Rubeus Hagrid

Hagrid was born on 6 December 1928 to Mr Hagrid, a wizard, and Fridwulfa, a giantess, and grew up in the West Country of England, near the Forest of Dean, where he acquired his distinctive accent.

When Hagrid was about three, his mother returned to her Giant colony, leaving his father to raise him alone. 

Hagrid’s father was thrilled when his son was accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Hagrid began his education in 1940 in which he was Sorted into Gryffindor House. During his third year, Hagrid acquired one in what would be a long line of dangerous pets: a young Acromantula, which he named Aragog. 

That same year, fifth-year student Tom Marvolo Riddle, who would go on to become Lord Voldemort, opened the Chamber of Secrets and unleashed a far more dangerous monster, which Riddle used to attack and petrify a number of Muggle-born students until he finally caused the death of a girl named Myrtle Warren. When the school was threatened with closing, a consequence highly undesired by Riddle, the boy found out about Aragog and turned Hagrid in as the culprit; he even further slandered Hagrid with accusations of raising werewolf cubs under his bed and running off into the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls. Hagrid protected Aragog and helped him flee to the Forbidden Forest; however, he was shortly thereafter expelled from Hogwarts, a fate that he was relieved that his father never knew of, having died during Hagrid’s second year.

Following his expulsion, the Ministry of Magic forbade Hagrid from practising magic and destroyed his wand. The then-Transfiguration teacher Albus Dumbledore, who was convinced that Hagrid was innocent, nonetheless convinced then-Headmaster, Armando Dippet, to give Hagrid the job of Gamekeeper and allow him to remain a resident of the school. Hagrid continued to do magic using his pink umbrella, which contained the broken fragments of his wand or perhaps even his entire wand intact, which may have been repaired by Albus Dumbledore with the Elder Wand.

Sometime after being expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Hagrid joined the original Order of the Phoenix in the 1970s. At the abrupt end of the First Wizarding War, Albus Dumbledore sent Hagrid to rescue a one-year-old Harry Potter from the ruins of his house in Godric’s Hollow, after Lord Voldemort murdered both James and Lily Potter in 1981. Using Sirius Black’s motorcycle, he brought Harry Potter to Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall, who were waiting to deliver the boy to his only remaining family — Lily’s Muggle elder sister, Petunia, and her husband Vernon Dursley. Sometime after being expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Hagrid joined the original Order of the Phoenix in the 1970s.

Early in the 1984–1985 school year, Hagrid rescued a student from Devil’s Snare. He also met Ben Copper. Around this time, he also got a puppy. Shortly before one of his birthdays, Hagrid lost one of his pets, and stopped being as cheerful as he usually was. Around this time, Dumbledore recruited Jacob’s sibling to help throw him a huge birthday party to cheer him up and show just how much everyone appreciated him. At some point before this, he saved a seventh year’s life, made a first year feel welcome at Hogwarts, and baked Rock Cakes to cheer up a third year.

After Harry was accepted to Hogwarts in 1991, Hagrid was given the task of finding Harry, as Harry’s uncle Vernon was doing everything in his power to prevent his nephew from receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter. On Harry’s eleventh birthday, Hagrid found the Dursleys and Harry in an extremely isolated Hut-on-the-Rock, and accidentally broke the door down from the force of his knocking, much to Vernon and Petunia’s intense displeasure; Vernon threatened him with a gun, demanding that he leave, only for Hagrid to contemptuously seize the gun and twist it into a knot like it was rubber.

Not only did Hagrid show Harry some of the first real kindness he had ever known, bringing him a birthday cakeand generally caring about Harry’s comfort and happiness in a way the Dursleys would never have even considered, but he also revealed to Harry that he was a wizard. In retaliation, he attempted to turn Harry’s spoiled bully of a cousin, Dudley, into a pig, but only managed to give the boy a pig’s tail. However, Hagrid credited this to Dudley being so much like a pig already, that there was not much left to do. Once it was confirmed that Harry would be attending Hogwarts, after Hagrid decidedly ignored the Dursleys’ protests, he helped Harry find his bearings in the magical world by taking him to Diagon Alley, through the Leaky Cauldron, to buy his school necessities. While in Diagon Alley, Hagrid took Harry to Gringotts Wizarding Bank to withdraw some funds from the Potters’ vault, and to retrieve the Philosopher’s Stone from high-security Vault 713, to be transported to Hogwarts for even safer keeping. Hagrid also bought Hedwig, a snowy white owl, for Harry’s eleventh birthday. He comforted Harry about his upcoming attendance at Hogwarts school and provided him with a ticket detailing the date, time and place that he would need to catch the Hogwarts Express. Not only did Hagrid show Harry some of the first real kindness he had ever known, bringing him a birthday cakeand generally caring about Harry’s comfort and happiness in a way the Dursleys would never have even considered, but he also revealed to Harry that he was a wizard. In retaliation, he attempted to turn Harry’s spoiled bully of a cousin, Dudley, into a pig, but only managed to give the boy a pig’s tail. However, Hagrid credited this to Dudley being so much like a pig already, that there was not much left to do.

In the spring of 1992, Hagrid met a hooded man (Quirinus Quirrell in disguise) at the Hog’s Head and was enticed to play a game of cards when the mysterious person bet a dragon egg. Assuming the man was a dragon dealer and fellow dangerous creature enthusiast, and under the influence of a fair amount of mead, Hagrid was convinced to divulge details about Fluffy, the three-headed dog Hagrid had lent to Dumbledore to help guard the Philosopher’s Stone. Hagrid secretly took care of the egg, until the night he hatched, Hagrid was initially blind to the chaos that the hatchling caused, but eventually, Harry, Ron, and Hermione convinced him to allow Norbert to be taken to a dragon sanctuary by friends of Ron’s brother, Charlie, who worked with dragons. After learning that Voldemort had attempted to steal the Stone using the information Hagrid gave him while drunk, Hagrid was distraught with guilt, but Harry assured Hagrid that he did not blame him. As an apology, Hagrid spent the time that Harry was unconscious sending off owls to some of his parents’ old school friends, assembling an album full of wizarding photos of Harry’s parents for him.In the spring of 1992, Hagrid met a hooded man (Quirinus Quirrell in disguise) at the Hog’s Head and was enticed to play a game of cards when the mysterious person bet a dragon egg. Assuming the man was a dragon dealer and fellow dangerous creature enthusiast, and under the influence of a fair amount of mead, Hagrid was convinced to divulge details about Fluffy, the three-headed dog Hagrid had lent to Dumbledore to help guard the Philosopher’s Stone.

During the 1992–1993 school year, Hagrid showed public disdain for the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, although he never did so for any other teachers. In 1993 Hagrid was sent to the wizarding prison, Azkaban, when the Chamber of Secrets was re-opened. It was assumed he was the one who reopened the Chamber because his expulsion from Hogwarts was for the same occurrence. Even with Dumbledore backing Hagrid, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge insisted on taking Hagrid anyway. So on the same night Dumbledore was asked to step down as Headmaster by the school governors, Hagrid was escorted to Azkaban. However, he was able to help Harry and Ron solve the mystery surrounding the Chamber, by advising them to “follow the spiders.”

Following the spiders led the boys to Aragog, the Acromantula believed to have attacked students during the 1942-1943 school year, and his family. Though Harry and Ron barely escaped the encounter with their lives, they managed to obtain some valuable information over the course of their conversation with Aragog: the monster within the Chamber had nothing to do with Hagrid, and the girl it had killed in the 1940s had died in a bathroom.

n the 1993-1994 school year, Hagrid became a professor of the Care of Magical Creatures. For his first lesson, Hagrid taught his third-year students about hippogriffs. After explaining the proper way to greet a hippogriff and choosing Harry to demonstrate, Draco Malfoy caused trouble by insulting the hippogriff Buckbeak, even though Hagrid had warned the class to treat the creatures with respect. Buckbeak attacked Draco, and the Ministry of Magic issued an order for Buckbeak’s execution after a hearing in which Lucius Malfoy’s pull at the Ministry was demonstrated, the incident also damaging Hagrid’s self-confidence; later lessons focused on tamer creatures like flobberworms. Buckbeak’s attack on Malfoy was later used during the Triwizard Tournament by Rita Skeeter to give Hagrid a very bad reputation. An appeal took place on 6 June 1994, but this was to no avail, and Buckbeak was to be executed at sunset that night. Before the execution, Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited Hagrid to console him, and they left just before the executioner arrived. Knowing Buckbeak’s position, and the exact timing of the start of the execution, Harry and Hermione were able to save Buckbeak by going back in time with Hermione’s Time-Turner, allowing them to rescue Buckbeak after the Ministry team sent to execute him had confirmed his location while Hagrid and Dumbledore were under observation, thus guaranteeing that neither would be blamed for Buckbeak’s rescue/escape. Delighted at the escape of his beloved pet, Hagrid spent the whole night celebrating with a large bottle of what may have been Firewhisky.n the 1993-1994 school year, Hagrid became a professor of the Care of Magical Creatures. For his first lesson, Hagrid taught his third-year students about hippogriffs. After explaining the proper way to greet a hippogriff and choosing Harry to demonstrate, Draco Malfoy caused trouble by insulting the hippogriff Buckbeak, even though Hagrid had warned the class to treat the creatures with respect. Buckbeak attacked Draco, and the Ministry of Magic issued an order for Buckbeak’s execution after a hearing in which Lucius Malfoy’s pull at the Ministry was demonstrated, the incident also damaging Hagrid’s self-confidence; later lessons focused on tamer creatures like flobberworms. Buckbeak’s attack on Malfoy was later used during the Triwizard Tournament by Rita Skeeter to give Hagrid a very bad reputation. 

During Harry’ s fourth year at Hogwarts, between the 1994 and 1995, Hogwarts hosted the Triwizard Tournament, which had as competitor Beauxbatons School whose headmistress was the giantess: Madame Maxime. Her and Hagrid were involved in a sort of romantic relationship being her the first giantess Hagrid will met, in fact he’ll be in charge of taking care of her horses the Abraxans, which only drank single malt whiskey and required particular magical cure. During the year Hagrid, being the teacher of Care of Magical Creatures, will start to show his bent towards particular creatures, letting Harry, Ron and Hermione’s class to bred the Blast-Ended Skrewts: newly hatched Skrewts looked like pale, slimy deformed shell-less lobsters or scorpions. They had legs sticking out at odd angles. They were about six inches long and smelled strongly of rotten fish. Sparks flew out of their rear ends every so often, which propelled them forward a few inches. The males had stingers and the females had suckers on their body to suck blood^. The skrewts do not hibernate during winter. breeding the Skrewts at the beginning of September, and had several hundred. By the following June, he only had one, which was the one that was placed in the maze. Hagrid never discovered what they ate. They often killed each other off, so it is not surprising they died so quickly. It is unknown what became of the last Skrewt. He also brought several Nifflers to look after, which made Ron pretty happy because of their talent in finding coins.

Hagrid also offer Maxime to dance with him at the Yule Ball, where right after in the gardens he confided in her his life story, revealing to her that he is a half-giant, assuming her to be one as well because of her massive size. She was offended by the insinuations that she was part giant, and left him heartbroken. Rita Skeeter, in her Animagus beetle form, overheard Hagrid’s confession and reported it in the Daily Prophet. After receiving a fair amount of hate mail, Hagrid hid in the seclusion of his hut, while Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank temporarily took over Care of Magical Creatures, and attempted to resign from his position as Professor. Dumbledore refused to accept Hagrid’s resignation, and he was eventually convinced to come back and teach by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

When Albus Dumbledore learned of Voldemort’s rebirth, he sent Hagrid and Madame Maxime as envoys to the giant colonies of north-eastern Minsk, in the hopes of dissuading the giants from joining Lord Voldemort’s side in the coming war. Bearing gifts of eternal Gubraithian Fire and a goblin-made battle helmet, they eventually won over the Gurg, Karkus. However, the Death Eaters that Voldemort had sent on the same mission engineered an uprising. This uprising was led by the giant Golgomath, who beheaded Karkus and usurped his position. Golgomath then ordered his subordinates to attack Hagrid and Maxime and forced them to flee. Hagrid subsequently found that his mother had died years ago, and the existence of his half-brother Grawp, who was having a hard time within his colony as he was considerably smaller than most giants. Hagrid insisted on bringing Grawp back to Hogwarts due to this and presumably to prevent Grawp from being enslaved by Voldemort alongside the other giants. Grawp, however, was highly resistant to the idea and had a general tendency to be violent. Thus Hagrid and Grawp made the journey back to Scotland separately from Madam Maxime.

About halfway through the school year, Hagrid returned from his mission for Dumbledore with his half-brother, Grawp. In 1995, Dolores Umbridge was brought in as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, and later became the first and only Hogwarts High Inquisitor. Hagrid barely excused himself for his long absence from Umbridge’s tyrannical questioning and was surprised that he would be subjected to her inspection soon afterwards. Hagrid resumed his teaching post, beginning with a lesson about Thestrals. Despite their rather off-putting appearance and the inability of most of the class to see them, Hermione found these lessons far more useful than Hagrid’s typical classes. Regardless, early in 1996, Professor Umbridge put Hagrid on probation after supposedly finding his lessons unsatisfactory by her standards, despite Hermione’s every effort to make sure Hagrid’s curriculum was geared toward preparing students for the upcoming O.W.L.s. Umbridge’s harsh judgement was largely due to her distaste for “half-breeds,” and it was only the resistance she met from Headmaster Dumbledore that kept her from firing Hagrid altogether. When confronted by the trio about this revelation, Hagrid attempted to make light of it (nearly concussing Professor Vector with his fist as she went past) but was consistently jumpy and nervous at the prospect of being sacked. However, once Dumbledore was forced to leave in order to shield Harry from punishment for establishing Dumbledore’s Army, Hagrid feared that he would be driven out by the new Headmistress Umbridge. In preparation for this, he introduced Harry and Hermione to Grawp. Grawp took an immediate liking to Hermione, whom he called “Hermy,” and Hagrid asked the two of them, along with Ron, to take care of Grawp in his absence.

Upon Dumbledore’s departure, general chaos reigned within the school, as the students became determined to make Umbridge’s job as hard for her as possible; Lee Jordan even released a couple of nifflers into her office, for which she blamed Hagrid. Umbridge finally attempted to have Hagrid forcibly removed from the premises, and possibly arrested, when she brought several Ministry officials to his hut in the middle of the night so as not to cause a commotion with the students due to their earlier presence at Sybill Trelawney’s dismissal. Hagrid refused to go quietly and took on the officials, whose attempts to Stun him proved fruitless thanks to his giant blood. Fang came to his master’s aid until one of the wizards Stunned him, prompting Hagrid to lift the culprit bodily from the ground and throw the unfortunate soul ten feet away. While all of this was being witnessed by the trio’s Astronomy exam, Professor Minerva McGonagall came charging out of the castle demanding that Hagrid be left alone and, in a disgustingly cowardly move, was seriously injured after being hit by four simultaneous Stunning Spells without warning. Enraged at this dishonourable conduct and the injury of his friend and colleague, Hagrid knocked out two more of his assailants before fleeing with his unconscious dog. Aurors were sent to search for Hagrid, but he successfully evaded capture by hiding in the same cave that had previously proved a useful hiding place for Sirius Black. Once Dumbledore was reinstated as the Headmaster of Hogwarts and Umbridge permanently removed from the school, Hagrid was welcomed back to his post.

“And Odo the hero, they bore him back home

To the place that he’d known as a lad,

They laid him to rest with his hat inside out

And his wand snapped in two, which was sad.”

The following year with the N.E.W.T.s coming Harry, Ron and Hermione had to choose if carrying forward Hagrid’s classes or not: When Hagrid found out that none of his sixth-year Gryffindor students chose to continue past their O.W.L. level of Care of Magical Creatures, he initially misinterpreted this as a reflection of his students not liking him, as opposed to his questionable teaching. Hagrid eventually came to forgive Harry, Ron, and Hermione, understanding that their N.E.W.T. classes were difficult with massive work loads (and after Hermione confirmed that they could not have managed his classes with Time-Turners, as they had all been smashed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries); his anger abated completely when he was overcome with worry about the failing health of Aragog. When Aragog died in 1997, he asked Harry, Ron and Hermione to help him bury the dead Acromantula’s body, though the heightened security around the castle with Voldemort’s confirmed return made that difficult. He asked for Harry’s help who under the effect of the Felix Felicis met Horace Slughorn, who was so happy to have the chance to take some of the Acromantula vemon for himself, later he and Hagrid got drunk over a Firewhisky bottle which led them to sing “Odo the Hero”, until Hagrid fell asleep, which allowed Harry to retrieve Slughorn’s memory about Tom Riddle.

During Albus Dumbledore funeral Hagrid was charge of carrying his body to his tomb, almost breaking down several times, and later Hagrid and Grawp were seen comforting one another. Hagrid was among the thirteen members of the Order of the Phoenix, led by Alastor Moody, that made up the Advance Guard. The Advance Guard was in charge of moving Harry Potter out of the Dursley home before his seventeenth birthday; Knowing that any Death Eaters watching out for them would assume the most skilled Auror would be moving with the real Harry, Alastor Moody took Mundungus Fletcher, while Hagrid was given the important task of protecting the real Harry in the side-car of Sirius Black’s motorcycle. Arthur Weasley had helped Hagrid make several adjustments to the bike, including adding a button that produced dragon’s fire, one that produced a net, and another that produced a solid wall, all of which materialised behind the bike by expanding out of its exhaust pipe. Hagrid was able to keep the Death Eaters at bay with the help of the modifications on his bike and Harry’s wand-work, but when Harry discovered one of the attacking Death Eaters was an imperiused Stanley Shunpike, he made the unusual move of using the Disarming Charm. 

During the summer of 1997, Hagrid was present at Harry’s seventeenth birthday party. He gave him a mokeskin pouch which held objects retrievable only by the owner. Hagrid also attended Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour’s wedding, accidentally sitting in the wrong spot (and destroying a number of chairs) before finding the correct place to sit. Once back at Hogwarts, Hagrid continued his job as gatekeeper and Professor of Care of Magical Creatures. At the request of new headmaster, Severus Snape, Hagrid was placed in charge of students who had been assigned detention. Detention with Hagrid consisted of work in the Forbidden Forest, which was far safer than detention with Amycus and Alecto Carrow. Later that year, Hagrid narrowly escaped arrest after holding a Support Harry Potter party in his hut. He then went into hiding, presumably in the mountains, with his half-brother, Grawp. His escape was reported hours later on the radio programme Potterwatch. During the summer of 1997, Hagrid was present at Harry’s seventeenth birthday party. He gave him a mokeskin pouch which held objects retrievable only by the owner. Hagrid also attended Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour’s wedding, accidentally sitting in the wrong spot (and destroying a number of chairs) before finding the correct place to sit.

Hagrid returned to Hogwarts with Grawp for the final battle. He rushed out onto the grounds to prevent injury being done to the Acromantula who had swarmed out of the Forbidden Forest and were climbing up the walls of the school. He was taken captive by the Death Eaters. When Harry appeared in the forest Hagrid shouted for him to run. After Harry’s apparent death at the Dark Lord’s hands, Hagrid was forced to carry Harry back to the castle. As the supposed “victory party” approached the castle, Hagrid rebuked the centaurs for refusing to involve themselves in the fight but was eventually reduced to sobs over the loss of Harry. When fighting resumed at the arrival of reinforcements, which included Buckbeak and Hagrid’s herd of tame Thestrals, as well as the centaurs, Hagrid threw Walden Macnair against the wall of the Great Hall, possibly recognising him as Buckbeak’s intended executioner. Hagrid was among the first to approach and congratulate Harry after Voldemort’s ultimate defeat. He was seen in the Great Hall among the other survivors of the battle.

Hagrid was still working at Hogwarts by 2017, at 89 years old, owing to the natural longevity of wizardkind, which also meant that he would likely have an extremely long life by Muggle standards. He invited Harry and Ginny’s youngest son, Albus, to his hut for tea, just as he had done during Harry’s first year. Hagrid never married, despite his reciprocated attraction to Madame Maxime, as she was ultimately too sophisticated for them to be a good match. In 2019, Hagrid led the members of the then recently established Statute of Secrecy Task Force seeking a career as Magizoologists, welcoming them by saying that he could sense they were going to sign in as he was able to see that they shared a curious spirit and ensuring them that, although being a Magizoologist was far from easy, they could succeed if they had the spirit to withstand the difficult trials and could recover. He first took them to the Diagon Alley to buy several robes and other essential pieces of equipment required to handle beasts and creatures for increased durability before proceeding to successfully teach the Stamina Charm, (despite his own being “less-than-perfect”), and allowed them to help him handle several live Fire Crabs. The primary takeaway they got from this, however, was a boost in their tolerance of pain.  He also gave those who chose to became an Auror an elective to raise their defenses against Beasts.