Alastor Moody's Magical Trunk

• Type: Magical Device, Magical Container
• Owners: Alastor Moody, Barty Crouch Jr. (by theft)
• Maker: Unknown

Alastor Moody's trunk is a large, old, and heavily battered magical container, covered in a variety of travel labels from different countries, attesting to its owner's extensive career as an Auror. The most remarkable external feature is its seven separate locks, arranged in a line on the front. Each lock corresponds to a unique, magically concealed compartment within the trunk. The contents of the compartments vary, each seemingly organized for a specific purpose:

• One compartment was filled with spellbooks.
• Another compartment housed Moody's collection of Dark Detectors, including a Foe-Glass, a Secrecy Sensor, and a Sneakoscope.
• The seventh and most significant compartment was magically expanded to an extraordinary degree. When opened, it revealed not a typical trunk interior, but a dark, cellar-like pit approximately ten feet deep. The air inside smelled of damp earth. This space was large enough to serve as a makeshift prison cell.

The trunk's primary magical property is its complex multi-compartment system, secured by seven distinct locks. Each keyhole opens a different interior space, preventing casual access to its full contents. The most powerful enchantment placed upon the trunk is an Undetectable Extension Charm, most notably applied to the seventh compartment. This charm vastly increases the internal dimensions of the space without changing the trunk's external size, allowing it to function as a room or cell. This enchantment allowed Barty Crouch Jr. to hold the real Alastor Moody captive and hidden within the trunk for an entire school year. The containment was effective enough to imprison a highly powerful and vigilant wizard, though Crouch Jr. still needed to subdue Moody using the Imperius Curse.

The trunk was the long-time possession of Alastor Moody, accompanying him on his many missions against Dark Wizards. In the summer of 1994, Lord Voldemort ordered Barty Crouch Jr. and Peter Pettigrew to subdue Moody. They attacked him at his home, overpowered him, and stole the trunk along with his wand and magical eye. Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Moody using Polyjuice Potion, brought the trunk with him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his tenure as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Throughout the school year, he kept the real Moody imprisoned in the trunk's magically enlarged seventh compartment. This allowed Crouch Jr. to have a constant supply of Moody's hair for the Polyjuice Potion and to interrogate the real Auror under the Imperius Curse for information to perfect his impersonation. The trunk's secret was discovered on the night of the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. After Harry Potter returned from the graveyard in Little Hangleton, the disguised Crouch Jr. took him to his office. Albus Dumbledore, suspicious of Moody's behavior, burst in with Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape. After Crouch Jr. was exposed and questioned under the influence of Veritaserum, Dumbledore used Moody's own keys to open the seventh lock and rescue the emaciated and weakened real Alastor Moody. The trunk's fate after these events is not documented, but it was presumably returned to its rightful owner.

Alastor Moody's trunk is a pivotal plot device in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It is the single most important object that enables Barty Crouch Jr.'s elaborate and year-long deception. Without the ability to keep the real Moody captive, hidden, and close at hand, the impersonation would have been impossible to maintain. The trunk represents a deep irony: a tool of a great Auror, filled with devices for protection and detection, was turned against him and used as his own prison. Its eventual opening marks the climax of the book's central mystery, revealing the full scope of Lord Voldemort's plan to return to power and leading directly to the Ministry of Magic's initial refusal to accept the truth.

In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the trunk is depicted as a complex, mechanical marvel. The locks are shown to be intricate, and when the seventh compartment is opened, the interior folds and shifts to reveal a deep, stone-lined well with a steep staircase leading down. The rescue of the real Moody from this pit is a dramatic moment in the film. (film)