Is it Ron?

[Oiled Lamp <oiledlamp@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52760

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sharonlibrarian 
<sharonlibrarian at y...>" <sharonlibrarian at y...> wrote:
>
> I think JKR might kill off Hagrid.  The kids have grown to be 
smarter 
> than he is in most respects, and they just don't need him any more 
in 
> order to be successful.  Harry has done more for Hagrid than vice 
> versa.
> 
> And of course, Hagrid's death would be highly emotional and tear-
> jerking, and would provide even more incentive for Harry to carry 
on 
> in the fight against Voldemort.
> 
> We know from GoF that Hagrid's "kind" are not trusted or accepted 
by 
> some in the wizarding community.  I love Hagrid, and his character 
> provides a lot of comic relief, but I feel uneasy about his future.
> 
> [BTW, I just joined recently and this is my first post.  Hope it 
is 
> okay!]
> 
> Sharon

We also know that Hagrid has been sent off to do some sort of job  
with Madame Maxine, that presumably has importance in the fight 
against Voldemort. Remember Ron and Harry's conversation at the Yule 
Ball?

"But what's it matter if his mother was a giantess?" said Harry.
"Well...no one who knows him will care, 'cos they'll know he's not 
dangerous," said Ron slowly. "But...Harry, they're just vicious, 
giants. It's like Hagrid said, it's in their natures, they're just 
like trolls...they just like killing, everyone knows that. There 
aren't any left in Britain now, though."
"What happened to them?"
"Well, they were dying out anyway, and then loads got themselves 
killed by Aurors. There're supposed to be giants abroad, 
though....They hide out in the mountains mostly...."

Ron uses Hagrid's statement that his mother left him and his father 
because it wasn't in a giant's nature to be maternal to support his 
prejudice against giants, but I'm not totally convinced that this is 
true. For starters, Hagrid also says that his father was broken-
hearted when his mother left. If giants really were so blood-thirsty 
and terrible, how WERE there any half-giants? Wouldn't have Hagrid's 
father been glad that she'd left? 

Wizards have been shown to have some very ill-formed opinions of the 
goodness of certain magical creatures; Hagrid and Lupin have both 
experienced undeserved mistreatment due to this prejudice, and I 
suspect that Snape keeps his own origins secret for the same reason. 
Dobby has certainly taught us that magical creatures such as house-
elves suffer when Death Eaters (who are characteristically 
prejudiced against non-"purebloods") are in power, and Fudge, who 
according to Dumbledore also "places too much importance...on the so-
called purity of blood" doesn't want to send an envoy to the giants 
because of their reputation, and places some very ill-deserved 
confidence in the Dementors. 

Could it be that the giants aren't really all bad? Perhaps they were 
originally dying off because they were being killed off by the Death 
Eaters, or because of an ancient wizard prejudice against them that 
was not really rooted in reality, but nonetheless made the wizarding 
world feel justified in hunting them down? Perhaps some of the 
giants were tired of being so mistreated, and made some sort of deal 
with Voldemort, thus incurring the wrath of the Aurors, or formed 
their own opposition group, who were mistakenly judged to be on 
Voldemort's side, when all they really wanted was to defend 
themselves? The remaining ones, including Hagrid's mother, would 
then have realized there was no safety for them in Britain, and 
decided to go into hiding in the mountains, and now Dumbledore has 
sent Hagrid and Madam Maxine to make a treaty with them for the 
coming war.

I can imagine more than one scenario developing out of this 
situation which involves Hagrid's death. And it would support JKR's 
statement that Harry's "biggest fan" will die in the coming books. 
Hagrid is certainly that, in more ways than one. ;-D

Amber