Book 3- Sirius

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 8802


Heidi wrote:

>But I have a different question - one which hasn't been asked at all, at 
>least
>since I joined the list in June - Why, after Sirius broke into Gryffendor 
>Tower,
>didn't they use Hermione's time turner for one turn, stand right inside the
>portrait & nab him when he came in?

You could ask this about a lot of disasters--just as Harry does when he and 
Hermione go back and he's tempted to interfere when she finds Scabbers, when 
the Invisibility Cloak is lying by the tree, etc.  Why don't wizards just go 
back and "fix" these events, since they know how to travel in time?   I 
think they don't because they wisely know that you can't mess with just the 
bits about the past you don't like.  Events are way too entangled for that.  
It's not just that you might actually kill one of your selves, as Hermione 
warns.  You might do a lot of harm just by changing the one thing you intend 
to change, because of all the unintended consequences.

I think about the event Harry would most like to change.  He could go back 
13 years (using a simple Rotation Charm to speed up the process!!--<bg>) and 
save his parents, perhaps by convincing them to stick with Sirius as their 
Secret-Keeper.  Even if they heeded the warning of this person who claimed 
to be their 14-year-old son-from-the-future and didn't think it was some 
diabolical trick by Voldemort, what would result?  They would live, Harry 
would grow up a nice, normal wizard kid, and, among other things, 
Voldemort--who in the new timeline never got close enough to Harry to try 
the Kedavra curse on him--would remain in power.

Or to go to your example:  what if they HAD gone back just long enough to 
catch Sirius?  Would Harry, Remus et al ever have learned about Pettigrew's 
guilt and Sirius's innocence?  Would Sirius have escaped or would he have 
had his soul sucked out by the Dementors?  Maybe, but once you start to mess 
with time you change the way things go.

Dumbledore was playing with fire when he sent Hermione & Harry back.  No one 
really knows what they are doing when they change the past--time travel 
stories are full of this warning.  That's why it's not surprising that 
Trelawney can't often see the future clearly (though she should at least 
stop pretending then, shouldn't she?).

So, isn't this the stuff of fanfiction?  Fanfic writers, take it away!  What 
would have happened if . . .

Amy Z

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Dudley thought for a moment.  It looked like hard work.
               --Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
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