In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, why can't the Order plant an unauthorized Portkey, if Dumbledore can with ease?

Question

Related: Why in 'Deathly Hallows' was a Portkey not used in the beginning?

I remember Lupin saying, when transporting Harry in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:

"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 unauthorised Portkey."

_{Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, chapter three, "The Advance Guard"}

But later on, when Dumbledore transfers Harry and the Weasleys to Grimmauld Place:

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.

_{Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, chapter twenty-two, "St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries"}

My question is why can't the Order set an unauthorized Portkey if Dumbledore does it so valiantly?

Answer 1

A couple of reasons spring to mind:

• As far as we know, the Order is a secret organisation with no legal authority.

  Remember that Fudge spent most of Order of the Phoenix terrified of Dumbledore's supposed ‘wizard army’, and the Order fits the bill nicely. It follows that Fudge is unaware of the Order’s existence, and it follows that the Order are really vigilantes.

  This means that Order members have no special provisions for creating Portkeys; if they did so, it would be as if a regular citizen had done it. If they're trying to keep a low profile, breaking laws is a bad way to do it.

  Further throw in that Harry's guard is mostly Aurors (part of whom's job is to uphold the law) and Lupin (a werewolf, who already gets short thrift from the Ministry). They're probably known to be friendly with Dumbledore; they'd all have the book thrown at them.

  They could contact the Ministry for assistance, but doing so could tip them off to the Order's existence. They'd almost certainly be tailed in an attempt to find out where Harry was going, and who was looking after him.

• Dumbledore is an exceptionally popular and powerful wizard, even with the Ministry's smear campaign.

  He's well-known to be the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and this is a case in which the Weasleys' father might be dying. I think Dumbledore could reasonably argue that this is an exceptional case, and most compassionate adults would agree with him. Fudge is clinging to power; taking on Dumbledore is probably not in his best interest.

  Later in the book, when Dumbledore creates a Portkey directly in view of Fudge, his smear campaign has been completely discredited, and Dumbledore vindicated. The Ministry has egg on its face, and no authority to tell Dumbledore what to do.

• Harry is already in trouble with the Ministry; they don't need to cause further trouble.

  If Harry used an illegal Portkey, you can bet the Ministry would jump on it. It would add to the case against him, which is precisely what the Order doesn’t want to do. Harry needs to maintain a low profile until the hearing; using non-illegal transport is just one part of that.

Answer 2

1. Despite his disfavour with the Ministry, Dumbledore still has more clout than the rest of the Order.

   If a less important figure like Moody or Tonks or Lupin were to create an unauthorised Portkey, they could get in big trouble with the Ministry, perhaps even arrested and charged with something-or-other (presumably the creation of unauthorised Portkeys is against some wizarding law).
   But arresting and charging Dumbledore would be a huge step to take, and the Ministry would want to be very sure they could make the charges stick, and preferably to get the population's support (there must be a lot of people still loyal to Dumbledore, despite the incessant propaganda against him). Even charging Harry was a smaller step than charging Dumbledore would have been. To arrest Dumbledore, they'd want something much more serious than the creation of an unauthorised Portkey - such as, hem hem, confessing to setting up a wizard army to overthrow the Ministry.

   He walked away from the pool to the place where the golden wizard’s head lay on the floor. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, ‘Portus.’ The head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.

   ‘Now see here, Dumbledore!’ said Fudge, as Dumbledore picked up the head and walked back to Harry carrying it. ‘You haven’t got authorisation for that Portkey! You can’t do things like that right in front of the Minister for Magic, you – you –’

   ^{-- HP and the Order of the Phoenix, chapter 36}

   As shown in the above quote, even when Dumbledore created an unauthorised Portkey right in front of Fudge, there are no repercussions: all Fudge does is bluster, and Dumbledore calmly ignores him. Admittedly this is after Fudge has just had to accept that Dumbledore was right all along about Voldemort having returned (which is why I'm putting this quote at the end), but it still does support my theory.

2. The Portkey creation you mention was in an emergency.

   Getting Harry out of Privet Drive quickly was important to the Order, but the Ministry wouldn't see its importance, since naturally they wouldn't believe that Voldemort or a bunch of Death Eaters might be waiting to assassinate him. Setting up an unauthorised Portkey for such a 'frivolous' exercise as moving one underage wizard across London would probably be a flagrant violation of the Portkey regulations.
   In contrast, even the Ministry might understand that the Weasley kids needed to get to Grimmauld Place so that they could find out as soon as possible whether their father was going to die. That's quite an important thing, you must admit; there might be exceptions made in the Portkey regulations for a situation of 'grave personal emergency'.