Hagrid owning up (was Hagrid in Slytherin???)

[dfrankis at dial.pipex.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20099

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., JamiDeise at a... wrote:
last night my son and I 
> were rereading PS/SS, and it bothered me that Hagrid never 'fessed 
up that 
> Harry and Hermione were at the astronomy tower at midnight to save 
his skin. 
> Considering what a small community Hogwarts is, and that they ended 
up doing 
> their detention with him, he certainly knew the two of them were 
caught. 
> Letting other people take the rap for you does not occur to me as a 
> Gryffindor behavior.  
> 
> Jami

I worried about this on rereading PS/SS.  My understanding is that if 
Hagrid had owned up to the dragon escapade, he would have got Harry & 
friends into even more trouble, as they had volunteered to help him 
and so could expect to cop the full punishment for dragon-smuggling.

What he did instead was to intercept the detentions, so that instead 
of getting medals or chamber pots to clean, or letters to sign, they 
had a pleasant night out legally exploring the Forbidden Forest.  It 
wouldn't have occurred to Hagrid that this could be anything other 
than a treat.  It was just bad luck that they got lumbered with 
Malfoy (and Voldemort), so he couldn't explain.

David

David