Did Hagrid apparate?

[selkie1964]

No: HPFGUIDX 42783

> Possibly Hagrid used a Portkey that was set up for him to get back 
to Hogwarts.Or it was a literary device used to enhance Harry's sense 
of awe and wonderment at the new world that had opened up to him.

 <snip>

It makes a great deal of sense for Hagrid to have used a portkey.  In 
GoF, the portkeys (the boot to the QWC and the trophy cup) seem to 
function as a link tuned to work between two distinct places.  When 
you've used it one way, it resets to go back the other way.  If 
Hagrid had been given a portkey set for between Hogwarts and wherever 
it is that Harry was, the next time it was used, it would have pulled 
Hagrid (and attendant Harry) to Hogwarts.  Hagrid was supposed to 
take Harry to Diagon Alley, not Hogwarts, so he couldn't use the 
portkey until he was finished and going back to Hogwarts.

Perhaps Hagrid invoked the portkey to get to Harry, then stowed it 
somewhere on his person (in one of the bajillions of pockets in his 
voluminous coat).  Since he had just used it in the "away from 
Hogwarts" (to Harry's location) setting, it seems likely that it 
would work in the "to Hogwarts" mode even if it was invoked from a 
different location from where it initially set Hagrid down.  In GoF, 
the whole thing about the portkeys being used to/from particular 
sites in the QWC scenario is to keep muggles from seeing crowds of 
wizards appearing and disappearing out of/into thin air.

It doesn't seem to me that you would need powerful magic to invoke a 
portkey -- probably just a desire to get to wherever it is you're 
going and a simple "invoke" command (perhaps even just a 
mental "now").  After all, portkeys were being used to move vast 
numbers of people to and from the QWC -- these people would (one 
assumes) be of varying skill levels in terms of magic, so the portkey 
magic would, of necessity, have to be a "lowest common denominator" 
sort -- if you have any magical ability at all, you can invoke it; if 
you're a muggle, you can't.  So Hagrid, even though he isn't fully 
trained and is not supposed to use magic, presumably could operate a 
portkey if it was set by someone else.

When Hagrid tells Harry that he "flew" he might just have been 
offering a simple explanation to a boy who (he has realized) has 
absolutely no knowledge of the wizarding world; possibly, Hagrid 
didn't think that it was the best time to get into a long explanation 
of the concept of a portkey.  Besides getting Harry's school supplies 
in Diagon Alley, he had to get the SS/PS from the vault and get it 
back to Dumbledore -- likely, he was in something of a hurry, worried 
about his commission, and not up to attempting a long explanation of 
a complex magical thing (using a portkey is simple; setting one is 
probably highly complex).

--selkie1964 (new to the whole HP universe -- just read the books for 
the first time a couple of weeks ago -- devoured them, actually -- re-
reading them slowly now :-)  This place is GREAT, btw!