The Cup as Portkey Question

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24736

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Trina" <lj2d30 at g...> wrote:
> Or, By George I've Got It!
> 
> Having recently done a GoF re-read, the last terrifying and 
emotional 
> chapters have been on my mind a lot.  This morning, while briefly 
> considering the What Might Have Been if Cedric had been the only 
one 
> to grasp the cup--a thoroughly frightning idea which is a post of 
its 
> own, I returned to the Eternal Question--
> 
> Why make the Cup a portkey when Harry's toothbrush would work just 
as 
> well?
> 
> Like the Grinch, we have all puzzled on this till our puzzlers were 
> sore, but today an answer hit me with the force of a well-placed 
> Impedimenta charm.  It was so simple. The answer lie in the portkey 
> itself.
> 
> Picture it Little Hangleton, June.  Voldy and Wormtail await the 
bane 
> of their existences--young Harry Potter.  Once he arrives, 
> disoriented and properly frightened, he is tied to Daddy Riddle's 
> tombstone, and forced to provide Voldy with a blood sample.  Voldy 
> reincorporates into the Big Bad of yesteryear, at which point he 
> calls in his Death Eaters, chastises them for a bit, and then 
> disposes of Harry, after an invigorating game of cat and mouse.
> 
> (With me so far?  Okay. Because here's where it gets good.)
> 
> At this point Voldy and his lowly minions *Touch The Portkey And 
> Return To Hogwarts* to begin the new Reign of Terror. *This* is why 
> the portkey was rigged to return to Hogwarts.
> 
> They arrive outside of the maze, with Harry's lifeless body (after 
> all a good gloat is needed) and begin decimating the future 
wizarding 
> population.  They're merely students (and not just Hogwarts 
students 
> either, but Beauxbatons and Durmstrang as well), easy prey.  Also 
in 
> the arena is Karakoff the coward, Snape the spy, Bagman, the MoM 
> Fudge, Dumbledore, and, of course, Crouch as Moody.  Crouch didn't 
> just "forget" to take his Polyjuice Potion.  It wasn't needed.  He 
> could begin hurling hexes as Moody (in all the chaos who could tell 
> for which side he was playing?) and after the potion wore off, he 
> could fight clearly as himself, alongside his Dark Lord.  
> 
> After the battle, Voldemort would be in absolute power and all 
would 
> be right in his world.
> 
> It was so brilliant. It was so simple.  It should have worked.
> 
> Fortunately for us, Harry had an ace up his sleeve, or rather, a 
> pheonix feather in his wand and managed to foil Voldy's plan once 
> again.
> 
> Respectfully submitted for your approval...
> 
> Trina
> Now 86% obssessed.

Trina, I so desparately want to believe, but I'm not sold, for the 
following reasons:

1.  If the plan was for V and the DEs to use a portkey to gain access 
to Hogwarts and storm it, there still would be no reason not to use 
Harry's toothbrush instead of the Cup.  Indeed, storming Hotwarts is 
much more likely to work if V does it by stealth (using a toothbrush 
round trip portkey) instead of doing it with a huge crowd of powerful 
wizards around outside the maze.

2.  If V knows the Cup is a roundtrip portkey to be used to storm 
Hogwards, then it is *really* inexcusable to leave it unguarded so 
Harry could escape.  V would have posted a DE to guard the Cup with 
his life.

3.  If V thought he could defeat Dumbledore by storming Hogwards, he 
would have done it 15 years ago.

4.  V has no idea how many powerful wizards are attending the 
Triwizard finale.  The Tournament hasn't been held in ages and is 
hugely important.  The whole MoM could be there, hit wizards and 
all.  It could well be the cream of the wizarding crop, so V could be 
walking into an unwinnable battle.

I'm still more convinced that the round trip properties of the Cup 
are kind of an accident.  Moody knows the cup is to transport the 
winner to the outside of the maze (do we really expect the winner to 
have to battle his way back out of the maze holding the cup?).  V 
does not know this so does not take the proper, um, precautions.

So why not use a toothbrush instead of the cup?  Well, I'm still 
puzzling this out, but one feature of the portkey is that Moody can't 
just hand it to Harry.  He has to set it down and Harry has to pick 
it up.  There aren't many items Moody would have access to that he 
could obtain, privately bewitch, set down, and then encourage Harry 
to touch.  So the plan V and Moody have is fine.  One way or another, 
an "enemy" in the form of one of the four Triwizard champs is going 
to touch the Cup, and he'll get someone's blood, even if it is not 
Harry's blood.  (Remember, any enemy's blood will work, but Harry's 
is the best).  

Cheers!

Cindy