Redeeming Hagrid was Rewriting OotP

[pippin_999]

Heidi:
I am *sure* that Dumbledore had previously given Hagrid 
 instructions on where to travel (i.e. a map) if he did return with 
any giants, and I'm also quite sure that Madame Maxime 
assisted  Hagrid in getting his trip back started, as shown here 
in Chapter 30:
> 
> 'Did Madame Maxime want to bring him back?' asked Harry.
> 
> 'She - well, she could see it was right importan' ter me,' said 
> Hagrid, twisting his enormous hands. 'Bu' - bu' she got a bit 
tired  o' him after a while, I must admit
 so we split up on the 
journey  home
 she promised not ter tell anyone, though
"

Pippin:

But Dumbledore  would have wondered why Hagrid was 
delayed, particularly if Madame Maxime kept her promise and 
told Dumbledore that no giants had agreed to come back with 
them. Dumbledore would have investigated, if only to assure 
himself that  Hagrid hadn't been taken by Dementors and  
tossed into some foreign equivalent of Azkaban.

Also  if Dumbledore  made arrangements for Hagrid to bring 
giants back with him, he must have given thought to where the 
Giants were going to stay. This would neatly explain why Harry 
doesn't have to concern himself with Grawp's feeding (canon) 
and sanitary arrangements (assumed) even though he is 
penned...Dumbledore's magic has taken care of it all.

Pippin:
> > I'm sure that Dumbledore and McGonagall knew all about 
Grawp 

Heidi:
> IMO, Minerva didn't know anything about it - if she had, or at 
least  if Hagrid had thought she had, he would've gone to her to 
ask for help, rather than to Harry and Hermione (and Ron in 
absentia). <

 It's got to be obvious even to Hagrid that Umbridge is looking for 
excuses to sack everyone who's too close to Dumbledore. You 
also wouldn't need to be a seer to figure out that McGonagall and 
Umbridge are going to lock wands sooner or later. "Only one 
queen in a hive," as Terry Pratchett puts it. And I can see 
McGonagall, who certainly seems to be very protective of Hagrid, 
warning him that if he's not going without a fight, he's not going 
to fight alone. Harry's a safer choice: Umbridge *doesn't* want to 
expel Harry once she's got rid of Dumbledore...she wants the 
boy under her control, not his.

Of course,  Hagrid can't have expected to Harry to stay at 
Hogwarts for the summer either, so he must have made further 
arrangements we don't know about. Hagrid probably figured he'd 
be able to sneak back onto the grounds once term was over and 
Umbridge left.

Heidi:
And 
> while I think that once Hagrid returned Dumbledore may've 
known about  it because of Hagrid's injuries, he knew about it in 
the way that  he's demonstrated knowing things about Harry from 
time to time - and  not getting in the way of what the person is 
trying to do. <

Exactly! So when Firenze tells Dumbledore that Hagrid's got to 
be told to stop, Dumbledore either pretends he doesn't know 
what Firenze is talking about, or flat out refuses to interfere. 
When Dumbledore trusts you, he doesn't get in the way of what 
you're trying to do.

Pippin said:
 In choosing Harry to provide for Grawp,  Hagrid put Harry into a 
position very similar to the one Petunia  found herself in when 
Harry showed up on her doorstep. Which, I think, is  *the* reason 
JKR put Grawp in the forest and is one  of  the most significant 
developments in OOP.

Heidi:
> Oh, I just think she put him there because she'll need him, 
somehow, in a later book - and am I the only one who thought 
Hermione was  leading Umbridge to Grawp when they went into 
the forrest a few  chapters later? I was thinking a very 
Sondheim-esque fairy tale  combination involving feeding the 
wicked witch to the giant.<

JKR obviously had a  darker theme in mind...offering a virgin 
sacrifice to the monsters. Hermione's hubris, which I expected to 
bite her when she kidnapped Rita, finally took its toll here. Of 
course it's Grawp who helped her escape a fate worse than 
death.

The leaves and twigs which seem to be permanently attached to 
Umbridge's  hair when she comes out of the forest suggest that 
something really strange happened in there.

Am I the only one who sees a parallel between Petunia's  choice 
to assume responsibility for Harry and Harry's  choice to assume 
responsibility for Grawp? 

--------
"She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, 
bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the 
charm..."

"I explained what I had done in the letter I had left...She knows 
that allowing you houseroom..."

"I  suspected that she might need reminding of the pact she 
sealed by taking you...the dementor attack might have awoken 
her to the dangers of having you for a surrogate son. "

----

"Harry could not  think of a single thing to say. What was going to 
happen when somebody found out Hagrid had hidden Grawp in 
the Forest? And he had promised that he, Ron, and Hermione 
would continue Hagrid's totally pointless attempts to civilize the 
giant...How could Hagrid, even with his immense capacity to 
delude himself that fanged monsters were lovably harmless, 
fool himself that Grawp would ever be fit to mix with humans?"

---
Change the nouns, and that could be Petunia, having second 
thoughts about her pact with Dumbledore.

Pippin