"Flying" Hagrid and "Home Stretch" reread

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164628

bboyminn wrote:
>
> Note that there are other occassions when Hagrid travels
> by magic. For example, after Hagrid gave Harry his ticket
> to return to the Dursleys, Harry peeks out the train
> window, blinks, and Hagrid is gone. Where did he go in
> the blink of an eye? The only reasonable explanations
> are he either apparated or took a Portkey. We see that
> Portkeys are very tightly controlled, so I have trouble
> with it being that. On the other hand, Dumbledore seems
> pretty fast and loose with his Portkeys so maybe on
> occassion he creates them for Hagrid.
>
> As the Hagrid's comment as the return from the Hut on
> the Rock, there is something odd about the way Hagrid
> says he 'flew' that makes me think that when he said
> it there were indeed quote marks around the word 'flew'.
> Hagrid seem to have come to the realization that Harry
> doesn't really know that much about the magical world,
> and Hagrid doesn't know exactly how much he is allowed
> to say. So, when Harry asks how Hagrid go there, and
> Hagrid replies 'he flew', I think it was just a short-
> cut way for Hagrid to answer the question without
> getting into a long detailed explanation of /exactly/
> how he got there.
>
> Consequently, I don't think we can take 'flew' as
> being absolutely literal. Yet, I do think we can be
> certain that he arrived on the Hut on the Rock by
> some magical means. Many people assume he traveled
> using Sirius's motorbike, but can't quite explain
> what then happened to the motorbike. Some suspect he
> arrived by broom, but again what happened to the
> broom when Hagrid returned by boat with Harry? Some
> assume he arrived by Thestral or by hippogriff, but
> they seem like normal sized creatures and Hagrid is
> anything but normal sized. He could have arrived by
> Abraxan Flying Horse. They are certainly big enough,
> but that seems unlikely as there don't really seem
> to be any (or many) in Britian.
>
> So, I based on this and based on Hagrid's rapid
> disappearance at the train station, I have to
> conclude that Hagrid can Apparate. <snip>

Carol responds:
While I agree that Hagrid can Apparate, as the disappearance from
Platform 9 3/4 indicates (and as he must have done to get to Godric's
Hollow. as well), I don't think he would have told Harry that he flew
unless he had actually done so. Hagrid says himself (I think in OoP
when he's speaking to Umbridge) that he's too big to fly on a broom,
and the Flying Ford Anglia hasn't come into the story yet (neither
have the Abraxan Flying Horses that you mention), but the flying
motorcycle has, and we know that Hagrid can ride it. Although a storm
blows up at nightfall, with waves crashing against the hut, the "low
rolls of thunder" don't start until ten minutes before midnight,
followed by a creak, a slapping sound, and a crunch (SS Am. ed. 45)
that could indicate Hagrid getting off the motorcycle (the seat would
creak with relief from its burden ;-) ) and walking toward Harry (on
sand first and then gravel?). Hagrid arrives with a boom! (knocking on
the door with his gigantic fist) on the stroke of midnight. There's no
further mention of thunder, only the storm itself. (If he'd Apparated,
wouldn't Harry have heard a gigantic pop! instead of rolls of thunder?)

I'm convinced, and always have been, that Hagrid flew to the island on
his motorcycle and that the "low rolls of thunder" are really the
motorcycle coming in for a landing. It's not clear why it took Hagrid
five minutes after the creak to walk to the house. Maybe he had to
hide the motorcycle (which somehow accounts for the crunch?). At any
rate, the slapping sounds are almost certainly made by Hagrid's huge
feet on the soggy sand.

Carol, pretty sure that the motorcycle is "living" in the Forbidden
Forest with its friend, the Flying Ford Anglia, and that Hagrid will
tell its story when it shows up again in DH