OOP: Toothbrush? (with a side order of Baths)

[Phyllis]

No: HPFGUIDX 66799

Pippin wrote:
 
> The downside is that the explanations seem to be afterthoughts 
> when we finally get them...and we do, eventually, IMO. For 
> example, I think we have enough canon now to sort out the 
> "toothbrush" problem, but that's another post.

and David responded:
 
> Toothbrush?  What are you talking about, Pippin?  It evidently is 
> another post, because I'm completely flummoxed.

Now me:

Hopefully Pippin will correct me if I misrepresent her, but I believe 
she's referring to the long-standing question of why the Triwizard 
Cup was turned into a Portkey rather than a common object, like a 
toothbrush, that Harry would normally pick up during his normal daily 
routine.

I think this question is answered by the new information we get on 
Portkeys in OoP - Portkeys have to be "authorized": Lupin tells Harry 
that they're taking brooms to Grimmauld Place because "it's more than 
our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey"; Dumbledore is 
berated by Fudge for creating an unauthorized Portkey to get Harry 
back to Hogwarts after the confrontation with Voldemort in the 
Ministry. We also find out that there's a Portkey Office in the 
Ministry, which presumably is responsible for issuing Portkey 
authorizations.

This actually supports the premise that the Triwizard Cup was always 
intended to be a Portkey which took the first person to touch it out 
to the front of the maze, and that Crouch Jr. just put an extra stop 
in it to have it go to the graveyard first.  I've actually never 
liked this premise, because under Veritaserum, Crouch Jr. refers 
to "turning" the Cup into a Portkey, which I always thought meant 
that the Cup was not originally intended to be a Portkey.  Of course, 
given the numerous rules Crouch Jr. broke in the effort to get 
Harry's blood to Voldemort, it's quite possible that he did in fact 
set up an unauthorized Portkey.  Or, if you believe in FIE (Fudge is 
Evil), Fudge let Crouch Jr. set up an unauthorized Portkey.  Or 
perhaps the authorization issue is more pronounced in OoP because the 
Ministry is trying to thwart Dumbledore's efforts to get the news out 
about Voldemort.

As an aside (but relating to Pippin's comment about questions being 
answered in OoP) - I remember someone posting to this list awhile ago 
a question as to whether the students take baths (since it's never 
mentioned in the first four books), and I found it interesting that 
JKR makes a point of telling us that Ron and Ginny went to take baths 
after their Quidditch practice.  So, no need to worry about smelly 
students ;-)

~Phyllis