Can't you? If I recall correctly, Harry tried and failed before succeeding with Partial Transfiguration, while he was still thinking in the terms of atoms. Also, you could consider transfiguring air as a partial transfiguration unless it's within a closed system, since you can't think of air as a whole or defined object. So it stands to consideration that Harry might be able to do it using the model of timeless physics like he did to achieve partial transfiguration, since we have no proof that he tried again afterwards ( that I recall ). Still, this wouldn't be the best moment to try it.
Besides, could've just tried to levitate the gun or something towards the gun he could use as a shield, and run away or retrieve his invisibility cloak or used the spare turn on the time-turner... There are countless possibilities. Even if he did appear on the corridor one hour before, when only Snape was there, he could probably convince him of acting as he did towards him... Which would've opened the possibility of another Harry hidden somewhere ready to try to take down professor Quirrell, or rather a Harry who had already sent a messenger Patronus to Dumbledore so he could quietly and without disrupting the Quidditch match take down the very charming Defence professor. Actually, this could still happen if Harry somehow retrieves his time-turner, or even if Cedric is hidden in Harry's pouch and uses it ( though I'm not sure how this would turn out... )
Two new short chapters! Since the next one is coming tomorrow and we know it'll be short, let's use one thread for both.
This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 105 (and chapter 106, once it comes out tomorrow). EDIT: based on Alsadius' comment about thread creation for MOR chapters, let's also use this thread for chapter 107 (and future chapters until this nears 500 comments) unless someone objects to doing so. Given that this is the final arc we're talking about, thread titles should be updated to indicate chapters covered.
There is a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author’s Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)
Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically: