Forgive me if this has been brought up before, but my search-fu is weak tonight.

What exactly is Hagrid's skill as a wizard? The only instances of him casting any magic that I can recall are in the first book, where he silently casts both an incendio and a botched transfiguration spell with a broken wand disguised as an umbrella.

 

I suspect that he isn't that magically talented and when at school he didn't do too well, but I should imagine that this is somewhat counteracted by living in the wizarding world for around 60 years. Bad wizard or not, you're bound to pick up some useful spells in that time, especially ones that would be directly relevant to one's job.

Which explains Hagrid being a generally bad wizard, but knowing spells which are useful for him, such as a spell which would allow him to water plants (he grows the pumpkins, what else does he grow? Maybe all the food Hogwarts uses is grown on the grounds), and growth charms.

 

Yeah, that would be me. I'm not proud of that story in the least. It kind of...petered out near the end as I lost interest in it. I think I'm the only person who finished my rewrite of it. I'm actually planning a rewrite of my version of it and only keeping the bare-skeleton of the plot but it wont be written anytime soon. I want to finish my other two fics.

And yes, do have a little plot bunny in my mind regarding Hagrid. I don't want to share just yet though.

Anyway, thanks for the help.