(Harry)'d let half the class be eaten before he'd even think of hurting Hagrid's feelings that way.
And that's what's so worrying about Harry. And to an extent, all the trio (I had high hopes for Ron when pauraque was doing the CoS reread, as Ron seemed to have lost patience with Hagrid - Ron's the one who got bit by Norbert in PS (and a serious enough bite that he was hospitalised), Ron's the one who has that really great bit about Hagrid's not being innocent because of hatching Aragog, and Ron's the one who's absent throughout most of the Hagrid-heavy adventures: Buckbeak and Grawp. But his immediate angry defense of Hagrid in OotP kind of dashed those.) - I think I mentioned how the Trio seem to encompass every possible virtue of the four Houses (they're loyaller than any Hufflepuff, more cunning than any Slytherin, they excel more than any Ravenclaw)? This is the dangerous side of loyalty - it can be blind. The narrative is quite contemptous of this - for example, I found the brief mentions of the Hufflepuffs fairly creepy - they switch very quickly from doubting Harry to doubting Malfoy to basically swearing allegiance to Harry and attacking others in his defense (just like Umbridge and her 'In the name of...' bit.) Perhaps their only loyalty is to Hufflepuff itself and they feel content having backed the winning horse, but somehow I get the feeling we're supposed to be impressed with their specific loyalty to Harry, yet it seems so quick and such a departure from their original doubts that, combined with the less glowing descriptions of them in the song ('the rest?'), I'll be keeping my eye on the Duffers like you will the Ravenclaws ;) However, back to blindness - we have the Dursleys and Dudley, Seamus and Mommy, Lucius and Draco; for starters. All idiots according to Harry, and yet his own attitude to Hagrid is confronted more than ever in this book - Hermione thinks Umbridge may have a point about him, he endangers them yet again with Grawp, both Slytherins and 'a few Gryffindors' doubt him yet again in his lessons, he gets put on probation and even Harry, who has the most reason to look up to him is forced to acknowledge that Grubbly Plank is a better teacher. I wonder where this is heading, and whether Hagrid will get someone seriously hurt (possibly one of the Trio, since, as you mentioned, Harry wouldn't be too upset over anyone else) before Harry et al question their devotion to him any more.
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And that's what's so worrying about Harry.
And to an extent, all the trio (I had high hopes for Ron when pauraque was doing the CoS reread, as Ron seemed to have lost patience with Hagrid - Ron's the one who got bit by Norbert in PS (and a serious enough bite that he was hospitalised), Ron's the one who has that really great bit about Hagrid's not being innocent because of hatching Aragog, and Ron's the one who's absent throughout most of the Hagrid-heavy adventures: Buckbeak and Grawp. But his immediate angry defense of Hagrid in OotP kind of dashed those.) - I think I mentioned how the Trio seem to encompass every possible virtue of the four Houses (they're loyaller than any Hufflepuff, more cunning than any Slytherin, they excel more than any Ravenclaw)?
This is the dangerous side of loyalty - it can be blind. The narrative is quite contemptous of this - for example, I found the brief mentions of the Hufflepuffs fairly creepy - they switch very quickly from doubting Harry to doubting Malfoy to basically swearing allegiance to Harry and attacking others in his defense (just like Umbridge and her 'In the name of...' bit.) Perhaps their only loyalty is to Hufflepuff itself and they feel content having backed the winning horse, but somehow I get the feeling we're supposed to be impressed with their specific loyalty to Harry, yet it seems so quick and such a departure from their original doubts that, combined with the less glowing descriptions of them in the song ('the rest?'), I'll be keeping my eye on the Duffers like you will the Ravenclaws ;)
However, back to blindness - we have the Dursleys and Dudley, Seamus and Mommy, Lucius and Draco; for starters.
All idiots according to Harry, and yet his own attitude to Hagrid is confronted more than ever in this book - Hermione thinks Umbridge may have a point about him, he endangers them yet again with Grawp, both Slytherins and 'a few Gryffindors' doubt him yet again in his lessons, he gets put on probation and even Harry, who has the most reason to look up to him is forced to acknowledge that Grubbly Plank is a better teacher.
I wonder where this is heading, and whether Hagrid will get someone seriously hurt (possibly one of the Trio, since, as you mentioned, Harry wouldn't be too upset over anyone else) before Harry et al question their devotion to him any more.