Time-Turners
A Time-Turner may be used for short-term time travel. Hermione receives a Time-Turner from McGonagall in Prisoner of Azkaban, enabling her to attend more than one class simultaneously. Hermione is ordered to keep it a secret from everyone, including Harry and Ron, although they do notice the suspicious impossibility of her schedule and several bizarre disappearances and reappearances. Hermione lets Harry and Ron in on the secret near the end of the book, when she and Harry use the Time-Turner to save Sirius Black and Buckbeak. Feeling the strain from her heavy course load, she finally returns the device to McGonagall at the end of the novel.
A large supply of Time-Turners is kept at the Ministry, as seen in Order of the Phoenix; however, during the events of that book, a glass-fronted cabinet containing the Time-Turners is destroyed. Due to their time-affecting properties, the cabinet is seen to fall, shatter and repair itself repeatedly. In Half-Blood Prince, Hermione references an article in The Daily Prophet which stated that "the entire stock of Ministry Time-Turners" was destroyed during that incident. The books do not discuss who else may be in possession of Time-Turners outside of the Ministry.
Hermione's Time-Turner resembles a gold hourglass pendant on a necklace; it is unclear if all of them do. The user twists the hourglass pendant, with the number of twists corresponding to the number of hours he or she travels back.
A large supply of Time-Turners is kept at the Ministry, as seen in Order of the Phoenix; however, during the events of that book, a glass-fronted cabinet containing the Time-Turners is destroyed. Due to their time-affecting properties, the cabinet is seen to fall, shatter and repair itself repeatedly. In Half-Blood Prince, Hermione references an article in The Daily Prophet which stated that "the entire stock of Ministry Time-Turners" was destroyed during that incident. The books do not discuss who else may be in possession of Time-Turners outside of the Ministry.
Hermione's Time-Turner resembles a gold hourglass pendant on a necklace; it is unclear if all of them do. The user twists the hourglass pendant, with the number of twists corresponding to the number of hours he or she travels back.
Portkeys
First read and seen in Goblet of Fire, a portkey is a regular household object such as a comb or a lamp that becomes a means of magical transport once a spell is cast on it by a witch or wizard. The destination of the portkey is identified by the witch or wizard who conjures it. To function the portkey, all one had to do was put a hand on it and hold on tight. The portkey would then send the person through a portal towards their destination. The set time can be disabled and set to activate on touch, as proven by the Triwizard Tournament Cup. The Portkey is usually an object that Muggles would pick up; a normal, sometimes dirty, object. It glows blue when it is time for the Portkey to activate, and Portkeys can transport even without wizards touching it, resulting in stranded wizards and a lonely Portkey arriving at the place it was supposed to. Portkeys are supposed to be authorized by the Ministry of Magic before creation, but this rule was broken by Albus Dumbledore. Any object can be turned into a Portkey. However, large objects such as buildings, bridges, or a pole stuck in the ground can be assumed to be unable to become a Portkey. The first mention of a portkey in Goblet of Fire is when Harry and the gang meet up with Amos Diggory and his son Cedric at a landing that contained a "mangy, old boot." This boot sent them to a plain where the Quidditch World Cup was being held. A second mention in Goblet of Fire is when Harry and Cedric are the only ones left to grab the Triwizard cup. They both grabbed it at the same time not knowing that it was a portkey, sending them to a graveyard where danger was ahead with Wormtail and Voldemort.