Paradox of Time Travel in PoA

[davenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 132010

Hi, I'm new to the group, so I apologize if this has been hashed out 
in extreme detail in the past.  But here is my question: if time-
traveling-Harry conjured the Patronus that saved original-Harry's 
life, then how did Harry survive in the first place to end up in the 
hospital and become time-traveling-Harry?

I see two explanations. Either this is just one of those logical 
quirks that make time-travel such a complicated concept to write 
about, which we just have to accept and ignore, OR, Dumbledore saved 
him the first time, and then basically came up with the plan that he 
had them put into action to save Sirius.

I keep thinking back to SS/PS and the fact that Dumbledore sort of 
led Harry into a confrontation with Quirrell (and prepared him for 
it, such as with the Mirror of Erised and the cloak), and his speech 
in OotP about his "plan," and I wonder just how much more he is 
controlling everything than we realize.

The problem with time travel is that as soon as events are changed, 
there is basically a "lost" past that happened, but that no one 
remembers.  It gets complicated when you are showing how things 
originally happened and how they were changed.  But I think it is 
clear that Harry encountered the Dementors before he was in the 
hospital, so who saved him from them before he went back in time to 
save himself?


Dave