Time-turning as literary device

[meltowne]

No: HPFGUIDX 108629

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:
Valky wrote originally:

 Please, I have absolutely no idea where anyone gets the notion 
 that time travel has been overextended in the story.
  
SSSusan responded:

 I would be VERY happy indeed if there is no more use of time-
 turning or polyjuice.  And it's not the quantity of chapters in 
 which they've been used.  It's because of what HunterGreen 
 said:  they were used as a narrative device, and once is  enough 
 for some of us.

 ...maybe it's wrong of me to worry that JKR might use time-turning 
again in such a way that I'd be annoyed...because the VAST majority 
of the time I have really enjoyed the way she's told the story, and I 
have faith in her ability to maintain that.  (Hence, my confidence 
that she can weave an "elegantly simple" conclusion to the series 
that's a real WOW! but still beautiful in its simplicity--but that's 
another post. :-

I guess in spite of this confidence I have in JKR, I do still also 
have a bit of a worry that if the time-turning shows up AGAIN I'll 
be feeling, "Been there, done that."  You know?  I want something 
new, fresh, creative...just like she's provided for us each time so 
far.  You've got an interesting take on the time-turning in PoA and 
in general, so I guess I should just have more faith!

Meltowne:

I suspect we will see both Polyjuice and time-turning again, but not 
necessarily in active use, but as explanations of things that 
occurred in earlier books.

We keep seeing too many instances of things smelling of cabbage - why 
does Mrs. Figg's house smell like cabbage?  Why does she have all 
those cats?  I suspect Polyjuice is being used by someone there, but 
for what purpose?

Then there's the time-turning, and the warnings about not changing 
anything.  Harry realized he had seen himelf, and had the confidence 
to use the Patronus charm - he knew he wasn't changing anything, as 
it had already happened.

We know that in PS/SS there's time missing when Hagrid went back to 
get Harry.  We know he told McGonnagle where DD would be that 
evening.  Sometime that morning, everyone knew LV had been defeated, 
but obviously DD didn't know where the Potters were hiding, or he 
would have known who the secret keeper was (that person would have 
had to have told him, not someone else).  I would assume anyone who 
had been Imperio'd by was suddenly free, and that may have been how 
they knew he was "gone."  But did they know right away that Harry was 
safe?  Probably not, and they didn't know where to find him.  Someone 
who had been told by Wormtail may have told DD where later that 
evening, and he sent Hagrid back with a timeturner to fetch him.  But 
since they hadn't known Harry's fate until then, Hagrid couldn't very 
well show up with him right away, or it would create a paradox - they 
arranged to meet up later, at the Dursley household.

The question is, who told DD where Harry was?  That person had to 
know Wormtail was the secret keeper, or had to have been told by 
someone else who know he was.  Who knew, and was would have told DD?  
Would that person have told DD after already knowing Harry wasn't 
there any longer?  Maybe someone like Fudge, who perhaps claimed 
Sirius said something about it when he "blew up Wormtail?"