Maybe Hagrid is the LOYAL person(who just has some major [confidence?] problems)

[greg_a126]

No: HPFGUIDX 39440

First, I have to say that I really like Hagrid.  He seems to be a 
man who is fiercly loyal to his friends, especially Dumbledore.  In 
the first book, when Harry, Ron & Hermione were all convinced that 
Snape was trying to curse Harry, Hagrid knew it couldn't be true b/c 
Dumbledore trusted him.  So his loyalty extends to not only those 
that he trusts, but also to the people that he respects trust.  If 
he is going to "get it" in the 5th book, I think this will probably 
be how he gets it.  trusting someone he shouldn't.  

Aldrea wrote:
> Get him drunk, and...well...it cerainly seems to loosen his tongue 
a 
> bit.  But that only seems to prove with matters of...well, not of 
the 
> HIGHEST importance.  When he told Quirrell about Fluffy's weakness 
in 
> the pub, he didn't seem to be thinking about the Stone at all.  He 
> only informed him of a rather dangerous creature under his care.  
But 
> he never mentioned the Stone- he knew how important that was.  But 
> still, this flaw looks as though it could come into play...though 
> with matters as they stand, perhaps Hagrid will indeed grow up and 
> seal his lips more tightly.  
> 


My question is why now?  Why would Hagrid "grow up" now?  This is 
not the first wizarding war that Hagrid will have lived through.  We 
know that Hagrid took on his gamekeeping duties fifty years ago, 
which means that he lived through Voldemort's first reign of 
terror.  (Coincidentally, I've always wondered if Hagrid knows 
Voldemort's real name as Tom Riddle & the person who got him kicked 
out of school, but that's neither here nor there.)  So if he lived 
through Voldemort's first reign of terror & is now approaching 70 
years of age (getting kicked out of school 50 years ago) both imply 
to me that he's done all the "growing up" that he's going to do.

But why does everyone assume that Hagrid is untrustworthy?  First, 
of all of the Enchanments protecting the stone, only Dumbledore's, 
the greatest wizard of out time provided Quirrel with a bigger 
problem than Hagrid's.  Sprout, Snape, McGonagall& flitwick all 
provided enchantments that were so useless 3 first years got through 
them with only one of them getting a concussion.  Hagrid's dog kept 
Quirrel out for most of the year, so that the trio had time to 
figure everything out.

Second, Dumbledore trusted Hagrid to bring the Boy-Who-Lived to 
Hogwarts.  Over the course of 24 hours Harry Potter went from being 
just a nother wizard child who happened to have powerful parents, to 
the most famous wizarding boy in the world & who does Dumbledore 
trust to bring Harry Potter to start his new life?  Hagrid.  You 
don't just go from one day being just the groundskeeper, to being 
trusted with the safety of the most important wizard in the world.  
We know little to nothing about what happened during the first war.  
All we know is the death of the few people that Hagrid mentioned the 
first time he met Harry in the PS, and nearly everyone assumes that 
the Order of the Pheonix is charged with protecting the wizarding 
world against Voldemort.  Beyond that, we're pretty well clueless.  
It's quite possible that Hagrid did something to prove his loyalty 
to Dumbledore in the midsts of a wizarding war before Harry was even 
a twinkle in his parents eyes.  

Greg