Authors Note:
This fic is inspired by the fan theory about Hagrid being a spy for Voldemort, it's on Reddit as 'Hagrid is a Death Eater' by 'Whoofph' on r/FanTheories for anyone interested. Edit: A week and 80 followers in and I'm delighted by the response to this story. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to read it, and to those who have the time to review; special shout out to Molag Vile and Reading Angel for their contributions in reviews and PMs.
Bold= In-world text
~Parseltongue~
Chapter 1
Hagrid POV - Hagrid's hut
Holy shit I thought as I woke up.
I had just regained consciousness, not only with my own thoughts, feelings, and personality - but also the memories of one Rubeus Hagrid, the half giant and supposed kindly friend of Harry James Potter.
And what surprising and enlightening memories they were.
Rubeus Hagrid, the son of a nice, albeit strange magizoologist who had died in his second year of Hogwarts, and a giantess – was certainly not who almost anyone thought he was.
He had a pleasant, albeit un-conventual childhood, until Hogwarts, where he was bullied and socially isolated.
Until Tom that is. In Rubeus' memories, he was even more charismatic and talented than Dumbledore had said in the books. The half-blood, himself a 6th-year prefect reached out to the half-giant, intrigued by his interest in dark creatures and potential use as a death eater or spy.
Rubeus had wearily introduced himself, and Tom told smiled and told him to forget his weak first name and introduce himself as Hagrid instead. After several meetings in unused classrooms, Tom gave Hagrid an acromantula egg on his 12th birthday – the only such present he received, as his father had passed months before.
Hagrid raised the acromantula - which he named Aragog - in the forbidden forest and often had Aragog and his children fetch creatures and plants for Tom's potions and rituals. Later Tom held their meetings in the chamber of secrets – Hagrid was impressed with the serpent of Slytherin, to say the least.
Though what really impressed Hagrid was Tom himself, his magical knowledge and power of course – but also his trust in Hagrid and his mentorship of him. He had been thought that the wizarding world which so belittled him were nothing but sheep – and the best way to deal with sheep was to not be one yourself.
Hagrid had been cautious at first, brought up by his fairly honorable and decent father; but Lord Voldemort – as Tom instructed, he privately be called – had explained that there was no true good or evil, but that everything was decided by power, and those without power were sheep – only good to be lorded over. Voldemort had spent 2 years training Hagrid and 2 decades searching for the deathly hallows and founders' heirlooms but valued neither Slytherins locket, Hufflepuffs Cup, or Ravenclaws Diadem more than Hagrid, his first servant. Where his death eaters were a loyal pack of wolves – Hagrid was his snake in lions clothing.
Voldemort didn't tell Hagrid about the Horcrux ritual, but when he told Hagrid his and Aragog's part in the plan he just nodded and said "yes, my Lord." When Dumbledore had called Hagrid to his office, trying to manipulate him by pretending he, not the orphan's fund, was now paying for Hagrid's education Voldemort quickly realized his intentions. The headmaster didn't know his loyal stooge and future member of staff already had a master.
Voldemort picked Myrtle Warren, a whiny muggle-born who had annoyed Voldemort, and carried out the ritual. The plan went better than expected - instead of merely covering it up, like with his own sisters' death - Dumbledore used political capital from defeating Grindelwald to keep Hagrid out of Azkaban and convince headmaster Dippet to hire him for the newly created position of 'gamekeeper' and set him up to become the next Keeper of Keys and Grounds.
Voldemort had been very pleased. With one move he had condemned the Warren bitch to an eternity as a whiny ghost, begun his quest for immortality, and placed the perfect spy to keep an eye on Dumbledore and any potential recruits and enemies in the school – a seemingly harmless spy who could observe students and staff, and make frequent trips to the forbidden forest without arising suspicion. Another benefit was Hagrid's hut being outside of Dumbledore's surveillance network of portraits, elves, wizards, wards, and ghosts within the castle itself.
Judging from said spy's memories, he had been very useful – he had supplied Voldemort with potions ingredients, and intel throughout the first war and even recruited the giant army.
It was obvious from Hagrid's memories and the books that in this 'universe' at least, Dumbledore had known Pettigrew was the rat in the order and allowed the potters to be killed. He remembered Hagrid checking a monitoring charm on the restricted section which showed Dumbledore leaving with a book on sacrificial magic – likely how Voldemort was defeated.
No doubt he was now molding Harry to be the perfect sacrificial lamb to fulfill the prophecy – for the Greater Good, or whatever.
What concerned me though, was what I should do.
I reckoned either I had gone insane, was in a virtual reality, had been placed in an alternate universe or this was the reality, I was Hagrid, and someone had altered my brain to make me think otherwise.
If I was insane or in some sort of videogame then my actions have no real consequence, except on myself, but if I existed in an alternate universe or this was the real universe all along then my actions do have consequences. In fact, in any of those situations, I would still be a firm believer in intelligent design – and therefore it's possible whatever or whoever made this universe has some sort of afterlife for its intelligent inhabitants. So, I can't go all evil and should probably try to do some good...
Another thing that concerned me, almost as much as my soul's retirement plan, was what Voldemort would do if I quit working for him as an unmarked death eater. No, there'll be no sipping cocktails on tropical beaches while he's alive I'm afraid – he'd never stopped searching if his first servant betrayed him.
I looked down at my body in the hut and sighed, there was something very unusual to be near twice the height I was used to, and with a good bit more girth – too.
I raised my hand. It was massive and probably strong enough to pick Ron up by the head and toss him into the black lake – not that I would do it of course - but he was one of the more annoying characters…
I grabbed the umbrella which held my illegally repaired wand - 13 inches of oak with a kelpie hair core that excelled at transfiguration - took a second to remember a conjuration spell Hagrid learned after being expelled and conjured a mirror – nice.
Judging by the fact Robbie Coltrane isn't staring back at me, it looks like whatever universe I got sucked into is based on the books.
I cast a quick spell "tempus." 8:51 am.
Wow, that's more fun than I thought it would be, easy too – just have to use my muscle memory for the wand movements, visualize the spell's effects, and pronounce the incantation properly. I cast another. 8:51 am. And another. 8:51 am. I grinned – while it's annoying that I have to be Voldemort's spy and risk either him, Dumbledore, or the ministry exposing me - at least I can do magic!
And I'm pretty good at it too – actually 'death eater Hagrid' had some pretty good 'stats', even if being eleven-foot-tall will be kind of awkward. I summoned my 'Hagrid clothes' and got dressed. In the corner was a writing desk which contained a quill, inkpot, and a few scattered knuts and sickles. I sat down and the chair creaked. I started writing what I thought my 'stats' were, figured regardless of if I were in a videogame or not, a written representation of my new abilities would be useful.
Rubeus Hagrid
Race: Half-Giant/Half Wizard - minor magical resistance, natural occlumens, large body, magical core, longevity.
Age: 62
Magical Skills and knowledge:
Master: Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Flying.
Expert: DADA, Charms.
Adept: Apparition.
Novice: Potions, Herbology.
Poor: History of Magic.
I figure my main advantages are strength, constitution, and charisma - given the size of my new body my dexterity will always remain low, but I can certainly improve my intelligence and wisdom.
I bet if I did some weight training and got really strong – I could really exploit the pure physicality of being part giant.
Oh well, something to think about later, now I have to get ready to do some tasks for Dumbles and Voldie.
I grin. "This is goin' ter be good."
Omake 1/9
I raised my hand. It was massive, heh, I wonder if my-
Omake 2/9
I bet if I did some weight training and got really strong – I could hopefully, with a bit of luck, a lot of elbow grease, and perhaps a felix felicis potion - finally, get that damn pickle jar open.
Omake 3/9
I woke up as Hagrid.
Dammit - he had a giant pink wand, but it wasn't even working! Hagrid hadn't even properly used it since he was in school! He didn't know much beyond what he'd practiced himself in the forest, and even then, he had to be careful the centaurs didn't see him and find out. Basic things like firing liquids out of it came naturally, but harder moves took him years to master. I looked over at the umbrella angrily. "Dammit…"
Omake 4/9
"Greetings Lord Ha'grid, how goes your perilous quest?" A hologram of a lizard man spoke up from the middle of the hut.
I burst out laughing – this was too much. "You…. Really. t-talk like that? 'Lizard people'? – man you are so 14th century for an alien."
The alien looked at me furiously. "Body snatcher! Criminal! Cease jesting at once!" I laughed harder.
Omake 5/9
I woke up and immediately made my way to Gryffindor Tower, Fang following at my heels. I raise my umbrella and blast the door open, then make way for the 1st year boys dorm.
A series of shouts sound out, I ignored them and headed for one Ron Weasley.
"Hagrid, what are you-eep-"
I pushed Ron off his bed, grabbed the sleeping rat, and threw him to Fang, who quickly chomped him up – wagging his tail appreciatively once he was done.
A dozen scared faces looked up at me questioning with terror. "Sorry yeh lot – fang was mighty hungry."
Omake 6/9
I brought Harry to Diagon Alley and pointed to Flourish and Blotts.
"What's in there, Hagrid?"
I looked down at him, shocked. "Blimey, Harry – didn't you ever wonder where your father read it all?"
Harry looked confused. "Read what?"
"Books, Harry – books about Magic." He looked excited so I steeled myself for the practiced line… "Yeh're a book, Harry."
"A what?" he looked at me like I was crazy – and perhaps I was.
I raised my umbrella to a now fearful Harry and turned him into a book. "Yeh're a book, Harry," I said softly.
Omake 7/9
I stood before the baby potter, fresh out of Godric's Hollow and his mother's defeat of the dark lord. "Remember Harry – Phoenix-man good, Gingers evil, Dumbledore good, Weasel bad. Snake-man bad too, but mostly Weasels bad."
I smiled down at a babbling Harry – hopefully, baby Harry would remember this and save him from the clingy and entitled Ron, Ginny and Molly Weasley…
Omake 8/9
"The stars speak of your future brightly, world traveler." The centaur spoke wistfully while looking up at the sky.
"Wha' is going ter happen?" I asked, getting frustrated.
"The stars speak of your future brightly, world traveler."
Oh – so he's just an 'NPC'. I raise my wandbrella and cast an arrow spell towards the centaur, who collapses with a groan and a fearful look.
"What are you doing – I didn't see this in the sky!"
I smiled down at the 'NPC' "Jus' gettin' some loot ter take back ter me hut." I say, eyeing the terrified centaurs side satchel hungrily.
Omake 9/9
"You're not Hagrid – who are you?" Dumbledore asked me once I sat down in his office.
I smiled across at him. "Santa Claus," I answered simply.
He looked at me doubtfully, so I raised my umbrella. "I swear on my magic that I am Santa Claus and that I live near the north pole and own a reindeer named Rudolf." My umbrella glowed to show a true oath was given and I smiled across at the shocked beyond belief Headmaster. Technically what I said was true, since I changed my legal name to Santa Claus on a dare, owned a small holiday cabin in Finland, and a plushy reindeer toy named Rudolf…
Dumbledore smiled. "Well, Mr. Claus – I know I haven't been too good this year, or last year, or the year before… but do you think you could find it in your heart to give me…" he pulled at his bear thoughtfully "-the resurrection stone? – maybe the secret to becoming the 'master of death?'" he asked hopefully.