flitwick, and the two liked to joke about what would have happened if they had swapped places.

The hidden biscuit tin

The Professor McGonagall we met was a no-nonsense witch who didn’t suffer fools gladly. You can imagine our surprise when we discovered the secret tartan biscuit tin hidden in her study. The moment she uttered the words ‘Have a biscuit, Potter’ rather than reprimanding Harry when he stood before her, altered our view of this strict-but-fair witch, giving us a glimpse of the other, softer and most definitely secret side of Minerva McGonagall. Incidentally, all rooms should have a secret biscuit tin.


Want to delve deeper into the mind of McGonagall? You can discover more of Minerva’s history and secrets right here.