time travel in PoA

[xp39c]

No: HPFGUIDX 41898

Gwydion wrote:
> Why did no one think to go back a bit further in time when Scabbers 
was still 
> in reach? Back further, there was so many options. Give Scabbers to 
> Dumbledore, clearing Sirius's name? Or alert the teachers? I could 
think of 
> so many things to do but why such a narrow window?
> Unless time turners have a time limit? 
> Any thoughts?

There are a lot of problems with this scenario.  First, they would 
have to go back a few months in time.  Let's say that the time turner 
can only be used to go back in time, and not for going forward.  They 
can't go back to the day when Scabbers was re-discovered, since there 
is no time in which they can nab Scabbers without being seen.  So if 
Harry and Hermione want to go back in time to catch Scabbers, they 
would have to go as far back as February 3, the day Scabbers 
disappeared (according to the Lexicon).  If they go back to then, 
they would have to hide for 4 months after they catch Scabbers 
because they can't be seen.

Second, even if the time turner can be used to go forward in time, 
there still would be problems.  If they go back in time to catch 
Scabbers, then use the time turner to go back to the original day, 
they will have changed the history of events that are known, which is 
a big no-no.  They also would, theoretically, go back to a reality 
where the events in the Shrieking Shack never happened (since 
Scabbers was not there), and to a reality where H&H never went back 
in time.  Logically (if such a thing exists for an unknown like time 
traveling), they can't change any event that would cause them not to 
have a motivation to go back in time.  So there would also be the 
problem that two copies of them will now exist.

Considering all this, it just makes the impeccable consistency by JKR 
in writing that scene even more amazing.

--Hei Lun