Portkey and Floo in Hogwarts.

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 81635

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Maria" <queen_amidalachic at y...>
wrote:
> Hello there. 
> Reading OOTP has got me wondering about Hogwart's protection. We
> have seen that Harry and co can Floo out of Hogwarts, and portkeys 
> taking Harry out and back to the school. ...edited...
> 
> Maria 


bboy_mn:

We have seen 'fire talking', but we have never seen anyone use the
Floo Network to get into or out of Hogwarts. Although, we have seen
the fireplaces used to transport a person from one room in the castle
to another room in the castle. Just because the castle protections
allow 'fire talking' does not mean the fireplaces do not have
additional charms to prevent the transport of whole bodies.

The Portkeys matter is a little more tricky. To explain it, we have to
make some assumptions. First I start by not saying, 'it can't work',
but by asking myself, 'how could I make it work?'.

In the latest book, OoP, we see Harry Portkey into the castle, but
that Portkey was created by Dumbledore, and as headmaster Dumbledore
controls the protections on the castle. So he may be able to create
charms like the Portkey that by-pass these protections.

My personal theory on Portkeys says that they are difficult and
dangerous for all but the most experienced and talented wizard to
create. That's why they aren't in more wide spread use. If Portkeys
were easy, everybody would be using them all the time; and clearly in
the story so far, the are not in common use.

On one hand, we have to assume that Voldemort and at least some of the
DE's must be capable of doing the Portkey charm effectively and
safely, but it seem equally reasonable that if the Hogwarts founders
were going to protect the castle from invasion, they would have
protected against entry by portkey. 

So, given all these assumptions, I'm back to what I originally said,
Dumbledore as headmaster controls the castle's protection and is
therefore able to cast a Portkey charm that gets around them. Others
would most likely not have the knowledge of how to do that. Another
possibility is that Dumbledore removed the Portkey block from his
office in anticipation of the possible need to get people out of the
Minstry very quickly and into a safe environment. Again, since
Dumbledore controls the protections, he also controls the exceptions.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn