Question about the Harry Potter series?

Question: Question about the Harry Potter series!?

I was reading a site online and got an idea, so I'll ask here!. In Prisoner of Azkaban, the kids have a time travel device!. Why do they only use it the one time!? I mean really, why not go back and stop Voldemort from killing Harry's parents!? Or kill Voldemort as a child, or at least stop him from gaining power at a key point in time!. which I'm sure there must have been plenty!. This is a huge plot hole and now that I think about it, it's completely unacceptable!. Is Harry that selfish!? He just goes to save himself and no one else!? What a jerk!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

good point! i have read the series and watched the movie numerous times and i have never ever thought about that before!.
however, in my opinion there are several reasons why i think Harry did not go back in time to kill Voldemort;
1!. There would've been no story! If that had happened, the series would've ended there, and i dont think anyone would have been happy if books four to 7 were not written!.
2!. McGonnagal had given it to Hermione, and so it wasnt entirely theirs, to use that way!.
3!. In the whole drama of the Peter Pettigrew / Sirius Black conudrum, the Dementor fight, Lupin's transformation etc etc I dont think that they were really thinking that deeply, it would not have crossed their minds at all; i dont think!.
5!. It would have inloved some serious calculations!. From memory, they had to turn the 'Time Travel Device' once for every hour they wanted to go back!. They would have had to seriously consider the exact moment they wanted to go back to, and then work out how many hours that was!. There would have been such a large margin for error, and imagine if they had got it wrong!
6!. I personally think it would have been wrong to do something that big!. The whole magical world (and even the muggle world) had been inexplicably changed by Voldemort!. If they had gone back in time and killed him, think about the implications this would have had for the future!. Undeniably, they would have changed the world in ways unkown!. They had the potential to destroy their own existence (ie!. would have Lily and James got married and had Harry if Voldemort hadn't existed!?)!.

So yeah, thats my answer!. also, i don't think Harry was being selfish!. He wasnt really saving himself, he went back in time to release Sirius from going back to Azkaban for a crime he didnt commit, and then also to free Buckbeak from the death penalty, also for a crime he didnt do!.
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Harry and his freinds realized that meddling with time is a dangerous thing, yes they could kill Voldemort but then maybe an even more powerful evil wizard would rise up!. also traveling through time puts the entire realm of magic and the world itself at risk!. also, if J!.K!. Rowling had Harry go back in time and stop Voldemort in the third book, how would she have been able to rake in the mega-millions from the next four!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Just in case you don't remember, Hermione's Time Turner reverses hours!. Harry would have to spend eternity turning that thing to reverse 13 years, he could also get caught while he was at it!. And he couldn't survive Voldemort at age 13, anyways!. And if that happened, all of JK Rowling's fans would kill her for ruining the plot!.
He's not a jerk!. He's a thirteen year old teenage guy!.
Angel_UWww@QuestionHome@Com

I know u r probably talking about the Time-Turner!. I don't know if u've read the book or only saw the movie, but u would hv known reading the book that it's a very complicated device which needs ministry's approval for using it!.It's not a machine where u can simply insert the time and press a button and 'WOW We r 15 years back'!. I'll suggest that u simply finish the whole series!. The Deathly Hallows is the greatest one ever!. There's a real shock about Dumledore and Snape!. GO 4 IT!!!!!!!!!!!Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm not sure but i do believe the device could only bring you back so far!. But i still agree that someone like Dumboldore could have gone back and saved Harry's parents during the time Voldy started his first rising!.!.!.!.good catch there bud

But harry doesn't even use it for himself by the way!.!.!.he saves buckbeak and Sirius so im pretty sure he's not selfish!.!.!.hermione on the hand!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

HARRY IS NOT SELFISH!!!!! THAT MACHINE IS VERY POWERFUL, IF YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK, Y OU WOULD UNDERSTAND, IF HE MESSES UP ONE LITTLE THING, THEN HE CAN DESTROY THE WORLD, IT WAS A COMPLETE AND UTTER EMERGENCY, AND VOLDEMORT DID NOT JUST GAINED POWER, AND ONCE AGAIN IF YOU WOULD HAVE READ THE BOOK YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND, HE LEARNED AND GAINED POWER THROUGHOUT HIS WHOLE LIFE!. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT, CHILD!! Www@QuestionHome@Com

Time travel is a very tricky business, and the Ministry probably had an insane amount of legal tape around getting them!. McGonagall had to put together a very strong case with regards to the trustworthyness of Hermione to get her the Timeturner in the first place!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Maybe he didnt think about it, and i mean didnt Hermione have the time travel device to get to her classes she had on at the same time!.
I mean Harry only found out about the device toward the ending of the book,
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Harry could only go back a certain amount of years, if you are only 15 how can you go back 30 years!? You wouldn't exist, I think you need to exist in the time you go back too!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Each turn of the time turner only turns time back one hour!. To travel back 12 years or even further back to kill voldemort would take an absurdley long time!. By the time they got there Sirius would be dead!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

i think cause something might go wrong and cause the books wouldnt have been good if harry parent were alive and voldemort was killed before he met harry and you know everythingWww@QuestionHome@Com

I don't think that that would have been smart at all!. Yes, killing Voldemort as a child or something would have stopped a lot of unnecessary suffering but Dumbledore himself said in HBP that he had no way of knowing that Voldemort was going to turn out as evil as he did!. So they wouldn't have risked killing a possibly harmless/innocent child!. As for stopping him from killing Harry parents, THAT would have been selfish of Harry to do!. Going back and saving his parents so that he could grow up with them!. Sure that would be great for Harry, but what about the rest of the wizarding world!? Voldemort trying to kill Harry backfired on him and stopped him from harming any other people!. Plus, whenever you mess with the past, who knows what you're affecting in the future!. So many things are affected by one another that there's no way of knowing what that would have caused!. It could have made the mess even bigger!. Would it have been worth the risk!?
I don't understand why you are calling Harry selfish!? How!? If anything, he is selfless!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

A - Time travel is dangerous and not as precise as one might hope!.
B - The slightest mistake and everyone you would have known could be dead or something of similar disaster!.
C - It may not have occurred to them!.
D - You have to re-live every second that you go back in time, increasing the likelihood that you will run into your other self and mess things up!. Plus then he'd have to re-live 13 years of his life while avoiding himself and everyone he knew and trying to make a new life for himself!.
E - Sometimes people don't want to do what's hard!. Could you honestly say you'd die for someone else!? Or live in misery for the rest of your life!? For people you don't even know!? It's harder than you might think!. And sometimes too much is too much!.
F - Then you loose 4 amazing books!. I personally enjoyed the series and think it would have been a shame to not have books 4-7!. I like the way the series ended!.
G - Harry is NOT a jerk!. He saved Buckbeak and Sirius and himself with the time-travel and later in the series he does stop Voldemort and he does do all he can to help everyone else!. A jerk!? I don't think so!.
H - And again, they weren't looking for a fight!. The 'Good' people in books and movies tend to avoid killing and the likes whenever they can!. If they were to attempt such a time-travel thing they might more likely try to change Voldemort's future so that he turned out alright!.

So maybe you should think things out a little bit further than you already have!. There are many reasons why J!.K!. Rowling did not write that!. The foremost may be that it simply didn't occur to her or that if it did it was simply out of the question, for I'm sure she had her books all planned out beforehand!. She wanted to write what you have now read!. Not that a book about how he goes back in time to stop Voldemort in the past wouldn't have been interesting, but that wasn't what was supposed to happen!. Www@QuestionHome@Com