Hagrid in Knockturn Alley

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112320

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dungrollin"
<spotthedungbeetle at h...> wrote:
> I suspect this has been done to death, so could a kind and friendly 
> person point me to the appropriate posts?
> 
> When Hagrid was acting suspiciously in Knockturn alley he said Flesh-
> eating slugs were ruining the school cabbages.
> 
> I can't even bring myself to spell it out, it's so obvious, (and you 
> clever people must have seen it sooner than I,) but I didn't even 
> notice it the first few times I read the book.
> 
> As a biologist I know that these things happen, creatures get given 
> ridiculous common names that are based on ignorance of what they 
> actually do for a living, (e.g. bird-eating spiders do no such 
> thing) but still...
> 
> Dungrollin.
> 
> There was a young death eater spy,
> Who's apparently terribly sly,
> Though riddled with flaws,
> He joined the good cause,
> Let us pray JKR tells us why.
> Amen

Carol responds:
Sorry I can't direct you to previous responses though I do know that
the question has arisen at least once since I've been on this list
(about ten months now). You can always try Searchmort, but I'm not
sure it would be worth the frustration. In any case, I agree that
Hagrid's reason for being in Knockturn Alley sounds
suspicious--flesh-eating slugs eating cabbages? And buying a
*repellant* for dark creatures in a place that's more likely to offer
them up for sale? And Hagrid wanting to kill rather than tame
"interestin' creatures"? I don't buy any of it. Not that I think
Hagrid is a bad guy by any means, but his reason for being in
Knockturn Alley has all the marks of a not very clever lie. Who knows?
Maybe he was doing something for Dumbledore. But it couldn't be Order
business because it hadn't been revived yet in CoS.

Carol, who apologizes for misspelling Knockturn Alley in a previous
post. I was thinking of the pun on "nocturnally"--not a good mnemonic,
unfortunately.