Because the real Hermione was under an invisibility cloak ten feet away. (Not saying this is how it happened, but it does explain that part of the riddle)
Bellatrix was still transparent within the Cloak, but to Harry she was no longer hidden, he knew that she was there, as obvious to him as a Thestral.
It would have had to have been a different cloak than Harry’s, but then, I guess Hermione did have one on her; it might not have been good enough to hide her from the troll, but perhaps it would have hid her from Harry. And I suppose that obscuring the real Hermione from Harry would make sense under the ‘if you want to change the past, you can’t know if you’ve already succeeded’ rule, from the end of 76.
The silver outline blasted back into the world, and said in the strange outside version of Harry’s own voice, “Hermione Granger says,” the blazing figure’s voice became higher-pitched, “AHHHHHHHHH!”
I commented elsewhere that this is a major difficulty with trying to save her. Invisible Hermione would have to scream in the middle of combat to fake out the patronus, which is obviously an incredibly dangerous thing to do.
Hmmm… it’s also possible in that scenario that Hermione was hot-swapped out of the combat. Real!Hermione responded with a terrified scream to the Patronus, and while Present!Harry was racing to her on a broom, Time-Turned!Harry did some kind of obscuring spell (fog, blast of light, something like that), tossed an invisibility cloak (not Harry’s) over Real!Hermione, and then fed Simulacrum!Hermione to the troll just in time for Present!Harry to show up.
When asked to find Hermione, why would Harry’s Patronus have found a simulacrum instead of the real one?
The Patronus that came back to Harry could be Future-Harry’s Patronus, if time travel is involved.
Note: I don’t personally place a high probability on theories involving time travel in this instance, but they do present a possible explanation for that objection.
If the Patronus that came back was Future-Harry’s Patronus, then what happened to Present-Harry’s Patronus? When Harry’s Patronus was countered with Quirell’s Killing Curse in Chapter 54, Harry definitely felt it being countered.
When asked to find Hermione, why would Harry’s Patronus have found a simulacrum instead of the real one?
Because the real Hermione was under an invisibility cloak ten feet away. (Not saying this is how it happened, but it does explain that part of the riddle)
From Chapter 56:
It would have had to have been a different cloak than Harry’s, but then, I guess Hermione did have one on her; it might not have been good enough to hide her from the troll, but perhaps it would have hid her from Harry. And I suppose that obscuring the real Hermione from Harry would make sense under the ‘if you want to change the past, you can’t know if you’ve already succeeded’ rule, from the end of 76.
I commented elsewhere that this is a major difficulty with trying to save her. Invisible Hermione would have to scream in the middle of combat to fake out the patronus, which is obviously an incredibly dangerous thing to do.
Hmmm… it’s also possible in that scenario that Hermione was hot-swapped out of the combat. Real!Hermione responded with a terrified scream to the Patronus, and while Present!Harry was racing to her on a broom, Time-Turned!Harry did some kind of obscuring spell (fog, blast of light, something like that), tossed an invisibility cloak (not Harry’s) over Real!Hermione, and then fed Simulacrum!Hermione to the troll just in time for Present!Harry to show up.
The Patronus that came back to Harry could be Future-Harry’s Patronus, if time travel is involved.
Note: I don’t personally place a high probability on theories involving time travel in this instance, but they do present a possible explanation for that objection.
Every consistent theory I’ve seen involves time-travel somehow. The stakes are simply too high for Harry to permit the attempt to not be made.
If the Patronus that came back was Future-Harry’s Patronus, then what happened to Present-Harry’s Patronus? When Harry’s Patronus was countered with Quirell’s Killing Curse in Chapter 54, Harry definitely felt it being countered.
It’s plausible that having one’s Patronus dispelled by one’s future self is not as noticeable as having one’s Patronus countered by a killing curse.
Alternatively, an even simpler option is that it was still Present-Harry’s patronus, just given updated instructions by Future-Harry.