Vow - silveritas - E, 40 chapters, Words: 253,896 - When Hermione returns to Hogwarts for her Seventh Year as Head Girl to Draco Malfoy's Head Boy, she's prepared for anything. Or so she thinks. But when a portkey takes her to Malfoy Manor just days before the winter solstice, she finds her whole world flipped on its head as she's plunged into a secret marriage with the one person she'd never expected to like, let alone love.
Sacrifice by silveritas - E, WIP - After laying low for five years, the war has come for them all.
hey! have you ever wondered exactly how portkeys work and how it differs from the apparation other than the possibility of use by minors? especially Dumbledore was able to create one in the 5th book when Nagini bites Arthur Weasley so that the children could safely return to grimmauld 12. and floo... portkeys are unlikely to be traceable like floo, because Newt Scamander also traveled to France with an additional portkey, but I think not only because of Jacob, but because it is quite a long distance and it is difficult to control the apparation if you never was in place where you want to apparate especially if another person is with you
You ask if I ever wondered exactly how portkeys work? Of course, I did! Esoteric magical theory is the bread and butter of my theorizing, so this is truly a question after my own heart.
Now, let's talk about magical transportation methods.
Apparition
Apparation is a spell that allows instantaneous travel, the fact most wizards require a wand to apparate supports it being a kind of charm:
Ron was now trying to Disapparate without a wand.
(DH, 466)
Not to mention Harry being able to do so accidentally as a child:
he’d gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley’s gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry’s surprise as anyone else’s, there he was sitting on the chimney.
(PS, 21)
In book 6 it's mentioned apparition requires 3 things (the 3 Ds):
Destination
Determination
Deliberation
I'd argue, there are actually 4 things based on how I believe all magic in their world works:
Intention/will - what you want the magic to do (this is the determination)
Instruction - How the magic is to do it (destination + spinning movement)
Magic - the energy to do it (and a wand to help focus and channel said energy)
A clear mind - you need a clear and focused mind (deliberation)
This makes apparition essentially a "light spell" that requires focus, like Legilemancy/Occlumancy.
As a spell that is dangerous when it goes wrong (splinching) and requires a focused and clear mind, it is regulated only for ages 16 and up. Apparation can't exactly be tracked, hence why licenses are necessary (distributed by the Department of Magical Transportation). It's not just to protect people, but also to know who can apparate.
I mean, with cars, you need a license because you wouldn't only endanger yourself if you don't know how to drive, you'll endanger pedestrians and other drivers as well. With Apparition, you are mostly just endangering yourself. So, I do believe the licensing is partly just a means to control people because the Wizarding World is a dystopia. (but it's also for the personal safety of witches and wizards. It's both!)
Apparation can be traced like any other spell (and therefore only the location it's cast can be known and not who actually cast it), but not really in any other way.
I mean, Dumbledore mentioned magic leaves traces:
“Magic always leaves traces,” said Dumbledore
(HBP, 563)
So, you could track someone aspirated from a specific location, but I don't believe we ever see anyone track to where someone apparated. It's just possible to tell where someone apparated from due to the traces magic leaves behind.
We also know both the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts are warded against apparition. This ward is referred to as an "Anti-Apparition Jinx" very much like an "Anti-Alohamora Jinx", so I assume the warding is similar, both, after all, work against charms.
Floo Network
The floo network, unlike apparition, is not a spell, but an enchantment. It's more similar to a railway or a collection of bus stations. The Floo Network Authority in the Department of Magical Transportation is responsible for managing it, and the fact it is called a "network" tells us a lot about it.
In GoF Arthur mentions how fireplaces need to be connected to the network:
I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see — just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren’t supposed to be connected, strictly speaking — but I’ve got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me.
(GoF, 45)
Basically, fireplaces can be added to the network by the Floo Regulation Authority like bus stops are added to a bus line. The Floo is easily traceable because there are a finite and known amount of connected points, all connected by that same Floo authority. With floo, you can know where someone entered and where they got out since you can see the entire floo activity. I don't believe you could tell who traveled there without doing some legwork (like going on location or seeing who's the owner of the fireplace, etc.)
Different countries likely have different Floo Networks (or different Floo systems altogether).
As for the magic behind it, the fact no one had to go to the Dursleys' house to connect them to the floo network, it seems it's controlled remotely, as in, the Floo Authority has a magical map of all the fireplaces in the UK and they can just connect any of them to the network. I kind of imagine it like old call exchange centers where you'd connect a line in a giant switchboard to connect calls — just with fireplaces.
Beyond that, the real magic lies in the floo powder. I believe the same magical material is used in the lines connecting the fireplaces in the connection center. Basically, when you use floo powder and state where you want to go, you go into this floo space:
Harry spun faster and faster, elbows tucked tightly to his sides, blurred fireplaces flashing past him, until he started to feel sick and closed his eyes.
(GoF, 51)
Then, the magic uses the address you stated aloud to know in the control center where to connect your line to. So, it's really like these old phone call centers.
Floo powder is described as glittering and according to the PlayStation CoS game and the mobile game Hogwarts Mystery floo is a magical flower that is the main ingredient in floo powder. But, I'm not convinced regarding the magical flower thing.
The word "floo" originates from the flue that you find on a chimney (which is the name of the shaft the smoke goes out from, which I didn't know). So I think that is also the in-universe reason floo is called floo and has nothing to do with magical plants.
If I had to guess to its ingredients I'd say:
Speedwell flowers - they used to symbolize safe travel and grow in Britian.
Ashwinder eggs - for the fire.
Are part of it. All ingredients would be burned to a fine powder (the purified salt - physical body) of the material. The burning to a powder would explain how floo powder looks and also its association with fire and the chimney flue.
SuperCarlinBrothers posed ashes from a phoenix regeneration might be used to make floo powder, but considering how rare phoenixes are and how common and plentiful floo powder is, I find that hard to believe. I just don't think phoenixes regenerate often enough to make them a viable ingredient for floo even if the company making floo powder had a phoenix on hand 24/7 (and there's no way they have access to more than one phoenix).
Portkeys
Portkeys are created via a charm:
Dumbledore was now rummaging in a cupboard behind Harry and Ron. He emerged from it carrying a blackened old kettle, which he placed carefully upon his desk. He raised his wand and murmured “Portus”; for a moment the kettle trembled, glowing with an odd blue light, then it quivered to a rest, as solidly black as ever.
[...]
“No,” said Dumbledore, “Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey.” He indicated the old kettle lying innocently on his desk.
(OotP, 472, 474)
And while how their magic is described is more similar to an apparition, I believe they are similar in many ways, magically speaking.
With how I think the trace works, this would mean the making of a portkey could be traced, but the portkey itself, when and where it's used, and by who could not be traced. Because of the problems with tracking it, like all other magical transportation, it is illegal to make portkeys in the UK without registering them with the Portkey Office at the Department of Magical Transportation:
“Brooms,” said Lupin. “Only way. You’re too young to Apparate, they’ll be watching the Floo Network, and it’s more than our life’s worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey.”
(OotP, 51)
So, basically, you have a spell to make an item a portkey, this spell is likely similar to apparition in requiring a clear mind. The caster of this spell will determine the destination and trigger for the portkey to move.
We know a portkey could be triggered by:
Time (like the boot on the hill in GoF)
Contact (the Triwizard Cup in GoF)
Other (I'm calling it other since I'm uncertain what was the portkey trigger in book 5 when they went from Hogwarts to Grimmauld Place after Nagini attacked Arthur Weasley, but it wasn't one of the above)
I do believe it's the same spell to create all three different kinds of portkeys, with perhaps different suffixes. Like how "Avis" conjours birds and you need to add the "Oppugno" charm to make them attack.
Since Dumbledore does create an unregistered portkey in Hogwarts it appears that anyone powerful enough could make a portkey, registration is just a legal matter and not a magical one (like with Animagi). It also shows (again, like with the Triwizard Cup) that you can take a portkey out of Hogwarts and that the anti-apparition jinx doesn't affect it.
Portkeys can travel over larger distances than apparition, but I think that's not necessarily for the spell being very different. I think it's mostly that Portkeys are made with a different mindset. It's easier to focus on your desired destination when you're just enchanting an item in a calm and controlled environment. Additionaly you don't need to focus on your own movement and take yourself there like with apparition, making the focus and will required easier to achieve. Additionally, failing a portkey isn't as risky as failing an apparition, there is no danger of splicing yourself, just the spell not working or getting the destination a little off.
So, I don't think there is a big difference in the process of appariting and making a portkey, it's just, the latter is made ahead of time, and under less stress and therefore likely allows for longer, more complicated transportations.
They are though, the least traceable magical transportation, in theory, at least. I mean, you casting "portus" could and would still be traced and is illegal to do because of how untraceable portkeys are. So, yeah.
found this in the parking lot of my apartment’s management office a while ago when i was heading out for a morning ramble. i turned it in, but nobody claimed it, so now they are mine. in retrospect it is clear that i entered a mirror universe the moment i touched them. i guess now, i just wait to receive my quest.
wish me luck and happy nondenominational irish caricature day imaginary constructs!
Can we talk a moment about the fact that portkeys are possibly just lying around, seemingly being old tin cans or boots, seemingly rubbish so muggles would leave them alone. Like, there is a million loopholes in there. What about curious kids? What about those muggles who keep picking up trash and throwing it in the bin? Wtf witches and wizards, you can't just leave portkeys lying around??? It's so fucking arbitrary, and in GoF when they go looking for the portkey to go into the Quidditch world cup, they're just searching randomly. How is it they're not provided the information about what kind of an object they're looking for??? Has JKR really thought this through?
