*MY* confusion about the Time Turner

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 124176


Alshain wrote:
"At the point of Time-Turning, Sirius' fate is still an uncertain 
outcome, and at this point, Dumbledore isn't any wiser than HRH. 
Imagine Mr Black taking the position of Schroedinger's cat. Once a
Dementor has kissed him, the wave function collapses, and his fate
changes from "uncertain outcome" into "certain outcome". Irrevocable
and beyond all help, just as the case with Hermione missing a class. I
interpret Dumbledore's hurry (as you say, it'd have made much more
sense to have Harry and Hermione do it later) as a sign that Sirius
actually is in mortal peril. Not a hundred Time-Turners could save him
after the Kiss."

Del replies:
Yes, but...

Let's position ourselves at that moment in the infirmary when DD is
about to send the kids back in time. There's only one time-line,
right? What has happened *has* happened, right? To me this means that :

1. Either Harry and Hermione are going to Time-Turn at some time. In
this case, there are *right now* two pairs of them around. The TT!Pair
is *right now* working on saving Sirius, and there's *nothing*
Current!DD or Current!Pair can do to help them. So either they will
succeed on their own, or they won't. Either way, Sirius's life is out
of the hands of Current!People. Current!People can just watch and
hope. If Sirius somehow escapes, that means the TT!Pair succeeded, if
he doesn't, that means they failed. Sirius's fate is being sealed
right now by the TT!Pair, *not* by the Current!People. So there's no
hurry to Time-Turn Harry and Hermione.

2. Or Harry and Hermione are not going to Time-Turn. In this case,
*nobody* is working *right now* on saving Sirius, and Sirius is doomed.

So I really don't see why there would be any urgency in sending the
Duo back in time, since it is not their current version that are
saving Sirius (if anyone is), but their TT version. As long as they
Time-Turn, *whenever that is*, Sirius can be saved. And if they wait,
at least they will know what the outcome of their attempt was.

Which is why I will side with Steve in saying that the main reason DD
is sending them back at the time he does is mainly psychological. If
they wait, they will *know* whether they succeed or not. If they know
they do succeed, they might get a bit over-confident, which wouldn't
alter the course of the events that they know have happened, but could
put *them* into danger (in other words, they would still save
everyone, but they could get hurt through carelessness). But worse, if
they know they fail, they will be in shock, in grief, angry,
discouraged and frustrated, which wouldn't be a good combination of
feelings at all in kids about to Time-Turn.

Hope it makes sense.

Del