Telling the troll to eat her feet first so that the emergency portkey does not work?
There’s no need to do that. The portkey is already blocked by the Hogwarts wards prohibiting Apparition. If the murderer instructed the troll to eat Hermione feet-first to disable the portkey, that would mean they expected her to be able to make it out of the castle and across the grounds while being pursued by the (much faster) troll—something she could not do without a working broomstick or some other asset that in itself foiled the assassination attempt.
While your example is undeniable, Santa Claus does instruct Harry to get outside Hogwarts before using his playing card portkey, and I’m fairly confident there are other instances to the same effect. It seems that the state of the evidence, both in canon and MoR, roughly amounts to “Portkeys and Apparition do not work within Hogwarts wards except when they do”.
All mentions of portkeys in HPMoR explicitly describe themselves needing to get out of the Hogwarts wards first. The “Santa Clause” letters, the emergency toe-ring portkey, when Quirrel and Harry leave together they walk out of the wards first before Quirrel throws a portkey to Harry, etc.
Besides which, Dumbledore made the portkey in the first place—unless he’s the culprit (which I doubt), he’s very unlikely to forget to make the portkey bypass the wards somehow.
In GoF they had to set up an apparition-is-allowed-zone at the end of the maze in order for the portkey to work, which is why Crouch had to wait until Harry had won the cup instead of just turning a piece of silverware into a portkey or something.
This is definitely not canon. I think it’s pure fanon, but it may be Word of God, I don’t know. In any case, this makes the argument from this point a fair amount weaker.
Nobody was surprised when Harry showed up with the Cup. They all just got up and started clapping.
To me, as well as many others, it makes sense that the Cup was made into a portkey that specifically bypassed the Hogwarts wards, which Barty Crouch then subverted to give it an extra stop along the way. It’s also the only reason I can think of (besides Bahl’s Stupefaction) for the Cup to then send Harry back to Hogwarts—not the center of the Maze, where it originated, but to another location, one that happened to be centered right before the audience.
If anyone can think of an alternate theory, I’d love to hear it.
Nobody was surprised when Harry showed up with the Cup. They all just got up and started clapping
You’re thinking of the movie. In the book it just says: “A torrent of sound deafened and confused him; there were voices everywhere, footsteps, screams. … He remained where he was, his face screwed up against the noise, as though it were a nightmare that would pass. . . .”
No. If we want to actually explain something that looks like it’s just bizarre, it seems a decent theory. But I don’t want to spend too much time explaining why the side of the plate farther from the heat source is warmer, especially from the canon, which I think is less well-planned than HPMOR.
There’s no need to do that. The portkey is already blocked by the Hogwarts wards prohibiting Apparition. If the murderer instructed the troll to eat Hermione feet-first to disable the portkey, that would mean they expected her to be able to make it out of the castle and across the grounds while being pursued by the (much faster) troll—something she could not do without a working broomstick or some other asset that in itself foiled the assassination attempt.
Just like Harry was not portkeyed out of Hogwarts in Goblet of Fire?
Exactly like that. [sigh]
While your example is undeniable, Santa Claus does instruct Harry to get outside Hogwarts before using his playing card portkey, and I’m fairly confident there are other instances to the same effect. It seems that the state of the evidence, both in canon and MoR, roughly amounts to “Portkeys and Apparition do not work within Hogwarts wards except when they do”.
All mentions of portkeys in HPMoR explicitly describe themselves needing to get out of the Hogwarts wards first. The “Santa Clause” letters, the emergency toe-ring portkey, when Quirrel and Harry leave together they walk out of the wards first before Quirrel throws a portkey to Harry, etc.
Besides which, Dumbledore made the portkey in the first place—unless he’s the culprit (which I doubt), he’s very unlikely to forget to make the portkey bypass the wards somehow.
In GoF they had to set up an apparition-is-allowed-zone at the end of the maze in order for the portkey to work, which is why Crouch had to wait until Harry had won the cup instead of just turning a piece of silverware into a portkey or something.
Problem is that in the book Crouch says:
Doesn’t say “added an extra Portkey location” or anything such. That would have been the perfect place for JKR to say so.
This is definitely not canon. I think it’s pure fanon, but it may be Word of God, I don’t know. In any case, this makes the argument from this point a fair amount weaker.
Nobody was surprised when Harry showed up with the Cup. They all just got up and started clapping.
To me, as well as many others, it makes sense that the Cup was made into a portkey that specifically bypassed the Hogwarts wards, which Barty Crouch then subverted to give it an extra stop along the way. It’s also the only reason I can think of (besides Bahl’s Stupefaction) for the Cup to then send Harry back to Hogwarts—not the center of the Maze, where it originated, but to another location, one that happened to be centered right before the audience.
If anyone can think of an alternate theory, I’d love to hear it.
You’re thinking of the movie. In the book it just says: “A torrent of sound deafened and confused him; there were voices everywhere, footsteps, screams. … He remained where he was, his face screwed up against the noise, as though it were a nightmare that would pass. . . .”
...bugger. I hate making that kind of mistake.
Alright, granted. That does weaken my argument somewhat, but it still appears to stand overall.
Poor writing on JK’s part?
That’s always a possibility, but it’s also a cop-out.
Besides, the kinds of discussions that happens in places like this depends on extrapolating on small details.
The logic seems to hold up to me. Does the theory presented above seem faulty to you?
No. If we want to actually explain something that looks like it’s just bizarre, it seems a decent theory. But I don’t want to spend too much time explaining why the side of the plate farther from the heat source is warmer, especially from the canon, which I think is less well-planned than HPMOR.
I don’t feel that your metaphor applies, but okay. Plenty of other things to devote time and energy to.