Rubeus Hagrid has worked at Hogwarts for a long time now, first as a Gamekeeper, later as a Care of Magical Creatures Professor.
He can obviously see it, which means he is a wizard, but even as a Keeper of Grounds, we saw him performing all the tasks manually. We rarely saw him performing magic, and we never saw him carrying a wand at all.
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Does Hagrid Have a Wand?
Yes, Hagrid has a wand, but it’s a broken one.
Like most wizarding kids before attending Hogwarts, Hagrid, at age eleven, went to Olivander’s to buy his first wand. According to Garrick Olivander, who surprisingly remembers all the wands he ever sold, it was a 16 inches rather bendy oak wand.
Although now it’s snapped in half, Hagrid admitted he still has the pieces of his wand.
We are not sure if a witch or wizard is usually permitted to keep their wand after it has been snapped, but since Dumbledore fought for Hagrid to remain at Hogwarts, he could have also negotiated about Hagrid’s wand.
Why Does Hagrid Not Have a Wand?
Hagrid doesn’t have a working wand because it was snapped in half when he got expelled from Hogwarts.
Unfortunately for Hagrid, his love for dangerous magical creatures allowed Tom Riddle to easily frame Hagrid for a crime he never committed – opening the Chamber of Secrets and killing a Muggle-born student, Myrtle. It happened when Hagrid was about to finish his third year at Hogwarts.
After this incident, Hagrid was expelled from school without any questions asked, and his wand was then snapped in half. Hagrid was somehow allowed to keep the two pieces of his broken wand but not permitted to use it.
Can Hagrid Do Magic Without a Wand?
We never witnessed Hagrid performing magic without a wand, so the probable answer is that Hagrid can’t do magic without a wand.
In fact, Hagrid is not permitted to use magic at all since he never finished his magical education and never passed the “leaving cert” of magical school, the N.E.W.T. exams.
Moreover, only a very skilled witch or wizard can attempt wandless magic. Magical folks used to perform magic while wielding a wand usually don’t attempt wandless magic because it is more complex and can have severe consequences if not done correctly.
We don’t want to insult Hagrid in any way, but he was not the most skilled wizard we know and didn’t have full education to boot.
Is Hagrid’s Umbrella a Wand?
No, Hagrid’s umbrella is not a wand, but just like Harry, we have a suspicion that Hagrid’s broken wand is somehow tucked inside his pink, flowery umbrella. However, it is never said anywhere in the books or movies.
We have glimpses of Hagrid and his umbrella throughout the book series. Hagrid sporadically mentions performing magic, and we saw him doing it a few times.
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Hagrid admitted to still having the pieces of his broken wand, and when asked if he was using them, he answered no, but he also gripped his umbrella tightly.
We know that Olivander was somewhat suspicious of Hagrid’s answer, and rightly so because he once swished down this exact umbrella on Dudley, causing him to grow a curly pig’s tail and the next day tapped the rowing boat with it to make the boat speed along. It must have been magic!
Another clue as to whether Hagrid’s umbrella has his wand hidden inside is the moment when he shows the Golden Trio his famous giant pumpkins during Harry’s second year at Hogwarts. He admitted to “bin givin’ them – you know – a bit o’ help-.” Harry noticed Hagrid’s pink umbrella leaning against the cabin wall.
Harry had had reason to believe before now that this umbrella was not all it looked; in fact, he had the strong impression that Hagrid’s old school wand was concealed inside it.
A jet of water flowed out of the pink umbrella when Hagrid performed an Aguamenti charm to put out his burning house. We don’t suspect an average pink umbrella was acting like a wand of its own accord.
The final and probably most noticeable clue we got about Hagrid’s umbrella is when he tried to fix the sidecar of Sirius’ old motorbike during the Battle of Seven Potters.
“I’m on it, Harry, don’ worry!” Hagrid yelled, and from inside his jacket pocket he pulled his flowery pink umbrella.
“Hagrid! No! Let me!”
“REPARO!”
We can guess then, even though nobody stated it aloud, that Hagrid’s pink umbrella contains his broken wand.
To make matters even more apparent, we saw Hagrid performing magic with his umbrella in the movies.
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie, Hagrid started a fire in the fireplace in the Hut-on-the-Rock with his pink umbrella (on top of giving Dudley his new appendage), and in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, we saw Hagrid helping the Weasley family set up the wedding tent using the same umbrella.
Based on all the evidence we could gather, we can safely confirm Harry’s theory that Hagrid’s pink umbrella has a wand hidden inside.
Conclusion
Although Hagrid still has his wand, he is not usually permitted to use it because it is broken, and Hagrid never managed to finish his magical education.
However, we do have confirmation that Hagrid used magic repeatedly to perform specific tasks for Dumbledore or simply out of necessity (although we are not sure about those pumpkins). After all, Hagrid is a wizard, and he carries his magic within him regardless of whether he uses it or not.