Rubeus Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year but, despite being relieved of his duties, he was allowed to stay on as the castle’s groundskeeper. The half-giant wasn’t liked by everybody, yet he always had the unequivocal backing of Albus Dumbledore, who would later go on to make him Care of Magical Creatures teacher. All of this was shown in the Harry Potter movies, with Robbie Coltrane doing a brilliant job at bringing the iconic character to the big screen.
Hagrid’s hut was also shown – but not every scene set there in the books was included in the film versions of the story. So here are 10 that Warner Bros opted to leave out.
10 Eating Rock Cakes
Harry has a troublesome first week at Hogwarts during The Sorcerer’s Stone novel. He struggles to find his way around the castle, annoys Severus Snape, and has to contend with all of his fellow students chattering behind his back. Fortunately, Hagrid provides him with an opportunity to reflect on things when the half-giant invites both the Boy Who Lived and Ron Weasley down to his hut for some tea.
The tea itself is good – but Hagrid’s choice of food doesn’t go down well. He provides the duo with rock cakes that are virtually inedible, with Harry daring not to eat them in case they break his teeth. An ominous cracking sound gives him a reason to reject Hagrid’s offer and that’s definitely understandable, even if his gesture could have been interpreted as being rude.
9 Bitten By Norbert
The first Potter movie shows the birth of Norbert the dragon, yet it doesn’t show the creature giving Ron a horrible bite, one that leaves him with no choice but to pay Madam Pomfrey a visit in the Hospital Wing.
Ron spends a night at Hagrid’s helping to feed the beast before returning to the Gryffindor common room, just as the clock strikes midnight. With his bite worsening, he’s then forced to sit out the mission to get Norbert away from the school. In the book, Harry, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Neville Longbottom are the ones put in detention – with Ron getting treatment on his wound at the time. This is different from the movie when Ron is given the same punishment as his fellow first-year students.
8 Replacing Professor Kettleburn
The Prisoner of Azkaban movie contains a speech from Dumbledore at the start of the year feast. There, he reveals Professor Kettleburn has retired “to spend more time with his remaining limbs” and that Rubeus Hagrid will be replacing him as Care of Magical Creatures teacher. It’s a big moment for the half-giant, whose name was cleared in The Chamber of Secrets when it was revealed that Lord Voldemort opened the Chamber 50 years previously instead.
Hagrid elaborates on his new job in the source material. He reveals Dumbledore traveled down to his hut to offer him the position in person, which is definitely a sweet touch. Obviously, his time in the role doesn’t always go to plan, but Hagrid deserved his promotion, given the cruelty and rumors he’d had to previously contend with.
7 Drunk Singing Songs
In the third blockbuster, Harry and Hermione successfully free Buckbeak the Hippogriff. The creature is facing execution after wounding Draco earlier in the school year but, thanks to some savvy work with a time-turner, is spared from a horrible fate. Yet while the movie shows Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, and Hagrid reacting to Buckbeak’s sensational escape, it doesn’t show what happened next.
Hagrid decides to get royally drunk in his hut and then proceeds to wander the grounds singing songs at the top of his voice. Buckbeak doesn’t appear in any movies afterward, but does pop up again in The Order of the Phoenix book, residing in Sirius Black’s mother’s bedroom at 12 Grimmauld Place.
6 Blast-Ended Skrewts
The Prisoner of Azkaban aside, Potter fans are deprived of seeing Care of Magical Creatures lessons play out. And that, sadly, means they weren’t able to glimpse Blast-Ended Skrewts, who first appears in the Goblet of Fire book.
Standing outside his hut, Hagrid tells the students to care for the creatures – who are described as being a mix of a shell-less lobster and scorpion. They’re pretty formidable and pupils struggle to contain them. They grow in size over the course of the school year and are used in the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament, with Harry having to overcome them in the maze. All in all, not a pet anybody would want in their garden.
5 Hagrid’s Tale
In the Order of the Phoenix movie, Hagrid talks about his mission to recruit the giants on Dumbledore’s orders. Yet the story is only told in brief detail, with the book having far more information on the matter.
For example, Hagrid reveals he went with Madam Maxime, they won round the chief giant, saw the chief giant killed by another of his kind, and also had to contend with Death Eaters following them most of the time. It’s understandable why the majority of these details were omitted from the final movie because, in the end, they’re pretty irrelevant.
4 Hagrid’s Attack
Another scene the fifth movie doesn’t include from the source material is when Dolores Umbridge leads an attack on Hagrid at his hut in the middle of the night. She and Aurors from the Ministry of Magic decide to make their move while Harry and other students are sitting their Astronomy exam. And, as you’d expect, it results in quite the disturbance.
Hagrid is able to get away, fleeing off into the night. However, Minerva McGonagall isn’t so lucky. She walks out to defend the Care of Magical Creatures teacher but receives several stunning spells to the chest. It’s a miracle she isn’t killed and she spends the majority of the rest of the school year recovering at St Mungo’s Hospital in London, with Umbridge running things in her absence.
3 Harry And Ron’s Apology
With Harry, Ron and Hermione forced to dump several subjects ahead of their N.E.W.T exams, that means them giving Care of Magical Creatures the boot. Hagrid finds this immensely upsetting, shunning the trio during the early stages of the Half-Blood Prince movie.
In the end, the main three characters decide enough is enough. They go down to their teacher’s home and apologize, but things don’t exactly get off to the best start. Hagrid calls Harry by his surname, with the Boy Who Lived then sarcastically calling his friend “Sir.” Fortunately, their relationship is mended, with Hagrid eventually accepting that other subjects were probably more important, especially given Harry’s desire to become an Auror.
2 Hagrid Rescues Fang
The sixth blockbuster shows Hagrid’s hut set on fire by Bellatrix Lestrange shortly after the death of Albus Dumbledore. It’s a sad moment seeing the place go up in flames, with the Death Eaters causing yet more chaos and devastation, yet it could have been even sadder.
In the book, Hagrid throws himself into the fire to rescue his dog, Fang. The sight and sound of a dog in pain and anguish would likely have been deemed too dark for younger viewers, so it’s for the best this was left out of the final product.
1 The Harry Potter Support Club
While Hagrid is definitely loveable, he’s not the smartest person in the wizarding world, and perhaps his stupidest act of the entire franchise is when he decides to throw a Harry Potter support party in his house during the events of the Deathly Hallows book.
Bear in mind, Voldemort is controlling just about everything at this moment in time. It’s a shambolic and baffling decision, with attendees Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom then punished for their actions, while Hagrid is forced to go on the run. Given how close he was to Dumbledore, it’s surprising that Voldemort kept him on the payroll anyway. Perhaps he really did feel bad for getting his old classmate expelled from Hogwarts many years prior.
