(Time Turner)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 32877

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Brian Yoon" <Seiryuu_Avatar at m...> 
wrote:
> From: Elizabeth Dalton <Elizabeth.Dalton at E...>
> 
> > consequences if an error is made with the Time Turner ("Mis 
Granger, you
> know
> > the law-- you know what is at stake... *You must not be 
seen.*"), but
> those
> > consequences are never really spelled out. If it's only that you 
have to
> worry
> 
> Which reminds me of a question that kept poking at me.
> 
> How is Hermione able to use the Time-Turner to go to all her 
classes?  If
> she is using them to attend them at the same time, then 
wouldn't she be seen
> by the other classmates of her class (in fact, she is, seeing 
that Ron talks
> about her classmate seeing her talking to the professor)?  If 
she could use
> the Time-Turner, why doesn't she use it over and over during 
the same
> time-period at night so she could study AND sleep at the same 
time?
> 
> Some possible answers, in my mind:
> 
> 1. As long as different people see the Hermione (such as Ron 
and Harry's
> classmates in the class they share and Hermione's own 
classmates), it's all
> gravy.

I think Brian is on the right track here. The important thing to 
realize about the Time Turner is that it's not a physical device 
governed by natural law. It's a magical device governed by a 
Prohibition: You Must Not Be Seen.
    The magic of the Time Turner is powerful enough to resolve 
any paradox from the point of view of a future observer UNLESS 
the time traveller has been seen by someone from a stream 
s/he wishes to alter. So Sleeping!Hermione in chapter 15 of PoA 
could have awoken and gone to Charms class at any time 
before Harry and Ron saw her in the Common Room. After that, 
it was too late.
    The possibility of a paradox observable from outside the 
story-frame still exists, but is irrelevant, since there are no such 
observers in the Potterverse.
    
   Fire Away ;-)

Pippin