The idea is that all crimes are observed, the memories are brought back and the guilty prosecuted. Since no one can get away with crimes anymore it becomes history. Or that is the way it's presented by the ministry.

The conspiracy isn't through criminals/Riddle traveling back in time to commit crimes, but planning for an observer being there.

 

Or planning the crime so that the observer can't be there. If you find a body floating in a river, dropped there by a portkey, there's no way your time turning special agent would find the right place and time to observe the actual crime. Let's say your criminal is in addition using polyjuice potion to hide his identity, he could just check the surroundings for watchers when drinking and be safe in the knowledge that the Aurors in fact won't find out who he is. Or abort the killing if there are aurors about, and cause a paradox.

Still, crime investigation is one of the few appropriate uses for time turners. It's just not an end all be all solution.

Paradoxes involving time travel might also be a good idea for a story; say your special agent is seen by the killer before he makes his move and retreats before doing the kill: then your special agent wouldn't have the need to go back in time in the first place, so the paradox could be having two special agents suddenly around (when the other doesn't disappear back in time). That could lead to all kinds of interesting situations and philosophical questions about who we are. Or there could be some kind of government organization whose job is to exterminate these doubles caused by paradoxes, causing a cat and mouse game between time traveling special agent and the agent killers.

Which would then end with the time traveling agent killing the original target person himself and sending the body back in time (floating in the river), erasing the paradox...

 

The name could be something like "Harry Potter and the Full Inventory". Harry has enchanted, bottomless pockets and carries hundreds of items he thinks might come in handy at some point. He's Crazy Prepared for almost any situation.

Basically this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGEL2muzPEE

Maybe this idea has been used before, but I haven't come across a fic like this.

Edited for clarification: just an idea, this isn't an actual fic and I haven't done anything with it.

 

EDIT: :facepalm@me
Post in a wrong thread - please delete it.

 

Wouldn't this basically lead to the plot of the film Looper?

 

Yes, only with a title that doesn't sound like the name of a roller-coaster.

I like seeing people link to TV Tropes... but I'm not going there, because I have things I want to get done today. :awesome

 

Wouldn't work with time turners, as they are self consistent form of time travel. Any changes you try to make to the past leads to the observed outcome, think 12 Monkeys. There might be a fic in that, a war vary and otherwise cliched Harry desperately tries to change the future, operating from the shadows, only to achieve the same outcome. It could even be used to explain away some of the inconsistencies in canon.

 

No, they are not. The end of PoA seems like they are, but it is said that "loads of people have ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake," which points to paradoxes being a very real danger when playing with time.

 

I looked that up and it's said by Hermione. The way it's worded gives me the impression that it might be conjecture on her part. Also the only time travel we experience fallows self consistency exactly. Harry rescuing himself from dementors because he saw himself being rescued.

 

As discussed earlier in this (or some other) thread, JKR's universe self-computes outside of linear time, adjusting for time-travel. You cannot change the past, period.

 

There is one way to change the past: through utilising the power of "shut up, I'm the author and this is gonna be awesome".

 

This was most likely done before, but what the heck:

The Veil of Death in the Ministry leads to the Shinigami Realm of Death Note fame.
In June 1996, Sirius Black is thrown through the Veil by Bellatrix Lestrange.

While in the movie version, Sirius was killed by The Killing Curse, in the book he was simply stunned by a minor spell and it was the Veil that killed him.
Anyway, we have a fully trained wizard, Sirius Black, end up in the Shinigami Realm, 10 years before Light Yagami got the Death Note (2006).

This could go various ways, but let's assume that many Shinigami were previously wizarding criminals/researchers who went through the Veil and eventually stayed there, as they can't go back.

Not Sirius however, as a certain Shinigami named Ryuk meets him and offers him a deal.
Black will take and use the Death Note to amuse Ryuk and the Shinigami will allow Sirius to go back to the human realm.
Sirius agrees and is back in the ministry, with the Death Note safely hidden in his robe.

He appears right after the fight of Voldemort and Dumbledore, so is able to escape with the Order.
Back at Grimmauld Place, when he is alone in his room, he opens the Death Note and writes.

We will be assuming that Voldemort is immune to the Death Note, thanks to his Horcruxes, no matter how many times you write his name.

 

Sorry for doubleposting, but I need to try this out here.

For a reason I have yet to come up with, Harry finds this in his first Hogwarts year:

"This is the Knowledge Ring.

1.The human who wears this ring has the power to copy any amount of knowledge from others simply by touching them.

2.This will not take effect if the victim knows about the nature of the ring.

3.If the owner of the ring takes it off, then he will lose all the copied knowledge he gained, but it will return if he puts the ring back on.
However, if someone else puts on that ring, that person will not gain the knowledge the previous owner has gained.

4.The ring makes the owner's memory capacity limitless, allowing him to constantly gain new knowledge."

 

Eh. Seems like a cheap deus ex machina to me. To be honest, it sounds like something from four or five years ago when the fandom was flooded with horrible Indy!Harry and authors just wanted the quickest way to power him up they could find.

I mean, maybe you could do a good job at a story attempt with this, but I feel pretty skeptical overall about it.

 

I can see where you are coming from.
It certainly has the potential to become a terrible insta-training with a lot of cliches.

However, there are several other ways this could go.

1.Harry might dismiss the ring and throw it away, causing someone else to find it, for example Malfoy, which makes things extra-hard for Harry, as having Draco be super-smart is never a good thing to other people.

2.Harry may use the ring and touch say Hermione, to get better grades (11 years old after all).
However, he fucks up and is bombarded with all her memories, causing a severe identity crisis (could be written seriously or as a crack fic).

3.He uses the ring on Snape, which reveals to him Severus' love for Lily and a bunch of other stuff.
Since Harry is just a kid at this point, he makes some mistakes that throw a wrench in his eventual fight with Voldemort.

The list could go on and on, but basically, this is just an idea, it doesn't have to be indy!Harry.

 

Basically whoever touches Dumbledore or Voldemort first wins the game. Bonus points if you can touch both (Harry is probably the only person in a position to touch both and live to tell the tale).

 

Immediately brought to mind this little beauty:
The Bloodstone of Fistandantilus

Short version: wizard touches the stone to another wizard's chest, initiating a war of wills. Winner takes over whichever body he prefers and retains knowledge of both. Loser is annihilated. Smart, evil wizards would use it on their apprentice to ensure victory and renew their youthful vigor. Afterwards, the winner changes residence and when they got old, would post an ad for a new apprentice.

 

Brings a whole new meaning for the "I can touch you now", though.

 

It would be interesting if Voldemort gained all knowledge Harry gains via the Horcrux in Harry's scar.

For example, Harry goes to Dumbledore under some pretext and shakes his hand.
Immediately both Harry and Quirellmort gain all of Dumbledore's knowledge.

Now, I don't have to explain just why exactly this is bad, considering that since Voldemort "knows about the nature of the ring", knowledge cannot be copied from him.

 

You need a downside to it, I think. When I read about it, I thought of Limitless, with the drug having bad side effects. You'd need a downside or some limit on it to make it less of a dues ex.