What do Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall Have in Common?

Source: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00041178.html

What do Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall have in common?  I mean beside the fact that they both come from households who stifled any signs of magic, and the fact that they are both Gryffindors and the fact they were both star Quidditch players during their school years too.  Wow, come to think of it, they actually have a lot in common.  There is one commonality in particular which I wanted to highlight for today's fun fact, and that is that they both had very similar experiences under the Sorting Hat. They both caused a hatstall.

With a thirst to prove himself as a worthy wizard despite being raised as a muggle and a desire to live up to the the expectations held by most of the wizarding world, it is little wonder that the Sorting Hat felt that Harry Potter would have done well in Slytherin.  Having recently learned about Slytherin's bad reputation, Harry emphatically protested being placed in that house.  After minutes of going back and forth with Harry the hat gave in to Harry's wishes and placed him in Gryffindor.

Harry being sorted. 

Decades before the young boy first entered the grand entrance hall at Hogwarts, a young Minerva McGonagall made her way to the destiny-deciding headwear to be sorted.  While the hat looked inside her head it had a hard time deciding if her unflinching moral code (inherited by her father who was a Presbyterian minister) was more defining than her incredible intellectual capacity.  The hat wavered between placing the young girl in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.  In the end the hat decided on the latter. As an interesting aside, Minerva's future colleague, Filius Flitwick had a similar experience with opposite results.  The two loved to joke about how their roles would be reversed had the had decided differently.

There is so much more to be shared about the fascinating woman that is Minerva McGonagall.  Like the fact that she was married for three years before her husband's life was tragically cut short, or the origins of her complete and utter hatred for Slytherin which involves a Quidditch Cup final, a foul, a concussion and a lot of broken ribs. Sadly we are out of time so those facts will to wait for another day.  For more interesting Harry Potter facts as well as other interesting random trivia, stay tuned to Fun Facts of the Day with me, The 90s Kid!

Source: www.pottermore.com

Pottermore is a site wherein anybody can interact with the magical world of Harry Potter.  J.K. Rowling regularly uploads writings on various events and characters from the books.  If you are a Harry Potter fan I highly recommend the site!

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