"The legacy of the movies is that my children's generation will show them to their children. So you could be watching in 50 years time, easy. I'll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will. Yes."
-Robbie Coltrane
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This one-shot will be a mix of the movies/books in terms of events, just in case someone decides to point that out in the comments. Enjoy!
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Hagrid: A Tribute To Robbie Coltrane
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July 29, 1991, 6:00 PM, Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts Castle
Albus Dumbledore stared down at the empty grounds out of his office window and saw a vista of green and brown— the signs of a healthy land unspoiled by the ravages of man and ready to be enjoyed by the next generation of children.
Albus smiled. This was indeed one of his favorite times of the year: preparing the school to dazzle the minds of his new students.
He lost that smile as a negative thought intruded on his mind again. He did his best to dismiss it, but found that he couldn't. Had he been wrong to send the boy to the Dursleys?
Dumbledore turned and walked over to his desk, looking over a stack of identical letters meant to reach the same person and frowning.
That more than one letter was written could mean only one thing: the Dursleys were destroying Harry's letters before he could read them.
He let out a minute sigh of disappointment at the revelation. He had hoped that Petunia could put her own hatred of her deceased sister aside for the sake of the only remaining link she had to her original family.
Albus truly did hope for it; he understood the profound impact death had on people. His own sister had died, possibly by his own hand, and it had changed Albus forevermore.
It seemed, however, that Lily's death had not affected her sister at all.
If only Sirius Black hadn't… No. Dumbledore shook his head. There was no point in thinking about it. Sirius had betrayed them all, and that was that. End of story.
He had to focus on the situation at hand: the Dursleys were rejecting Harry's letter, but it was up to Harry to decide if he wanted to go to Hogwarts or not, not them.
It was the young boy's choice, and his alone.
Which is why he was sending someone to find the boy for him. Magic was Harry Potter's birthright, and it would be a cold day in Hell before Albus allowed anyone to deny it.
Albus heard a knock on his door and smiled. He knew who it was without even needing to check. "Come in, Hagrid."
The door to his office swung open, revealing the massive man. Larger than any man he'd ever seen, Hagrid was an imposing sight to any one who didn't know him.
Those who did, however, knew that a heart of gold lay underneath that fearsome exterior, and it shined in the way he talked and smiled at those he loved.
Yes, Dumbledore thought. Now, there was a man who he could trust implicitly.
"Perferssor Dumbledore." Hagrid said as he walked into the office. "Yeh said yeh needed me for somethin'?"
"Yes, my friend." Dumbledore said, smiling as he gestured for the man to sit. He held out one of his sweets towards him. "Lemon drop?"
"Oh, thank you." Hagrid took it, making Dumbledore smile. He was one of the few who shared the man's sweet tooth and would accept anything he offered— sometimes, even if he didn't necessarily like it.
Albus waited a few moments for Hagrid to enjoy his sweets before speaking again. "On to business. I have two things to ask of you."
Hagrid nodded for him to continue.
"The first is fairly simple." Albus said, diving into one of his many drawers as he spoke. "There is something I need you to retrieve for me from Gringotts on the thirty-first."
"Oh?" Hagrid sat up in his chair, realizing that it was probably far less simple than the man was making it sound.
It was no small thing to give someone access to your vault in Gringotts. Who knew what the wrong person would do with its contents?
"Yes." Albus said. "You may have heard of what happened in France a few months ago—"
"Flamel's house broken into?" Hagrid interrupted the man, his gaze turning serious. "T'was all over the Prophet for days."
Albus nodded. "The thief never found what he came for, but Nicolas entrusted me with the safekeeping of a certain item, nevertheless."
"And it's in Gringotts?" Hagrid said, nodding.
Dumbledore had to stifle another smile. The fact that Hagrid didn't even bother asking what the item even was, was exactly why Dumbledore trusted the man with this.
"Precisely." Dumbledore replied, smiling as he found the letter he was looking for. "Gringotts is indeed one of the safest places there is in the world, but I had put it there only temporarily."
"Awright." Hagrid nodded again. "And you want me to bring it here."
"Right again, my friend." Albus handed him the letter. "It is in vault seven-hundred-and-thirteen. Please refer to the item as the 'you-know-what'. The Goblins will understand."
Hagrid blinked at the odd instruction for a moment but took it in stride. Albus Dumbledore was a peculiar man, to be sure, but he was one of the greatest people the world had ever produced.
He believed in me, always.
When everyone had cast him aside, Albus hadn't.
The Ministry had threatened to send Hagrid to Azkaban, and Hagrid had turned left and right to his so-called friends, hoping that they would stand up, show some support and maybe even fight for him, as he always had for them.
They had not; instead they had all abandoned him in his hour of greatest need.
No. It was Albus, and only Albus, who had vouched for him all those years ago. Dumbledore truly was the greatest man he had ever known, and Hagrid would fight anyone who dared to say otherwise.
Such was his belief in the old wizard.
"I'll do it." Hagrid said in a resolute tone. "I won't let anythin' happen to it, I promise."
"I know." Albus said with a smile that made Hagrid's heart soar with pride.
They shared a few moments of companionable silence before Hagrid spoke again. "And, the other thing you wanted?"
Here, Albus' smile dimmed. He gestured at the small stack of letters to the side without another word. Hagrid took the one off the top and just about beamed at the name.
"Harry Potter..." Hagrid said with a note of fondness. "I've been looking forward to meetin' him when term starts. He was such a wee one, last I saw 'im."
Dumbledore said nothing to that, which prompted Hagrid to check the second letter; and then, the third, fourth, fifth, and so on. By the time he was finished going through the stack, he realized what this was.
"They're not lettin' him look at the letters?" Hagrid said, giving Dumbledore a deep frown.
"They are not." Dumbledore said before giving him the latest one, addressed to some shack in the middle of nowhere. "As to why they are doing this, I do not know."
Hagrid nodded. "You want me to find him and deliver the letter to him, then?"
"It seems only fitting, doesn't it?" Albus said.
He was the one who brought the young boy to that family's doorstep, after all. Hagrid still thought about that night from time to time. In one fell swoop, Harry had lost everything, just like Hagrid had in the past.
But, Harry wasn't even old enough to be able to cope with it. No, he was helpless and alone. Hagrid had to fight off tears then.
"Hut-On-The-Rock." Hagrid said, looking at the address of the letter before shaking his head in dismay at the bleak sounding name. "I'll do it."
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July 30, 11:45 PM, Skies Above The Hut-On-The-Rock…
Hagrid smiled despite the raging storm pelting his face.
It had been a long time since he'd used this bike, but it was one of the few flying contraptions which could conceivably hold a man of his stature.
The day he'd realized he'd grown too big to be able to ride a broom or a thestral had been one of the saddest days of his life. It was just one harsh truth to swallow along with a veritable sea of them, for that was his early life in a nutshell.
That he was able to do this now brought a smile to his face.
Perhaps it was a bit selfish of him to use the special dispensation he'd been given by Dumbledore to fly around, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that using the bike would allow him to reach Harry far quicker than any ramshackle old boat would.
Hagrid may have been able to use magic, but he would never have called himself particularly talented in the field of spellcasting.
Besides. Hagrid thought. Tryin' ter row a boat in a storm like this, even with magic— only a fool would do that, and I'm no fool.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared all around him, but Hagrid's eyes focused on something he saw in the distance.
"Was tha' a house?" He muttered to himself. "Or is the weather playin' tricks on me?"
Hagrid turned the bike a little to the right, keeping a close look on the spot he thought he'd seen the place. He wiped his goggles just before another flash came, illuminating the area again.
This time, he saw it as plain as day.
"Found yeh." Hagrid said, grinning as he felt the anticipation rising within him. The roars of the motorcycle doubled in volume as he rushed towards the mysterious hut on the rock, though they were still far from strong enough to overtake the noise of the storm.
Within a minute, he found himself circling the small island, trying to figure out how he was going to land on such a small surface. He took his time to find the answer, but it ended up being quite simple, in hindsight.
He took the bike for a few laps around the hut one last time before he eased it downwards. He pulled his umbrella out before tapping its tip against the bike itself. "Arresto Momentum!"
The bike slowed considerably, but it still wasn't enough to allow him to land safely. He cast the spell a few more times and nodded in satisfaction as the motorbike stopped exactly where he wanted it to— a few steps away from the hut.
He took a breath and dismounted the vehicle before shrinking it and placing it back into his mokeskin pouch. Hagrid stared at the old hut, taking in the filthy windows and the way the waves continually splashed against the house, threatening to overtake it entirely.
He shook his head. This was no place for a child to have his eleventh birthday.
Hagrid stepped forward and began to knock on the door. No answer. He knocked a little harder this time, hoping to get the occupants' attention.
"Who's there?" He heard a man shout from the other side. "I warn you— I'm armed!"
Hagrid shook his head again before bashing his fist against the door, swinging it clean off its hinges and dropping it down to the floor. He squeezed himself inside, ignoring the terrified family and stowing his umbrella away.
"Sorry 'bout that." He said and picked up the door, fitting it easily back into its frame.
Much better. He thought as he turned to look at the people there.
"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" Vernon Dursley said, pointing the gun at him. "You are breaking and entering."
Hagrid doubted the man had ever fired a gun in his life, but even if he had, he didn't know just how durable Hagrid was. Dursley may as well have brough' a feather to tickle me with— Merlin knows it'd do more than tha' old thing.
He lumbered over to Vernon, snatching the gun out of his hand and twisting it up into knots. "Dry up Dursley, yeh great prune!"
Hagrid tossed the gun to the side before turning towards the two young boys. He recognized Harry immediately.
"An' here's Harry!" He greeted the boy. "Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes."
The boy didn't answer as Hagrid started rummaging through his coat. "Got somethin' for yeh. 'Fraid I might've sat on it at some point, but I imagine it'll taste fine, just the same!"
He gave Harry a small packet and watched him open it with anticipation. It had been something he'd made on the fly in preparation for their meeting, so it wasn't anything amazing. He hoped the boy liked it.
Harry opened the package, saw the large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it with green icing and shot him a look of surprise.
"...Thank you!" Harry blurted; his wide, green eyes flitted from the cake to him.
Hagrid stifled the urge to frown. The boy's sheer astonishment made him think that… No. It couldn't be, but it was almost like he'd never gotten a birthday cake in his life. He looked into those innocent eyes and felt his heart constrict again.
It was.
He'd known Lily and James quite well.
They'd grown up under his watch as Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts. He remembered the studious, fiery Gryffindor girl and the brash, arrogant and mischievous Gryffindor Chaser. Their union was not one he'd ever expected, but stranger things had happened.
Lily and James had loved each other with a fierce passion— everyone who saw them together knew that. When they became adults, they had joined the Order of the Phoenix, which he had also been a part of, and had gotten to know them even more.
More noble souls, you could not find when it comes to those two. Hagrid thought to himself, wishing he had never placed the boy with the Dursleys. He wished that Lily and James had never perished, and that Harry was instead in his parents' home in Godric's Hollow, enjoying a different cake— one made by his parents.
But the world never fixed itself with mere wishes; this, Hagrid knew. He strengthened his own resolve and gave Harry a fond smile.
I will make things right. He thought. In what little ways I can, I'll make it right. For you, James and Lily. For Harry.
"It's not everyday your young man turns eleven, now is it, eh?"
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Rest in peace, Robbie. You have introduced many of us to a wide world of wonder and mystery, and for that you will have our eternal gratitude.
Thank you.