Time-Turner

[crunchy_chocolate_frog2003 <Crunchy_Chocolate_Frog@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52421

GulPlum AKA Richard:

<<And thus, although some people have wondered since the Time-Turner 
was introduced in PoA why someone didn't go back and save the Potters 
that fateful Halloween, it would be either outside the possibility of 
a Time-Turner to create an alternate timeline in which they lived, or 
if not, then at least the consequences of creating such a timeline 
don't bear thinking about.>>

My opinion:

What would have happened if it was possible to take a Time Turner and 
go back in time to save the Potters from getting murdered?

The good consequences would be that:
* The Potters would still be alive (duh!);
* Harry would still be living with his parents, instead of with the 
Dursleys;
* Sirius would have never set foot in Azkaban.

The bad consequences:
* Voldemort wouldn't have been reduced to being Mr. Smog. He would 
still be out there, doing his best to be Mr. Evil Overlord. (not that 
he isn't trying as it is, but in this alternative time-line, his job 
would have been much easier).

If Voldemort was really interested in killing only Harry, and not 
James and Lily (he killed them, probably only because they were in 
his way), then it is entirely probably that he would have managed to 
kill Harry.

Now, who says that no one tried to prevent the deaths of all three 
Potters? Who knows what happened in the missing 24 hours? Maybe 
Dumbledore *did* send someone to try and prevent this, but they 
failed. Or maybe Dumbledore was calculating what course of action 
would cause the least harm. The lives of two people vs. the defeat of 
Voldemort, and the lives of countless. "The needs of the many 
outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" (Star Trek :)).

GulPlum:
<<Hermione's return to a place (think of it as place rather than 
time) where she was known not to be is, if not impossible, then at 
least a VERY, VERY bad idea.>>

My opinion:
Just like Hermione explained to Harry. If the "past" Harry would see 
the "future" Harry, the first would think that the second is some 
sort of apparition, or someone doing some bit of Dark (here meaning 
Evil) Magic.

Something that I don't understand about the way that the Time Turner 
works is how it changes the person's *location*. Maybe when you set 
it to take you to the time you wish to be, it automatically gets set 
to the *place* you need to be? 

And while we're talking about Time Turners here, who knew about 
Hermione having a Time Turner?

Prof. McGonagall knew, as she is the one who gave it to Hermione, 
Dumbledore knew, as he was the one who suggested that Harry and 
Hermione use the Time Turner to save Buckbeak and Sirius from death 
and a fate worse than death, respectively.

The people from the ministry, to whom Prof. McGonagall had to write 
the letters (Department of Control of Dangerous Magical Artefacts?).

Fudge probably knew, because I don't think that such a thing as a 
Time Turner could be given without some approval by the Minister of 
Magic (although, he does seem to be the type of beurocrat that would 
sign anything after just a passing glance at it).

The teachers who teach Muggle Studies and Arithmancy (I'd say that 
also Prof. Trelawney, but she doesn't seem the type to go to the 
teacher's lounge and talk about her students, as going to other parts 
of the school tends to "cloud her inner eye"). They might compare 
notes on their students.

What about Snape, Lupin or Fudge?

Crunchy Chocolate Frog (with a card of Wendelin the Weird)