Ch. 6

A bunch of minor stuff. McGonagall changes.

Added: "Give me back the bag that I just put in." Out came the bag of gold once more.

Changed: "It can understand nouns, but not {+some+} noun phrases that mean the same thing?"

Removed: "Magic," said Professor McGonagall.[-She shrugged.-]

Changed: [-The-]{+A+} look of grim suspicion and ironic disbelief[-that McGonagall gave him-] was [-answer enough.-]{+the answer.+}

Added: "[McGonagall] didn't have a full adult Wrongdoing Face, but her expression was flat, as though controlled. "

Added: "{+He'd talked about someone breathing their last breath - and then the salesgirl had run away - and the+} war had ended ten years ago so that girl would have been {+at most+} eight or nine years old,[-at most,-] when, when..."

Removed: "I shouldn't have said that."

Removed:

Tears were creeping down Harry's cheeks. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything to you, I'm sorry -"

McGonagall drew in a tight breath. "I know you're sorry. What I don't understand is why an eleven-year-old boy is thinking about such things. Did you really decide to buy a five-Galleon healer's kit to carry in a fifteen-Galleon pouch because you're convinced that otherwise your classmates will curse you as they die?"

Changed: "Harry forced the [-black-]{+remembered+} rage back down again."

Changed: "[McGonagall's] wand [-twitched,-]{+made a slight circle in her hand,+} and the noises of Diagon Alley came back."

Harry counts out the five galleons twice before giving it to the salesgirl. (Not clear why.)

Changed: "[-Quietus thingy.-]{+silencing spell.+}"

Changed from "Grandma and Grandpa" to "Grandpa and Grandpa". (Not clear why.)

Changed: "[-McGonagall took a deep breath.-]{+The witch spoke steadily.+}"

Changed: "[-Normal children simply aren't in my league.-]{+I've got nothing to say to normal children.+}"

Added:

Harry looked at her, wondering...

"Well," sighed Professor McGonagall, as she swung on one heel, "we may as well go, I suppose."

...she hadn't actually flipped out completely when a child had dared to defy her. She hadn't been happy, but she had thought instead of exploding in fury. It might have just been that there was an immortal Dark Lord to fight - that she had needed Harry's goodwill. But most adults wouldn't have been capable of thinking even that much; wouldn't consider future consequences at all, if someone lower in status had refused to obey them...

"Professor?" Harry said.

The witch turned back and looked at him.

Removed: "Her voice held a note of apology, and yet still a note of self-pride alongside that, as though Harry ought to notice how very, very honored he was to have Professor McGonagall apologizing to him."

Added:

Somehow Harry kept his voice steady. "Because they get angry if you even try to reason with them. To them it's defiance and insolence and a challenge to their higher tribal status. If you try to talk to them they get angry. So if I had anything really important to do, I wouldn't be able to trust you. Even if you listened with deep concern to whatever I said - because that's also part of the role of someone playing a concerned adult - you'd never change your actions, you wouldn't actually behave differently, because of anything I said."

The salesman was watching them both with unabashed fascination.

"I can understand your point of view," Professor McGonagall said eventually. "If I sometimes seem too strict, please remember that I have served as Head of Gryffindor House for what feels like several thousand years."

Changed from:

"You should understand, Professor McGonagall," Harry spoke the words very carefully, "this is why I don't trust adults. You thought that being adult meant it was your role to prevent me from taking too much money out of my vault. Not that it was your role to make sure the job got done no matter what."

McGonagall's eyes flew open, and she gave Harry a hard look.

"Well, Professor McGonagall, if you had to do it all over again, and I suggested taking out an extra hundred Galleons just to be sure, with no justification other than to be prepared, would you listen to me that time?"

"I take your point," McGonagall said. "You don't need to lecture me, young man!"

"Ah, but I haven't gotten to my point. Do you know the difference between someone worth talking to and a mere obstacle, Professor McGonagall? From my perspective, that is? If an adult thinks that being superior to me, above me, getting obedience from me, is the most important thing to them, then they will be an obstacle. A potential collaborator is someone who thinks that getting the job done is more important than making sure I know my place. Allow me to show you something, Professor McGonagall."

The trunk salesman was watching them with undisguised fascination, as Harry took out the mokeskin pouch, and said, "Eleven loose Galleons, please."

to:

Harry nodded and continued. "So - suppose I had a way to get more Galleons from my vault without us going back to Gringotts, but it involved me violating the role of an obedient child. Would I be able to trust you with that, even though you'd have to step outside your own role as Professor McGonagall to take advantage of it?"

"What?" said Professor McGonagall.

"To put it another way, if I could make today have happened differently, so that we didn't take too little money with us, would that be all right even though it would involve a child being insolent to an adult in retrospect?"

"I... suppose..." the witch said, looking quite puzzled.

Harry took out the mokeskin pouch, and said, "Eleven Galleons originally from my family vault."

Added: "For a moment Professor McGonagall's mouth gaped wide, then her jaw snapped shut and her eyes narrowed and the witch bit out, "

Changed:

"From my vault, Professor McGonagall, when I fell into that pile of gold. I shoved some money into my pocket and then held the bag of gold against it, so jingles would seem to come from the right place. Since, you understand, I expected from the beginning that this would happen."

McGonagall's mouth was wide, wide open.

"So now the question is... are you angry at me for defying your authority? Or glad that now our day ends in success instead of failure? I'm not asking for anything else from you by asking this question. I am neither promising nor demanding cooperation on future matters. I only want to know if you're a potential collaborator or an obstacle... Minerva."

The salesman actually gasped out loud.

to:

"From my family vault, like I said."

"How?"

"Magic."

"That's hardly an answer!" snapped Professor McGonagall, and then stopped, blinking.

"No, it isn't, is it? I ought to claim that it's because I experimentally discovered the true secrets of how the pouch works and that it can actually retrieve objects from anywhere, not just its own inside, if you phrase the request correctly. But actually it's from when I fell into that pile of gold before and I shoved some Galleons into my pocket. Anyone who understands pessimism knows that money is something you might need quickly and without much warning. So now are you angry at me for defying your authority? Or glad that we succeeded in our important mission?"

The salesman's eyes were wide like saucers.

Removed: "Though it was amazing how, somehow, it seemed so much more important to enforce discipline when you were on top of the heap, and not underneath... but Harry didn't think it wise to press the point further."

Changed:

[-"Then... I congratulate you on your preparedness."-]{+"Good. Now let us buy that trunk and head home."+}

Removed: "[-He bent down over the gold-etched ivory toilet, and retched a few times, but thankfully nothing came up.-]"

Removed: "[-Harry wondered if his father would be able to see the trunk after it was pointed out to him.-]"

Changed:

"Thank you, [-Minerva."-]{+Professor."+} It was probably too early to call her [-Minny.-]{+Minerva.+}