The Keeper of the Keys, Take Two
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deathtocapslockThere’s something I entirely overlooked when I first considered Dumbledore’s choice of Hagrid as the WW’s emissary to Harry.
Hagrid told us that part of his happiness in accepting Dumbledore’s commission was that he had permission to use magic openly until he’d secured custody of Harry. And that he wasn’t supposed to use his (broken) wand after he’d done so.
Um.
Let’s back up and think about this, shall we?
Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts, and his wand broken, when he was in his third year. For a serious crime (raising a class XXXXX magical beast and releasing it in a wizard-populated area) which would probably have netted him a long (life-long?) Azkaban sentence had he been older and adjudged competent.
Now, perhaps it might be the case that the Hogwarts headmaster has the authority to lift, at least temporarily, the interdiction on Hagrid performing magic. But it rather seems that Albus has not—we are given indications that Hagrid used his broken wand surreptitiously, to grow pumpkins and the like, but never once that he used it confident that he had leave to do so. And surely Hagrid’s blind adoration of Albus would have faltered if he knew that Albus was personally and persistently denying Hagrid the use of his wand, whatever other favors and signs of trust he might bestow.
So it seems probable that Albus has not the authority to give a wand-denied convicted criminal temporary permission to use a wand, even on Hogwarts grounds.
In which case Albus certainly had no authority to give such leave in the outside world. To give Hagrid permission to use his (broken) wand among (and against) Muggles!
Yet Hagrid had that permission when he arrived at the Hut-on-the-Rock. He had permission to use magic until he’d secured custody of Harry.
Who, then, gave him that permission?
Had to have been the Ministry, either Fudge or the appropriate under-secretary.
What did Albus say, to persuade the Ministry that a banned-from-using magic gamekeeper was the best choice to deliver the Hogwarts letter to the Boy-Who-Lived? That the Ministry must even go so far as to temporarily lift the ban on Hagrid’s using magic, to expedite that choice?
In my essay “The Keeper of the Keys,”
http://terri-testing.livejournal.com/14464.html#cutid
I speculated on Albus’s hidden reasons for wanting Harry Potter’s introduction to the WW to be made by Hagrid.
But the reasons adduced there were such as Albus could never admit openly to anyone in the WW. What did he say to his followers in the Order, to skeptics at the Ministry, to persuade them that Hagrid (not himself, not Minerva, not Fudge, not a Ministry committee) was the best, the only choice, as emissary and escort to Harry Potter?
Well. Let’s look at Hagrid from the eyes of the Ministry. Or, more precisely, from the mouth of someone reared by those who have the ears of the Ministry. What Draco Malfoy knows about Hagrid before he meets him is, “He’s a sort of servant, isn’t he? ...I heard he’s a sort of savage—lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed.”
Hagrid is also, of course, as huge as he is uncouth. Almost twice as tall as an adult man, and five times as wide. Terrifying when he’s in a temper, intimidating even when he’s not. Extremely conspicuous among Muggles.
Why would the Ministry want THAT to be the WW’s emissary to Harry Potter?
Or rather, why would they want that as their emissary to Harry Potter’s guardians? You know, the ones who haven’t let him answer his owls?
Those Muggles who had the inestimable privilege of rearing the Boy-Who-Lived as their own, and now apparently have the nerve to be trying to keep him from entering his proper world?
One could not find an ambassador better suited to push ALL of the Dursleys’ buttons. Blatantly, unmistakably a freak. A servant. A criminal. A savage. A drunk. And big enough to physically threaten Vernon without having to use magic.
I think Albus persuaded the Ministry to let him send Hagrid to, ah, persuade Harry Potter’s guardians to rethink their clear intention of keeping their ward well away from the Wizarding World, as a deliberate insult and affront to the Dursleys. The lowest servant at Hogwarts, the criminal expelled at age thirteen, can still force Muggles to accede to the Wizarding World’s will. They don’t deserve the honor of having their decisions set at naught by anyone higher placed.
One last thing. Anything known to the Ministry is also known to anyone who has spies—excuse me, connections—in the Ministry. If the Ministry knew Dumbledore was sending Hagrid as the escort to bring Harry Potter to the WW, so too did anyone else interested.
Like, you know, the former Death Eaters. Dumbledore was quite sure that some of the wizards currently protesting their unfaltering support for the Ministry had once been enthusiastic supporters of the WW’s most recent violent revolutionary…..
And he let them all know that Harry Potter would be visiting Diagon Alley on the thirty-first of July, escorted only by a wandless gamekeeper.
I say again,
Um.
Hagrid told us that part of his happiness in accepting Dumbledore’s commission was that he had permission to use magic openly until he’d secured custody of Harry. And that he wasn’t supposed to use his (broken) wand after he’d done so.
Um.
Let’s back up and think about this, shall we?
Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts, and his wand broken, when he was in his third year. For a serious crime (raising a class XXXXX magical beast and releasing it in a wizard-populated area) which would probably have netted him a long (life-long?) Azkaban sentence had he been older and adjudged competent.
Now, perhaps it might be the case that the Hogwarts headmaster has the authority to lift, at least temporarily, the interdiction on Hagrid performing magic. But it rather seems that Albus has not—we are given indications that Hagrid used his broken wand surreptitiously, to grow pumpkins and the like, but never once that he used it confident that he had leave to do so. And surely Hagrid’s blind adoration of Albus would have faltered if he knew that Albus was personally and persistently denying Hagrid the use of his wand, whatever other favors and signs of trust he might bestow.
So it seems probable that Albus has not the authority to give a wand-denied convicted criminal temporary permission to use a wand, even on Hogwarts grounds.
In which case Albus certainly had no authority to give such leave in the outside world. To give Hagrid permission to use his (broken) wand among (and against) Muggles!
Yet Hagrid had that permission when he arrived at the Hut-on-the-Rock. He had permission to use magic until he’d secured custody of Harry.
Who, then, gave him that permission?
Had to have been the Ministry, either Fudge or the appropriate under-secretary.
What did Albus say, to persuade the Ministry that a banned-from-using magic gamekeeper was the best choice to deliver the Hogwarts letter to the Boy-Who-Lived? That the Ministry must even go so far as to temporarily lift the ban on Hagrid’s using magic, to expedite that choice?
In my essay “The Keeper of the Keys,”
http://terri-testing.livejournal.com/14464.html#cutid
I speculated on Albus’s hidden reasons for wanting Harry Potter’s introduction to the WW to be made by Hagrid.
But the reasons adduced there were such as Albus could never admit openly to anyone in the WW. What did he say to his followers in the Order, to skeptics at the Ministry, to persuade them that Hagrid (not himself, not Minerva, not Fudge, not a Ministry committee) was the best, the only choice, as emissary and escort to Harry Potter?
Well. Let’s look at Hagrid from the eyes of the Ministry. Or, more precisely, from the mouth of someone reared by those who have the ears of the Ministry. What Draco Malfoy knows about Hagrid before he meets him is, “He’s a sort of servant, isn’t he? ...I heard he’s a sort of savage—lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed.”
Hagrid is also, of course, as huge as he is uncouth. Almost twice as tall as an adult man, and five times as wide. Terrifying when he’s in a temper, intimidating even when he’s not. Extremely conspicuous among Muggles.
Why would the Ministry want THAT to be the WW’s emissary to Harry Potter?
Or rather, why would they want that as their emissary to Harry Potter’s guardians? You know, the ones who haven’t let him answer his owls?
Those Muggles who had the inestimable privilege of rearing the Boy-Who-Lived as their own, and now apparently have the nerve to be trying to keep him from entering his proper world?
One could not find an ambassador better suited to push ALL of the Dursleys’ buttons. Blatantly, unmistakably a freak. A servant. A criminal. A savage. A drunk. And big enough to physically threaten Vernon without having to use magic.
I think Albus persuaded the Ministry to let him send Hagrid to, ah, persuade Harry Potter’s guardians to rethink their clear intention of keeping their ward well away from the Wizarding World, as a deliberate insult and affront to the Dursleys. The lowest servant at Hogwarts, the criminal expelled at age thirteen, can still force Muggles to accede to the Wizarding World’s will. They don’t deserve the honor of having their decisions set at naught by anyone higher placed.
One last thing. Anything known to the Ministry is also known to anyone who has spies—excuse me, connections—in the Ministry. If the Ministry knew Dumbledore was sending Hagrid as the escort to bring Harry Potter to the WW, so too did anyone else interested.
Like, you know, the former Death Eaters. Dumbledore was quite sure that some of the wizards currently protesting their unfaltering support for the Ministry had once been enthusiastic supporters of the WW’s most recent violent revolutionary…..
And he let them all know that Harry Potter would be visiting Diagon Alley on the thirty-first of July, escorted only by a wandless gamekeeper.
I say again,
Um.
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-02 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-02 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-02 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-03 03:50 am (UTC)Following his sheepish response to Ollivander in PS chapter 5 we guessed he probably had the pieces of his broken wand in his umbrella. But then in DH we see Harry attempting to use a broken wand. And we learn that Albus was in possession of the Elder Wand, one that has the capacity to mend a broken wand. Putting 2 and 2 together, Hagrid had a *mended* wand in his possession, illegally, without the Ministry's knowledge.
So - either Albus gave Hagrid implicit permission to use his secret, illegal wand or the Ministry allowed Hagrid to use magic in Muggle places thinking he would be using pre-charmed objects and not knowing he would be using a wand he was not supposed to be in possession of.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-03 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-03 10:03 pm (UTC)For instance, at the Quidditch World Cup in GoF we see two little girls flying on toy brooms. For that matter, in OotP after the Dementor attack, Harry was firmly told "DO NOT DO ANY MORE MAGIC," but then he flies from the Dursleys to Grimmauld Place on his broom. Using a broom apparently isn't a problem.
Similarly, although Mr. and Mrs. Weasley do enforce the no-wand-use rule at home (see Christmas in HBP, when the twins tease Ron and Harry for having to peel sprouts without magic), their children play Quidditch (with a charmed snitch as well as the brooms), and we hear that "small explosions from Fred and George’s bedroom were considered perfectly normal." We can't be *sure*, but the explosions are probably due to *something* magical, rather than something like nonmagical fireworks.
So, unless the use of charmed objects and potions is restricted in some way that I don't see evidence of, Dumbledore would have no reason to mention Hagrid's use of them to the Ministry, in any case.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 04:20 am (UTC)BTW what happened to the Trace on Hagrid's wand when it was snapped? And apparently the repair of the wand did not reactivate the Trace.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 05:09 pm (UTC)Not good PR for DD's protege and emissary to break the law.
Maybe, however, DD only expected the attention to start once Hagrid was actually in the boy's company? In which case, Hagrid had no legal authorization to use his wand, just DD's blessing? But he had to stop once other people might have their eye on him?
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 06:20 pm (UTC)I was thinking, at first, that this argument might not work because Ron used a broken wand for most of CoS. But I checked and saw that Ron's wand wasn't completely snapped. It was still hanging together "by a few splinters," and the core was possibly still intact. Plus, Ron's wand was broken near the tip, rather than near the center.
So, all of this is to say that, yes, the Ministry would have no reason to believe that Hagrid was able to do magic with a wand.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-02 03:50 am (UTC)I say again,
Um.
And indeed the entire Malfoy family was there. But we never saw the adults, they were so busy getting Draco his supplies. Or perhaps the family split three ways to increase the chances one of them got a glimpse of the Boy Who Lived, to get an idea how likely he was as the next Dark Lord, or whatever they expected him to turn out to be.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 05:12 pm (UTC)That is, that using wandless Hagrid, and advertising in advance that he was to be Harry's only escort, was basically issuing an engraved invitation to whomever might still want to kill the boy.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 03:54 am (UTC)I could totally see Severus spreading this message of cheer.
Of course, by the time Snape was talking to Bella and Cissy at the beginning of HPB, Harry's demonstrated track record of mediocrity paired with good friends and unbelievable luck had blown that explanation out of the water....
no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 04:23 am (UTC)But by then Hagrid had demonstated that he'd inherited his mother's imperviousness to most wizard aati-personnel magic.
Even if Albus had known for sure of Hagrid's ancestry in book one (which I could easily credit, but on which canon is silent), could Albus be sure what exactly of his mum's invulnerability to magical injury Hagrid had inherited, before it was tested in combat?
Wheras in HBP, Albus was sending three just-shy-of-adult survivors of a pitched magical battle against twice as many Death Eaters (not to mention other challenges) with two wand-carrying adults, plus a half-giant guard who'd demonstrated his absolute imperviousness to six simultaneous Stunners. It was by now clear that little short of an AK could take Hagrid out.
But this was not generally known as recently as three months ago, when the Ministry and Umbridge clearly believed that, okay, maybe Umbridge should have an escort to fire Hagrid, but a few extra Stunners would suffice to pacify him if he cut up rough about being sacked.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-24 08:56 am (UTC)