Hagrid and Aragog

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 40043

joeblackish wrote, in his indictment of Hagrid:

> CoS: Nearly gets Harry and Ron killed by sending them after a 
> giant spider that Hagrid doesn't *think* will hurt them.
> 
I feel this isn't entirely fair.  At the time Lucius Malfoy had just 
taken over from Dumbledore, and Hagrid himself was about to be 
dragged off to Azkaban.  He has to get across to Harry and Ron that 
there is more to be found out, in a way that does not arouse Fudge's 
or Malfoy' suspicions that somebody else might be present.

For all Hagrid knows, Hogwarts is about to become an orgy of 
petrification or worse (although he doesn't know about the basilisk 
as such, he knows Myrtle was killed).  He is grasping at straws and 
presumably feels the risk that Aragog will cut up rough has to be 
taken.

David