How did Hagrid get to the Hut-on-the-Rock?

[hpfan_mom]

No: HPFGUIDX 144248

hpfan_mom:

In PS/SS, Hagrid goes to the broken-down shack to deliver Harry's 
Hogwarts admission letter and to take him to Diagon Alley (The Keeper 
of the Keys, pp. 46-60, all page numbers are Scholastic).  Just before 
Hagrid arrives, Harry hears noises: a creak outside, something (the 
sea?) slapping hard on the rock, a funny crunching noise, and 
then . . . BOOM.

Later, when it's time to leave the shack, Harry is puzzled:

"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.

"Flew," said Hagrid.

"Flew?"

"Yeah - but we'll go back in this [Uncle Vernon's boat].  Not s'pposed 
ter use magic now that I've got yeh."  (pp. 63-64)

I'm taking Hagrid at his word that he actually flew and did not 
apparate, a skill that it's doubtful he's mastered, having been 
expelled in his third year.  So, how did he fly?  We know wizards 
cannot fly on their own -- they must fly ON something.  A broomstick 
first comes to mind, but we've never seen Hagrid on one.  It seems out 
of character for him.  Perhaps a thestral, since he has been 
cultivating a herd at Hogwarts (OOTP, p. 447).  He tells the COMC 
class that Dumbledore would use a thestral if he's "takin' a long 
journey an' don' want ter Apparate." (p. 446)

Here's my guess -- he used Sirius's flying motorcycle.  We last saw 
the motorcycle when Hagrid took off into the night after delivering 
Baby Harry to Privet Drive (SS, p. 16).  When asked what happened to 
the motorcycle, JKR told us: "You'll find out, but the real sleuths 
among you might be able to guess." (World Book Day interview)

The roar that McGonagall and Dumbledore had heard as the motorcycle 
approached was drowned out 10 years later by the raging storm and the 
rolls of thunder.  But Harry did hear the tires slap on the rock, the 
crunch of gravel as Hagrid rolled to a stop.  And then the motorcycle, 
like the Ford Anglia at the end of COS, took off by itself, not 
needing human direction to return to wherever it stayed.

hpfan_mom, suddenly worried that the whereabouts of the motorcycle 
were mentioned in HBP and she completely missed it