Why can't Hagrid do magic?and related musings (was Hagrid Flew?)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 43848

Heather:

 Why, exactly,
> is Hagrid not allowed to do magic? 

Eloise:
I have always assumed in the past that it is *partly* because he is not 
'qualified', in the same way that under-age wizards are not allowed to 
practise magic outside school. But I'm not certain this is right.

He doesn't (officially) have a wand and we know that wand access is 
restricted. Well, I don't know if there's a restriction on who can go into 
Ollivander's and buy one (if he's willing to sell), but we know that wizard 
law restricts their *use* to wizards. Having one's wand snapped seems pretty 
much the equivalent of being told you must never again use one. It's pretty 
clear that Hagrid *is* still using his concealed, snapped wand and I think 
this is primarily what he's referring to. I also suspect that Dumbledore is 
well aware of this and that his permission to use magic to rescue Harry was a 
tacit understanding between the two of them on the matter. The implication 
that he has his wand hidden in his umbrella does lead one to speculate if he 
flew Mary Poppins style. I hope he did, as it's just such a wonderful image!

And yes,  it was a punishment  - he wasn't *allowed* to qualify and his wand 
was snapped - for what he was thought to have done the first time the Chamber 
was opened. 

Heather:
I've heard plenty of speculation on Tom the innkeeper,
> Madam Rosmerta, Stan Shunpike, etc., and what happens to those who were 
> weren't talented enough to even go to Hogwarts. Don't they ever do magic? 
> (When I can get
> to my books, I'll look for canon examples myself.)
> 
Eloise:
That is a very good question, which I think depends on the premise that you 
have to be 'qualified' to do magic.
Tom certainly uses magic, lighting a fire (wandlessly).
In fact, living as they do in the WW, life must be extremely hard if they 
don't use magic. Just think of all the things we do which depend on 
electricity, to which they have no access. 

I wonder if we can justify assuming that some of these don't go to Hogwarts?

We have seen a limited number of employment opportunities for Hogwarts 
school- leavers, the only ones that I can recall seeing to be 'professional', 
being teaching, journalism, or working for the MoM or Gringotts. How many can 
they take each year? Particularly given wizard longevity.

There must be many more who, despite being fully qualified either go into the 
family business, or trade, or service provision. How do we know the Trolley 
Witch didn't go through Hogwarts and now runs a family business which 
includes the Hogwarts Express contract?

I admit that I can't see Stan and Ernie at Hogwarts, but I do find it curious 
that we only see one person with a very strong regional accent (strong to the 
point of using seriously non-standard English) at Hogwarts, viz. Hagrid. Is 
he an exception? Or are we not seeing others?

Heather:
 It
> seems like an awful waste of a gift to not allow
> someone to use the magic they were born with,
> especially considering that Hagrid was good enough to
> go to Hogwarts in the first place. 

Eloise:
It is a sad fact that many people in this life cannot use the gifts they are 
born with. Perhaps this is part of the message?

Heather:
<>> 
> I'm just looking at this in terms of the real world.
> In the real world, you might have trouble getting a
> good job without schooling, but you're still allowed
> to do anything that educated people are. 

Eloise:
Agreed, to an extent.
But in the real world, you aren't allowed to drive if you haven't passed your 
driving test: you are not allowed to wield that lethal weapon which is a car, 
just as a wand is a lethal weapon. There are lots of things you're not 
allowed to do. I can't decide to perform an operation on someone, just 
because I think I'm capable. 

And Hagrid's restriction is, I think, a *punishment*. It is a major 
punishment, for what was seen as a major misdemeanor.
Although, thinking about it, I'm not sure about that now. Ollivander seems to 
imply that having one's wand broken is the natural consequence of being 
expelled.
But perhaps this implies that *expulsion* is a *very* major thing and we 
shouldn't be surprised that, despite constant threats, Hagrid is the only 
expellee of whom we know. 

Heather:
> <>Heather, who thinks that keeping Hagrid from doing
> magic after his innocence is revealed is appalling.
> 
Eloise:
As do I. Although his innocence isn't officially recognised, I think.
The Wizard World and Harry's experience of it are full of injustices.

Eloise


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]