It really annoys me ... (Sirius and portkeys)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 163860

Potioncat:
> It just seems to me that there was something about Black that so few 
> questioned the betrayal...or there was something about the WW itself.
>

Pippin:
I think there *is* something about the WW. There's a belief that once
a wizard goes over to the Dark Side, "there's nothin' and no one that
matters to 'em anymore."(PoA ch10) I've just noticed that a good part
of HBP seems devoted to undermining this idea.

Narcissa has apparently been a dark witch all her life and yet she's 
deeply concerned for her son. Draco finds that his willingness to join 
the Dark Side doesn't make it easy for him to become a murderer. 
As for Voldemort, his psychology seems to have become abnormal 
long before he became a wizard.

But it's easy to see how someone who did believe that Dark Magic
turns you into a psychopath could think that  a once  brave and
loyal wizard like Sirius had become completely amoral and utterly 
turned against all he had stood for. 

I don't think Dumbledore shared this superstition.  But if he already
believed that Sirius had tried to kill Snape, then Sirius had
run out of second chances.
----

One of my favorite nagging implausibilities is the "toothbrush
problem" -- couldn't Crouch Jr  have  turned some mundane 
object of Harry's into a  portkey instead of carrying out such
a ridiculously elaborate scheme? And why does the portkey
return Harry to a spot outside the maze when it took him
away from inside it?

But actually, now that we know about Voldemort's fetish for
famous wizarding heirlooms, it's starting to make sense, 
especially if Voldemort isn't quite as far along with his 
horcrux project as Dumbledore thought. How convenient -- 
kill Harry and use the TWT cup as the horcrux to mark the 
occasion.

Also, we now know that the mInistry can detect where and when
a spell is performed but not who is responsible. We don't know
if any of the visiting wizards on the night of the 3rd Task  had
portkeys with them, but if they did, then Crouch might have
hoped his portkey spell would go undetected. Even if it 
was noticed, there would be a number of strange wizards who
would be more likely suspects than the trusted Mad-eye. 

Now, if a portkey returns to the place where it was bespelled
instead of the place where it was activated, then Crouch could
have enchanted it as he was carrying it into the maze, and we
don't need any theories about extra stops.

Pippin