Flesh Eating Slugs

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165689

Donna asked:
> > <snip> Why would Hagrid be buying flesh eating slug repellant for
slugs eating the school's cabbages? Are the slugs in the UK that
different from the slugs in the US?  I believe the slugs in the US eat
plants and not flesh and, iirc, cabbages are plants.<snip>
> 
Dondee's replied:
> I may be wrong, but I always thought that the repellent ate the
flesh of the slugs - not that the slugs eat flesh themselves. Kind of
like using chili powder to keep ants away because it burns them.
>
Carol responds:
I don't think so. "Flesh-eating" as an adjective refers to "Slug" in
this phrase, just as "man-eating" in "man-eating tiger" refers to
"tiger." So, like Donna, I was struck (and am struck each time I read
it) by the strangeness of flesh-eating--i.e., carnivorous--slugs
eating cabbages, a vegetable. 

Goddlefrood's suggestion that they eat Mandrakes is interesting, but
Mandrakes, despite being anthropomorphic as JKR depicts them, are
still plants, so their "flesh" is no more flesh in a literal sense
than the "flesh" of a tomato. Flesh-Eating Slugs, gruesome as it
sounds, would be more likely to snack on Fang or even Hagrid himself
than on the school cabbages, or even the Mandrakes. Besides, Hagrid
has no idea at this point that anyone is going to be petrified and
that the Mandrakes that the second-years will be growing as
(presumably) part of the normal course of study will prove important.
(Professor Sprout also has no idea that a Basilisk is about to be
released--not even Dumbledore knows it at this point. It's a lucky
coincidence, like the Felix Felicis in HBP, that the Mandrakes are
available.)

It's also odd that Hagrid would attempt to buy Flesh-Eating Slug
Repellant, whatever he really needs it for, in Knockturn Alley, which
sells Dark magic artifacts. I can see a Knockturn Alley merchant
selling the slugs themselves, or a product to *attract* them, but why
would they sell repellant to deter a Dark creature, however minor?
Also, Hagrid says that he was looking for *a* Flesh-Eating Slug
repellant" (CoS Am. ed. 55), apparently meaning *anything* that will
repel them rather than a specific product. (If he really wants a
potion that will repel them, why not ask Snape to concoct one? Surely,
he, if anyone, could manage that feat.) In the film, Hagrid holds up a
container of repellant. He does no such thing in the book. IOW, he
doesn't buy what he says he went to Knockturn alley to buy. 

The whole line strikes me as an excuse rather than a plausible reason
for being in Knockturn Alley. Harry, of course, doesn't question it,
but I immediately reacted to it as illogical and implausible. What can
Hagrid's real reason be? I seriously doubt that he wants any product
or artifact that's sold in that revolting place. IMO, he can only be
looking for Harry. How he knew Harry was there, I don't know, unless
Dumbledore is monitoring the Weasleys' fireplace.

Carol, beginning to think that JKR's weak points include logic, as
well as "maths" and consistency