[HPforGrownups] How did Hagrid get to the Hut-on-the-Rock?

[Phil Vlasak]

No: HPFGUIDX 144258

hpfan_mom said:

> 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).


snipped
>
> 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

Now Phil:
There were two more clues to the flying motorcycle in OOTP.
When Harry was first entering the MOM,
"Here," said Kingsley brusquely to Mr. Weasley, shoving a sheaf of parchment
into his hand, "I need as much information as possible on flying Muggle
vehicles sighted in the last twelve months. We've received information that
Black might still be using his old motorcycle."

At the same time Hagrid  and Madame Maxime was on a secret mission traveling
to find the giants.

But where they are's very difficult ter get ter, fer humans
anyway, so we needed Dumbledore's instructions. Took us abou' a month ter
get there--"
"So you couldn't use magic to get there?" asked Ron, looking thunderstruck.
"You had to act like Muggles _all _the _way?"

"Well, not exactly all the way," said Hagrid cagily. "We jus' had ter be
careful, 'cause Olympe an' me, we stick
out a bit--"
"--so we're not hard ter follow. We was pretendin' we was goin' on holiday
together, so we got inter France an' we made like we was headin' fer where
Olympe's school is, 'cause we knew we was bein' tailed by someone from the
Ministry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not really s'posed ter use magic an'
we knew the Ministry'd be lookin' fer a reason ter run us in. But we managed
ter give the berk tailin' us the slip round abou' Dee-John--"


>From the above I surmise that they were both riding the motorcycle on the
ground until Dee-John.

Phil who guesses Harry will get the motorcycle as a birthday present from
Hagrid.