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I have just watched the last Harry Potter movie, and was wondering after Voldemort and Harry Potter battle in the woods: Draco's mum knows he is alive and Hagrid carries Harry back to the castle. Does Hagrid know while carrying Harry that he is actually alive?

I guess he must feel the warmth of the body or a heartbeat?!

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No (at least not initially) because:

  • Hagrid's coat would not allow him to feel Harry's continued body heat. Ditto marks for Hagrid's calloused hands.
  • Hagrid was not the kind of person that would wargame why Draco's mother would lie about that.
  • Even Hagrid would have known how dangerous it would be to lie to Voldemort. And he knew that Draco's mother would know that.
  • Hagrid's hands were busy holding Harry's body up. So he did not have a real chance to examine Harry closely.
  • Hagrid did not know about the genius thoughts and plans of Dumbledore. Had he known, he would have believed Dumbledore implicitly. But Dumbledore told very few: Snape.
  • By now, Harry is getting pretty good at acting out his plans. So playing dead was not a problem for him. He had already come to terms with really dying when he went into the Forbidden Forest. He did not have far to go to actually act like he was dead.
  • Voldemort was not able to kill Harry. But Harry was knocked into a "dream state" where he conversed with the deceased Dumbledore. During that time, if any, Harry would have looked quite lifeless.
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  • Voldemort himself cannot kill Harry no matter what wand he used. – rtaft Jan 11 '17 at 14:48
  • @rtaft True enough. This dates back to Voldemort's resurrection, and the use of Harry's blood to do so. My wording is not good enough here. Thanks for the feedback, and I will edit this answer. – John Jan 11 '17 at 16:39
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It's not very likely.

Hagrid, despite his many good qualities, has proven many times that he can be naive, easily fooled, rash and extremely emotional. So when one of the people he loves most is murdered in front of him and then placed in his arms, I doubt he'd be in the right state of mind to somehow feel a heartbeat through Harry's clothes or detect a slight inconsistency in Harry's body temperature.

And Hagrid definitely does not notice that Harry is alive in the book, most likely for those reasons (unless he's the world's greatest actor). He's devastated, weeps uncontrollably, is furious with Bane and only realizes something happened when Harry leaps out of his arms. So I really don't see the point of changing it in the movie only to never clearly show it, allude to it or have it affect the plot in any way.

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