Time Turner workings (Was Re: time travel revisited)

[Diana]

No: HPFGUIDX 86144

-- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Laura Clapham 
<laura_clapham2002 at y...> wrote:
> Hi Everybody! I have been lurking on this list for a long time 
now - and would like to say that this is an excellent list - 
although responsible for my thesis productivity slowing down to a 
crawling pace.
>  
> I have read a lot of the theories on time travel posted a long 
time ago but still have trouble getting my head around the 
following.  In POA, when HH go back in time three hours why do they 
end up in a slightly different place to where they were three hours 
ago?  If they were really going back three hours wouldn't they 
appear virtually on top of their past selves?  And what would happen 
if they arrived in a room where there were other people?  Would this 
appear to be apparating? This in my mind also ties in to Hagrid's 
disappearance at the train station in PS - as I assume Hagrid never 
learnt enough magic to apparate, could he have used a time turner to 
disappear?
>  
> I hope this post makes sense and hello to all the other laura's on 
the list!
>  
> princesslaura

Diana (me) replies:
I also wondered about how Hermione and Harry move in space as well 
as time when using the time-turner.  My preferred theory is that the 
time-turner was spelled so as not to deposit the wearer on top of 
her previous self when used.  In Hermione's case, she might get 
tired of crashing into herself twice or three times a day during the 
school year if that's what happened everytime she used it.  
Obviously these time-turners are meant to be worn because they come 
with a chain to put around the user's neck.  And the fact that 
McGonagall was able to write to the MOM and request use of this 
device on Hermione's behalf tells me that other students and wizards 
must have requested to use these time-turners before. So, if they 
are designed to be used (albeit with strict supervision and express 
permission from the DoM at the MoM, apparently) and ARE actually in 
use around the wizarding world, the makers of these devices MUST 
have incorporated a spell into them that deposits the user a certain 
distance away from their earlier self.  Thus, when Harry and 
Hermione appear in the Great Hall, they immediately run and hide in 
the closet because they hear themselves coming down the staircase.  
So, the distance the user is deposited from his earlier incarnation 
must not be very great - perhaps 20-40 feet? 
   It makes sense to extrapolate that if the time-turners can be 
spelled to deposit the user so many feet from the user's earlier 
self, than they could be spelled to deposit the user in a place 
where there were no witnesses to their sudden appearance.  Maybe the 
time-turners are fitted with a proximity sensor to look out for 
other people in the area before it pops the user into the past?  An 
idea anyway.      

As to your other question:

I would guess that Hagrid can apparate and disapparate as the reason 
for his disappearance at the train station.  Wizards have to be 
licensed to legally apparate/disapparate.  We have seen no evidence 
that a wizard must attend school in order to take the test to 
legally apparate/disapparte.  So, either Hagrid took the appration 
test and passed or he didn't take the test and just did an illegal 
(in the WW view) disapparation from the train station.   

Diana L.