Chapter 11
Chapter Ten
Despite the age line that Minerva had drawn around the Goblet of Fire, a magical object which would determine who was chosen as the champion for each school competing in the Triwizard Tournament, Harry was unexpectedly chosen as a fourth champion. The other champions were Cedric Diggory, who was in Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts; Fleur Delacour, from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic; and Viktor Krum, from Durmstrang Institute. (Viktor Krum, who was 17 and therefore had come of age in the Wizarding world, had also been the Bulgarian Seeker in the Quidditch World Cup the previous summer–the youngest person ever to play on a national team.)
The first task involved getting past a dragon to capture a golden egg that it was protecting; Hagrid particularly enjoyed this task, as he loved dragons. He couldn’t show them to his Care of Magical Creatures class no matter how much he wanted to, though, as dragons could not be domesticated. Apparently, neither could Blast-Ended Skrewts, a new species of magical creature that he had bred himself—crosses between manticores and fire-crabs—to have his Care of Magical Creatures class care for. Professor McGonagall knew nothing of this, as when members of Slytherin house had told her what was happening, she believed that they were lying and would do anything to get Hagrid fired. She particularly believed this after what had happened the previous year, when Draco Malfoy of Slytherin had greatly exaggerated his injury from a hippogriff—which he had insulted, having not been listening when Hagrid had told the class that hippogriffs attack anyone who insults them.
But Hagrid had gone to the Yule Ball, a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament, with Beauxbatons headmistress Olympe Maxime, who given her size was likely a half-giant like Hagrid (although she denied it when Hagrid noticed). After the Yule Ball, Minerva was reading the Daily Prophet at breakfast when she saw an article about Hagrid written by Anita Skeeter. “If what the Slytherins told me made it into the newspaper,” she said to Michael who was sitting next to her, “then I have to observe Hagrid’s next Care of Magical Creatures class to see for myself whether it’s true. Don’t tell him—he’ll do anything to keep his job.” One might wonder why Hagrid had not heard Minerva say this, but in fact he was not at the staff table; he was locking himself up in his cabin in shame after Anita Skeeter had outed him as a half-giant (there was just as much prejudice against half-giants in the Wizarding world as there was against werewolves). Minerva continued reading the newspaper, and she was reminded that Hagrid had violated the Ban on Experimental Breeding by breeding the Blast-Ended Skrewts—now she really knew she needed to investigate the situation.
Minerva went down to Hagrid’s cabin after breakfast, and she saw the Blast-Ended Skrewts in his front yard; he would undoubtedly have hidden them, she thought, if he had known that she was coming. She knocked on his door; he initially did not want to let her in, but did so after he saw that it was his employer at the door. “Hagrid,” said Minerva, “Are the Blast-Ended Skrewts really as dangerous as Anita Skeeter made them out to be? How has your Care of Magical Creatures class been doing with them?” “Not well,” said Hagrid, “but that’s just because I still have a lot to teach them still.” “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said Minerva. “I’ll watch from inside and see what they’re like—unless you tell me.” “All right,” said Hagrid. “They all propel short bursts of fire from their rear end. The males have stingers, and the females have suckers—I think they suck blood.” “They’re more dangerous than I thought, then,” said Minerva.
Right at that moment, an owl came through the window; Minerva took a letter off of it. The letter was from the school matron, Madam Pomfrey.
Dear Minerva, it said,
This year, I have often found myself having to treat students for burns, even those who you would think would do their best to be safe in Care of Magocal Creatures (not Draco Malfoy; I believe you that he wasn’t listening to Hagrid during the lesson on Hippogriffs last year). I hope that you will go to Hagrid and see what is going on.
Thank you,
Poppy Pomfrey
“Well, I’ll tell Poppy that I have seen what’s going on, Hagrid,” said Minerva. “As much as I distrust Albus now, I admire him for giving you the job of gamekeeper after you were expelled from Hogwarts for something you didn’t do. You can keep your job as the gamekeeper. But now that I see that you are guilty of not only breaking the law by breeding a new species of magical creature, but putting your students in danger in the process, I can no longer trust you to teach Care of Magical Creatures. It is only because I believe the Ministry runs Azkaban quite inhumanely—as we saw last year with the Dementors at Hogwarts, which I only reluctantly hosted because the Ministry demanded it—that I will not report you to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and risk getting you sent back to Azkaban. But you must not do anything like this again.”
Minerva went to Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, who was substituting for Hagrid, and asked her if Minerva could observe Grubbly-Plank’s next class to see whether her classes were any safer than Hagrid’s. To her satisfaction, Minerva found that Professor Grubbly-Plank was indeed a better Care of Magical Creatures instructor than Hagrid was; she chose much less dangerous creatures for the class to study, such as unicorns (which were classified as XXXX by the Ministry of Magic not because they were aggressive without cause, but rather because they should be treated with great respect). So Minerva decided to hire Professor Grubbly-Plank to teach Care of Magical Creatures full-time.
Even though Harry, Ron, and Hermione greatly respected Minerva, they heavily contested her decision to sack Hagrid from teaching Care of Magical Creatures as they had a close friendship with Hagrid. Minerva helped the trio see that they were only willing to do their best in Hagrid’s classes because they liked him, not because they liked the subject the way he taught it.
Minerva also reminded the trio that she almost sacked Hagrid in their first year, when he had an illegal dragon; indeed, Michael had taken 150 points from Gryffindor for the trio being out late at night—and even given them detention in the Forbidden Forest, where they had discovered a cloaked figure drinking the blood of a just-slain unicorn to extend its life. (The cloaked figure had turned out to be then-DADA professor Quirrell, who Minerva had then discovered had Voldemort attached to the back of his head. She confronted him in a secret chamber below the school—not Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets—when she had been told by the trio that somebody was going to steal the Philosopher’s Stone, which she was keeping safe in Hogwarts for its creator Nicolas Flamel.)
After that whole business was dealt with—with Quirrell having died after Voldemort, having failed to get the Sorcerer’s Stone, left his (Quirrell’s) body—Minerva had given back all the points that her nephew had taken away, as she admired Harry and Hermione for making sure that the dragon had a good home. Gryffindor had then earned even more points—largely thanks to Harry—for winning the Quidditch Cup that year. Back to Hagrid, the only reason why Minerva hadn’t sacked him was because—having been expelled in his third year for allegedly opening the Chamber of Secrets, for which he had been framed by Tom Riddle/Voldemort—Hagrid would have nowhere to live if he did not live and work at Hogwarts.