Covering for Hagrid
Oct. 6th, 2015 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockIn my re-read of PS/SS, specifically looking for instances when the adults ought to know more than the kids about what’s going on, a penny finally dropped. Apologies to everyone who probably figured this out years ago.
Harry and Hermione, under the Invisibility Cloak, gleefully watch as McGonagall drags Draco Malfoy off by the ear, calling his claim that Harry has a dragon “utter rubbish.” They go hand off Norbert(a) to Charlie’s friends and head back down, whereupon McGonagall nabs them too and tells them off for “[feeding] Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble.”
This seems like blatant unfairness. Surely Draco didn’t stop trying to explain once he was out of Harry and Hermione’s earshot—didn’t he tell McGonagall he had seen the dragon in Hagrid’s hut with his own eyes? Hasn’t Hagrid told anyone who would listen that he would love to have a dragon? Hasn’t she noticed Hagrid being strangely absent the last few weeks? It seems like enough to merit investigation, at least, so she can at least punish Harry and Hermione for their actual transgressions--i.e., being out after curfew to act as accessories in a crime. (Dragon breeding and keeping dragons is against the law, remember. No doubt smuggling them as well, especially when it’s smuggling to conceal the earlier crime.) After fifty years, doesn’t Minerva know Hagrid at all?
Er, yes, she does. That’s the problem.
What, exactly, would happen if she had uncovered evidence that Hagrid had indeed broken the law by acquiring and hatching a dragon egg? Unlike the kids, she almost certainly knows that Hagrid was expelled for raising a Class XXXXX creature in the school. What would the consequences be, were he caught raising another Class XXXXX creature—one which, this time, unquestionably harmed a student when it sent Ron to the hospital wing with that nasty bite? And then enlisted students in concealing his crimes? I don’t think you need a degree in wizarding law to say things wouldn’t look too good for Hagrid. (Plus, we’ve read CoS. And he was just a suspect then!)
If McGonagall lets Draco believe for one minute that she considers his story plausible, she’s essentially just given Lucius Malfoy the go-ahead to raise a stink, with all the undoubtedly negative consequences for Hagrid--and his patron, Dumbledore. (She can hardly investigate and “find no evidence,” with Ron’s hospital wing stay on record. Better to be thought too trusting of her colleagues than complicit, if it comes out anyway.) So she can’t let on if she thinks it’s plausible.
(Why didn’t Draco owl Lucius to demand an investigation anyway? One wonders whether after insisting that he saw the dragon through Hagrid’s window, Draco got an earful about how if he really had seen such a thing, and told no one but instead sneaked out of bed to get another look, he would be guilty of concealing a crime himself. So it’s lucky Professor McGonagall doesn’t believe such an absurd story. Isn’t it, Mr. Malfoy.)
To recap: not only are Harry, Ron, and Hermione covering for Hagrid (which he, an adult staff member, set them up to do), and not only are Charlie and his dragon-smuggling friends covering for Hagrid, but McGonagall is also quite possibly covering for Hagrid. Lucky Hagrid!
Now, I do have sympathy for Hagrid. Really, I do. I even wrote an essay back in 2006 about it. All his dialogue about how he’s this dangerous little monster’s “Mummy” and how “Mummy” loves him and won’t abandon him take on new meaning once you get to GoF and find out that Hagrid’s own mummy--from a species reputed to be vicious and monstrous--abandoned him, and that he keeps his heritage secret because people will think he’s potentially a vicious monster, and he would never! But working out these issues by roping his friends--including children--into dangerous, even criminal actions? Not cool, Hagrid.
And while I also sympathize with the desire to keep him out of a horrific torture-prison, the collateral damage from these cover-ups isn’t doing anyone else any favors. Harry, for one, gets one of the Dursleys’ lessons reinforced for him: nobody cares to find out the truth, and all the explanations and evidence in the world (er, Draco’s, not Harry’s, this time, since Harry’s not talking) won’t help you. People believe what they want to believe and punish you or not based on how they feel, and there’s nothing you can do to change anyone’s mind.
Lesson learned.
Harry and Hermione, under the Invisibility Cloak, gleefully watch as McGonagall drags Draco Malfoy off by the ear, calling his claim that Harry has a dragon “utter rubbish.” They go hand off Norbert(a) to Charlie’s friends and head back down, whereupon McGonagall nabs them too and tells them off for “[feeding] Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble.”
This seems like blatant unfairness. Surely Draco didn’t stop trying to explain once he was out of Harry and Hermione’s earshot—didn’t he tell McGonagall he had seen the dragon in Hagrid’s hut with his own eyes? Hasn’t Hagrid told anyone who would listen that he would love to have a dragon? Hasn’t she noticed Hagrid being strangely absent the last few weeks? It seems like enough to merit investigation, at least, so she can at least punish Harry and Hermione for their actual transgressions--i.e., being out after curfew to act as accessories in a crime. (Dragon breeding and keeping dragons is against the law, remember. No doubt smuggling them as well, especially when it’s smuggling to conceal the earlier crime.) After fifty years, doesn’t Minerva know Hagrid at all?
Er, yes, she does. That’s the problem.
What, exactly, would happen if she had uncovered evidence that Hagrid had indeed broken the law by acquiring and hatching a dragon egg? Unlike the kids, she almost certainly knows that Hagrid was expelled for raising a Class XXXXX creature in the school. What would the consequences be, were he caught raising another Class XXXXX creature—one which, this time, unquestionably harmed a student when it sent Ron to the hospital wing with that nasty bite? And then enlisted students in concealing his crimes? I don’t think you need a degree in wizarding law to say things wouldn’t look too good for Hagrid. (Plus, we’ve read CoS. And he was just a suspect then!)
If McGonagall lets Draco believe for one minute that she considers his story plausible, she’s essentially just given Lucius Malfoy the go-ahead to raise a stink, with all the undoubtedly negative consequences for Hagrid--and his patron, Dumbledore. (She can hardly investigate and “find no evidence,” with Ron’s hospital wing stay on record. Better to be thought too trusting of her colleagues than complicit, if it comes out anyway.) So she can’t let on if she thinks it’s plausible.
(Why didn’t Draco owl Lucius to demand an investigation anyway? One wonders whether after insisting that he saw the dragon through Hagrid’s window, Draco got an earful about how if he really had seen such a thing, and told no one but instead sneaked out of bed to get another look, he would be guilty of concealing a crime himself. So it’s lucky Professor McGonagall doesn’t believe such an absurd story. Isn’t it, Mr. Malfoy.)
To recap: not only are Harry, Ron, and Hermione covering for Hagrid (which he, an adult staff member, set them up to do), and not only are Charlie and his dragon-smuggling friends covering for Hagrid, but McGonagall is also quite possibly covering for Hagrid. Lucky Hagrid!
Now, I do have sympathy for Hagrid. Really, I do. I even wrote an essay back in 2006 about it. All his dialogue about how he’s this dangerous little monster’s “Mummy” and how “Mummy” loves him and won’t abandon him take on new meaning once you get to GoF and find out that Hagrid’s own mummy--from a species reputed to be vicious and monstrous--abandoned him, and that he keeps his heritage secret because people will think he’s potentially a vicious monster, and he would never! But working out these issues by roping his friends--including children--into dangerous, even criminal actions? Not cool, Hagrid.
And while I also sympathize with the desire to keep him out of a horrific torture-prison, the collateral damage from these cover-ups isn’t doing anyone else any favors. Harry, for one, gets one of the Dursleys’ lessons reinforced for him: nobody cares to find out the truth, and all the explanations and evidence in the world (er, Draco’s, not Harry’s, this time, since Harry’s not talking) won’t help you. People believe what they want to believe and punish you or not based on how they feel, and there’s nothing you can do to change anyone’s mind.
Lesson learned.
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Re: Minerva's Bathrobe
Date: 2015-10-08 01:47 am (UTC)I have no idea how Draco would know where to find her room. It isn't as if her Gryffs even know. But just because she is lecturing him on wandering the halls, doesn't mean he didn't wake her. Perhaps he requested a portrait 'fetch' her?
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 01:24 pm (UTC)It is weird. But I can't really see her "grappling in the dark" if Draco had just knocked on her door either. Wouldn't she light the lamp when answeing the door, or ask who it was? They didn't walk here together from her quarters or they would have had this conversation already. It sounds like she was wandering in the dark in her bathrobe, which is just weird.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 01:55 pm (UTC)You know, another alternative is that he didn't ask for Minerva specifically, but asked a portrait for a teacher and the portrait decided that since it involved her Gryffs, then it should be Minerva that was awakened. This actually works a bit for Draco having learned his lesson from the 'duel' and tattling to Filch. Draco is on the scene this time, perhaps waiting to ensure that Harry & co. actually show up (since they weren't there for Filch to find). So I can see Draco waiting near the Astronomy Tower and asking a nearby portrait to get a teacher. The only problem with that is he has NOT yet seen Harry. So perhaps a portrait acted on its own? But then, why get Minerva for a Slytherin?
One of my main points about this all is that this is the second time Draco has 'tattled' and neither time has he involved Snape. I need to think about whether or not this changes later in the books. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of him continuing to tattle. I think it's more that they just get caught.
Does this mean Draco learned his lesson? Tattling at Hogwarts will not work and may only get you in trouble as well? Or was he more covert (doubtful, considering the way he cannot keep his mouth shut in bk2).
I do agree that this detention would have colored the way Draco saw Hagrid. We know he saw him as 'just a servant' in Diagon Alley, but I don't recall him saying anything about him being dangerous - tho' I could be wrong about that. He certainly knows Hagrid is dangerous after the forest detention.
And what does this all say about the idea that Harry believes Draco is Snape's 'favorite', if he doesn't go to his own head of house to do this tattling? Not to mention that later on that Draco works to hide his own misdeeds (bk4 - the 'teeth') from Snape.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 09:45 pm (UTC)