Question: Maybe this has been brought up before, but I haven't been able to find a discussion of this particular time-turner question. If they went back in time and ensured Remus took his potion, wouldn't it sort of solve all of the problems? He wouldn't turn, Pettigrew would still be captured, Sirius would be proven innocent and not forced into hiding, and Lupin could still teach at the school. I know they aren't supposed to know that he is a werewolf in the past, but they could at least mention the moon or something! I know that there are a million other ways it could have gone, but this is one I haven't seen discussed.
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Chosen answer: There's no particular answer to this. When Dumbledore had Harry and Hermione go back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak, he may have wanted to minimize any chance of them causing irreparable harm by changing too many events. The Ministry of Magic strictly controlled how the Time Turners were used and by whom for a good reason. As Hermione mentioned to Harry, horrible things could happen to wizards who meddled with time. It may simply have been too dangerous to add that on to Harry and Hermione's primary mission. Dumbledore may also not have had all the facts about what transpired inside the Shrieking Shack, and he needed to act quickly. He also knew that due to the curse Voldemort put on the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position that Lupin would not last longer (one year) than any previous instructor and there was no point in attempting to change that. It also serves the movie's and the book's story lines for the events to unfold as they did. Sirius' unproven innocence was carried over into the next book/movie, and unfortunately, it ended tragically for him.
raywest ★