Who conjures the Prongs Patronus?

[drtruman]

No: HPFGUIDX 53307


GulPlum wrote:
> Harry1 tried to cast a Patronus. It was weak partially because he 
couldn't 
> find a happy enough thought which would give it power. Another 
reason it 
> was weak was because of Harry's usual lack of confidence in his own 
> abilities. Harry1 sees Harry2 (assuming it's James) cast a very 
powerful 
> Patronus. Later on, Harry2 realises (partially because of where 
he's 
> standing) that it wasn't James but himself. His Patronus is 
powerful 
> *mainly* because Harry knows he can do it. He doesn't *think* he 
can do it, 
> he *KNOWS* he can do it, because when he was Harry1, he already saw 
himself 
> (Harry2) do it! The thing is, Harry2 *is* Harry1, only a little 
more 
> experienced and well-informed, and a little wiser. Casting a 
powerful 
> Patronus was inevitable, because he'd seen it happen.
> 
> By the time he has the conversation with Dumbledore, he's sorted 
out what 
> was going on in his own head, so when he says that he'd "done it 
before", 
> he had, quite literally, done it before. :-)
> 
> I hope that dispels some of your questions.

Actually, it still doesn't dispel my most basic question, which comes 
back to temporal displacement. Doesn't Harry1 *have* to cast a 
successful Patronus in order to be able to return later (as Harry2)? 
Irrespective of what Harry2 then does or doesn't do when he returns, 
if *something* hasn't otherwise saved Harry from the dementors, how 
can he come back from the future?

Norm