Time Turner...(TT during PoA)

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 123677


Sandra wrote:

Here's another issue here - I think all the HP stories 
are undermined by the Time Turner's own existence. If 
the spell or technology exists which can influence time, 
nothing is final unless the ability to create such a 
piece is very, very restricted. Which in Harry's world, 
it isn't. I would have thought that anyone with such 
a piece could change whatever they wanted. If the 
all-powerful Voldemort got hold of it, he could prevent 
Harry being born either in a very subtle way (prevent 
Mr & Mrs Potter marrying) or by going back in time 
and killing Harry at any stage of his life. Likewise, 
Dumbledore could do the same to Voldermort... and 
let's not forget that Harry could go back and save 
Sirius in Book 5, or prevent the death in Book 4 
(forgotten the poor chap's name). And maybe, just 
maybe, he could give it a really good spin and go 
back and save his parents etc etc... you see where 
this is going?

So because the Time Turner exists as it is shown to, 
nothing is final. Whoever holds that holds a huge 
amount of power, because that power is not restricted 
or regulated. And don't get me started on the 
potential if there's more than one Time Turner - after 
all, why shouldn't there be? In my view, the whole 
series of stories gets horribly undermined by one 
simple plot-aid in Book 3. Doesn't it?

Laurasia replies:

I'm not going to get drawn into the argument about whether
TT!Harry&Hermione *changed* time, or whether they just *ensured* it
happened correctly. It's extremely difficult to explain any alternate
version of Time Travel. There are *many* version of Time Travel, not
just one.
I've been invovled in several Time Travel Debates, and the only posts
that can stand alone without re-reading the entire old threads are:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/79043
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/79045
which people involved in this current debate may or may not find
useful (hopefully the former). Excuse my linkable-narcissism. ;-) 

However, I'd like to address the point of why we don't see people
using Time Travel to change whatever they please.

Either, 
a) you can not change anything (which is why no one tries), 
b) you actually can change whatever you want but it has too high a
cost,
or c) you can only change things that you don't already know the
outcome of. 

a) Applies to people who belive that time only happened once, not that
it was rewritten.
b) Is no fun because you can just say 'something bad and unexpected
will happen if you change time, probably making it worse and you'll
run out of Time-Turner batteries before you can fix it all up.'
c) Is probably the most applicable.

For example, in PoA, Harry and Hermione only hear the swish and thud
of an axe when they leave Hagrid's Hut and then see Macnair swing his
axe into a fence. Which might mean that so long as the version of
events from their Time-Traveled POV includes the swish and thud of an
axe, they can do whatever they please.

Or, alternatively, think about this scenario- Muggles arrives at
Godric's Hollow to find James and Lily dead, the house destroyed and
Harry vanished. Dumbledore knows that he can do whatever he wants so
long as James and Lily die and Harry disappears before the Muggles
arrives. So he sends Hagrid back in time at the exact moment when
Voldemort is vapourised to pick up Harry and take him to a safe place.

So, if we accept that you can only change what is not yet noticed,
then you can change whatever you want, so long as it gives the
appearance of not being changed at all.

So, you *could* go back and save Sirius, provided you had someone who
had taken a Polyjuice Potion containing one of his hairs swap places
with him. 

Or, when Hermione misses a charms class, she can't go back and take it
because her absense was noted by Ron and Harry. She *could,* however,
nip up to the Boy's Dorm, borrow Harry's invisibilty cloak and take
the class remaining invisible.

So, maybe the reason why nobody kills Tom Riddle before he becomes too
terrible is simply because they know for sure that he wasn't killed.
They could go back and, maybe, curse him with some slow-acting spell
that takes years to develop because there is (as yet) no evidence to
suggest that that didn't happen.

~<(Laurasia)>~