Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
In this chapter, the kids are preparing for exams when they see Hagrid in the library researching dragons. They soon discover that Hagrid’s hatching a dragon egg in his hut, which is very dangerous and illegal. After a rough week of helping him with the dragon, the kids convince Hagrid to give up the dragon to Ron’s brother, a dragon expert, and they carry the dragon up to the highest tower to see him off. On the way there, Draco—who had overheard their plans—is caught sneaking around by McGonagall, and Harry and Hermione are so pleased that they end up getting caught themselves on their way back.
After I read this chapter, I listened to the relevant episodes of The Gayly Planet.1 They spent a lot of time talking about interpreting Hagrid as a closeted trans woman, and I love hearing some queer joy about Harry Potter. The series has always been popular with queer people, but that kind of celebration has become increasingly rare since Rowling’s hate spiral. It’s good to hear that there’s still love to be found in the series, even if it is self-made.
Personally, though, my mind was elsewhere. When Hagrid was introduced, I talked about some of my discomfort with him: back in chapter 4, he had an emotional outburst and targeted a child, and throughout the series, the kids seem to end up babysitting Hagrid. I didn’t get into detail there, but it’s a dynamic that reminds me of alcoholism.
The group Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families uses what they call “the Big Red Book,”2 which says on page 7:
As children, we focused on the odd or neglectful nature of our parents’ behavior. We mistakenly thought we caused their moods or attitudes or could do something to change the circumstances. We did not realize that we were children and that adults were responsible for their own feelings and actions…As children, we took responsibility for our parents’ anger, rage, blame, or pitifulness. We were children, but we unknowingly took responsibility for our parents’ feelings and poor behavior.
This is what I see happening with Hagrid. The kids take responsibility for Hagrid’s “odd” and “poor behavior,” despite his “pitifulness” and the “blame” he lays at Ron’s feet at one point.
When the kids notice an egg in Hagrid’s fireplace, Hagrid explains that he went out drinking one night and bought a dragon egg from a stranger, which he must know is dangerous and illegal. When Hermione points out that he’s hatching a fire-breathing creature in a wood hut, he pretends he doesn’t hear her. He doesn’t have any problem with recruiting 11-year-old children to help care for a dragon (Norbert). When Norbert hatches and bites Ron, Hagrid blames Ron for “frightening it.” Being a child, Ron doesn’t go to the infirmary for fear of getting in trouble until the bite has turned green and his whole hand swollen to twice its size.
It's hard to say what would have happened without the kids stepping in. Harry gets the idea of writing to Ron’s brother, Charlie, who’s studying dragons in Romania. Charlie quickly agrees to take Norbert and recruits some friends to do some illegal smuggling while they’re on the way to visit him. (Who are these people? We never learn.)
When the kids tell Hagrid the plan, he immediately starts to tear up, and when he says his goodbyes to Norbert, he’s completely sobbing. The kids have to have the emotional maturity to go through with the plan and carry Norbert in a wood crate all the way up to the highest tower in Hogwarts.
While the only clear mention of Hagrid’s drinking is when he received the egg, you don’t need to prove alcoholism to recognize dysfunction. The “Big Red Book” has a whole chapter entitled “My Parents Did Not Drink But I Can Relate,” because the drinking is not necessarily the issue. The issue is the behavior, which may or may not be exacerbated by alcohol.
Hagrid’s behavior throughout this chapter is clearly damaging. The kids were already stressed about studying for exams before they were placed in the position of handling an adult problem; Ron is seriously injured; and Harry and Hermione end up getting punished for helping Hagrid and keeping his secret.
The book treats all of this as comic, but it comes off as disturbing. Where are the adults in the school? What is Dumbledore doing? Why are 11-year-old children completely alone in this situation?
I suspect that Harry Potter fans reading this might be feeling defensive of Hagrid. He’s a well-loved favorite, and he’s had a deeply traumatic life, as we learn later in the series. I’m going to let ACA have the last word here:
In the interest of fairness, we must realize that our parents passed on what was done to them. They are adult children as well. We are not blaming them for being powerless over the effects of family dysfunction. In most cases, the treatment that they handed out is the treatment they received growing up. Our parents internalized their parents. This has to be true if we are to believe that family dysfunction is passed down from one generation to the next.
Note that these episodes were released in 2019, before Rowling went entirely off the rails in 2020. The podcast has since been turned into a Star Trek podcast called The Gayly Planet. These are the episodes I’m referring to:
The Gayly Planet 7A: Utterly Unnecessary Subplot: Chapter 13&14
7B. Hagrid is Snow White: Chapters 13&14
I happen to have a copy handy. Don’t worry about it.
Quotes are from pages 7 and 25.