Portkeys (was: Chapter 6 - The Portkey)

[davehoz]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C6846
From: davehoz
Subject: Portkeys (was: Chapter 6 - The Portkey)
Reply To: [Yahoo! #6826] Chapter 6 - The Portkey
Date: 8/14/00 2:20 pm  (ET)

I have a question about Portkeys -- Do they all work the same way? The
Triwizard Cup seems to be set to work whenever Harry touched it, not at a
specified time. And the Cup is "programmed" to return Harry to Hogwarts,
but that doesn't seem normal behavior for a portkey. Once the boot is
used as a portkey it's "dead". Why not the Triwizard Cup? Surely Crouch
would not "program" it to give Harry an escape hatch? And how did he
make the portkey in the first place? -- Surely Hogwarts' enchantments
prohibit portkeys if they disallow apparating? Or did Dumbledore make the
portkey a special dispensation (transfer the winner to the outside of
the maze), and that's why it *had* to be the cup that Crouch used? And
did it transfer Harry back because it was already set to transfer the
winner to outside the maze and Crouch just "inserted" the graveyard into
the portkey's "message queue"? (Sorry to use all these programming terms!)