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Time-Turner

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A Time-Turner was a magical device used for time travel. It was a special timepiece which resembled an hourglass on a necklace. [1] [3]

The British Ministry of Magic encased an Hour-Reversal Charm in the time turners they created, for additional stability. The number of times one turned the hourglass corresponded to the number of hours one travelled back in time. However, they could only stay in the past for five hours at a time, without the possibility of serious harm to the traveller or to time itself. [1]

However, by 2020 , two other "true" kind of time-turners were created. The prototype only let the time traveller stay in the past for five minutes, while the improved model let them to stay in the past for as long as they wanted, and return to the future when they wanted. [5]

• 1.1 1993-1994
• 2.1 Typical Time-Turners
• 2.2 Theodore Nott's Time-Turners
• 4 Behind the scenes
• 5 Appearances
• 6 Notes and references

History [ ]

1993-1994 [ ].

Harry Potter and Hermione Granger use a Time-turner

Hermione Granger received one from Professor McGonagall in 1993, so that she could attend more classes in her third year than time would allow. Since McGonagall made her swear to not tell anyone about it, she did not mention it to Harry Potter or Ron Weasley until the end of the school year, when she and Harry used it to travel back in time and save Sirius Black and Buckbeak from certain death . Special permission from the Ministry of Magic had to be sought to allow Hermione to use one, but her academic record ensured that permission was given. [3]

Hermione found her third year stressful with the extra class load, and therefore decided to drop Divination , which she despised, and Muggle Studies , which she did not find very useful, given that she was a Muggle-born . This allowed her to have a normal schedule once again, and she returned her Time-Turner. Ron was disappointed that Hermione did not tell her friends about it, despite her promise to McGonagall. [7]

The entire stock of Time-Turners, located in the Time Room , in the Ministry of Magic were rendered useless during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in 1996. While not "destroyed" per se, due to the way one of them fell when their counter was knocked over, the entire stock was trapped in an endless loop of falling over, un-falling, and then re-falling, in an endless cycle for all eternity, and was thus unable to be used. [2] [8] However, it is possible that other countries around the world would be willing to lend their own Time-Turners to the British government if asked.

By August 2020 , Theodore Nott , while working for Lucius Malfoy , created a prototype of a time-turner, presumably in the hope of saving Voldemort from his fate. The prototype only let the time-traveller stay in the past for five minutes, although they could travel as far back as they wanted. [5]

Nott eventually created a better and improved model, which let the time-traveller stay in the past for as long as they wanted. They could also use the device to return to the future when needed. While Malfoy kept the improved model, which was eventually passed down to his son, Nott kept the prototype. Even though they both owned something which could be used to save Voldemort, neither of them tried. [5]

In August 2020, Harry Potter, in his capacity as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement , retrieved the previously unknown Time-Turner at the home of Nott. Being a "true" Time-Turner, it had the potential to cause catastrophic effects on time, and Nott was arrested for creating such a dangerous device. [5]

Although it was hidden in the office of Minister for Magic Hermione Granger , it was later stolen by Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy , who intended to use it in order to save Cedric Diggory and return him to his father . They created a disastrous sequence of events and alternate realities , finding that they could only stay in the past for five minutes. They managed to correct events and set time right with the help of the alternate Hermione, Ron Weasley and Severus Snape . [5]

When they were were abducted by Delphini , she used the time-turner to travel back to October 1981 to save her father . She then destroyed it to ensure she would not be forced to return to the present via the five minute restriction. [5]

However, in the present, Draco Malfoy revealed he had the improved Time-Turner from his father , that would allow him to stay in the past for as long as he wanted; he had always had to resist the urge to use it to see his deceased wife one more time. Along with Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione, they travelled back in time with help from a message sent by Albus in the past. They stopped Delphini by the combined might of both generations, and then returned to the future. [9]

Typical Time-Turners [ ]

A common Time-Turner

Time-Turners that were issued by the Ministry of Magic have an Hour-Reversal Charm placed onto them. They had a limit of travelling back a maximum of five-hours, which is the determined safety limit to the person and the fabrics of time. The Charm placed on them was unstable on its own and benefited from a container. [1]

Many different types of Time-Turners

The Ministry had a limited quantity which were not easily replaceable. [1] During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries , the Ministry's entire stockpile were destroyed and they were not repaired nor replaced. [2] Hogwarts students can apply for such a Time-Turner in order to take more classes, but they must undergo a large amount of screening process and must follow the most stringent set of rules, such as not abusing its powers nor let any outsiders know about it. [3]

Theodore Nott's Time-Turners [ ]

A pair of Time-Turners were created by Theodore Nott while he was working for Lucius Malfoy . There were two in total, and they were not restricted by an Hour-Reversal Charm, allowing one to travel back years or even decades. The prototype was kept by Nott until the Ministry found it following his arrest by Harry Potter. It was made of inexpensive metal and was not the finalised version; although still far more powerful than any Time Turner that had preceded it, the user could only stay in the past for five minutes before being sent back to the present. [5]

However, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy retrieved it and proved (albeit unintentionally), that a person could create enough damage with catastrophic results in such a small window. When Delphi took it, she destroyed it while still in the past, and proved that the device would then allow the users to stay in the past indefinitely. [5]

Nott was arrested when he was found to have created and being in possession of such a dangerous device. When Albus and Scorpius were found using this device, they were very close to being expelled by Headmistress Minerva McGonagall , had she not been understanding enough from her experience with their parents. Nevertheless, she barred them from all future visits to Hogsmeade , cancelled all their Christmas and Easter holidays , and gave them a multitude of detentions, while their parents gave them a severe scolding. Delphi was later arrested for using the device in an attempt to alter the timeline illegally, along with the cold-blooded murder of Craig Bowker Jnr with the Killing Curse . [5]

Lucius kept the second "true" Time-Turner as he enjoyed collecting powerful artefacts. The finalised device gleamed like gold, and was not restrained by a five-minutes duration. By his son Draco Malfoy 's belief, Lucius originally commissioned the creation of the Time-Turner to save Lord Voldemort from his fate , but ultimately decided not to. He passed the Time-Turner down to Draco, who used it to save Albus and Scorpius by travelling to the past. The device allowed them to return to the future by their own choice, instead of waiting for five minutes. Harry Potter told him that had the Ministry found Draco with the dangerous device, he would be sent to Azkaban for it. [5]

A Time-Turner while in use (Harry and Hermione in 1994 )

Time-related magic is unstable, and serious breaches in the laws of time result in catastrophic events. [1] According to Professor Saul Croaker : 'Just as the human mind cannot comprehend time, so it cannot comprehend the damage that will ensue if we presume to tamper with its laws'. Possible scenarios include a wizard or witch killing their past or future selves by mistake, [3] or altering one's life path in such a drastic fashion that it can result in temporal anomalies such as un-births , [5] making it imperative for users to practise discretion and operate in secret lest they encounter their past selves and do irreparable harm. [3] While not as potentially dangerous as skipping five centuries, even the re-use of a single hour could still have dramatic consequences and the Ministry of Magic enforced the strictest guarantees if it permitted the use of these rare and powerful objects. Time-Turner possession was hedged around with literally hundreds of laws, and the most stringent laws and penalties were in place to prevent their misuse. It would have surprised most of the magical community to know that Time-Turners were generally only used to solve the most trivial problems of time management and never for greater or more important purposes. [1] [5]

The consequences of meddling with time could be as severe as creating an alternate timeline, such as one in which Lord Voldemort was never defeated and still ruled. In this case, however, the person who had used the Time-Turner, if they still existed and weren't Un-born , would still have memory of the events of the original, un-corrupted timeline, but would have to learn second-hand the nature of the changes which had been made. [5] The alternate timeline apparently disappeared when the changes were "fixed". Another consequence of traveling long distances through time was that time itself could have been disturbed by such a serious breach of its laws. Such was the case after Eloise Mintumble returned from her five century trip. Tuesday following her reappearance lasted two and a half full days, whereas Thursday shot by in the space of four hours. The Ministry of Magic had a great deal of trouble in covering this up. [1]

According to Professor Croaker's law , the longest period that could be travelled back in time without serious chance of harm to the traveller or time itself is around five hours. [1] [10]

Behind the scenes [ ]

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , while the importance of not being seen while travelling back in time is stressed, Harry and Hermione pass by the Clock Tower Courtyard while following their past selves. However, the executioner was sitting there, sharpening his axe . As such, he could have seen two pairs of Harrys and Hermiones. It may have been that he was too focused on sharpening his axe that he did not notice the second Harry and Hermione coming through. In addition, there is a scene played wherein Ron sees future Harry and Hermione enter the room at the same moment that their past selves disappear to travel back in time.
• In the book , when the Time-Turner is used it takes the person back to the location where they were present at the time they'd gone back to. However, in the film adaptation , when the Time-Turner is used it leaves the person in the same place they were when they turned time back. The GBA video game version has the user appearing at an entirely random place (i.e. Harry and Hermione use it in the Hospital Wing and appear at the Forbidden Forest ).
• The possibility of time travel within the Harry Potter universe could have caused significant problems, but characters appear to use them for trivial tasks that have no effect on existence as a whole. The one notable use of a Time-Turner within the book canon , the Rescue of Sirius Black and Buckbeak , obeys the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle . This theory of time-travel, stating that "Nothing can be changed because anything a traveller does merely produces the circumstances they had noted before travelling," is incidentally reminiscent of J. K. Rowling 's employment of self-fulfilling prophecy. However, references to catastrophes that can take place when time travelling (a reference to a wizard travelling to the past and being killed by his past self in Prisoner of Azkaban , or Eloise Mintumble 's time-travelling mishap in Pottermore in which several people end up un-born in the present) seem to go against Novikov Principle, indeed creating paradoxes. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child also shows that reckless use of a Time-Turner can result in the creation of an alternate timeline .
• Knowing that time-related magic is unstable, there might be different ways to experience time through magic. This would explain catastrophic events as with Eloise Mintumble , paradoxes as result of poorly performed time-related spells, and/or apparent differences between the experience of time travel through authorised Time-Turners in Prisoner of Azkaban and that through unauthorised Time-Turners in Cursed Child .
• When Eloise Mintumble time-travelled and changed things, it was noticed by other witches and wizards from the original timeline who went to retrieve her. When Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy time-travelled and changed things, the people from the original timeline did not believe they could retrieve the students. Harry Potter remarks that the Time-Turner cannot help them, because they do not know to what time the students went.

What could possibly be a time turner worn by McGonagall in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

• It is possible that Minerva McGonagall was wearing a Time-Turner in a deleted scene from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald .
• It is unknown what the effect of excessive Time-Turner use might produce. The user might still age while within an hour produced by the Time-Turner, and if so, then for wizards or witches such as Hermione, constant use might age them faster, adding days, weeks, or even months onto their internal chronological clock. It is also unknown how this applies to later on in life. If Hermione was perhaps a month older by using the Time-Turner during her third year [11] , then biologically her seventeenth birthday might arrive a month earlier than her calendar birthdate might indicate, which might cause the Trace to have been lifted earlier as well.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 , there are grandfather clocks throughout Hogwarts which allow Hermione to use her Time-Turner to transport herself and her teammates back in time to complete certain objectives. One of these includes a mission where Harry and Hagrid hatch Norberta 's egg.
• The Time-Turner is one of the many collectables offered by the Noble Collection .
• Hermione Granger's Time-Turner is David Heyman 's favourite prop from the films. [12]
• You can hear quiet ticking as a background sound during part of the Time-Turner episode of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban .
• In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery , after botching his first date Barnaby Lee , repeatedly commented he wished he had a Time-Turner to redo the evening.
• Injuries acquired during time travel age up in a different manner than the time-traveller. When Albus Potter was injured after travelling twenty years in the past, his injury aged twenty years (according to Madam Pomfrey) even though Albus himself remained the same age. Similarly, Eloise Mintumble may have been injured when she was retrieved by her colleagues, ageing her up hundreds of years.

Appearances [ ]

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Possible appearance) (Appears in deleted scene(s))
• LEGO Harry Potter
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Harry Potter for Kinect (Mentioned only) (Appears in photographs)
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• J. K. Rowling's official site
• Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened

Notes and references [ ]

• ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Time-Turner" at  Wizarding World
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , Chapter 35 ( Beyond the Veil )
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Chapter 21 ( Hermione's Secret )
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• ↑ This quote comes from the " Harry Potter Sticker Kit ", containing a plastic replica of the Time-Turner used on the film.
• ↑ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Chapter 22 ( Owl Post Again )
• ↑ Blue Peter (CBBC) interview with JK Rowling, confirming that all the MoM time-turners were destroyed.
• ↑ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , Act Four, Scene Four
• ↑ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , Act Two, Scene Sixteen
• ↑ Assuming an average usage of 3 hours per day, 5 days per week, for a period of 9 months, this would add up to approximately 24 extra days.
• ↑ See this video
• Harry Potter
• 1 Tom Riddle
• 2 Harry Potter
• 3 List of spells

How Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban's Time Travel Works

It’s been a couple weeks since we began delving into the world of time travel here at CinemaBlend, but to us, it’s felt like a minute. Time being relative and all, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since we’ve last met. What matters is we’re here, yet again, to look into the world of time travel at the movies, and the best part is this week’s exploration not only doesn’t require a time machine per se, we also don’t have to worry about scavenging an outfit once we’re back in the past. This week, it’s time to turn through the sands of time in the 2004 feature film adaptation of J.K. Rowling ’s novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban !

Yes, as Hogwarts’ sage headmaster Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) once said time is a “mysterious thing,” that is also “powerful, and when meddled with, dangerous.” But, as with anything else matching that description in the Harry Potter universe, that doesn’t stop some of our beloved fictional wizards from using them in a pinch. It’s time to solemnly swear we’re up to no good, as we dig into how the time travel of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban works.

The Time Travel In Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban drops a lot of bombshells in one fateful moment within the Shrieking Shack at Hogwarts. Sirus Black ( Gary Oldman ) is still very much alive, and is also a good guy/godfather to Harry Potter ( Daniel Radcliffe .) But a whole bunch of wizarding intrigue happens, and the end result is that Sirius is sentenced to death upon his capture. Which leads to director Alfonso Cuaron ’s big on screen time trip, where not one, but two lives hang in the balance.

Who's Time Traveling?

Hermione Granger ( Emma Watson ) and Harry Potter take the important journey through time. However, Ms. Granger has become a dab hand at the temporal arts throughout Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , as we eventually learn.

From When To When?

The big trip sends Harry and Hermione back to earlier in the evening where the big reveal about Peter Pettigrew’s (Timothy Spall) villainy takes place. Hermione’s other trips were also relatively small jaunts as well, as she was previously using the time turner to attend multiple classes at the same time throughout her third year at Hogwarts.

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The Purpose Of Their Trip?

When Hermione Granger initially started time traveling, it was to double her course load in Year 3. With classes relevant to her interests happening at the same time, she’d be able to have her brain food and eat it too. However, the big trip sees Hermione and Harry trying to prevent two big tragedies: the executions of Buckbeak the Hippogriff and Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black.

How Time Travel Happens In Harry Potter

If you want to time travel in the Harry Potter universe, all you need is a little bit of jewelry. More specifically, you’ll need a Time Turner , a device which, upon first glance looks like a necklace with an hourglass built in. Good luck finding one though, as the entire lot of them were believed to have been held by the Ministry of Magic. Hermione got special permission to use one for her classes as long as she abided by the rules. First impressions would suggest that whoever wears this beauty is either a huge Boggle or Pictionary fanatic, or just likes to keep track of the time. The latter assumption, as it turns out, couldn’t be more appropriate.

To use the Time Turner, all the wearer (or in the case of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’s pivotal journey , wearers) has to do is turn the embedded hourglass once for each hour they want to go back, and they’ll be transported back to that time. According to Dumbledore’s instructions, three turns were all that were needed for this trip, which sent Harry and Hermione back from Midnight to 7:30 that evening, right before Buckbeak was to be executed. With a little magic math, we can calculate that one turn equals an hour and a half’s worth of time travel. That’s fine for a quick trip back into the past, but if one wanted to go further, it might be suggested that you put in a couple extra arm days at the gym when preparing.

A really neat feature to the Time Turner is the fact that, depending on how big your chain is, you can fit multiple travelers in for a trip to the past or future. As long as you and your intended companions can wear the chain together, the timeline is your oyster. The rationale behind all of this time traveling falderal is the same force that drives 90% of the Harry Potter universe: pure magic!

Can History Be Changed As A Result Of Time Travel In Harry Potter?

In the case of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , time travel is something that doesn't seem to really change the course of events. Everything from Hermione throwing rocks to attract Harry’s attention to Buckbeak not actually being executed to saving Sirius from the dementors happens on both sides of the Time Turner's use. We're merely seeing them from another point of view, which shows that the executioner's axe chopped into a pumpkin (the fence, in the book), and that it was Harry who saved his past self with his stag Patronus.

From where things stand in the film, it looks like Hermione Granger and Harry Potter are officially students of the Kyle Reese School of Time Travel, as we've got ourselves a predestination paradox here. (Also, in the books, Hermione never throws those rocks. But this is a movie, and those sorts of markers really help in the storytelling.)

Though this was a loop of events that were always going to happen, there are still rules to follow. As Hermione explains to Harry in the book, Professor Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) warned her that horrific things could happen if one time travelled irresponsibly. Like, say, killing oneself in either the past or the present, which is sort of referenced in the film during Dumbledore's own warning to Hermione. His instructions were merely that she and Harry couldn’t be seen by anyone, which also warrants a tip of the Sorting Hat to one Dr. Emmett L. Brown and his views on time travel; but also muddies the waters as to whether or not the young wizards could ever really change anything.

As long as Harry and Hermione have accomplished their goals, and make it back to their starting position by the time they left, without running into their past selves, the timeline will presumably remain undamaged. Which, in turn, closes the predestination loop, and lets everyone return for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .

Luckily for us, everything is pretty above board in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , and what we witness is a pre-determined flow of time that seems like it was always going to happen the way it panned out.

However, a quick spoiler alert’s worth of information, if you want to read about time travel going horribly wrong in the Harry Potter universe, you’ll want to check out the text to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child . Let’s just say the Back to the Future influences on time travel in this universe run way deeper in that particular story. Plus, you could go back quite far in the timeline if you really wanted to, as that Time Turner apparently operated on some different principles. With that, we’ll add one final caveat when it comes to time traveling in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter : make sure you’re traveling somewhere safe, as the spot you're standing is where you’re going to wind up.

What Are The Consequences Of Time Travel In Harry Potter?

Thanks to the keen wit and rule following of Hermione Granger, and with some help from Harry Potter of course, Buckbeak and Sirius Black are allowed to escape into the night. With their freedom won, and their lives spared, Sirius can now go into hiding, hoping that his name will be cleared and that things will die down enough for Harry to be able to come live with him. However, dark times wait ahead, as the course of events in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban weren’t changed so much as to alter history’s flow too heavily.

Peter Pettigrew still escapes from captivity, and Professor Remus Lupin (David Thewlis) resigns after it’s revealed to the world at large that he is, in fact, a werewolf. So the world of Harry Potter keeps turning in the same orbit that we would have expected, by and large. But when it comes to Buckbeak and Sirius, those changes are definitely large enough to make all the difference, and they wouldn't have been possible without the Time Turner.

Temporal Mischief Managed

And here we are, back where we started, at the cusp of a new time travel exploration. If it’s alright with you folks, it feels like a good time to relax with either a good cup of tea or a large brandy. But that doesn’t mean our temporal revels have ended; in fact it’s quite the opposite. However, before we announce next week’s excellent adventure, we’d like to take the time to thank you, the fans.

We’ve gotten feedback requesting some adventures we’d been planning on covering, like the Kelvin timeline of Star Trek , and other movies we hadn’t thought of tackling like the Lost in Space reboot from 1998. Gary Oldman just can’t stay away from time travel, can he. In addition to those requests, we have plans for the rest of the time traveling escapades from the Star Trek film series , as explorations of Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact are also on the board.

However, for next week, we have a most triumphant entry in the works. While we teased it a couple paragraphs above, we can now come out and say that next week’s time travel lesson will encompass the adventures of Bill S. Preston, Esq and Ted Theodore Logan; or as they’re better known to the world, Bill & Ted! It’s time to face the music, as the Wyld Stallyns are about to ride again, and it’d be most non-non-heinous if we didn’t jump into their bogus journeys throughout all of time and space. So tune up your air guitars and meet us at the Circle K next week, as we’ll pick apart the strange things that are afoot in the Bill & Ted universe.

Mike Reyes is the Senior Movie Contributor at CinemaBlend, though that title’s more of a guideline really. Passionate about entertainment since grade school, the movies have always held a special place in his life, which explains his current occupation. Mike graduated from Drew University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, but swore off of running for public office a long time ago. Mike's expertise ranges from James Bond to everything Alita, making for a brilliantly eclectic resume. He fights for the user.

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Harry Potter: How Does Hermione’s Time-Turner Actually Work?

Of all the magical items in the world of Harry Potter, none stand out more than the Time-Turner used in the Prisoner of Azkaban.

There are many things that make  Harry Potter so compelling, but the most obvious thing is the intricate universe. From the spells to the society of witches and wizards that secretly populate the world, the Wizarding World makes our world seem boring in comparison. And some of the  most interesting things shown throughout the series are the magical items, such as the Marauder's Map or the Sword of Gryffindor. However, out of all the stand-out items, the most fascinating is the Time-Turner, wielded by Hermione Granger in the franchise's third installment,  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The Time-Turner gives Harry and Hermione the ability to go back in time to save Sirius Black and Buckbeak from an unsavory fate. Hermione had been using it throughout the school year to take extra courses above her full course load, and when Dumbledore suggests they can save someone by going back, they immediately take advantage of the opportunity.

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Time-Turners are definitely not a toy, and it's a testament to Hermione's mature demeanor that she even received one to use in the first place. They are heavily restricted by the Ministry of Magic because time-related magic is considered extremely unstable, with even slight breaches in time causing potentially catastrophic results. For additional stability in the Time-Turner device, the Ministry placed Hour-Reversal Charms on them that enable the device to go back in time for a maximum of five hours, which is deemed the safest allowable time. The number of times one turned the Time-Turner backward corresponds to the number of hours traveled.

Many people were worried about time-travel magic, especially during the time when Lord Voldemort was thought to be gone. If someone went back to the past and messed just one wrong thing up, the timeline where Voldemort was in power could very easily be restored. It was a huge risk, both on a personal level and on a larger scale. Therefore, the Ministry kept a tight grip on these devices, which is why Hermione receiving one is such a big honor.

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The risks of using a Time-Turner means the user needs to fully operate in secret while they are in the past, lest they disturb the occurring timeline and cause a rippling butterfly effect. It doesn't help that the Time-Turner can include another person -- it can transport as many people that can fit within the necklace's chain. This is why the Ministry of Magic has literally hundreds of laws in place surrounding the use of the device.

However, despite it being a dangerous magical device, the Time-Turner can certainly be used for good when in the right hands, such as Hermione's. Not only did she use it for the mundane task of simply doing more schoolwork than the average student, but when presented with an opportunity to save someone's life, she uses it in the most responsible manner she can. No other magical item in the world of Harry Potter contains such risk yet yields such rich a reward.

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Screen Rant

The biggest harry potter plot hole (isn’t a plot hole).

Many Harry Potter fans believed that the introduction of time travel created a major plot hole involving Voldemort, but that's not the case.

The Harry Potter plot hole involving time travel wasn't a plot hole after all. Many readers of J.K. Rowling's book series and the fans of the movie adaptation figured that the introduction of Time-Turners created a large plot hole. Here's why the use of Time-Turners didn't create a plot hole based on the laws of time travel established early in Harry Potter canon.

A Time-Turner was a magical device used by wizards and witches for the purpose of time travel. The one on which the series focused had an hourglass shape and was encased to be worn as a necklace. Each turn of the hourglass would send the user back one hour. The Ministry of Magic tried to use the Hour-Reversal Charm to limit the amount of time one could stay in the past to no more than five hours. Not many Time-Turners existed in the Wizarding World but Hermione Granger was given one by Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban so that she could attend more classes. The device was then used for a more serious purpose by Hermione and Harry.

Related:  Harry Potter: The Real Meaning Behind The Dementors

With the introduction of the Time-Turner in Prisoner of Azkaban , many fans wondered why the device couldn't be used to travel back in time to kill Lord Voldemort  when he was a powerless infant. The powerful Time-Turner could have given the young trio the ability to travel to various moments in the past to eliminate Tom Riddle before he transformed into the Dark Lord. The action would have prevented much of the destruction caused by Lord Voldemort and his violent followers. On the surface, not considering the use of the Time-Turner to stop Voldemort did seem like a justified plot hole. But looking closer at the rules of time travel, using the Time-Turner to kill Voldemort wouldn't have worked.

How Time Travel Worked In The Harry Potter Series

The rules of time travel are always tricky and this was the same within the Harry Potter universe. Rules tend to vary from franchise to franchise which is understandable. When Hermione possessed the Time-Turner, the Harry Potter series was following the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle when it came to time travel. The theory suggested that nothing in the past could be changed. Time travelers could only relive a moment from a different perspective.

This was reiterated when Hermione and Harry used the Time-Turner to rescue Sirius Black and Buckbeak. During the time travel journey, Harry learned that a version of himself cast the Patronus Charm at the Dementors explaining what happened to him in his past encounter. It also explained that Buckbeak was able to be saved because he originally escaped the executioner. These instances followed Rowling's stance on self-fulfilling prophecies.

With the established  Harry Potter time travel rules, Harry and his friends never had the option of traveling back in the past to kill Voldemort. If they were to do so, Voldemort would already be dead in the present timeline. Over time, Harry Potter canon presented through Pottermore and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child made the time travel rules a little murky. It was insinuated that messing with the past could have catastrophic effects on the present or create alternate timelines. There were even situations that suggested a wizard or witch could be unborn due to their actions while time traveling. Rowling has been known to make changes to Harry Potter canon and the notion of time travel was one of the aspects she tweaked over time. That said, the rules were already cemented when Hermione obtained the Time-Turner, and was why a Voldemort mission was never explored.

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Key Release Dates

Fantastic beasts: the secrets of dumbledore.

Time Travel

"Don't you understand? We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, nobody!" -- Hermione Granger ( PA21 )

Time travel is an extremely dangerous magical effect which allows a person to travel back in time. Because of the potential for catastrophe should history be altered, time travel is all but forbidden in wizarding society. Certain magical devices can be used for time travel, but access to them is strictly controlled.

References from the canon

• Hermione once used a Time-Turner to repeat hours of the day and take more classes than would otherwise have been possible ( PA21 ).
• The Pensieve and Tom Riddle's diary allowed a form of time travel, although the person or persons traveling were not actually part of the time they entered. Instead, they became observers, unseen and unheard. This form of time travel is tied to stored memories and the traveller views the past from a vantage point near the person whose memories are used. This form of time travel might be better termed "memory travel." ( CS13 , CS17 , GF30 , OP28 , HBP10 , HBP13 , HBP17 , HBP23 , DH33 )
• Time is studied in one of the rooms of the Department of Mysteries; a Death Eater whose head fell into a huge bell jar in that room was changed from the neck up into a baby ( OP35 ).

From the Web

Time Travel in Harry Potter  by Sebastian “CornedBee” Redl

Pensieve (Comments)

Tags: brains change history memory time travel

Editor: Jeanne Kimsey

• 1907 : Merope Gaunt is born
• September, 1925 : Bob Ogden's initial visit to the Gaunt hovel
• circa December, 1925 : Merope Gaunt fools Tom Riddle into marrying her
• circa March 31st, 1926 : Merope Gaunt gets pregnant with Tom Marvolo Riddle
• December 31st, 1926 : Tom Marvolo Riddle is born
• August, 1938 : Dumbledore visits Tom Riddle's orphanage
• September 1st, 1938 : Tom Riddle starts at Hogwarts
• July, 1942 : Tom Riddle murders his father and grandparents
• 1942 : Tom Riddle meets with Professor Slughorn and asks him about Horcruxes
• circa June 12th, 1943 : Moaning Myrtle's Death
• September, 1943 : Tom Marvolo Riddle turns the diary into a Horcrux
• circa 1956 : Tom Riddle kills Hepzibah Smith, framing her house-elf, Hokey
• June, 1976 : James Potter publicly humiliates Severus Snape
• 1980 : Igor Karkaroff is captured
• July 30th, 1980 : Neville Longbottom is born
• 1982 : Karkaroff released from Azkaban
• circa December, 1985 : Arrest of Death Eaters who attacked the Longbottoms
• June 20th, 1996 : The Battle of the Department of Mysteries
• April 21st, 1997 : Slughorn finally gives up his memory to Harry, thanks to Felix Felicis

Photo via allnightavenue/Flickr

What’s going on with time travel in ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’?

Diving into the heart of the plot device behind 'cursed child.'.

Michelle Jaworski

Posted on Aug 4, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 8:18 am CDT

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child .

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is already giving Harry Potter fans plenty to chew on , whether it’s about Ron’s ill-advised gift to his nephew or the continuity of Draco Malfoy’s hair . But the biggest headache of all might be in the very device the play chooses to tell its story.

In the two-part play , Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy (the sons of Harry and Draco, respectively) steal a Time-Turner that has the ability to travel back in time longer than five hours—the maximum amount of time a wizard or witch can travel without having a profound effect on time or themselves—so they can prevent Cedric Diggory from dying at the end of Goblet of Fire . Their attempts to do so by sabotaging him during the Triwizard Tournament results in a number of alternate realities—one with devastating ramifications.

Time travel is a tricky plot device, no matter which sci-fi or fantasy story you’re talking about. With the exception of Prisoner of Azkaban , the Harry Potter series doesn’t even touch on time travel. But when it did in Cursed Child , it painted a much different picture than the one J.K. Rowling wrote nearly 20 years ago.

How time travel worked in Prisoner of Azkaban

Throughout the year, Hermione Granger secretly uses a magical device called a Time-Turner that allows her to attend all of her classes, and it’s not until the book’s climax that time travel plays a crucial role: Hermione and Harry use the Time-Turner to go back in time in order to save Sirius Black, an innocent man, from a fate worse than death.

Rowling doesn’t go into too much detail about the semantics of time travel in the wizarding world, but she emphasizes just how dangerous it is to muddle with time. Hermione warns Harry that countless witches and wizards have killed their past or future selves, thinking they’ve gone mad, due to time travel, and she needed special permission from the Ministry of Magic to even use it. But for the most part it goes off without a hitch. They work tirelessly to not be seen by anyone—save Buckbeak—and rescue Sirius, and Harry rescues everyone with a powerful Patronus Charm (after he believed he saw his dad cast it).

While the concept of time travel isn’t touched on too much, Harry and Hermione’s time travel is in line with a causal loop . Even though they went to “change” time, those events had already been changed. Harry cast the Patronus Charm to protect himself, who would later go back in time to cast that same protection spell. The Time-Turner, in the books, also had the ability to transport the wearer near their location at the time they traveled back to. (The film’s version of the Time-Turner transports Harry and Hermione back in time, but they remain in the Hospital Wing when they go back.)

Hermione returned the Time-Turner to Professor McGonagall at the end of the book because she couldn’t do another year of time travel for her classes.

The Time-Turners made one more appearance. In Order of the Phoenix , the Ministry’s supply of Time-Turners are destroyed during the battle in the Department of Mysteries and caught in a time loop, so nobody can use them.

That’s simple enough, right? But Cursed Child blew everything we know about time travel in Harry’s world out the window.

https://twitter.com/kateleth/status/760368823040024577

Time travel in the realm of Cursed Child  and the alternate reality where Voldemort won

Meanwhile, the way time travel is used in Cursed Child , when something substantial—or seemingly inconsequential, such as a 15-year-old Hermione running into Albus and Scorpius before they disarmed Cedric in the First Task—is changed, it can alter everything.

Hermione’s interaction with Albus and Scorpius, who were in Durmstrang uniforms, made her distrust Durmstrang students so much she turned Viktor Krum’s invitation to the Yule Ball down, which eventually led to her and Ron never marrying. (She also became a Hogwarts professor instead of Minister For Magic, which come on, she’d have had that ambitious drive regardless.) But Cedric still died, being all the more determined to win the Triwizard Tournament.

Their interference during the Second Task, however, resulted in Cursed Child ’s Darkest Timeline : Cedric survived (only to become a Death Eater), but that meant Harry died during the Battle of Hogwarts and Voldemort cemented his control, but Ron, Hermione, and a still-living Severus Snape continued to fight in Dumbledore’s name.

The catch in the newly discovered Time-Turner, which the Ministry of Magic secured from Theodore Nott (a former classmate of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco), is that it has a time limit. You can only travel back in time for five minutes, and you have to be in the same location where you want to travel—so the time travel logic is more like Prisoner of Azkaban the movie than Prisoner of Azkaban the book.

The time limit is thrown out the window after Delphini, the secret daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange, crushes the Time-Turner she used to travel back to October 1981 from June 1995 to stop Voldemort from killing Harry in the first place so he won’t set the prophecy involving him and Harry into motion. (Albus and Scorpius, who traveled with her in an effort to stop her, are stuck in time with it. It’s a bit hard to follow at times.)

All seems lost until the revelation of another secret Time-Turner, one that works without the time limit—and in true Lucius Malfoy fashion, is plated in gold. That allows Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco to travel to 1981 after receiving a hidden message through a Love Potion-stained blanket . By the time they thwart her plans, they know better than to interfere with Voldemort’s attack on a 15-month-old Harry and his parents, as heartbreaking as it is to watch.

Rowling wasn’t always a fan of time travel as a plot device

Rowling didn’t actually write Cursed Child —that honor goes to playwright Jack Thorne—but she worked on the story with Thorne and director John Tiffany. The plays have her stamp of approval as she promotes the plays on Twitter and she asked fans attending preview performances to #KeepTheSecrets , and according to Rowling, fans should consider Cursed Child canon .

Pottermore , an official Harry Potter site that functions like the Encyclopedia we never got, is also generally considered canon. Aside from getting sorted into Hogwarts and Ilvermorney houses and getting peeks into upcoming projects like Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts , Pottermore has information on pretty much everything you’d want to know about Harry’s world . Everything from Draco’s life story to Harry’s family tree , why the Dursleys don’t like Harry , and information on newly revealed wizarding schools are available on the site, and some entries are sectioned off in “collections.”

But at one point, Pottermore revealed that Rowling had some pretty interesting thoughts on Time-Turners and time travel and the potential holes the very possibility could open up for future books.

On a Pottermore page from July 2013 that’s no longer live (its last archive is dated March 2016 , months after Pottermore’s redesign ), Rowling made a special entry about Time-Turners, which was revealed after you clicked on a special item in Pottermore back when Pottermore was more like a semi-interactive game.

From its first sentence, which says that “time travel is possible in only a limited sense even in the magical world,” Rowling’s concept of time travel is very different from what we eventually learn in Cursed Child .

View post on imgur.com

The entry covers the basics of Professor Croaker’s law , which Scorpius states in Cursed Child is that “the furthest someone can go back in time without the possibility of serious harm to the traveler or time itself is five hours” as well as the kind of catastrophic harm that comes when someone travels in time outside that period. (One witch was trapped in a five-day period in 1402 and aged 500 years after returning to her present, along with several people being erased from existence.)

The beginning of the entry reads like a page out of a history book, but the bottom section, called “J.K. Rowling’s thoughts,” allows Rowling to pull back the curtain and reveal her mindset on particular items or characters.

I went far too light-heartedly into the subject of time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . While I do not regret it ( Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite books in the series), it opened up a vast number of problems for me, because after all, if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots? I solved the problem to my own satisfaction in stages. Firstly, I had Dumbledore and Hermione emphasize how dangerous it would be to be seen in the past, to remind the reader that there might be unforeseen and dangerous consequences as well as solutions in time travel. Secondly, I had Hermione give back the only Time-Turner ever to enter Hogwarts. Thirdly, I smashed all remaining Time-Turners during the battle in the Department of Mysteries, removing the possibility of reliving even short periods in the future. This is just one example of the ways in which, when writing fantasy novels, one must be careful what one invents. For every benefit, there is usually a drawback.

Harry Potter fans noticed the page had gone missing around mid-June —about a week after previews of the plays debuted at the Palace Theatre in London. The Time-Turner entry isn’t the only page missing from the newer Pottermore , but none of the others (so far) have as big of an effect on a new Harry Potter story as the apparent retcon regarding Time-Turners.

So can J.K. Rowling nix HP canon?

There are a couple of ways to look at this.

One, Rowling did scrub her own canon. She, Thorne, and Tiffany wanted to create a story involving years-long time travel, and at some point during the creation of Cursed Child  the Time-Turner entry was no longer accurate to what they crafted. If there is a hierarchy of canon for Harry Potter, printed works might trump what’s written on Pottermore, although the ability for Rowling and the Pottermore staff to edit and remove entries could delegitimize Pottermore as a source for Harry Potter information and make it harder to keep track of canon.

It’s not completely unprecedented; Lucasfilm announced that the Expanded Universe was no longer canon in 2014 so it wouldn’t have to keep track of and work around decades of story in regards to the new trilogy. In comparison, changing the rules of how time works when the internet is forever seems a bit odd.

(Also, sometimes mistakes end up on the site, such as Pottermore temporarily killing off Lavender Brown in one of its character files .)

Second, both assertions—that time travel was limited but it’s now possible to travel back years thanks to the creation of special Time-Turners—could also be true. More than 20 years pass between the events of Prisoner of Azkaban and Cursed Child , and the Department of Mysteries’s research on time travel could’ve been halted with the destruction of its Time-Turners in 1996.

The manner in which a Time-Turner takes someone back differs between the book and the plays, but that could potentially also be explained with the invention of the new Time-Turner, and it avoids writing in an explanation on how to transport a person from Point A to Point B when Point B occurred before that person’s birth. (Every event Albus and Scorpius travel to during Cursed Child  occurred before they were born.)

But this isn’t something that can be easily solved. Fans have debated what constitutes canon in Harry Potter for years, both during Rowling’s time writing the books (does what she say in an interview count?) and after Deathly Hallows ’s publication. Is canon only the seven main books in the series, or does it include everything Rowling’s ever said about a character on Pottermore, Twitter, and public events? Fans have largely agreed to disagree on the matter, regardless of when Rowling has said that a particular story is canon and especially when it involves  such a divisive story .

Until then, the debate rages on in real time.

Michelle Jaworski is a staff writer and TV/film critic at the Daily Dot. She covers entertainment, geek culture, and pop culture and has covered everything from the Sundance Film Festival, NYFF, and Tribeca to New York Comic Con and Con of Thrones. She is based in Brooklyn.

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Harry Potter: Time-Turners, Explained

The time-turner is a rare magical object in the Harry Potter franchise.

The Har ry Potter franchise is full of magical objects that don’t exist in the real world and one of those magical objects is a time-turner. While some of the magical lore in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels and the media that has spun out of them are rooted in existing magical stories, like magic wands, time-turners are unique to Rowling’s stories. They have only appeared in a handful of chapters of the Harry Potter media, but when they do, the audience knows that the story is about to change in a big way.

Time-turners place a unique spin on the idea of time travel. In fact, even within the Harry Potter franchise, there are multiple types of time-turners and numerous rules that accompany their use. The time-turner first appeared in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and became a significant piece of the plot in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as well.

RELATED: Harry Potter: Dementors, Explained

What Is A Time-Turner?

A time-turner is a device used to take a witch or wizard back in time. It resembles an hourglass attached to a chain. The chain allows for the magic user to know the specific field the time-turner’s power is applied to, which is why it’s worn like a necklace.

Time-turners utilize an hour reversal charm. In order to use the time-turner, the witch or wizard wearing the necklace turns the hourglass over the number of hours they wish to go back in time. Each turn is the equivalent of one hour. It’s not advisable for people to spend more than five hours in the past because they could change the events of the future, create a paradox, or even create an alternate timeline altogether. Time magic is very risky in the world of Harry Potter .

How Is The Time-Turner Used In The Story?

Time-turners are rarely used in the Harry Potter franchise. When they’re introduced in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , it’s a surprise to both Harry Potter and Ron Weasley . Their friend Hermione Granger uses a time-turner in order to take extra courses during their third year of school. Because it’s a magical item heavily regulated by the Ministry of Magic, Hermione has to get special permission to use it. Professors Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore require her to keep her use of the time-turner secret from everyone and to only use it for class.

Hermione breaks that rule with Dumbledore’s permission to save the life of Sirius Black. She and Harry use the time-turner to go back a few hours so that they can rescue Sirius from being apprehended by authorities, and so that they can stop Buckbeak the hippogriff from being executed for snapping at a student. They only use the time-turner for those events, catching up to the very moment they activated the time-turner, and effectively closing what could have been a time loop.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , a stage play set after the events of the Harry Potter novels, also features the use of a time-turner, but not the same ones that are regulated by the Ministry of Magic. Instead, it’s revealed that at some point after Voldemort’s defeat, one of his Death Eaters experimented to create a “true time-turner” that didn’t have the same hourly restrictions. With a true time-turner, the witch or wizard using it could go as far back in time as they wanted to and didn’t have to return to their present in just five hours. Supposedly, it wouldn’t cause adverse consequences, but the children of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy take the true time-turner, try to change the past and end up creating an alternate timeline that their parents then have to fix.

Why Are Time-Turners Not Used Anywhere Else?

Because of the complications that can arise from time travel, time-turners are heavily restricted in use. Only those approved by the Ministry of Magic can use them. Precautions are taken to ensure that no one can create a time paradox, erase their existence, or even go mad from seeing their future selves. That is a very real possibility that Hermione points out to Harry when he questions her keeping the use of the time-turner secret.

Excessive use of a time-turner can even age the person using it. For example, Hermione uses the time-turner to attend all of her lessons in her third year. Even if she only has her two extra classes three days a week, that’s at least another six extra hours in her week. After a full school year, that would be another 9 days added to Hermione’s age. While that doesn’t seem like much, if a witch or wizard is using a time-turner every day for multiple hours, they could eventually add years to their life.

Of course, one of the reasons that time-turners are not seen throughout the Harry Potter franchise very often is because Harry and his friends inadvertently destroy the Ministry of Magic’s supply of them. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , Harry and a group of his friends sneak into the Ministry of Magic, believing that Sirius Black has been kidnapped by Voldemort. What they don’t know is that it’s a trap. While they battle Death Eaters, a stray spell hits the Ministry’s storage area for time-turners. Because of the way a single time-turner falls, the entire supply of time-turners are caught in a perpetual loop, falling, crashing, and ending up back on the shelf before doing it all over again.

Fans have speculated that Hogwarts teacher Minerva McGonagall was actually wearing a time-turner in a deleted scene from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindewald , but that is set long before the events of the Harry Potter books and movies. The chain of her necklace resembles the time-turner design used in the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . If McGonagall had her own experience with them, it would help to explain why she is so willing to help Hermione Granger use a time-turner to further her studies. That, however, has never been proven.

Of course, it’s also never stated in the Harry Potter franchise whether other wizarding communities around the world have their own time-turners or their own version of a similar magical object. The Ministry of Magic as the audience sees it is in charge of governing the magical community of Great Britain. It’s entirely possible that outside of the Ministry’s jurisdiction, time-turners are in use in other areas of the Harry Potter universe.

NEXT: Harry Potter: How Many Wizarding Schools Are There?

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Wait, How Does Time Travel Work in Harry Potter ?

Spoilers ahead for those who haven ’ t finished  Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Now that the script of  Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  has been loosed upon the world, we can talk all we want about the mechanics of the new Potte r play. There’s a  lot to discuss : Scorpius and Albus’s friendship, the fact that nearly every  Potter  adult works for the government (or runs a prank store), and the greatness of the Trolley Witch.

But above all, there is  Cursed Child ’s persistent use of time travel, thanks to the use of an uber-powerful Time-Turner (or pair of Time-Turners, technically) that can carry people years back in time. And, as so often happens when time travel is involved, inconsistencies and questions have resulted. Let’s try to make sense of this.

It seems we’re dealing with two different theories of time travel: In the play, time travel creates alternate futures. In the books, it all occurs in a single loop.

In the play, our main travelers are Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, who jump back in time to the Triwizard Tournament in order to save Cedric Diggory from his untimely death, which happened near the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire . Much in the style of Back to the Future , Albus and Scorpius’s actions in the past radically alter the future. When they disarm Cedric during the tournament, they also rejigger Ron and Hermione’s romantic history, making Ron end up with Padma Patil and erasing poor Rose Granger-Weasley from existence. In trying to fix that by traveling back to the second stage of the tournament and embarrassing Cedric, they create an even worse future where Voldemort wins.

By depicting this kind of time travel, Cursed Child deviates from the model used in the Potter books, where time travel operates within a closed loop instead of generating alternate timelines. Consider Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban : Hermione’s Time-Turner only allows her to go back in time for a few hours, and she only uses it to take more classes. Still, at the end of the book, Hermione breaks the rules, going back in time to save Sirius Black and Buckbeak. This all happens in a single loop: Harry and Hermione don’t alter the future so much as ensure that the past all goes in the right order. Before Harry goes back, for instance, a mysterious wizard casts a patronus to save him from some dementors. After time-traveling, Harry realizes that he is that wizard, and casts the patronus himself.

If Cursed Child operated according to the same principle, then Albus and Scorpius’s meddling would be incorporated into the central timeline: They would’ve already meddled in the Triwizard Tournament, and Cedric would’ve already died anyway — sorry, Robert Pattinson .

So if Cursed Child  changes how time travel works, is it not  Harry Potter canon?

Though J.K. Rowling wrote a great example of single-loop time travel in Azkaban , her descriptions of how time travel works in the Potter world are less consistent. In that book, Hermione mentions that “Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time … Loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!” In a post on Pottermore ( here’s a screenshot for those without accounts), Rowling describes one witch who got stuck in 1402, and changed the course of the lives of those she met so dramatically that “no fewer than twenty-five of their descendants vanished in the present, having been ‘un-born.’”

To the extent that Cursed Child explains itself, it does give one bit of new time-travel info: Scorpius mentions “Professor Croaker’s law — the furthest someone can go back in time without the possibility of serious harm to the traveler or time itself is five hours.” Perhaps, after that point, the rules of time travel shift. The universe can stitch discrepancies into a single timeline, but big alterations make it change course. That might not be satisfying, but hey, magic!

Going by that admittedly shaky rule, it seems that each successive trip to the past rewrites history, so the alternate futures we see in Cursed Child  would simply cease to exist once Albus and Scorpius set things right. As much as those reshuffled Ron-Hermione relationships provide fodder for fanfic writers, everyone should be happily settled in the one central timeline by the end of the play.

If writing about time travel is such a mess, why bother?

Time travel is a notoriously messy subject to bring up in fiction, and J.K. Rowling herself has said that she “went far too light-heartedly into the subject” in the series. In that same Pottermore post, she adds, “while I do not regret [introducing time travel] ( Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favourite books in the series), it opened up a vast number of problems for me.” Rowling quickly had Hermione return her Time-Turner, and later destroyed the Ministry’s entire supply of Time-Turners in the fifth book to help prevent any number of plot holes. “When writing fantasy novels,” she concludes, “one must be careful what one invents. For every benefit, there is usually a drawback.”

Why do Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany return to that invention in Cursed Child ? Storywise, it allows them to return to some of  Potter ’s crucial scenes (Voldemort’s attack on Harry’s parents, for instance) and to revive some major characters (oh, hello, Professor Snape). It also lets Cursed Child ratchet up the stakes, but retain the same central conflict, in the now-familiar pattern in so many franchise extensions. Jurassic World had a T. rex , but even bigger; Star Wars: The Force Awakens had a Death Star, but capable of destroying even more planets; Cursed Child has Voldemort, but also Voldemort’s daughter and a whole future subjected to his rule. You wanted “more Harry Potter ”; you got “ Harry Potter times ten.”

In the Potter universe, by adulthood, the fun is pretty much over. In the play, the adults’ lives, and their relationships, seem to have stalled out – there’s a moving moment where Draco and Ginny mention that they were both jealous of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s friendship. The new generation, on the other hand, live calmer lives, but always under the shadow of their parents’ accomplishments. “It’s tough,” Delphi says as she seduces Albus in one scene, “to live with people stuck in the past, isn’t it?” The time travel, in the play, seems to stand in for that nostalgia; it’s dramatic shorthand for people corroded by the past. As that time travel proves, if you go back to the past again and again, the world starts to fall apart.

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• harry potter and the cursed child

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The Harry Potter Movies: A Guide To Time Travel And Divination

Welcome, fellow witches, wizards, and muggles alike! Get ready to embark on a magical journey through the enchanting world of the Harry Potter movies. Today, we’re diving deep into the mystical arts of time travel and divination. So grab your wands, dust off your crystal balls, and let’s explore the fascinating ways these two magical practices are brought to life in the wizarding world.

In the realm of Harry Potter, time travel is not just a concept confined to science fiction. Oh no, my friends! It’s a reality that exists within the very fabric of the wizarding universe. From the mind-bending Time-Turner in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” to the mind-boggling time-travel twists in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the movies transport us to a realm where the past, present, and future intertwine in the most captivating ways. But how does it all work? What are the rules of time travel in this magical realm? And what do these temporal escapades teach us about the nature of destiny and free will? Fear not, my curious companions, for we shall unravel these mysteries and more as we delve into the intricacies of time travel in the Harry Potter movies.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the mystical art of divination. In the wizarding world, divination is not just a parlor trick or a mere glimpse into the future. It’s a respected and revered practice, with its own dedicated subject at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. From Professor Trelawney’s cryptic prophecies in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” to the mesmerizing tea leaf readings in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the movies immerse us in the captivating world of predicting the future. But how accurate are these divinations? Can we truly glimpse the future through the haze of tea leaves or the patterns of the stars? Join me, dear readers, as we explore the powers and limitations of divination in the Harry Potter movies and uncover the hidden meanings behind these ancient arts.

So, grab your time-turners and sharpen your divination skills, because this guide will take you on a magical journey through the captivating realms of time travel and divination in the Harry Potter movies. Get ready to unlock the secrets of the past, present, and future, and discover the true power of magic in the wizarding world. Let the

The Harry Potter movies offer a fascinating exploration of time travel and divination. Throughout the series, characters like Hermione Granger and Professor Trelawney delve into the mysteries of these magical practices. Time travel is showcased in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” while divination takes center stage in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” Delve into the enchanting world of Harry Potter as we uncover the secrets of time travel and divination in this comprehensive guide.

Table of Contents

The Harry Potter Movies: A Guide to Time Travel and Divination

The Harry Potter series has become a cultural phenomenon, captivating millions of fans around the world with its magical world and enchanting characters. Within the wizarding world, two intriguing subjects that have captured the interest of both the characters and the audience are time travel and divination. In this article, we will delve into the Harry Potter movies and explore the fascinating concepts of time travel and divination within the wizarding world.

Time Travel in the Harry Potter Movies

Time travel plays a significant role in the Harry Potter movies, allowing characters to revisit the past and alter the course of events. One of the most prominent instances of time travel occurs in the third movie, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” In this film, Harry and Hermione use a Time-Turner, a device that enables them to travel back in time and save Sirius Black from the Dementors.

The Time-Turner introduces a complex element to the story, as it raises questions about the nature of time and the consequences of meddling with it. The movie beautifully explores the idea of the past influencing the present and the characters’ choices having far-reaching effects. Through the use of time travel, the Harry Potter movies provide thought-provoking narratives that engage the audience and keep them captivated.

The Concept of Time Travel

The concept of time travel in the Harry Potter movies is intriguing for several reasons. Firstly, it adds an element of unpredictability and suspense to the storyline. As viewers, we are constantly kept on our toes, wondering how the characters’ actions in the past will impact the future. This element of uncertainty keeps us engaged and invested in the narrative.

Furthermore, time travel allows the characters to learn from their mistakes and rectify past injustices. It presents them with an opportunity to make amends and change the course of events. This theme of redemption and second chances resonates with audiences and adds depth to the storytelling.

The Limitations and Paradoxes of Time Travel

While time travel in the Harry Potter movies offers exciting possibilities, it also comes with its limitations and paradoxes. The movies emphasize the importance of not altering the past too drastically, as it can have severe consequences. The characters must navigate the delicate balance of changing the course of events while ensuring that the future remains intact.

The concept of time loops and paradoxes is also explored in the movies. For example, in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” Harry and Hermione are able to save Sirius Black because they had already seen themselves do it in the past. This cyclical nature of time travel adds complexity to the narrative and keeps the audience intrigued.

Divination in the Harry Potter Movies

Divination is another fascinating aspect of the Harry Potter movies, involving the practice of predicting the future. In the wizarding world, divination is taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with Professor Sybill Trelawney being the resident expert in the subject. Divination plays a significant role in the movies, providing insights and prophecies that shape the characters’ journeys.

The Role of Divination

Divination serves as a tool for guidance and foresight in the Harry Potter movies. Through various methods such as crystal ball gazing, tea leaf reading, and tarot card interpretation, the characters seek glimpses into what the future holds. The presence of divination adds an element of mystique and intrigue to the movies, as the characters grapple with the uncertainty of their destinies.

One of the most notable instances of divination in the movies is the prophecy surrounding Harry and Lord Voldemort. This prophecy, made by Professor Trelawney, foretells the ultimate clash between the two characters and sets the stage for the epic battle that unfolds throughout the series. Divination, in this context, becomes a driving force behind the narrative, shaping the characters’ choices and actions.

The Skepticism Surrounding Divination

While divination plays a crucial role in the Harry Potter movies, it is not without its skeptics. Characters like Hermione Granger express doubt and skepticism towards the accuracy of divination, often dismissing it as mere guesswork. This skepticism adds an interesting dynamic to the story, as it raises questions about the reliability of predicting the future.

The Harry Potter movies present divination as a subject that elicits mixed reactions from both the characters and the audience. Some characters find solace and guidance in divination, while others remain skeptical. This diversity of perspectives allows for thought-provoking discussions about fate, free will, and the nature of prophecy.

In conclusion, the Harry Potter movies offer a captivating exploration of time travel and divination within the wizarding world. Through the use of time-turners, the movies delve into the complexities of altering the past and the consequences it can have on the future. Divination, on the other hand, adds an element of mystique and foresight to the narrative, shaping the characters’ journeys and providing insights into their destinies. As viewers, we are drawn into the magical world of Harry Potter, eagerly following the characters’ adventures and contemplating the profound themes of time and fate.

Key Takeaways: The Harry Potter Movies: A Guide to Time Travel and Divination

• Time travel is a fascinating concept explored in the Harry Potter movies.
• The Time-Turner is a magical device that allows witches and wizards to travel back in time.
• Divination is the art of predicting the future, and it plays a significant role in the Harry Potter series.
• Professor Trelawney is the Divination professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
• Through the Harry Potter movies, we learn that time travel and divination can have unexpected consequences and can greatly impact the storyline.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. how does time travel work in the harry potter movies.

In the Harry Potter movies, time travel is introduced in the third installment, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” Time travel is made possible through the use of a magical device called a Time-Turner. The Time-Turner allows the user to travel back in time by turning the device and reversing the flow of time around them.

However, it’s important to note that time travel in the Harry Potter universe follows certain rules. Firstly, it is not possible to change the past; any actions taken during time travel have already happened and cannot be altered. Secondly, time travel can create complex situations with multiple versions of the same characters existing in the same timeline. These concepts are explored in the movie through the interactions between Harry, Hermione, and their past selves.

2. Can anyone use a Time-Turner to travel back in time?

No, not everyone can use a Time-Turner. In the Harry Potter movies, Time-Turners are highly regulated and restricted to a select few individuals, such as members of the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts staff. The use of Time-Turners is closely monitored and granted only for specific purposes, such as studying or correcting minor mistakes.

The Time-Turners are considered powerful and potentially dangerous objects, as they have the ability to manipulate time. Therefore, they are not readily available to the general public and their use requires strict authorization.

3. What is Divination and how is it portrayed in the Harry Potter movies?

Divination is a branch of magic that involves predicting the future or gaining insight through various methods, such as crystal balls, tea leaves, or tarot cards. In the Harry Potter movies, Divination is taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by Professor Sybill Trelawney.

Divination is portrayed as a mystical and somewhat controversial subject in the movies. While some characters, like Professor Trelawney, are deeply invested in the art of Divination and believe in its accuracy, others, like Hermione Granger, are skeptical and view it as a pseudoscience. The movies depict Divination classes as a mix of serious predictions and comical misinterpretations.

4. Can Divination truly predict the future in the Harry Potter universe?

In the Harry Potter universe, Divination is portrayed as an imprecise and unreliable form of magic. While some predictions made by characters like Professor Trelawney do come true, others are often dismissed as mere coincidences or misinterpretations. The movies suggest that Divination is a complex and subjective art, heavily influenced by the interpretation and beliefs of the practitioner.

It is important to note that Divination is not portrayed as a definitive method of predicting the future in the Harry Potter movies. The characters often rely on other forms of magic and intuition to make important decisions, rather than solely relying on Divination.

5. Are there any other forms of time manipulation or future prediction in the Harry Potter movies?

Yes, apart from Time-Turners and Divination, the Harry Potter movies also introduce other forms of time manipulation and future prediction. One notable example is the use of the Pensieve, a magical object that allows users to view memories and experiences as if they were present in the past.

In terms of future prediction, the movies also touch upon the concept of prophecies. Prophecies are foretellings of significant events or destinies, often given by a seer. The prophecy involving Harry and Voldemort plays a crucial role in the overall story arc of the movies, highlighting the themes of fate and destiny.

Time Travel in Fiction Rundown

Final Summary: Unlocking the Magic of Time Travel and Divination in the Harry Potter Movies

As we reach the end of our enchanting journey through the world of Harry Potter, it’s clear that time travel and divination hold a special place within the magical realm. From the whimsical use of Time-Turners to the mysterious art of predicting the future, these elements have captivated both readers and viewers alike. By exploring the intricacies of time travel and the complexities of divination, the Harry Potter movies have given us a glimpse into a world where the past, present, and future intertwine in captivating ways.

Throughout the series, time travel is portrayed as a delicate and intricate process. With the introduction of Time-Turners, we are transported to moments where characters can revisit the past or alter the future. This magical device not only adds depth to the plot but also sparks our imagination about the possibilities of time manipulation. From Hermione’s clever use of the Time-Turner in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” to the pivotal role it plays in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” time travel remains an integral part of the wizarding world.

On the other hand, divination offers a glimpse into the mystical and unpredictable nature of the future. From tea leaves to crystal balls, the movies portray various forms of divination that characters like Professor Trelawney and even Harry himself explore. Though often met with skepticism, divination serves as a reminder that there is more to the world than meets the eye. It encourages us to embrace the unknown and consider the possibility of a future that is shaped by both fate and our own choices.

In conclusion, the Harry Potter movies have masterfully incorporated the themes of time travel and divination, captivating audiences with their magical allure. Whether it’s the excitement of rewinding time or the intrigue of peering into the future, these elements add depth and richness to the wizarding world. So, grab your Time-Turner, gaze into the crystal ball, and immerse yourself in the enchanting world where time bends and the future awaits.

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• The Trouble With Time Travel in the <em>Harry Potter</em> Universe

The Trouble With Time Travel in the Harry Potter Universe

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child .

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is finally here. The script of the West End play was released July 31 at midnight — Harry’s birthday , for those who somehow do not know — giving Potterheads a new tale about the Boy Who Lived.

Written by Jack Thorne and based on a story by J.K. Rowling , Thorne and John Tiffany, the play begins 19 years after the events of The Deathly Hallows , as Albus Potter (the youngest son of Harry and Ginny) and Rose Granger-Weasely (the daughter of Ron and Hermione) head off to Hogwarts for the first time. While on the Hogwarts Express, Albus befriends Scorpius Malfoy (the son of Draco and Astoria) who informs Albus that many people believe his real father is Voldemort rather than Draco, a rumor based on the belief that someone used a Time-Turner to allow the Dark Lord to impregnate Astoria.

For those who need a quick recap, Time-Turners were first introduced in the third book of Rowling’s series, The Prisoner of Azkaban , when Hermione was given one by Professor McGonagall in order to fit extra classes into her school schedule. Hermione keeps the device a secret for most of the book before using it to send herself and Harry back in time to prevent the death of Sirius Black — a mission that proved successful.

However, the Ministry of Magic’s entire store of Time-Turners — including the one Hermione once possessed — is eventually destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in The Order of the Phoenix .

At this point, you’re probably wondering why anyone would believe the rumor about Scorpius if the Time-Turners were truly destroyed. Well, when Theodore Nott — one of Draco’s old Slytherin cronies — is arrested during Albus and Scorpius’s third year at Hogwarts, it comes to light that he just so happens to have a functioning one in his possession.

The rest of the story develops as Albus and Scorpius steal the device from the Ministry and use it to try and prevent Cedric Diggory from being killed during the Triwizard Tournament, setting off a butterfly effect that threatens to change the course of wizarding world history.

Now, here’s where things get complicated. The characters in Harry Potter have dabbled in time travel before, but never to such a large degree. In Prisoner of Azkaban , the HP universe seems to adhere to the Novikov self-consistency principle , which states — in very broad terms — that time is a closed loop. Basically, you cannot change the past through time travel, you can only fulfill it. This is best summed up by Harry in the Prisoner of Azkaban movie when he says, “I knew I could do it this time because, well, I’d already done it,” after conjuring the Patronus that saves his past self and Sirius Black from the Dementors.

Stories that involve time travel often struggle with this point, from Back to the Future to Stephen King’s 11-22-63 : You can change the past, but then everything that follows creates a universe in which the new reality seems like it was always the reality. This concept is problematic because it produces a universe in which the past is dependent on a future that is dependent on the past — i.e., Harry cannot survive unless his past self survives, but he won’t be able to travel back in time to save himself unless he originally survives.

Confused? There’s more.

Rowling also has both Hermione and Dumbledore emphasize the dire repercussions of allowing your past self to see you — you’ll go mad — meaning you can, in fact, disturb the closed loop and produce a scenario that doesn’t result in the creation of the present from which you originally came. This detail muddies the waters of the series’ time travel system, as it introduces questions such as, why couldn’t a Time-Turner have been used to stop Voldemort?

Essentially, without rules governing what can or cannot happen, any number of paradoxes can arise from characters’ forays into the past — people can even be “un-born.”

Rowling has since tried to explain this inconsistency by stating that the farthest a person can travel back in time without “catastrophic” consequences is five hours. In a post on Pottermore , the author wrote from the perspective of the Department of Mysteries’ Professor Saul Croaker to stress this particular point.

“As our investigations currently stand, the longest period that may be relived without the possibility of serious harm to the traveller or to time itself is around five hours,” Croaker says. “We have been able to encase single Hour-Reversal Charms, which are unstable and benefit from containment, in small, enchanted hour-glasses [Time-Turners] that may be worn around a witch or wizard’s neck and revolved according to the number of hours the user wishes to relive. All attempts to travel back further than a few hours have resulted in catastrophic harm to the witch or wizard involved.”

While the limit to the amount of time one can go back is changed to five minutes in Cursed Child , it is enforced by having characters who overstay their welcome be forced back to the present. However, the rules seem to have changed. While Rowling previously seemed to indicate that one could only reverse time five hours from the present moment without risking permanent damage, characters are now able to travel back for five minutes to any point in time.

And although Albus and Scorpius’s trips back to the Triwizard Tournament all have serious consequences, when Draco shows up with the “perfected” Time-Turner — one without the five-minute limit — near the end of the story, the whole group returns to the night Voldemort killed Harry’s parents without upsetting the course of the future in the slightest.

Now, all of this is not to say that Cursed Child isn’t a perfectly enjoyable read. In fact, the play has received rave reviews . However, some fans have expressed disappointment about the inconsistencies it introduces, saying it seems more like a fan fiction than a continuation of Rowling’s beloved series.

Basically, the moral of the story is: read at your own risk.

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Avengers: Endgame Writers Explain How Harry Potter Influenced Their Time Travel Rules

By ryan carroll | jul 24, 2019.

*Warning: This story includes spoilers for Avengers: Endgame *

Following the devastating conclusion of Avengers: Infinity War , all eyes were on the creative team behind the franchise to develop a satisfying way to reclaim the Infinity Stones and resurrect the fallen heroes in Avengers: Endgame . This week, Endgame  screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely explained part of their creative process in developing this plot device, offering one unexpected influence: the Harry Potter series.

In the film, the surviving Avengers use Ant-Man’s Quantum Realm technology to travel back in time and acquire the past versions of the Infinity Stones, meaning that Markus and McFeely had to develop their own time travel rules. Per ComicBook.com , the co-writers researched time travel films including Back to the Future , but ultimately concluded that its rules wouldn't fit.

“Everyone thinks that's how time travel works, because that's a great movie, maybe the best of its subject,” McFeely said. “But if we were to do that, to do something in the past and it would screw up your future, we're gonna do that six times. We would have no way to follow that.”

Instead, they drew inspiration from the rules of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , which includes a time travel mechanism in the form of the Time-Turners. "I do love that third Harry Potter movie, where a stone will break a vase, and you won't know why, but the scene's fine and it doesn't take you out of it," McFeely explained. "Then when you come back around [during the time travel sequence] and you realize that they had thrown it at themselves."

Like Prisoner of Azkaban , Endgame sees its protagonists actively interacting with the past, with some characters even meeting their past selves, and paradoxes from the time travel sequence—such as Thanos’s past self dying in the future—being left unresolved.

[h/t ComicBook.com ]

This Part of Harry Potter Makes Absolutely No Sense

"Mysterious thing, time. Powerful, and when meddled with, dangerous."

The Big Picture

• Time travel in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' introduces the Predestination Paradox, creating a self-fulfilling time loop.
• The Time-Turner is only used in one book and raises questions about why it isn't used to prevent other tragedies in the series.
• J.K. Rowling admitted that using time travel in the series caused problems and retroactively implemented strict rules to avoid plot holes, ultimately destroying all Time-Turners.

The Harry Potter saga is a tightly-written story, with plenty of clever foreshadowing, beloved characters , and a strong use of The Chosen One trope . As with many book series with several installments, though, there are bound to be inconsistencies, especially in a seven-book series that features what is often considered to be a soft magic system where the rules of magic aren't entirely known. Add time travel to the mix, and things just get a little too chaotic to make sense 100% of the time. That's what happened in the third installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ( directed by Alfonso Cuarón ), thanks to the inclusion of the Time-Turner: a magical pendant that can turn back time and allow one to alter the past. This opens up a whole realm of possibilities having to do with time-related magic, and many aspects of the Wizarding World are called into question, from character motivations to plot holes. While time-travel shenanigans almost always require a willing suspension of disbelief, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 's Time-Turner is just a little too nonsensical , which makes it stand out in a series that’s normally very solid when it comes to world-building.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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In 'Prisoner of Azkaban,' the Time-Turner Introduces Time Travel to Harry Potter

First things first: writing time travel is difficult . There are many different versions of time travel stories that range from well-thought-out to completely nonsensical. Back to the Future , for example, is a classic time travel story, and the film is what a lot of people picture when they think of time travel. The trope's use in science fiction and fantasy is far-reaching, with various exciting results. However, depending on the type of time travel written into the story, a whole number of paradoxes can pop up if you aren’t careful. Probably the most familiar would be the Grandfather Paradox, which poses a tough question: If you traveled back in time and killed your grandfather, what would happen? Would you cease to exist? And if you did cease to exist, who would kill your grandfather? Back to the Future explores a variation of this particular paradox, as any detail you change in the past can have disastrous consequences in the present. Most of the implied danger of the Time-Turner in Prisoner of Azkaban stems from this particular paradox.

The Time-Turners Were Only Used in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'

The use of time travel sticks out in the Harry Potter series because it only appears in one book, Prisoner of Azkaban , and even then, it doesn’t get much time on the page. The Time-Turner solves the mystery of how Hermione ( Emma Watson ) somehow shows up in every class, despite literally not having enough time to accomplish so much. Turns out, Hermione is such an overachiever that Headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) lets her borrow a Time-Turner so that she can take extra classes . More than just in Hermione's schoolwork, however, the Time-Turner plays a significant role in the climax of the book.

Throughout the story, several bizarre occurrences take place. Harry ( played in the films by Daniel Radcliffe ) gets hit in the head with a rock seemingly from out of nowhere, urging him to leave Hagrid's ( Robbie Coltrane ) hut before the Minister for Magic ( Robert Hardy ) arrives and has Buckbeak the Hippogriff executed. Later, Harry and Sirius Black ( Gary Oldman ) — Harry's godfather and the Prisoner of Azkaban himself — are saved from Dementors by a mysterious Patronus. It’s soon revealed that Harry and Hermione have been the ones to make these events happen, traveling back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius.

The Cheeky Easter Egg Hiding in the Harry Potter Movies

This use of time travel in Prisoner of Azkaban is an example of the Predestination Paradox, which creates a self-fulfilling time loop: an event in the present occurs because the time traveler has traveled back in time to make it so, and the cycle keeps repeating endlessly. In the case of the Patronus , Harry assumes that his father was the one to rescue him from the Dementors, but when he travels back in time, he realizes that it was himself all along. This creates a paradox in which Harry is saved and does the saving. It's a fun and creative effect, but also a very confusing one — even Hermione doesn't fully understand it.

The Time-Turner Creates Gaping Plot Holes in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban uses time travel in an ultimately satisfying way. It’s set up well, and the execution of the time travel scenes is incredibly cool to watch. Nonetheless, time travel always comes with disadvantages, and the mechanics don't really add up. Although the Time-Turner’s involvement is creative and the Predestination Paradox is used well, time travel is a tricky subject to write, and it opens up loads of plot holes. In a series in which many bad things happen to the characters (including numerous character deaths), involving time travel in the story also introduces the question: why not use the Time-Turners to avoid each negative plot progression? Why only use it this one time?

Dumbledore is the one to lend Hermione the Time-Turner, so he had one in his possession at some point. Yet, Dumbledore was aware of Harry Potter’s fate for the entire series, and he never used the Time-Turner to make the smallest change to help. Dumbledore continually watches people die, allows Voldemort’s spies to get away, and sits back as countless terrible things happen while he is in possession of a magical device that could prevent these events from ever occurring. He won’t risk using the Time-Turner to thwart the Dark Lord, but Hermione uses it day after day for her studies — they both need to sort out their priorities .

Even if we ignore Dumbledore’s confusing decisions, there’s still the question of why we never see the Time-Turner again. Maybe Dumbledore has wise reasons for not using it again, but Harry, Ron ( Rupert Grint ), and Hermione are all reckless enough to try —especially when their friends are in danger. Thinking back to all the tragic deaths in the Harry Potter series , it would have been nice to have saved even one person after successfully saving multiple lives using the Time-Turner in Prisoner of Azkaban . The Time-Turner proved effective, as Harry and Hermione were able to use it to save the lives of Buckbeak, Sirius Black, and even the creepy Severus Snape ( Alan Rickman ) and themselves from a wolfed-out Professor Lupin ( David Thewlis ). Dumbledore approved the use of the Time-Turner for the purpose of saving lives in these moments. So, if using time travel worked so well in Prisoner of Azkaban , why don’t we ever use the Time-Turner again?

J.K. Rowling Used Pottermore to Explain the Rules of the Time-Turner

The drawbacks of the Time-Turner’s existence are apparent not just to readers and viewers of Harry Potter , but also to the author herself. J.K. Rowling admitted in an article originally published on Pottermore, now published on Wizarding World, that she “went too light-heartedly into the subject of time travel.” She goes on to say: “While I do not regret it…it opened up a vast number of problems for me.” Most of these problems relate to good old-fashioned time travel head-scratchers. Why didn’t anyone attempt to use the Time-Turner to prevent any of the tragedies that followed Prisoner of Azkaban , when it proved to be an effective tool? The short answer is that the Time-Turner would be too convenient a plot device. If Rowling were to keep time travel in her story and still maintain a sense of high stakes (we wouldn't want our heroes to win too easily), strict rules would need to be enforced.

Rowling describes her Time-Turner-related damage control as occurring in “stages.” In Prisoner of Azkaban , the very same book in which the Time-Turners are introduced, Dumbledore and Hermione are solemn about any misuse of the Time-Turner, implying horrible danger if something should go wrong, like if they are spotted while in the past. On Pottermore, as an addendum that isn’t touched on much within the actual story, Rowling gives a quote from a character named Saul Croaker, who studied time magic in the Department of Mysteries. According to Croaker, “All attempts to travel back further than a few hours have resulted in catastrophic harm to the witch or wizard involved.” One instance of Time-Turner misuse invoked the Grandfather paradox, which involved a witch traveling hundreds of years into the past, resulting in her descendants becoming nonexistent due to her tampering.

Thanks to situations like this, the Wizarding World is painfully familiar with the dangers of time travel, and they are always careful with it. Dumbledore emphasizes this warning to Hermione, who uses the Time-Turner very cautiously. Even in dire circumstances, she waits for Dumbledore’s approval before using it unsupervised, and she returns it afterward. While Rowling's explanation checks out (mostly), it also feels like a blatant backpedal. It would have helped to ease confusion if we knew the limits of the Time-Turner before using it, and Croaker’s findings aren’t common knowledge for the average Harry Potter reader or viewer. Including important story information outside the books rather than within them leads to missed opportunities for the story.

All Time-Turners Are Destroyed in 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'

Another stage of damage control occurs in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix . During the battle in the Department of Mysteries, chaos occurs when Dumbledore’s army faces off against Voldemort’s Death-Eaters . Many magical artifacts are destroyed, and not just shelves full of prophecies. Rowling says, “I smashed all remaining Time-Turners during the battle in the Department of Mysteries, removing the possibility of reliving even short periods in the future.” Because Hermione had already returned the Time-Turner in her possession, not a single one escaped unscathed, making time travel officially impossible after Order of the Phoenix .

The Scene That the Harry Potter Movies Did Better Than the Books

This ended up being a lesson learned the hard way for Rowling, who came away with this advice: “When writing fantasy novels, one must be careful what one invents. For every benefit, there is usually a drawback.” By introducing time travel, Rowling gave her heroes far too much power and had to take it away quickly in order to keep the story moving in a way that made sense. Why didn't Dumbledore use the Time-Turner to go back and save Harry's parents? Because it's too dangerous to go further back than a few hours. Why didn't anyone use the Time-Turner to save the lives lost in the final Battle of Hogwarts ? Because by that point, no more Time-Turners were left in existence.

It's normal to not understand the ins and outs of time travel within a story, but the rules of it should at least be somewhat consistent. For all the creative storytelling the Time-Turner introduced to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , the confusion they bring is a much greater drawback. Unfortunately for the Harry Potter series, the Time-Turner remains one of the story’s weakest inclusions — it just doesn't make all that much sense.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

J. k. rowling, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Simply by introducing the element of time travel, Prisoner of Azkaban naturally raises questions about time travel that many stories do--namely, what the rules of time travel are and when or if "changing time" is ever appropriate. By comparing the novel's two uses of time travel, the first being Hermione's using it to take a double course load and the second being Hermione and Harry's trip back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak , the novel suggests that while time travel is a tool that can be used for many reasons, it's best employed for purposes that seek to right moral wrongs rather than for an individual's personal gain.

Unbeknownst to everyone except Professor McGonagall and Hermione herself, McGonagall arranges for Hermione to receive a Time-Turner (a small hourglass necklace) from the Ministry of Magic at the start of the year. With the Time-Turner, Hermione has the ability to take a nearly double course load by going back in time one hour to take two classes at the same time. For Hermione, this feeds her desire to learn as much as possible in a very important way--she's able to effectively learn twice as much as her classmates. However, as the school year progresses and particularly as exams approach, Harry and Ron begin to notice that Hermione's time traveling is taking a toll on her. Though they don't know how Hermione is making it to all of her simultaneous classes, they do recognize that she's tired, snappy, and more on edge than usual. She also spends all of her free time studying and has very little time or energy for anything else. Hermione's exhaustion and her compromised mental health suggest that there are consequences to time travel in the way she's using it. At the end of the year, she even admits this outright--messing with time this way isn't worth it for her.

Hermione and Harry also use the Time-Turner, at Dumbledore’s suggestion, to save both Buckbeak and Sirius Black from their unjust sentences. By encouraging them to use time travel in this way, Dumbledore suggests that time travel does have a place: in this case, it's being used to save innocent lives and right wrongs that cannot be fixed without time travel (or through the wizarding world's corrupt justice system, as in the Justice theme). As this is Harry's first time using the Time-Turner, however, Hermione introduces him to the fact that there are rules governing time travel: most importantly, that a person time traveling cannot be seen by their past or future self, as plenty of time travelers have killed themselves unwittingly by doing so. Harry and Hermione also realize that they're bound by Dumbledore's rules--that is, they need to do only what he asked them to do and no more. For both of these reasons, Harry isn't able to stop Snape from complicating things in the Shrieking Shack or capture Peter Pettigrew after he escapes, actions that would fundamentally change what he knew happened at the moment in which he went back in time.

During his trip back in time, Harry does discover that there can be exceptions to these rules--though he realizes that those exceptions can only look like exceptions from the time traveler's perspective during their time travel itself. This is why Harry realizes he can conjure the Patronus by the lake, thereby saving himself, Hermione, and Sirius--he knows that the version of him on the lake believes he saw James Potter , not himself, and so technically speaking, Harry isn't breaking the rules.

Though as far as the reader knows, all the characters' trips back in time are legal and follow established rules of time travel, Hermione’s realization that the toll of constantly traveling back and forth through time for her own gain isn't worth it says a lot about the way that the novel ascribes morality to the different uses of time travel. In Hermione's case, she was the only one who stood to gain from her time travel; it was a fundamentally selfish endeavor. Her trip with Harry to save Sirius and Buckbeak, however, was for a much nobler purpose, as it sought to free innocent victims from death and imprisonment. In this way, the novel suggests that while time travel may be available to individuals for their own personal gain, it's far more meaningful when people use it to right wrongs and improve society as a whole.

Responsibility, Morality, and Time ThemeTracker

Responsibility, Morality, and Time Quotes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"We're witnesses," said Harry. "You said hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't listening. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."

"Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," said Ron.

"Did anyone see you?"

"Yes, haven't you been listening? I saw me but I thought I was my dad! It's okay!"

"It didn't make any difference," said Harry bitterly. "Pettigrew got away."

"Didn't make any difference?" said Dumbledore quietly. "It made all the difference in the world, Harry. You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate."

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16 Excellent Movie & TV Time-Travel Devices

For that, Hollywood has turned to a quirky variety of devices and charmed objects to facilitate time travel on television and in the movies — from straightforward DIY time machines to phone booths, DeLoreans, and even a hot tub. Here are some of the coolest, weirdest, most inventive, and sometimes highly unreliable devices used to wander through time.

Don’t see your favorite time-travel gadget below? Tell us in the comments.

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• ‘Harry Potter’ TV Series Due To Hit Max In 2026: Everything We Know About The Cast, Who’s Creating It, What J.K. Rowling Says & More – Update

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UPDATED with latest : At its Max streaming event in April 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans . The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written by J.K. Rowling . See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.

What is the Harry Potter TV series about?

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Early reports had each season of the series focusing on one book in the Harry Potter book series, which consists of seven novels, but Bloys said the project would run for “10 consecutive years,” which would seem to defy the 1 season, 1 book assertion. For those who say Fantastic Beasts could be leveraged to provide 10 seasons over 10 years, WBD brass said specifically during the announcement that FB will not be a part of the series.

Whatever the case, Bloys promised that, as the company embarks on its new Harry Potter adventure, “We do so with the full care and craft of this franchise.”

Who Is creating the Harry Potter series?

It has taken a bit, given the initial announcement was in April 2023, but in recent months Warner Bros. invited a select group of creatives in to pitch ideas for what the series could be. They were Martha Hillier, Kathleen Jordan, Tom Moran and Michael Lesslie. Now, the streaming service and Warner Bros. Television have narrowed it to Jordan, Moran and newer addition Francesca Gardiner, sources said.

Deadline broke the news last month that Succession  writer  Francesca Gardiner  is among the finalists. Gardiner was a consulting producer on Seasons 3 and 4 of HBO’s  Succession . Before working on the Jesse Armstrong creation, she was an exec producer of HBO and BBC fantasy co- production   His Dark Materials  and was a co-exec producer of AMC’s  Killing Eve . She has also written on shows including Starz’s  The Rook  and Amazon’s  The Man In The High Castle.

Tom Moran is a British writer, who created Amazon series The Devil’s Hour , which starred Peter Capaldi. He also worked on Amazon sci-fi series The Feed and Rob Lowe cop drama Wild Bill .

It’s an interesting mix of Brits and Americans, most of whom have some experience working with streamers and many of whom have shepherded projects in the sci-fi/fantasy space.

We’ve heard that the group of writers were commissioned by Max to create pitches for a series reflecting their take on the IP. Rowling is understood to be involved in this pitching process. The trio will be able to hone in on their pitches for the next couple of months, with a decision on who gets the job expected in June. 

When will the Harry Potter series be released?

The series is expected to be on air in 2026, according to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

“We’ve not been shy about our excitement around Harry Potter,” Zaslav told Wall Street analysts on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “I was in London a few weeks ago with Casey [Bloys, CEO of HBO] and Channing [Dungey, chairperson of Warner Bros Television] and we spent some real time with JK and her team,” he enthused. “Both sides just thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great.”

Given the results on that earnings call, WBD needs Harry Potter’s magic sooner rather than later.

Ditto J.K. Rowling, whose production company posted a 74% drop in profits in 2022. That rebounded somewhat after the stage version of  Harry Potter  And The Cursed Child  proved to be a post-pandemic crowd pleaser. The author got a $10.5 million paycheck for it in 2023.

The success of the stage show demonstrates that there’s still an appetite for Hogwarts-related content. Likewise the massive hit that is Hogwarts Legacy, which became the bestselling video game of 2023 , moving 22 million units. (That’s fantastic, but for comparison Rowling’s seven bestselling  Harry Potter  books have moved 600M copies worldwide.)

At a Goldman Sachs conference last year, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made pointed out the need for more Hogwarts magic explicitly. Ignoring the Harry-less Fantastic Beasts films, the CEO insisted the boy wizard presents a huge opportunity, claiming that the IP has been “underused” of late.

“We haven’t done anything with Harry Potter for more than a decade,” he said, before going on to note that when one examines the performance of Warner Bros. over the last 20 years without accounting for it’s big three — Potter , Lord of the Rings and DC — the company’s performance is “relatively flat.”

Zaslav called that type of big-ticket IP “one of the big differentiators of this company.” And he seems to be counting on it to make a big difference.

“When you put those franchises in, it’s the best-performing studio in the world. We need to deploy our best capital, and we need to do it with the best creative people in the world,” he said.

How to watch the series

It will, of course, be on Max once the series is ready. The service has three price tiers: Max Ad Light, which goes for $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year and allows two concurrent streams; Max Ad Free will be priced at $15.99 a month, or $149.99 a year, and will also allow two concurrent streams; and Max Ultimate Ad Free which costs $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year, and allows access to four concurrent streams.

If you’re in Canada, WBD has struck a multi-year licensing agreement with Crave for the likes of  Harry Potter ,  Game of Thrones ,  the  DC  Universe and  HBO  content.

Which actors are starring in the series? Are any of the original Harry Potter stars returning?

There will be new actors playing the series’ main characters, but no one has been cast yet. Warner Bros. TV Group Chairman Channing Dungey said recently that that casting will come after they find a showrunner.

As for that, Warner Bros. is very likely looking to cast young actors, given that they’re proceeding through Rowling’s books in order. “The tricky part is the first two books, where the kids are on the younger end, around 11 or 12,” said Dungey of the casting process.

“We have been trying to be very close to the vest,” said Bloys. “We haven’t gone out to agencies. We have our own internal process where we’ve been thinking about people but we have not wanted to go out into the world. Now that the news is out there…we’ll start going out to the business.”

As for a return of any of the film franchise’s stars — like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson or Rupert Grint — never say never. It would certainly be a PR boost for the series and, while new actors will be cast in the primary roles, there are always flashforwards or the currently en vogue multiverse plot ploy that could create space for more familiar faces in the series.

But Daniel Radcliffe has said he is fine with sitting on the sidelines.

“My understanding is that they’re trying to very much start fresh and I’m sure whoever is making them will want to make their own mark on it and probably not want to have to figure out how to get old Harry to cameo in this somewhere,” Radcliffe told ComicBook.com . “So I’m definitely not seeking it out in any way. But I do wish them, obviously, all the luck in the world and I’m very excited to have that torch passed. But I don’t think it needs me to physically pass it.”

Another longtime Potter player who likely won’t be involved is David Yates, who directed the last four movies,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  (2007),  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince  (2009) and  Deathly Hallows Part One and Two  (2010 and 2011). In addition, Yates took on the  Potter  spinoff  Fantastic Beasts  trilogy. He says there has been no conversation about his involvement with the series. And it sounds like he’s ok with that.

“Huge affection and a lovely group of people I worked with,” Yates told Deadline . “But we haven’t had a conversation since we finished it.”

“It’s been about ‘Let’s just park it, and be done for a while,'” he said of the Potter franchise.

“Never say never, I would say, but I’m excited about moving on,” he said.

Your Hogwarts letter is here. Max has ordered the first ever #HarryPotter scripted television series, a faithful adaptation of the iconic books. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/3CgEHLYhch — Max (@StreamOnMax) April 12, 2023

Will J.K. Rowling be involved in the new Harry Potter TV series?

Yes. A deal for J.K. Rowling’s involvement in the series had been the biggest hurdle in its path to the screen: The author has creative control over any exploitation of her work. That agreement was finalized in 2023.

“Max’s commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I’m looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series,” said Rowling in a statement.

Since Warners launched its streaming service, there’s always been a goal to exploit Warners’ biggest franchise for streaming. Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, taking the reigns after the merger last year, met with Rowling several times in the UK. He’s even spoken up in support of the author, who has been involved in an ongoing controversy over her comments on transgender issues . Asked about the streaming event about those controversies, Bloys demurred.

“No, I don’t think this is the forum [to discuss that],” he said. “That’s a very online conversation, very nuanced and complicated and not something we’re going to get into.”

“Our priority is what’s on the screen,” Bloys continued. “Obviously, the Harry Potter story is incredibly affirmative and positive and about love and self-acceptance. That’s our priority — what’s on screen.”

As for how close the author will be to the series, Bloys said, “[Rowling] will be involved. She’s an executive producer on the show. Her insights are going to be helpful on that.”

The author’s involvement could prove a hurdle to having the principals from the films involved in the series. Relations between Rowling, Radcliffe and Emma Watson can’t be great, given the author recently said she was “bloody angry” over stances taken by trans rights activists, which she sees being in opposition to women’s rights.

Rowling claimed that “thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations.” Asked specifically whether she would forgive Radcliffe and Watson for their unabashed pro-trans rights stance on the issue Rowling replied, “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies.”

Bloys was clear, however, that WBD wasn’t entirely dependent on Rowling for the project.

“The TV show is new and we’re excited about that. But, remember, we’ve been in the Potter business for 20 years. This is not a new decision for us, we’re very comfortable being in the Potter business.”

How much will the series cost to produce?

“You know we make shows at this scale with House of the Dragon , Game of Thrones ,” said Bloys. “I imagine will be that scale or higher. The shorter answer is whatever it takes to make a quality show.”

Per Deadline reporting, House of the Dragon cost nearly $200 million and was the subject of HBO’s biggest marketing campaign ever, valued at over $100M in media spend (that’s a combo of ad spot value and hard cash shelled out). So fans can expect a similar outlay for the Potter series “or higher,” according to HBO/Max boss Bloys.

Will there be other Harry Potter-related projects?

“We’re free to do anything we want,” Zaslav has said, before hedging a bit. “Some areas we need to do with J.K., other areas we have the full ability to go forward. This is a full deployment on Max of Harry Potter. We can still develop other properties.”

Deadline understands that there may also be an opportunity for more than one of the above-mentioned writers to be involved and that Max is open to the possibility of developing more than one idea based on  Harry Potter.

How long has this been in the works?

Max and its then-parent company WarnerMedia  started exploring  a potential Harry Potter TV series a couple of years ago. At the time, Warner Bros. appointed Kids, Young Adult and Classics president Tom Ascheim to manage the Wizarding World and Potter franchises, which include theme parks, tours and the $9.1 billion-grossing theatrical library that spans the  Harry Potter  and spinoff  Fantastic Beasts  titles. Under that setup, Ascheim became WarnerMedia’s senior rep in its relationship with Rowling and her representatives, and exploratory conversations for a Max series got underway.

After the Discovery acquisition was completed a year ago, that unit was disbanded and  Ascheim exited the company . However, the importance of the   Harry Potter IP has only grown post-merger.

Zaslav spoke about his family’s own personal connection to the series.

“My wife and I, we read (the Harry Potter books) to each of our three kids,” said Zaslav, going off script at the Max announcement. “It’s really moving, for ten consecutive years, people will see  Harry Potter  on HBO; I mean it’s really something.”

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This Harry Potter special edition phone and tablet are an absolute treat for fans

Published on April 9, 2024

• Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand has teased Harry Potter Special Editions of the Redmi Turbo 3 smartphone and Redmi Pad Pro tablet.
• The phone features an elaborate Harry Potter-inspired design on the back, while the tablet has a protective cover resembling a Hogwarts Acceptance Letter.

Android smartphones come in all shapes and sizes, and you are bound to get a great flagship or an impressive budget phone that suits your needs, no matter how diverse your requirements are. For those of you who want a device that stands out from the crowd and don’t mind spending a little extra for that privilege, Android OEMs make special editions that often feature snazzy livery and other easter eggs centered around a theme. If you call yourself a Harry Potter fan, you’d certainly find appeal in the new Harry Potter special edition of the Redmi Turbo 3 and Redmi Pad Pro.

Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand has revealed these new Harry Potter special editions for its home market of China. The phone is a Redmi Turbo 3 on the inside, but the outside is all spruced up with the Harry Potter theme.

On the phone, we see the Hogwarts logo, the Harry Potter branding, and the Lumos spell lighting up a wand’s tip.

When you buy the Redmi Turbo 3 Harry Potter special edition, you will get an elaborate box with more themed products and easter eggs. The protective case also follows the elaborate Harry Potter theme, and the charger has Harry Potter branding.

The Redmi Pad Pro also has much of the same Harry Potter theme, but it comes with a unique cover that looks like an envelope for the Hogwarts Admission Letter.

The Harry Potter branding on the Redmi Pad Pro is prominent but a bit more subdued than on the phone.

The Harry Potter special editions of the Redmi Turbo 3 and the Redmi Pad Pro are launching tomorrow in China. These special editions are not expected to make their way out of China, but if you are a die-hard fan, we’re sure you’ll find a way to get your hands on them. We hope to see companies bring these products to the global audience, too.

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Harry Potter: Best Ways To Travel Within Wizarding World

• The magical community in Harry Potter has various means of transportation, including broomsticks, the Knight Bus, the Floo Network, Portkeys, and Apparition.
• Each mode of transportation has its own risks and requirements, such as the need for balance on a broomstick or the danger of splinching during Apparition.
• Traveling with magical creatures, like dragons, can be challenging and requires expertise, while modified muggle vehicles are technically illegal due to the exposure of magic to the muggle world.

Just like Muggles who traveled through air, land, and sea, the magical community of Harry Potter also has several means of transportation. Many use enchanted items and vehicles for their journey, but they can also ride magical creatures or even teleport using some magical tools.

Harry Potter: 8 Powerful Magical Plants

In Harry Potter , the further the location of arrival, the more complex the tool is, as one even needs a license to use certain transportation. Just like muggles who need a license to drive a vehicle, legality is needed to ensure safety and security. One fast, yet risky mode of transportation may cause a separation of body parts if not done properly.

The Old-Fashion Way

Riding a broomstick for the magical community is one of the earliest skills one acquires when starting a wizard's education in a magical school like Hogwarts. A Broomstick is arguably equivalent to riding a muggle bike, as it does not need a license, although it does need balance and to completely focus on the ride.

Flying with broomsticks is also used in sports, such as in Quidditch games and broom racing. In the muggle world, flying with broomsticks is also one of the most popular stereotypes of witches and wizards since ages ago, which happened to also be used in the Harry Potter universe.

For Stranded Witches And Wizards

Traveling by ground is also used for the magical community of Harry Potter , especially those who are residing in muggle-populated areas. The wizards and witches who are stranded or lost, or having some type of issue, might raise their wand to command the bus.

Harry Potter: 5 Most Useful Spells In Daily Life, Ranked

As depicted in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Harry raised his wand while standing face to face with Sirius Black who was in his animagus form , accidentally calling the bus to come. The Knight Bus looks like any normal double-decker bus, but it possesses magical abilities to pass through muggle vehicles without being seen.

Floo Network

Traveling through chimneys.

Apparently, it is not only Santa Claus who takes advantage of chimneys but wizards and witches use them as a means of transportation. The Floo network allows wizards to travel from one place to another that shares a connection in the form of a chimney.

To travel, one has to obtain a Floo powder in hand, pronouncing the desired location – with said connection – and poof! There they are. However, it is important to clearly say the name of the location, or else one might arrive in the wrong place. Just look at how Harry Potter ended up in Knockturn Alley, a dodgy and risky place, instead of in his intended location of Diagon Alley .

Bewitched Mundane Items

Who would have thought wizards and witches could be transported through socks, shoes, or other miscellaneous household items? Portkeys are one unique way of traveling as they are made up of bewitched mundane items that allow travelers to teleport into another location. This means of transportation, although fun, is quite risky as one might accidentally touch it and be sent to another place out of their will.

There are a few instances where muggles accidentally touch a Portkey and are transported to another location without their knowledge. Another dangerous example is how Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory are transported into the Little Hangleton Graveyard, as the Triwizard Cup is turned into a Portkey by Barty Crouch Jr.

Dangerous Yet Fast

Apparition is a form of teleportation magic that allows users to travel long distances in less time without enchanted items, magical creatures, and other means of transportation. Although fast, it is considered one of the riskiest transportation modes in the Harry Potter universe.

Apparating with a lack of skill might cause splinching, causing body parts to be wounded or worse, separated from each other. To apparate, the Ministry of Magic requires citizens to have a license that they obtain through classes. Hogwarts is one of the places that offer apparition classes, teaching students how to apparate properly and safely.

Magical Creatures

Especially huge ones.

Another means of transportation is by flying with dragons, hippogriffs, thestrals, and so on. Using magical creatures for travel means said creatures have to be big enough to carry a human – or even more than one – depending on the passengers. Also, traveling with them requires a great deal of knowledge of the creatures, as they might be hard to control and unpredictable.

8 Best Pets In Harry Potter, Ranked

There are many instances of traveling with magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe, and riding a dragon is considered to be the hardest one. Dragons are highly complicated creatures and truly tricky to handle, as riding on them needs perseverance and bravery.

Enchanted Vehicles

Technically illegal due to muggles exposure.

There are many instances where wizards and witches modified muggles' vehicles into magic ones, such as the Weasleys’ Ford Anglia Flying Car, Rubeus Hagrid’s Motorcycle, and so on. However, these vehicles are considered as “Enchanted Muggle Artifacts” by the Ministry of Magic, and therefore illegal. It falls under the law of “Misuse of Muggle Artifacts”, as the items used mostly came from muggles common brands for vehicles.

Harry Potter: 7 Underappreciated Muggles

In H arry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , the muggles who saw the Weasleys’ flying car fall into a deep shock, as reported in the Daily Prophet. Although illegal, it cannot be denied that this specific means of transportation is one of the coolest ways of traveling.

MORE: Harry Potter: Most Popular Fan Theories