Covering for Hagrid

[sunnyskywalker]

In 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.

Comments

Whose deputy is Minerva?

[terri_testing]

Oh, you're right. Or mostly

[sunnyskywalker]

Minerva almost certainly had enough info to know Something Was Up by that point even without any priming. Hagrid had been nearly AWOL for a couple of weeks, and then one of the students in her house ended up in the hospital wing with a suspicious bite wound. (Ron was there long enough that Pomfrey ought to have told his head of house he was injured, even if Albus didn't want her to speculate by what.) If she went to Albus with concerns about what Hagrid might have that injured her student, he probably twinkled and said it was under control. So when she caught Draco and he said Hagrid had a dragon, she would almost have to be thinking, damn, that's what was going on. Her anger could definitely be at Harry and Hermione being foolish enough to get involved AND GET CAUGHT and the realization that Albus and the kids made it so she was now stuck in the conspiracy as well if she didn't want Hagrid in Azkaban and the kids in legal trouble.

Dumbledore could hardly tell her to call off the detentions if they were going to maintain that there

Minerva's Bathrobe

[hwyla]

Minerva being in her bathrobe does somewhat suggest that Draco went to her directly instead of finding whomever is on patrol

Re: Minerva's Bathrobe

[sunnyskywalker]

The really odd thing here is that it doesn't look like Draco woke her. Here's the passage from the first US edition, Oct. 1998:

Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared.

Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and hairnet, had Malfoy by the ear.

"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you--"

"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming--he's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on--I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

So, it sounds like Malfoy was lying in wait, and hadn't gone to her. But then who did call her out of bed so suddenly? A portrait? Or is Terri right that Dumbledore told her Draco was going to be out with some lie to entrap Harry, and that she should "happen upon him" to make sure there

[oryx_leucoryx]

And the House Cup competition reinforces this in-House cover-up deal.

[sunnyskywalker]

You have to wonder how it would have gone if Hagrid HAD been the one to find the basilisk. It was an accident! Poor thing was lonely! And no one even died the second time!

Again, I sympathize with not wanting to send anyone to torturedeath prison. But maybe they should advocate a little harder for criminal justice reform, then. Or at least not encourage Hagrid by promoting him to a position with MORE opportunity to get dangerous creatures and expose kids to them. Basic minimum there! Should be so easy to meet that standard!

[jana_ch]

I trust Headmaster Snape, when he recovers from his near-death experience and puts the school in order (I almost said ‘back in order,’ but it was never in order under Dumbles), will demote Hagrid back to groundskeeper, which was his title in Book One. Surely Snape, considering his own unpleasant experiences with magical monsters, could track down a couple of reasonably sane people as gamekeeper and as Magical Creatures prof to deal with animals. The new gamekeeper, as part of his job interview, could be asked to present a long-term plan for exterminating the infestation of Acromantulae in the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid can spend his time mowing the lawn and growing giant pumpkins. Fortunately he doesn’t seem to be interested in deadly plants; he leaves those to Sprout, who keeps them well under control. Who says Hufflepuffs are soft?