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From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 4:

From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.

A few pages later:

The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.

Also in the same chapter:

...and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl — a long quill, and a roll of parchment.

We see that Hagrid is able to carry around so many things in his coat. Do we know if it's just an indication of how large his coat (and pockets) are, or might there be an extension charm on the coat?

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    He's a big guy. He's probably just got a big coat with very deep pockets.
    – Valorum
    Feb 7, 2018 at 16:16
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    Probably so. I mean his hands are supposed to be as large as dustbin lids (•_•)
    – sudhanva
    Feb 7, 2018 at 16:26
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    When you're twice as tall and four times as wide (pretty sure that's the rough dimensions we're given for Hagrid in the first book) as a normal man, and wear a coat that's approximately the size of a small tent, there's plenty of room for pockets. Feb 7, 2018 at 16:46

3 Answers 3

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I agree with Valorum's comment, that it's probably just a big coat, but there's another magical explanation aside from and Extension Charm. I don't have my book in front of me, but in Deathly Hallows, Hagrid gives Harry a magical Mokeskin pouch that can hold anything. Like the Tardis, it seems to bigger on the inside.

What if Hagrid's coat was made from the same material? Wouldn't the pockets be able to hold anything and everything?

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    That's an interesting line of thought!
    – sudhanva
    Feb 7, 2018 at 17:11
  • There's also Hermione's beaded bag, which she charmed herself iirc. Feb 7, 2018 at 21:28
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    Hagrid's coat is explictly stated to be made of moleskin.
    – Valorum
    Feb 7, 2018 at 21:34
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    The inherent property of a Mokeskin pouch is to prevent anyone but the owner from removing things from the pouch. Any Tardis-like properties would be due to an additional enchantment, not an inherent property of the material. Thus, a Mokeskin coat (especially a Hagrid-sized Mokeskin coat) would be a total waste.
    – Martha
    Feb 7, 2018 at 21:40
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    "What if?" doesn't sound conclusive to me. Especially since Hagrid told Harry that Mokeskin is especially rare when he gave him the pouch. Feb 8, 2018 at 0:02
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Although there is no confirmation of this, the coat could have easily been under an extension charm. From various sources we know that :

  • Undetectable Extension Charms are advanced spells, but are subject to strict Ministry of Magic control.
  • There is a law in place that Extension Charms are not to be cast for private use.

But this charm has been approved to be used under a lot of different circumstances like

  • Hogwarts school trunks (like the majority of wizarding luggage) are issued with these charms.
  • Family tents are also infused with this charm, in order to make them more inhabitable.
  • It was also used on Arthur Weasley's Flying Ford Anglia to fit the whole Weasley family.
  • Although this use might be considered illegal but Newt Scamander also used this charm on his case in Fantastic Beasts.

Since, Hagrid was frequently out on official Hogwarts business and his vehicle of choosing was a motorbike, Dumbledore could have easily granted him the use of the extension charm on his coat

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    Could have, but as you say there's no evidence to back this up. There's a much easier explanation that Valorum already mentioned in the comments: Hagrid is huge, and therefore wears a huge coat which would have plenty of storage space. In the quoted scene he doesn't pull out anything large enough to indicate he'd need expanded storage space. Feb 7, 2018 at 16:47
  • it could be that the pockets of his coat are lines with mokeskin.
    – Jasen
    Feb 7, 2018 at 18:49
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    Where did you read that the Undetectable Extension Charm is subject to Ministry control? I'm pretty sure there's nothing to that effect in the books.
    – Joe White
    Feb 8, 2018 at 0:42
  • "Various sources"? Isn't that information all from the Rowling's Pottermore writing? If so, you should probably just directly quote it or at the very least link it. Saying "various sources" makes it sound like it's information you read on HP wiki and weren't able to discern whether it was legitimate info or fanfic.
    – ibid
    Feb 8, 2018 at 5:48
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It's not likely.

I'm not sure that Hagrid would have the magical ability to pull off the charm involved. The Undetectable Extention Charm is described as a complex piece of magic by Hermione.

"How the ruddy hell -?"
"Undetectable Extention Charm," said Hermione. "Tricky, but I think I've done it OK..."
(Deathly Hallows, Chapter 9, A Place to Hide).

Hagrid was expelled in his third year so it's dubious that he would have the necessary skills to pull such a complicated spell.

"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything."
(Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 4, The Keeper of the Keys).

Hagrid wasn't even supposed to do any magic, strictly speaking (hence why his wand was cut in half). We know that he breaks this rule occasionally. But the fact that he doesn't do magic in everyday life reinforces how difficult he'd find the Undetectable Extention Charm if he were to attempt it.

The most likely explanation is, as Valorum says, that Hagrid's coat is simply very large because Hagrid himself is very large.

If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed...
(Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 1, The Boy Who Lived).

It's not surprising that Hagrid's coat should be disproportiately huge (in comparison to a normal person), with a corresponding number of pockets, when considering Hagrid's size. As for the assortment of random junk in his pockets, it seems that Hagrid is simply a disorganised hoarder who doesn't mind carrying around assorted items that he needs occasionally in his everyday life.

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    For the record, A) Hagrid goes shopping regularly in the nasty part of town (so he could probably just buy a coat with illegal magic in it) and B) He has access to a whole school full of bright young students who'd probably be happy to cast the spells even if he's incapable himself.
    – Valorum
    Feb 8, 2018 at 0:00
  • @Valorum Yeah but since Hagrid is so huge pretty much all the off-the-shelf clothes in shops aren't going to be suitable for Hagrid. I suppose he could have badgered a more qualified wizard to do it for him. I don't really know why Hagrid would think that he needed Mary Poppins pockets in the first place, though. Feb 8, 2018 at 0:12
  • If it's just a big coat, how is Hagrid keeping an owl in it?
    – Ellesedil
    Feb 8, 2018 at 0:28
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    @Ellesedil It's really big. I don't see your point. Feb 8, 2018 at 0:30
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    You would need to keep an owl, which is a living, breathing predator, alive and relatively happy inside of a jacket pocket. Even if this is a jacket for a man who is 8-10 feet tall and we assume owls are more sentient in HP than in real life, I simply don't see that happening without magic. Doubly-so since owls are actually quite large and would make a noticeable bulge in any such pocket.
    – Ellesedil
    Feb 8, 2018 at 0:32

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