Portkey

Portkey
Object information
Location	Various
Manufacturer	Any witch or wizard using the Portkey Spell
Usage	Transports people to a pre-determined destination
Owners	Wizardkind

"Almost any inanimate object can be turned into a Portkey. Once bewitched, the object will transport anyone who grasps it to a pre-arranged destination."

— Description of a Portkey and its use

A Portkey was a magical object enchanted to instantly bring anyone touching it to a specific location. In most cases, a Portkey was an everyday object that would not draw the attention of a Muggle. Travelling by Portkey was said to feel like having a hook "somewhere behind the navel" pulling the traveller to their location.

The sensation of travelling by Portkey was universally agreed to be uncomfortable, if not downright unpleasant, and could lead to nausea, giddiness, or worse.

Usage and properties

Harry Potter: "What sort of objects are Portkeys?"

Arthur Weasley: "Well, they can be anything. Unobstrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them... stuff they'll just think is litter..."

— Arthur Weasley explaining the conspicuous nature of Portkeys to Harry Potter

Wizards who could not Apparate (dematerialise and reappear at will), who wished to travel by daylight (meaning that broomsticks, Thestrals, flying cars and dragons would be inappropriate), or whose destination had no fireplace (rendering Floo powder useless) would have travel via a Portkey as a last resort. Portkeys also seemed to have no limit as to how far it can transport the users, as Eulalie Hicks and Jacob Kowalski travelled from New York City to the train where the rest of Dumbledore's first army was, which was en route to Berlin from London. New York City was more than three thousand miles from either Berlin or London. Lord Voldemort, on the other hand, had to fly a fairly great distance from Nurmengard Castle, Austria in order to get near enough to Malfoy Manor to Apparate there.

The trio and others landing after being transported from Ottery St Catchpole to 1994 Quidditch World Cup

Almost any inanimate object could be turned into a Portkey. The incantation used to turn an object into a Portkey was Portus. Once bewitched, the object would transport anyone who grasped it to a pre-arranged destination. A Portkey could also be enchanted to transport the grasper(s) only at a given time. In this way, the arrivals and departures of great numbers of witches and wizards could be staggered, enabling such events such as the Quidditch World Cup to take place with few security breaches.

When secrecy was paramount, and mass movement was planned, the chosen Portkey would be a nondescript object secreted in an out-of-the-way place, so that it would be taken for a piece of unimportant debris by Muggle passers-by. Accidents were still known to occur, however; two Muggle dog-walkers found themselves accidentally transported to a Celestina Warbeck concert in 2003, because their dogs had run off with an old trainer on Clapham Common (leaving an anguished crowd of witches and wizards to look frantically for their Portkey on a stretch of empty grass, hopefully seizing old crisp packets and cigarette ends). One of the Muggle dog-walkers was even invited on stage by Celestina to perform a duet of A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love. While the Memory Charm placed upon him by a harried Ministry official seemed to take at the time, he later wrote a popular Muggle song that bore an uncanny resemblance to Celestina's worldwide hit (Ms Warbeck was not amused).

Before the creation of the Hogwarts Express, Portkeys were used as a means of transportation to not draw the attention of Muggles. Eventually another method was sought, because the majority of students would either not find the item that was their Portkey, or not arrive in time to take the Portkey. Many students were 'Portkey-sick' and the Hospital Wing was filled with students for the first few days of term, while they got over their nausea and distress.

The sensation of travelling by Portkey was universally agreed to be uncomfortable, if not downright unpleasant, and could lead to nausea, giddiness and worse. Healers recommended that the elderly, pregnant and infirm avoided using Portkeys. The suggestion of arranging Portkeys for the transportation of annoying relatives saved many a wizarding family Christmas.

Types of Portkeys

"Instantly, Harry felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel. His feet had left the ground. He could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup; it was pulling him onward in a howl of wind and swirling colour, Cedric at his side. Harry felt his feet slam into the ground; his injured leg gave way, and he fell forward; his hand let go of the Triwizard Cup at last."

— The Triwizard Cup transporting Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory to Little Hangleton

Some Portkeys were preset to travel to their destinations at a specific time. Examples included the Portkeys that transported wizards to the Quidditch World Cup in 1994, and the ones that transported members of the Order of the Phoenix from the different Order safe houses to the Burrow, after the Battle of the Seven Potters in 1997.

Harry Potter using the Triwizard Cup Portkey to escape from Lord Voldemort

Other Portkeys were triggered immediately by a person's touch; examples included the Triwizard Cup, which transported Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory to Little Hangleton instantaneously, and the broken statue head that instantly sent Harry Potter back to Hogwarts after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. It is unknown how one affected the difference between the two types of Portkey.

Both types of Portkey travelled to the destination along with their users. With touch-activated Portkeys, touching it again could transport the users back to their original location, as was the case with the Triwizard Cup. Time-activated ones could be handled before and after their assigned moment of use without effect. However, they could also be enchanted to re-activate again after a short amount to time, to return to their previous location for re-use by others.

Unauthorised Portkeys

According to Remus Lupin, the creation of unauthorised Portkeys would incur some sort of punishment, and Cornelius Fudge was furious when Albus Dumbledore created one in front of him without permission.

Known Portkeys

Date	Portkey	User(s)	Starting point	Destination	Creator
1357	Broom	Unidentified Quidditch referee	Quidditch pitch	Sahara Desert	Unidentified Quidditch fan
16th century	An old boot produced by the Book of Potions	A Hogwarts student	Potions Classroom	Enchanted garden	Zygmunt Budge
1890	A key	Eleazar Fig and an unidentified student	Flying carriage	Unidentified ruins	Percival Rackham and Charles Rookwood
Late summer 1899	Unknown	Gellert Grindelwald	Godric's Hollow	Central Europe	Bathilda Bagshot
September 1927	A bucket	Newt Scamander Jacob Kowalski	Dartmoor	Paris	Unknown, possibly unidentified Portkey tout
1932	Book	Eulalie Hicks Jacob Kowalski	New York	Between Germany and Great Britain	Eulalie Hicks
	Tie	Theseus Scamander Newton Scamander	Erkstag, Berlin	Great Lake, Hogwarts	Unknown, possibly Albus Dumbledore
June 1989	Vault portrait	Jacob's sibling Patricia Rakepick William Weasley Ben Copper Merula Snyde Penny Haywood/Charles Weasley (unknown)	Training Grounds	Buried Vault	Unknown
	Vault portrait	Jacob's sibling William Weasley Ben Copper Merula Snyde Penny Haywood/Charles Weasley (unknown)	Portrait Vault	Great Hall
1990–1991 school year	A sock	Tim	North America	Great Britain
	A hand mirror	Jacob's sibling	Spider's Lair	Hogwarts Whomping Willow
25 August 1994	An old boot	Amos and Cedric Diggory Harry Potter Hermione Granger Arthur, Fred and George, Ginny, and Ron Weasley	Stoatshead Hill, Ottery St Catchpole	Dartmoor, Quidditch World Cup Campsite	Unknown, presumably the British Ministry of Magic
	An old newspaper	Unknown	Unknown
	A punctured football
	An empty drink can
	An old rubber tyre	Harry Potter Hermione Granger Arthur, Fred and George, Ginny, and Ron Weasley	Dartmoor, Quidditch World Cup Campsite	Stoatshead Hill, Ottery St Catchpole
24 June 1995	Triwizard Cup	Cedric Diggory Harry Potter	Quidditch pitch, Hogwarts	Graveyard, Little Hangleton	Barty Crouch Jnr
		Harry Potter Cedric Diggory's dead body	Graveyard, Little Hangleton	Quidditch pitch, Hogwarts
Late December 1995	A blackened kettle	Harry Potter Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron Weasley	Headmaster's office, Hogwarts	12 Grimmauld Place	Albus Dumbledore
18 June 1996	The head of a golden statue	Harry Potter	British Ministry of Magic, London	Headmaster's office, Hogwarts
27 July 1997	A small, silver-backed hairbrush	Harry Potter Rubeus Hagrid	The Tonks' house	The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole	Unknown member of the Order of the Phoenix
	A rusty oil can	None (intended for Ronald Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks)	Muriel's
	An ancient trainer	None (intended for Arthur Weasley and Fred Weasley)	Unknown house of a member of the Order of the Phoenix
	Unknown	George Weasley Remus Lupin
	A bent coat-hanger	Hermione Granger Kingsley Shacklebolt	Kingsley's residence (possibly)
2008	A dirty Cauldron	An unknown Dark wizard (intended user) Unidentified Muggle-born Hogwarts student (accidentally)	Diagon Alley	The Forest of Dean	An unknown dark wizard

Etymology

French porter, meaning "to carry", and English "key", in the sense of a secret of trick.

Behind the scenes

• According to W.O.M.B.A.T., in order for Portkeys to be arranged between countries, the consent of both Nations's Ministries of Magic may be required.
• Also on W.O.M.B.A.T., it is possible that releasing a Portkey before arriving at one's destination may result in serious injury or death.
• It is unknown why the Death Eaters used the Vanishing Cabinet when they could have created a Portkey to Hogwarts unless there is a specific spell that stops Portkeys; however, Albus Dumbledore made one from the Ministry, so this is also a contradiction. However, it may be possible that only the Headmaster or Headmistress of the time can make a Portkey in and out of Hogwarts. Of course, as the Ministry had finally accepted the fact that Voldemort has finally returned, and increased security at Hogwarts, preventing Portkeys from functioning within the school may have been one of the new defensive measures.
  • It could also be possible for the Ministry of Magic to be notified of a Portkey's creation the same way they are notified of Underage Magic users or Unforgivable Curse users so making a Portkey is impossible to be done without alerting the Ministry of Magic.
• On Pottermore, series author J. K. Rowling jokes that she has a real Portkey: the key to the city for La Porte, Indiana, which was given to her by MuggleNet founder Emerson Spartz.
• In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Harry grabbed the cup again in the graveyard, he was transported to the edge or entrance to the maze. As Portkeys can usually be used once only, it can be concluded that the cup was a Portkey to begin with, even before Bartemius Crouch Jnr meddled with it. It appears that objects can be modified by multiple Portus charms.

Detection

While unauthorised Portkeys are banned, it is not clear to what extent the British Ministry of Magic can detect their creation or usage.

• In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bartemius Crouch Junior turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey to the Little Hangleton graveyard without detection. However, this may have been due to the fact that the cup was meant to be a Portkey anyway, to transport the first person who touched it (and thus the winner of the Triwizard Tournament) out of the Triwizard Maze in the final task. It is possible the Ministry simply did not look askance, at the Portus Charm being cast twice, or perhaps were simply too distracted to notice.
• In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Order of the Phoenix decides, each time, against using Portkeys to transport Harry Potter from 4 Privet Drive to a place of safety.
  • In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Remus Lupin explains: "[I]t's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey." This suggests the Ministry either is notified when Portkeys are created, or else will know about them when an underage wizard uses one due to the Trace. The latter case would create an exception to the way the Trace typically operates, which is limited to only detecting magic performed around the underage wizard and the use of already-enchanted objects.

Portkeys in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

See here.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play) (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
• Quidditch Through the Ages (Mentioned only)
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter (website)
• Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Wonderbook: Book of Potions
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• Hogwarts Legacy