Time Travel in PoA

[annemehr <annemehr@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49103

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Susan Atherton" <suzloua at h...> 
wrote:
 
>You can NOT see yourself when you go back in time, not because you 
>might accidentally kill yourself, but because it's a paradox. As soon 
>as you see yourself - scratch that, as soon as you RECOGNISE yourself 
>as you... well, I don't know what happens, but to borrow the words of 
>Doc Brown, the universe would implode etc. But that's a worst case 
>scenario - the destruction may be limited to our own galaxy. :) If H1 
>saw H2 up close, he would have recognised him. But H2 would not have 
>seen that when he was still H1. Therefore H1's present ceases to be 
>consistent with H2's past, and H1's future is no longer H2's present. 
>But if H1's future isn't H2's present, then H2 can't be in the 
>situation where H1 can see him, because H2 shouldn't be there. But he 
>is. That's a paradox, it's like an illogical loop that doesn't work 
>and can't be possible.

This is true up to a point. But it is true because Harry was 
timeturned to a point in the past *before* he knew about the time 
turner.  Hermione is a different case.  It is quite possible that 
during the school year when she was going to all those classes at the 
same time, that she passed herself in the hallways at times.  However, 
she would not have been in danger because all of her selves *knew* 
what she was doing.  She never turned herself back to a point in time 
that was before she received the TT from Professor McGonagall.

On the other hand, maybe what you said isn't true? (now I'm getting 
the headache...)  If H2 and H2 had entered Hagrid's hut, wouldn't the 
story from H1 and H1's point of view just had to have included H2 and 
H2?  In which case, HH2's survival would depend on Hermione1, who was 
the only one who could recognize what was going on, being able to 
prevent a disaster -- a very slim possibility, probably.  But no, you 
are right -- if you can use a time-turner, it must be possible to go 
back in time to place where you remember that you never saw yourself, 
and then confront yourself, and who knows what would happen then?

Even more problematic to me is, how could you end up killing your past 
self?  If you do, you don't survive to use the time turner, so you 
don't go back to kill yourself, so you *do* survive, so...or else the 
universe implodes, but it couldn't have, because there's Hermione 
saying that loads of wizards have killed their past selves, and her 
universe hasn't imploded, soooo -- maybe McGonagall was exaggerating a 
bit.  BUT OTOH, can you imagine there being such a thing as a 
time-turner and no idiot wizard going back in time and killing his 
past self?  I mean, if a thing can possibly be done, you know that 
someone, somewhere, at some time is going to do it!  The whole thing 
does make me hope we've seen the last of the time turner in this 
series!

Annemehr