offbeat - and must have been discussed to the pulp before too..

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 144840

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "scamjunk22" <latha272 at i...> 
wrote:

scam:
> Sorry people, if I am asking something that has already been 
discussed 
> to the hilt before... but this was such a nagging doubt that I had 
to 
> post....
> 
> We see in GoF that the portkey and the Apparating are used with the 
> same purpose ... to transport to some other place. Then, how is it 
that 
> PortKeys work inside the Hogwarts grounds!  Isn't it possible then, 
> that Draco need not have spent an entire year repairing the 
Vanishing 
> cabinet... instead they could have just conjured a portkey and come 
> there!  We have seen a DE conjuring the portkey to go out of and 
> come back into Hogwarts before (GoF)... and from the Ministry to 
> Hogwarts in OotP... so why wasn't it thought of?

Geoff:
because, basically, anyone of age can take the Apparating exam and 
then use it freely.

Portkeys have to be authorised and they also have to be set up which 
means that you also need a suitable object to make one...

'He (Dumbledore) walked away from the pool to the place where the 
golden wizard's head lay on the floor. He pointed his wand at it and 
muttered "Portus" The head glowedblue and trembled noisily against 
the wooden floor for a few seconds then became still once more.
"Now, see here, Dumbledore!" said Fudge, as Dumbledore picked up the 
head and walked back to Harry carrying it. "You haven't got 
authorisation for that Portkey! You can't do things like that right 
in front of the Minister for Magic, you - you -"'

(OOTP "The Only One He Ever Feared" p.722 UK edition)