7 book-only McGonagall scenes that should have made it to film

With the passing of Dame Maggie Smith, I have spent a lot of time remembering my favorite Professor McGonagall moments from the films. Her awarding of house points for "sheer dumb luck" was just as memorable as "Why is it, wen something happens, it is always you three?" to Harry, Ron and Hermione. On the other hand, I found myself wishing that each movie lasted five hours so we could include all the best bits from the books. Here are a few things I wish they had translated to the visual medium.

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: "Your father would have been proud."

Professor McGonagall is a bit unpredictable in the first book. A source of wisdom and discipline, Harry thinks that the head of Gryffindor House looks like someone not to be crossed. Then, she catches him performing a daredevil feat in Flying Class,

Instead of taking The Boy Who Lived down a notch, she puts him on the Quidditch team. She then waxes sentimental:

"Your father would have been proud...He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."

Minerva McGonagall

In the movie, it's Hermione who points Harry towards proof that he comes from a proud line of sportsmen, but Maggie would have found a kindly way to show the softer side of the professor.

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: "Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends."

During the second book, the staff and students at Hogwarts are living in fear of the Heir of Slytherin's monster. Fred and George Weasley try to keep everyone's morale boosted, but there is a lot of anxiety to be found in between classes.

Harry and Ron try to get answers from Moaning Myrtle, but are caught out of bounds by Professor McGonagall. Harry claims that they are skiving off class to reassure Hemione that help is on the way. McGonagall is moved by this compassion and as they reroute to the hospital wing, "they distinctly heard Professor McGonagall blow her nose." Ron praises Harry's lie, but the moment of humanity is a great one.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: "We'll risk it, Sybill."

I think that one of Professor McGonagall's greatest skills is not in rounding people up for detention or making students feel genuine remorse for breaking the rules. Instead, it's her ability to focus people's fear on the right subject.

We know from "Talons and Tea Leaves" that Professor McGonagall is not a believer in Divination. Her attitude is a helpful coping mechanism for her students who have been worried about a life-and-death prediction. At Christmas, she is told that the first to leave the dinner table will die and scoffs, "I doubt it will make much of a difference, unless a mad axe-man is waiting outside the doors to slaughter the first into the entrance hall."

Sirius Black is on the loose and has already attempted to break into Gryffindor tower, but the Deputy Headmistress is so right about the immediacy of danger that "even Ron laughed."

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: "These deaths were not the work of a random lunatic!"

Professor McGonagall just can't seem to get a break at times. She is surrogate mother to students who face dangers from Canary Creams to resurrected sorcerers. A veteran of the first war against Voldemort, she must have felt trepidation at the signs that the Dark Lord was returning, but she becomes the most emotionally open after Harry's return from the Little Hangleton graveyard.

In the last chapter of the book, she is faced with a Minister for Magic who refuses to respond to danger because it is too frightening a prospect. It takes guts for McGonagall to call him a fool and it's no surprise after this act of bravery that we see her as a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: "Have a biscuit, Potter."

There are entire scenes that were worth adding to this movie, such as professors giving Harry sweets for speaking out about Voldemort, McGonagall and Umbridge facing off during Harry's Careers Advice, or classes passing out in droves to protest Umbridge.

My favorite missing moment is when Harry is first sent to his Head of House for telling lies. McGonagall does take him to task for arguing with a teacher and not looking out for his own interests, but she also relentlessly tries to take care of him. When he is resenting her stance on things and refuses an act of kindness, she tells him not to be ridiculous. And when his entire understanding of Ministry mismanagement is someone else's thoughts, she says, "Well, I'm glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate."

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: "It's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she has."

It's high time I mentioned Neville Longbottom. His growth from fretful and forgetful first-year to leader of the student rebellion is a masterpiece of character development. And in Year 6, we have a wonderful moment between Neville and the teacher who hasn't always appreciated him.

This is the first book after Neville fought the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic and there are a number of people who care about that. Harry brushes off social invitations from people who didn't stand with him in that battle. Professor McGonagall, in reviewing his course selection, notices that he's trying to please his gran instead of taking pride in his accomplishments. She not only points out his academic achievements, but points out how he has more cause for self-confidence because of his grandmother's shortcomings in a subject.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: "NO!"

Don't get me wrong. I love Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley and there was a real power in her being the first of Harry's allies to see his body returned from the stand-off with Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts. But that's not how it's meant to be.

"The scream was the more terrible because he had never expected or dreamed that Professor McGonagall could make such a sound. He heard another woman laughing nearby, and knew that Bellatrix gloried in McGonagall's despair."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry's first mourner is the woman who saw him grow into more than a title and helped him foster his other strengths. She looked to him for certainty and guidance in preparing for the final face-off and this shows that she always thought of him as capable of defeating the Dark Lord.

What are your favorite missing scenes from the books for any of the characters? What scenes from the movies should have been part of the books?