It probably only worked for the sword because it was Gryfindors hat. Besides, what would a worthy Hufflepuff need a cup for? The other horcruxes wouldn’t have done their bearers much good.
Well, if you’re really thirsty…
…that you know of. Couldn’t the diadem have given some clever Ravenclaw an extra brain-boost if it were really needed? It was never made explicit what the Cup’s magic was (that I know of,) but I think you can rest assured it had some powers (was a Slytherin relic ever mentioned?)
Although the fact of it being Godric’s hat explains the main question.
Taking a note from Dexter’s Lab (the D&D one where they quest for the Holy Grail), I’ll bet you could drink from Hufflepuff’s cup, and it would never spill.
As for a Slytherin relic, I think the ring counts, even though it wasn’t in the school itself. As far as Slytherin’s famous legacy item, I guess the Chamber of Secrets would count.
Wouldn’t it be the locket? The old woman Tom killed said there were extraordinary magical powers associated with each of them.
Drinking contest.
How did Kreacher end up back at Hogwarts leading the Charge of the Kitchen Help when we last saw him premeditating a steak and kidney pie back at 12 Grimmauld Place? Or did I miss that part? I tried to get the book back from my husband so I could re-read it but he isn’t finished yet so he hid it from me.
Well… does anybody remember if the locket was mentioned (even in passing) at any of the previous depictions of Umbridge? Because it had an evilifying-effect on Ron, Harry and Hermione, and if Umbridge had it for a long time, it probably had an even greater effect on her, wouldn’t it?
And as to bureaucracy ignoring the big threat… well, it seems pretty credible to me. The german bureaucracy under the Nazis was pretty much like the one they show (albeit without a big focus on an ueber-enemy) and was easily manipulated into pursuing the “Enemies” of the State, be it jews, gypsies or socialists.
No, she took it from Mundungus Fletcher in Diagon Alley (I think) after he’d robbed 12 Grimmauld Place following Sirius Black’s death. So she hadn’t had it all that long.
It’s not mentioned in the book, but previously (in Half-Blood Prince) Harry had told him to go work at Hogwarts, so when Harry didn’t come back and other people invaded the Black house, Kreacher might have decided to go back there.
You’re right. The ring was proof that Voldemort descended from Slytherin, but it was a relic of the Preverell’s. Locket it is. Still, as far as a Hogwarts-bound Slytherin relic, I think the closest we get is the CoS.
Slightly off topic, but have you all seen the Potter Puppet Pals? My family watches “The Mysterious Ticking Noise” at least once a day, and my daughter, who isn’t even 2 yet, goes around the house singing “Snape Snape Severus Snape” and shouting “Dumbledore” all the time. I wish I could spell how she says Severus because it’s hilarious.
Okay, maybe the cup wasn’t the best example, but I still think it has more to do with the hat being Gryfindors, not that it was a relic of a houses namesake.
I can imagine the Hufflepuff Cup conjuring a liquid that grants something like super-endurance. If you huff and puff, you get tired, so drink from the Hufflepuff Cup, and huff and puff once more.
I haven’t read all of the thread, having finished the book later than most of you.
Has the issue of punishment of those who sided with Voldemort been addressed?
Is there any wizard legal system besides the Ministry of Magic?
I don’t think so. The Wizangamot seems to be a wizard supreme court of sorts, but in Book 5, Dumbledore was removed from that body when he fell out of favor with Fudge, and it was Fudge who presided over Harry’s hearing in that book as well. It seems that all Wizarding government functions are under the umbrella of the Ministry.
Aren’t all Hufflepuffs chosen because of their extraordinary compassion, or somesuch? I was thinking that the Cup would be something like the Holy Grail, and might possess healing or restoration powers.
If that’s the case, sucks that they had to bust it, huh?
A very good question, but it seems as if wizards are above Muggle law — for instance, the Knight Bus must commit any number of moving violations just popping around London at great speed. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place doesn’t appear to pay any kind of residential council tax to local government. Wizards don’t add VAT to their sales. I’m relatively certain Gringotts doesn’t adhere to any local regulations on banking. The whole house-elf slavery thing, of course, is questionable. And did Harry have a barrister presenting his defense at the Wizengamot?
After the fall of Voldemort, the Ministry would just change sides as it were? Seems like letting the Vichy French continue to run the government after WWII. 
Perhaps some of the Potter side simply took control of the Ministry and arranged elections or appointments.
There were enough deluded goofballs in the Ministry that even a public duel with Voldemort in front of a thousand witnesses probably wouldn’t be enough to completely dismiss the notion that it was all a conspiracy or a coup.
Now, if Cornelius Fudge had been at the duel and saw the whole thing, it would have more credibility.