On Wednesday, September 25th, 1991, Amelia was sitting in her office contemplating when to recapture Dumbledore and finish his trial.
She had just come to the decision the next morning would be the optimum time to do so when she heard a knock on her door.
"Who is it?" asked Amelia apprehensively.
"Steven Secret, " answered the voice on the other side of the door.
"Okay, come on in then, " said a relived sounding Amelia.
Steven entered Amelia's office wearing what looked like a gold hourglass hanging from a necklace.
"Amelia, " said Steven eagerly, "There may be a way we can actually undo all the damage that was done by Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape etc. You see, the hourglass on my necklace is called a Time Turner and it can take you back in time so you can do hours over. Right now, aTime Turners can only take you back for a few hours. However, with some research and development, I believe Time Turners that go back years can be created."
"NO!' shouted Amelia in a deliberately loud voice, "That would be EXTREMELY dangerous!"
"Wouldn't you want to undo the damage people like Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort have done?" repeated Steven.
"It's WAY too dangerous, " said Amelia in a firm and decisive voice, "Think about the potential unintended consequences that could occur from an unintended butterfly effect. Also, you would be putting many people past and present in immense danger by messing around with time. You could potentially create a vortex where people from the past would be pulled into today and people from today would be sent way back into the past. These victims might be totally incapable of coping with a life in a time other than their own. Not to mention the potential of permanently broken up families. There's no guarantee that you wouldn't change a significant historical event. Such a change could destroy the whole world if it went terribly wrong. And holistically there's no telling what might happen if magic was mixed with Time Travel. It's too dangerous, period. The answer is NO Steven!"
"But what about-" began Steven.
"We've convicted Snape and Lucius and Dumbledore will be convicted tomorrow. We can't change the past. All we can do now is make sure they don't do any more damage and that appropriate changes are made to the magical world at the present time, " answered Amelia, "I'm NOT taking that risk, Period. But how did you get that Time Turner?"
"There's a stock in the Department of Mysteries, " explained Steven, ""But because the ones we have now can only go back a few hours, the only practical use they have ever seen is to allow students to redo hours at Hogwarts so that they can have fuller class schedules."
"How many students have actually done that?" screeched an alarmed sounding Amelia.
"Only a small handful and never more than one in one year. The heads of house all know about the Time Turners though. McGonagall has occasionally approved of one of her students using a Time Turner to take more classes. Flitwick and Sprout have never allowed it though. If one of their students attempts to sign up for a class load that would require it, they work with the student to come to an agreement on what they see as a more reasonable course schedule. McGonagall, though you have to be one of her favorites to get the approval, has occasionally given it under the concept of wanting students to reach their full potential, " explained Steven.
"No student could ever reach his or her full potential with a course schedule so full that it requires redoing hours. The stress, strain, and fatigue would make this impossible. Unless the student was also using the Time Turner to get extra sleep, " replied Amelia instantly.
"That's not allowed. Students use of Time Turners is required to be limited to getting to lessons, " revealed Steven.
"So, the use of a Time Turner could never be good for a student then, " concluded Amelia, "And even if it could be, it's not worth the danger. Allowing even one student to possess a Time Turner puts EVERY student at Hogwarts in grave danger. What if the student using the Time Turner saw his or her past or future self? What if other students saw the past and future student? I shudder at the possibilities. "
There was a minute and a nanosecond of silence and then-
"That's it, " said Amelia in a no nonsense kind of voice and she marched directly to the Department of Mysteries where sure enough she saw shelves full of Time Turners.
"Back off, " said Amelia warningly to Steven, who had followed her. Steven took several steps back.
Amelia raised her own wand and pointed it at the shelves with the Time Turners.
"REDUCTO!" cried Amelia vigorously.
Next nanosecond, every Time Turner on the Ministry shelves was smashed to bits then reduced to dust, which Amelia removed with a Vanishing Spell.
"Do you want to destroy this one too then?" Steven asked Amelia, pointing at the Time Turner he was still wearing.
"Oh, yes, " said Amelia instantly, and Steven took the Time Turner off and gave it to Amelia, who promptly destroyed it as well.
"There are no more Time Turners, " said a relived sounding Amelia, "Steven, I see where you were coming from, but messing with time is NEVER worth the danger. Now tomorrow we'll get Dumbledore taken care of."
A/N: I sometimes hear/read people say things like "Why couldn't they have used a Time Turner to save Cedric/Sirius/James and Lily etc. However, I myself am 1000% against any use of Time Turners as I just believe any meddling with time would be too inheritably dangerous. Also, Time Travel is problematic from a literary point of view because if you actually have Time Travel even if you leave aside the danger issue, then Time Travel would make it too easy to set everything right and no one would have to cope with anything. I view Time Travel as implausible and problematic from a literary point of view and incomprehensibly dangerous from a practical point of view.