Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban Ch 16: Professor Trelawney's prediction

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 190353



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
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> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bart@> wrote:
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> > Steve:
Steve wrote:
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> If we start with the assumption that time happened twice, meaning that Harry and Hermione's interference spawned a second time line, then we must assume the first time line continues on as if there had been no interference, and the second new time line creates the outcome that we ultimately see in the book; Sirius escapes. However, the multiple time theory implies that the first time line carried on and Sirius was subjected to the Dementor's kiss and ultimately died. 
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> As complicated as time travel is, it is massively more complicated if we assume multiple times or multiple time lines. The simplest solution is a single time line with multiple characters. Though a mistake in time travel could potentially alter the one existing time line, which is why Hermione insists that the be so careful. 
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> Although, as I read the story, I do not see Harry/Hermione creating a paradox. As I said, JKR drops subtle hints in the book that the second TT!Harry and TT!Hermione are already there the first time we read through the story. And the second time we travel through the story, those subtle hints are, more or less, confirmed. 
<snip>

Carol responds:

I agree that there's only one timeline as we can see from Hermione's use of the Time Turner to go to her classes. Even though during all that time, Hermione is in two places at once, no one but Hermione and McGonagall knows it, and for everyone who sees Hermione, time is perfectly normal. (*Those* people can't be in two places at once, so they only see one Hermione.)

Hermione herself experiences time as extra hours in a day that allow her to take extra classes and extra tests and possibly do extra homework. No wonder the poor child is exhausted! (I won't get into the question of whether she ages ever so slightly during this extra time, but it seems clear that the time turner couldn't be used for extended periods because the only way to get back to the normal time is to live through those hours a second time.)

At any rate, just as Hermione was in two classes at once all year long, she was in two places at once during the Buckbeak/Sirius episode. Buckbeak never died and neither did Sirius or Harry. Dumbledore must have seen Buckbeak escape and perhaps figured out that it was the Time Turner that saved him.

Yes, it's very confusing, but there were always two Harrys and two Hermiones during those three hours. It's the only explanation that makes any sense. Time didn't change; it happened only once exactly as it turned out.

Carol, who found her original reading of PoA mindboggling--werewolves, Animagi, Secret Keepers, and then Time Travel!