Why a Time-Turner won't work for GH (WasNewbie theory - Harry at Godric's Ho

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 163944

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...>
wrote:

> 
> Carol responds:
> I don't think so. First, I think you have the movie version of the
> Time-Turner in mind. Book!Hermione's Time_turner is an hourglass on a
> chain, not a little glass lens with an hourglass inside. There's no
> indication in the books that you can just spin it ("Three turns should
> do it" indicates that it's turned precisely and manually, not spun),
> and it would be difficult to just try a hit-and-miss method of getting
> to the right time. How would they know if they were in 1955 or 1892
> without exploring the nearby village to check out the technology and
> the clothing? You don't just collar the nearest Muggle and ask what
> year it is. Knowing Hermione, she'd want to be precise and get the
> time and date exactly right if they went back at all (and without a
> neck chain, it would be harder to send all three of them back). 
> 

Ken:

I have no idea what the time turner looked like in the movie. The
picture I have in my mind is the illustration at the beginning of one
the chapters of POA. You most certainly could twirl that design very
easily. More to the point with a wand and the right charm you could
twirl *any* kind of time turner quite easily. That is what magic is
all about! 

Hmmm, how would you know what year it is?

-Dress like the village idiot and do actually ask that muggle.
-Look at the date on a newspaper in a vending box
-Look at the license plates on shiny new cars, in the UK one of the
characters on the plate number indicates the year the plate was issued
and the same plate stays with the car its entire life (if I remember
correctly). Here in Illinois of course you could just look at the year
sticker on any plate but that won't help the Three Amigos unless they
broom over here, do their time turning here, and then broom back.
-Carry a muggle radio and listen for a news broadcast on the BBC.
-Go into a bookstore and look at the copyright date on the new releases.
-Go to a graveyard and look for the date on the headstone of a fresh
grave.
-Go to a car dealer and see which model year they are currently selling.
-Ron could probably tell you by which broom model is currently the
rage in the shops in Diagon Alley.
-Hermione and Harry could probably tell you by walking down High
street and seeing which clothes, video games, and numerous other
consumer items are currently in fashion.
-Do I really need to go on??

I'm beating you with a dead horse now Carol but it certainly isn't an
insurmountable problem to tell what year you are in without raising
suspicions among the Muggles or the Wizarding World. By moving in
progressively smaller increments as you approach the target Hermione
can be as anal as she wants to be about hitting the target exactly.
Once you are down to a day or two she could easily count down the
remaining turns.

I just hope that there are no more time turners because they were all
destroyed at the Ministry of Magic and only Nicholas Flamel knew how
to make them.

Ken