*MY* confusion about the Time Turner

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 124018


Now Tammy R says:
Actually, Harry seeing what he thought was his father casting the 
Patronus across the lake was no violation of the "TimeTurning can't 
change what's happened" rule. It was a violation of "Don't be SEEN" 
rule, which is a rule set in place (I believe) simply to protect those
wizards who are TTing from spooking themselves into killing 
themselves.

The "TTing can't change what happened" rule is actually a law. Like 
the law of gravity, or the law of the speed of light. TT!Harry didn't 
change the past by casting the Patronus. He couldn't change the past. 
It's impossible. It's not that "you can't change the past" because it
would cause problems. It's that "you can't change the past" because 
it's impossible to do, because what has already happened has already 
happened. Harry was able to cast the Patronus because he knew he 
could do it.

snip

No paradox there at all. No changing of the past. It's all simply 
what already happened.

vmonte responds:
If there is a warning about not spooking yourself so that you won't 
inadvertently kill yourself, then it has to be possible for you to 
mess with the past. Why warn someone about anything if the past 
always happens the way it's going to happen? Spelling out the rules/ 
warnings to someone implies that the past is not fixed and you must 
be careful. 

It seems to me that the events of PoA unfolded the way they did 
because Dumbledore made a conscious choice to send Hermione and Harry 
back to save lives. He planned the event, and then H&H followed 
through with his plan. If he had never told H&H what he wanted them 
to do, they would have never known to TT back.

Vivian