death to capslock

The one part I did like about the McGonagall backstory was Dumbledore revealing just enough of his own family history (which was very little, I'm betting... probably just "gosh it was hard dealing with my mother's family sometimes") to her to build fellow-feeling and sympathy. It seems like the kind of thing that might partly explain her loyalty toward him (since she'd feel like he really "got" her, was so wise and sympathetic, had managed to live a cheerful and professionally fulfilling life after... whatever he told her happened, etc.). Plus, it's similar to what Tom does, like in CoS when Diary!Tom reveals just enough about his tragic orphan-among-Muggles background to make Harry sympathetic toward him, and that is a parallel I find interesting :-D