Why Hagrid is the closest thing Harry has to a parent

Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris) waits on Privet Drive for the baby and says of the man bringing him, “I would trust Hagrid with my life.” Hagrid arrives on a flying motorbike with Harry in his arms: “Little tyke fell asleep as we were flying over Bristol.”

Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) calls the Dursleys “the worst sort of Muggles”, and Dumbledore answers, “The only family he has.” As he leaves Harry on the doorstep, he comforts Hagrid: “There, there, Hagrid. It’s not really goodbye, after all.”

The first time Hagrid carries Harry, Harry is asleep.

Years later Vernon Dursley (Richard Griffiths) has taken the family to the hut on the rock to keep the Hogwarts letters away from Harry. Hagrid’s first words inside are “Sorry about that.” Vernon has a shotgun, and Hagrid answers him with “Dry up, Dursley, you great prune,” grabs the gun and bends the barrels, so the shot goes into the ceiling.

When Vernon insults Dumbledore, Hagrid warns him, “Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me,” and gives Vernon’s son a pig’s tail. Then he admits to Harry, “I’m not allowed to do magic.” His last words before they leave give Harry a choice: “Unless you’d rather stay, of course.”

The biggest man in the room is on Harry’s side.

That same night is Harry’s eleventh birthday, and before Hagrid arrives Harry has marked it by himself: “Make a wish, Harry.” Hagrid’s first gift is a cake, “Baked it myself, words and all,” because “It’s not every day your young man turns 11, is it?” Only after that does he tell him, “You’re a wizard, Harry.”

In Diagon Alley Hagrid takes him shopping for school, and after the wand shop he turns up with Hedwig in a cage: “Harry! Harry! Happy birthday.”

Hagrid talks about his creatures the way a parent talks about children. When Norbert hatches he says, “Oh, bless him. Look, he knows his mummy.” Even after Norbert has gone, he worries, “What if the other dragons are mean to him? He’s only a baby.”

His secrets leak the same way. He mentions Nicolas Flamel in front of Harry, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), then catches himself: “I should not have said that.” Later he admits what he told the hooded stranger he got the dragon egg from: “The trick with any beast is to know how to calm him.” He goes on to explain how music puts Fluffy, the three-headed dog, to sleep, then stops himself again: “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

In the Mirror of Erised, Harry can see his parents, “Come look, it’s my parents!”, but he cannot keep them: “Both my parents are dead.”

On the platform as the school year ends, Hagrid stops him before the train: “This is for you.” It is an album of photographs of his parents. Hagrid suggests Harry could threaten his cousin with “a nice pair of ears to go with his tail”, and when Harry says he cannot do magic away from school, Hagrid points out, “But your cousin don’t, do he?”

Harry’s last words in Sorcerer’s Stone are “I’m not going home. Not really.”

In Chamber of Secrets, Harry ends up alone in Knockturn Alley, and Hagrid finds him: “What do you think you’re doing down here?” He tells him off as a parent would, “Skulking around Knockturn Alley? Dodgy place,” and warns, “People will think you’re up to no good.”

When Harry asks what Hagrid was doing there himself, the answer is “I was looking for Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent.”

Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) calls Hermione a “filthy little Mudblood”. Ron’s curse, “Eat slugs!”, backfires through his broken wand, and Harry and Hermione rush him, vomiting slugs, to Hagrid’s hut.

Hermione tells Hagrid, “He called me a Mudblood.” Hagrid calls the idea of dirty blood “codswallop”, says “there isn’t a wizard alive today that’s not half-blood or less” and adds that “they’ve yet to think of a spell that our Hermione can’t do”. Then he tells her, “Don’t you think on it, Hermione. Don’t you think on it for one minute.”

“Our Hermione” makes the hut sound like somewhere she already belongs.

Later that year Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) takes Hagrid to Azkaban because “Hagrid’s record is against him.” Dumbledore says Hagrid “has my full confidence”, and Hagrid’s fear comes out as “Not Azkaban prison.” On his way out he still asks for someone to feed his dog, Fang.

Hagrid comes back at the end of the year, blaming the owl that got lost with his release papers, “Some ruddy bird called Errol.” He thanks Harry, Ron and Hermione for getting him out of “you-know-where”: “I’d just like to say thanks.” Harry answers, “There’s no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid.”

Hagrid fetched Harry for Hogwarts, and now Harry insists Hogwarts needs Hagrid.

In Prisoner of Azkaban Hagrid becomes a teacher. At his first lesson he tells the class, “Say hello to Buckbeak,” and warns them, “You do not want to insult a hippogriff.” Partway through he asks, “How am I doing me first day?”, and Harry tells him, “Brilliant, professor.”

Draco insults Buckbeak and is hurt, and the hippogriff is put on trial. Hagrid reports that he spoke up for Buckbeak at the hearing, “And then Lucius Malfoy got up.” The result is “Buckbeak’s been sentenced to death!”

On the day of the execution he watches Buckbeak and says, “Look at him. Loves the smell of the trees when the wind blows through them.” When Hermione offers, “We’ll stay with you too,” he refuses: “You’ll do no such thing! Think I want you seeing something like that? No.” He warns them about being caught outside the castle so late, “Particularly you, Harry,” and Harry is the one who comforts him: “It’ll be fine. It’ll be okay.”

When Harry is moved out of Privet Drive in Part 1, Alastor Moody (Brendan Gleeson) puts him with Hagrid: “You ride with Hagrid.” Hagrid explains why: “I brought you here 16 years ago, when you were no bigger than a bowtruckle. Seems only right that I should be the one that takes you away.” Moody’s reply is “Yes, this is all very touching.”

Death Eaters attack them in the air, and Harry wants to help the others. Hagrid refuses, “We can’t do that, Harry. Mad-Eye’s orders,” and gets him to the Burrow.

In Part 2 Hagrid, held captive in the forest, carries Harry back to Hogwarts as the proof Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) offers that the fight is over. In the courtyard Voldemort announces, “Harry Potter is dead!”

The boy in Hagrid’s arms is alive. When he drops from Hagrid’s arms, the fighting starts again. Hagrid brought him to the Dursleys as a sleeping baby, and he carries him back into Hogwarts as the boy Voldemort says is dead.