ok so a portkey is something that transports people at a preset time.........right? so how did mad eye know that harry was going to touch the triwizard cup at a certain time? and how did it transport harry and ced back once it had already been used? during the quidditch world cup the used portkeys had simply been discarted....wow this is odd j.k. is usually pretty consistant in her books..

uh im confused now....

Yeah, i think portkeys can be activated not only by time, but by touch. He might have charmed it so that the first person to touch the cup gets transported. So when Harry and Cedric touch it at exactly the same time, they both go. Thats my theory anyway...

Yeh, I think there's probably different ways of opperating a portkey, for the quidditch world cup it was important for the key to be activated at a certain time. It appears that the Try cup had been charmed to zip between two points whenever it was touched. Perhaps on a timed portkey toy give the charm an expirey date where as on a touch one you have to end the charm manualy?

oh ok!

I wondered this myself, just today when I was re-reading GOF - why would Barty Crouch Jr. make the mistake of making it a two-way portkey? Maybe they thought that after Harry was killed and Voldimort was back to full power, they would use it themselves and take care of Dumbledore right away? Obviously, things weren't going according to Voldimort's plan the way Harry was able to fight back and it threw them off the plan quite abit probably. They probably needed a lot more time to regroup.

wow im confussed now!!! I think that in the triwizard that it was a lot different becuase it was Voldemort or whoever that did it

yeah, my theory is also that portkeys can be activated by touch and not only at a certain time. so moody (crouch) only had to make sure that harry touched the cup first.
and for the transport back? i have a mad theory: maybe, if a really powerful wizard like harry, needs a used portkey he can make it go back to where it came from. got me?

But Harry's not that powerful yet...he's still at school, lol.

I have weird theory on portkeys. The ones used for the Quidditch World Cup were single-use ones because the MoM needed to assure that they wouldn't get abused by desperate fans and become security threats to those who were unwanted at the event. They were most likely charmed so they would become ineffective as soon as they were used at a given time, to crystallize.

The one that Crouch used for the Third Task (as my theory goes) was a normal portkey: activated by touch at any given time, and supported two-way transport.

Short and simple, but stupid?

i think that harry is quite powerful although he's still a teen. just look at what he's done so far during the books. the stone, the chamber, the patronus charm at the age of 13 (!) and on and on the list goes. and also the prophecy states that harry is the only one with the power to defeat voldemort, so that would make him powerful.

True about the prophecy, but that's dealing with the 'power within,' which is so abstract I don't even get it. Harry's special alright, and certainly does have a talent in defensive spells. When I think of a powerful wizard, I think of Dumbledore or Voldemort. But this is off-topic, sorry. I guess my point is that Harry can't manipulate objects like portkeys with a mere thought; he's simply not advanced enough to do that. Everything he's accomplished he did with his wand and his courage, persistence, and love.

Well it was James Potter's "echo" that told Harry to use the portkey back so it must be normal to have a two-way portkey.

I bet whoever said the MoM portkey's were special/different is right.

Hey that's true, James would have known. And thanks!

My theory on portkeys is simple. They differ based on their purpose. If you want one to use only once then you charm it to work only once ot one destination. If you want it to take you to several places you can keep charming it to work until you no longer wish to use it. I think there may have even been some Dark Magic used to make the portkey that Harry and Cedric used. I feel that it was Voldemort's plan to go back to Hogwarts with that same portkey and Harry's dead body. Too bad for poor old Voldemort his plan back fired.

If Voldemort went back to Hogwarts with that portkey, then he'd run into Dumbledore. Why would he just saunter into the territory of a wizard more powerful than him, with a handful of trained adult wizards and witches (the teachers) to defend Hogwarts? That's like saying, "I'm back! Now if you could just vanquish me, please..."

portkey can be used over and over because in book phoenix dumbledore has a porkey in his room so he could go to a house anytime he wanted to. and they don't have a preset time..... i didn't read that anywhere... and probably in the world cup they made the portkeys so they could be used only once so muggles couldn't use them

okay guys,,, i don't get it why would moody(crouch) do this whole getting harry in the try tourn just to get to get him to go to voldy.... he could have just returned the marauder's map to harry and made that a portkey instead of getting him through the tasks......hunh

I think that the map is already under so much magic, that and he had to be holding it to give it back to Harry, and that would have taken him to Voldy. So i bet he placed the cup then put the magic on it to make it a portkey.
And i think the death eaters were going to use the portkey as a way to get to hogwarts and destroy it.. once there was a big enough army neway,,

I am glad that there is a forum on Portkey's because believe iit or not. I had the most difficult time understanding the concept of this way of Transportation. Nice Theory Dainsie, I would have to believe that until I re-read the books and create my own crazy theory because I thougth that a Portkey was built for people to Apparate in groups!

Also, timing for Crouch Jr. would have been paramount. He likely was not in constant (or even intermitent) contact with Voldemort. There is evidence for this in the fact that he was asking Harry about what death eaters had arrived at the graveyard (likely called there ahead of time by Voldemort and Pettigrew). Voldemort needed Harry at a time when he could be prepared to recieve him. It is likely Voldemort and Crouch decided on the final task at the Tri-Wizard because that was a specific time that would have given them about nine months to plan properly as well as allow Crouch to not have to contact Voldemort and thereby not raise suspicions.

No worry fellow HP fanatics...JK will soon clear it all up..that's if you don't figure it out for yourself first..

Ok, the only reason there was a specific time for the portkey at the beginning of the story is becuase people were coming to groups. They couldn't get there too early or too late. Normally you just touch it.

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Well, if you remember, at the end of the book 5 Dumbledore tells Harry that Mad Eye wasn't really Mad Eye. He was replaced by someone else--used the Polyjuice Potion. So in theory, Mad Eye didn't really put the portkey in the maze, someone else did. Can't remember for sure who, but Mad Eye was not the one that made the triwizard cup a portkey. I think it was one of Voldemort's supporters.