Many Years Ago

From a very young age, Hagrid had known that appearances could be deceiving. The fact that his father had fallen for a giantess had hammered that fact straight into his mind. That was how he knew that his appearance, his fearsome height and imposing size, would make people fear him. And that was something that scared him. Hagrid wanted to have friends.

The half-giant possessed the better traits from both his parents. He had the strength and physical resilience of a giant and the intelligence and creativity of a human. He made full use of his human heritage to come up with a solution to his conundrum. And what a solution he found! After careful observation of the people around him, he noticed that everyone trusted idiots. Smiling idiots that could be manipulated to do anything were even worse. After all, you do not fear someone who poses no threat to you. An idiot with no ambition cannot threaten the accomplishment of your own ambitions.

He finally came to a conclusion. If he could act like a bumbling idiot, people would have no reason to fear him. He therefore made a list of the major traits that he should portray. Clumsy, loud, weird accent, helplessly emotional and not clever. He prepared for his role day and night, continuously for weeks on end. When the day came to attend Hogwarts, he was ready.

And what a success it was. Not a single person took him seriously. Everyone either mocked him, or ignored him because he offered no value. Children's mocking soon stopped because, to them, he appeared to not even understand their teasing. There was no point in attacking someone that wasn't affected by their bullying. Hagrid found himself wondering if, perhaps, he had been too successful.

But he soon found himself lots of friends in the unlikeliest of places: the forbidden forest. He liked to joke with the magical creatures of the forest that he was the student at Hogwarts with the most friends. They had liked him instantly, because he didn't threaten them and was just curious to get to know them. It also helped that he was safe from any possible attack from any creature that lived in the forest, due to his giant heritage. He found himself revealing more and more of his true nature, as a cunning, smart and caring young man, to his best friend Aragog the Acromantula. He spent progressively more of his free time learning all about the creatures that inhabited the forbidden forest through first hand experience.

Albus Dumbledore also liked Hagrid. The friendly half-giant used this to his advantage. He asked little favours here and there which were easily granted by the Professor. But aside from the good Dumbledore, no other human gave him the time of day.

Hagrid made good use of his time at Hogwarts and he learned a lot. He became very good at transfiguration and charms. He would have even been considered a prodigy in Defence Against the Dark Arts, if he hadn't significantly downplayed his abilities. But he hid all his talents, to prevent anyone from seeing through his persona.

The only place where he did not hide his abilities was in Care of Magical Creatures, a class in which he was considered a true prodigy. His skills with creatures were only enhanced by his multiple experiments. Hagrid would routinely bring a magical beast from the forest with him into the Room of Requirements to learn more about each of his friends. This knowledge made him amongst the most knowledgeable in Care of Magical Creatures in all of magical England by the beginning of his third year.

He was very careful to not be seen bringing possibly dangerous creatures into Hogwarts. After all, even if he knew they presented no dangers to anyone else, others were not aware that his friends were as intelligent as most humans. That meant that should he be caught, he would be in big trouble. Dumbledore would not have been able to help, being only a teacher at the time.

But despite his precautions, one Slytherin fourth year noticed Hagrid's activities during the half-giant's second year. Hagrid's father had recently died, and he had not been as careful as he usually was. Tom Marvolo Riddle had seen Hagrid transporting a baby Hippogriff into Hogwarts. Seeing that the creature wasn't necessarily dangerous, and that Hagrid's father had recently died, he dismissed the boy's antics as him seeking comfort. After all, he had no friends. A pet was the best way to distract him from his loss. But this piece of information would stay in his mind, and come in handy the very next year.

With Myrtle dead, the school closing, Riddle needed a way out. He would not return to the orphanage, no matter what. He thought for days to find a solution. His thoughts went back to what he had seen the year before, when Hagrid had brought a creature inside Hogwarts. That alone did not constitute a solution to his problem, but the future Dark Lord was very smart. He also noticed Hagrid's incredible grades in Care of Magical Creatures. He concluded that there might be more to Hagrid than met the eye.

Tom observed Hagrid daily, making sure to be undetectable. He took careful notice of the half-giant's schedule. Every day, without fault, he had a creature from the forbidden forest, bringing the same for five days in a row. Riddle came to the conclusion that Hagrid was so brilliant at caring for creatures because he always worked with them. When Hagrid brought in a creature that was a threat to the students for three days straight, Tom followed him. That's how he discovered Aragog's hiding place.

Salazar's heir immediately knew what he had to do. To prevent Hogwarts from being closed, he had to use Hagrid as a scapegoat. He notified the authorities after "catching" Hagrid in the act of raising an Acromantula. Hagrid's wand was snapped, despite his claims of innocence, and he was expelled from Hogwarts. The plan was perfect. Except for one thing. He failed to realize that Hagrid wasn't a clumsy idiot. The half-giant knew exactly who had caused his expulsion and ruined his life. And he swore vengeance against Tom Marvolo Riddle.

AN: About a year ago, TheNicanova and I came up with this idea. It started as a challenge: to add hidden intentions behind everything Hagrid does. Of course, we found the idea of Hagrid manipulating everyone behind the scenes and being a mastermind genius in disguise to be both hilarious and incredibly interesting. So we decided that I'd write it. This is the result. I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I've had fun writing it. Any comment is greatly appreciated, so leave a review!

Special thanks go out to TheNicanova, Tannay and katriofniflheim for their help with the story.