Alastor Moody's hip flask

Hip flask
Object information
Manufacturer	Alastor Moody (possibly)
Made	After the First Wizarding War
Usage	Drinking
Owners	Alastor Moody Bartemius Crouch Jnr

"For Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it."

— Albus Dumbledore on Moody's habit with his hip-flask

This hip flask was owned by Alastor Moody to drink from due to his paranoid fear of being poisoned.

History

"Moody seemed totally indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached again into his travelling cloak, pulled out a hip flask, and took a long draught from it."

— Barty Crouch Junior (disguised as Moody) drinking Polyjuice Potion from this flask at the 1994 Start-of-Term Feast

This flask was stolen by Bartemius Crouch Jnr in 1994 when he was disguised as Moody and was teaching the Defence Against the Dark Arts class. He used it to hide some Polyjuice Potion, and would drink from it periodically to maintain his disguise. As Moody was well known to drink only from the flask, Crouch was able to take the potion in front of others without arousing suspicions. Over the year, Crouch would refill the flask with the potion periodically, stealing ingredients from Severus Snape's storeroom. Ultimately, when Harry Potter returned from Voldemort's rebirth ceremony, Crouch forgot his hourly intake in his excitement, and Albus Dumbledore emptied the flask's content onto the floor to show Harry.

Alastor Moody's with his hip flask

After the reveal of Barty Crouch, Moody took his flask back and presumably cleaned it of the potion. However, Moody filled it with Polyjuice Potion again in 1997 some minutes before the Flight over Little Whinging as six people had to disguise them as Harry Potter. After a brief argument with Harry, who was initially refusing to let six people to risk their lives, he reluctantly gave a few strands of his hair to add into the flask to complete the potion, and Moody split the contents into six egg-cup-sized glasses, each for one of the would-be impostors. Moody himself did not drink the potion.

When Moody was killed and his corpse recovered by the Death Eaters, it is unknown what happened to the flask. It's most likely that it was disposed of with Moody's body or was kept as a trophy by a Death Eater.

Behind the scenes

Noble Collection's replica

• The Noble Collection sells an exact replica of the flask, for around $30.
• In the novel version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Moody simply took out "a flask of what looked like mud", with no mention it was his personal hip-flask, but the part 1 film adaption, the potion came from this specific container, with the content not shown due to the non-transparency of the flask. Also, in the novel, Moody poured the potion out into six egg-cup-sized glasses, while in the film version he passes the flask around for each of the volunteers to drink out of.
• The film version shows the flask to have the top in the design of a human head with wings, which was not stated in the original novels.
• In the the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Crouch did not forget to take the potion from the flask while interrogating Harry, but instead he ran out of it. Also, Severus Snape sniffed the opening of the flask and was able to tell it was Polyjuice Potion.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Possible appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite