Rubeus Hagrid

Rubeus Hagrid (born December 6, c. 1928) is the groundskeeper for Hogwarts and also Care For the Magical Creatures teacher.

Hagrid is as much as twice as tall as the average man. He loves magical creatures, particularly unusual or even dangerous ones, although he usually insists most of them are only dangerous due to a handler's disrespect or ignorance. J. K. Rowling has said that Hagrid has little interest in tame magical creatures because of the lack of a challenge, although he has a cowardly boarhound called Fang. He befriends Harry Potter and his friends and looks out for them. His friends do the same for him. He is one of the first characters to imply that the idea of thinking of wizards as "pure-bloods" and "half-bloods" is a dated concept. Hagrid is known for his friendliness, and thick accent.

In the movies based on the Harry Potter novels, Hagrid is played by Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, and in some shots where Hagrid's height needs to be emphasised, former England rugby player Martin Bayfield.

Hagrid was a student at Hogwarts but was expelled during his third year after an incident involving the Chamber of Secrets. Following his expulsion, the Ministry of Magic forbade Hagrid to practice magic and destroyed his oak wand. Albus Dumbledore nonetheless gave Hagrid the job of looking after the grounds (especially the magical animals). Hagrid subsequently reconstructed and continued to use his wand by incorporating it into an inconspicuous umbrella.

Hagrid rescued Harry from his parents' house, which was destroyed by Lord Voldemort, and in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone he is given the task of locating Harry, as Vernon Dursley continually attempts to escape Harry's school letters. He helps Harry to find his bearings in the magical world, as well as helping him to buy his school things.

Although not a schoolmaster in Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid does have a measure of authority. When Draco Malfoy balked at completing a detention, Hagrid threatened him with immediate expulsion: "Yeh'll do summat useful, or yeh'll get out ... go pack your bags." This could, of course, be that Hagrid knows that he will be expelled by others, because he knows the rules.

Hagrid's love of dangerous magical creatures is central to the plot of Philosopher's Stone: a hooded person (Professor Quirrell in disguise) gets him drunk, then gives him a dragon egg to elicit details about Fluffy, the three-headed dog Hagrid has lent to Dumbledore to help guard the Philosopher's Stone. Hagrid again lets slip, to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, about how to get past Fluffy (by playing music), which allows them to pursue the potential thief. The three also assist Hagrid after the dragon egg hatches, by helping to remove the baby dragon Norbert, who is taken to live with other dragons by friends of Charlie Weasley.

In Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid is sent to the wizard prison, Azkaban, when the Chamber of Secrets is opened because of his prior expulsion. He is later exonerated when the real culprit is found, and released. He helps Harry and Ron in their quest to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets by telling them to follow the spiders &mdash; leading them to Aragog, the giant spider blamed for the original attacks, which Hagrid had kept as a pet while a student at Hogwarts. Then after Harry killed the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets he came back at the midnight in celebration of the closure of the Chamber, arrived back at Hogwarts at 3 o'clock in the morning.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Hagrid takes over the Care of Magical Creatures class. Draco Malfoy causes trouble in Hagrid's class by insulting Buckbeak the Hippogriff (who then attacks him for the slight), and the Ministry of Magic issues an order for the beast's destruction, much to Hagrid's dismay. Harry and Hermione save the hippogriff by going back in time by means of Hermione's Time-Turner.

It is also revealed in Goblet of Fire that Hagrid is of mixed human and giant parentage, his mother having been the giantess Fridwulfa, who left his father – who was a tiny wizard, whom Hagrid could pick up and carry by the age of 6 – when Hagrid was a baby. Since giants have a reputation for being horribly brutal, and were once allies of Lord Voldemort, Hagrid keeps his parentage secret and allows people to imagine other reasons for his great size. The book ends with Hagrid setting out with Madame Maxime &mdash; a half-giantess with whom he has become romantically involved &mdash; as an envoy to the giants.

In Order of the Phoenix we find out that his mission, despite early promise, was unsuccessful &mdash; though he does return with his half-brother, Grawp. Harry and Hermione agree to take care of Grawp in Hagrid's absence &mdash; Hagrid fears (correctly) that he is to be driven out by Dolores Umbridge. Grawp later helps Harry and Hermione, when they are under attack by centaurs.

In Chamber of Secrets, the date of that particular school year is firmly established as being 1992-93. It also says that Hagrid was expelled 50 years prior to this (1942), during his third year at Hogwarts. A third year student is 13 years old making Hagrid's year of birth approximately 1928 and so making him about 70 years old by Book Seven, although he appears younger because of his Giant lineage.