Portkeys and anti-aparition (WAS: Why the Knight Bus?)

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 45800

Mary wrote:
> Wouldn't Gringotts have the protection from apparation that Hogwarts
> has? That said, I guess having strangers able to apparate inside your
> house is equally undesirable. The protection Hogwarts has from
> apparation is presumably a difficult and unusual protection, not
> something every wizard casts on their house (the Weasleys obviously
> haven't anyway - Percy apparates downstairs every morning after he
> passes his test).
> 
> I'm surprised that they don't do the same thing for portkeys, given
> that Voldemort's trick with the cup would do nicely for robbing
> someone, or getting inside Gringott's (you do need to convince
> someone to take it inside their house or vault though).
> 
> -Mary

It has been especulated that anti-aparition charms do, indeed, stop 
aparition in all its forms, including portkeys. By this theory, an 
exception was made for the portkey!Cup, which was rigged and allowed by 
Dumbledore specifically to allow the winning champion to be portkey'ed 
directly back to the entrance (for once thing, the champion wouldn't 
have to go throught the maze again, and it wouldn't give other 
champions the occasion of making a grab for the cup which is of course 
illegal and thus a part of the competition).

This ties with the idea that it seems strange that Crouch!Moody didn't 
rig a portkey himself to make Harry disparate. After all, people have 
pointed out, he could've used as nicely Harry's toothbrush and send him 
into Voldemort's blossom any other day, didn't he? By this theory, it 
is not that easy: Dumbledore alone knows the way to override the 
protection, and Crouch!Moody has no aparent reason to ask for a 
Portkey.

Of course, once the Portkey is prepared to be used within Hogwarts, it 
is easy (says the theory) to add an extra stop. Note that change the 
destination is difficult, since it's departing from an unchartable and 
apparition-banned place (which is difficult to prepare) and arriving to 
another such place (which also needs very advanced magic). Maybe 
real!Moody would've been able to prepare his own portkey (not that he 
would've had any reason to do so), but for Crouch!Moody it was far 
beyond his abilities, so he just introduced that extra stop.

Yes, this is the official explanation for the Portkey!Cup!Twist in 
MAGIC DISHWASHER

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf, very sorry for Harris' death