The Cursed Child

Serpensortia.

This post is the second of two parts. The first was a general overview of my thoughts on Harry Potter, and my own house, wand1, Patronus and so on. I talked about two of the three ways in which the series’ legacy lives on.

This post will focus on the third. The eighth and, supposedly, final story.

Full spoilers to follow.

So. I’m in Slytherin. Still coming to terms with that, but I can’t deny that the whole aura of darkness2 appeals to me. I never was afraid of snakes.

But that’s a rather one-sided view. As I noted last time, Slytherins are painted black in the main series. At most, there are shades of grey.

*sighs* No, not fifty. 

Perhaps Harry was an unreliable narrator. I mean, he doesn’t narrate. But we see the world through his eyes. With all the grief Slytherins gave him over the years, it’s no wonder he’d be biased.

More likely, Rowling simply wanted them to be the bad guys. Main characters like Draco and Snape are nuanced, but let’s be fair. These are books about Gryffindors. The other houses serve as contrast and competition. Developing them further was outside the purview of the story. It’s not like we see a lot about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, either.

Clearly, the makers were aware of this. The eighth story takes things in a different direction. This time our heroes are not in Gryffindor.

They’re in Slytherin.

First and foremost, Cursed Child is not a novel. It’s a play. Showing in London, where the vast majority of fans are never going to see it. Releasing the script for said play is the solution. An imperfect solution, but there you have it.

Nineteen years after Deathly Hallows, the happily-ever-after is revealed to be, well, not so happy. Harry Potter is now the beleaguered Head of Magical Law Enforcement. A stone-cold Ministry man, he’s called at one point.

Harry’s second son, Albus Severus, has grown up in his father’s shadow. Scorpius Malfoy, the sheltered son Draco hid away for years, is rumoured to be Voldemort’s child in truth. No surprise when Scorpius is Sorted into Slytherin. It’s a huge shock when Albus joins him. The son of Harry Potter, in Slytherin. Albus is a troubled boy, miserable at Hogwarts, resenting the weight of his father’s legacy. Scorpius is his only friend. 

Using a stolen Time-Turner, the pair undertake a reckless journey through time to right the wrongs of Harry’s past and save Cedric Diggory. But changing the past is not without consequences. Meanwhile, Harry and Draco are forced to admit that trying to protect their sons from old pains has only given the boys new problems here and now.

You can see how legacies are a major theme. Albus, Scorpius, and the villain, the daughter of Voldemort, are each burdened by their fathers’ pasts. It’s never made clear who the child from the title is. Perhaps all three of them are cursed.

Cursed Child has been compared to fan-fiction. It’s not hard to see why. This is a story of roads not traveled. Scenes from earlier books are rehashed and examined anew, as Albus and Scorpius jump from timeline to timeline, between intriguingly non-canon scenarios. Except they are canon. But not canon canon. Does your head hurt yet?

There’s a whole lot of what-if going on here. What if Cedric never got to that maze with Harry? What if Ron and Hermione never fell in love? What if Voldemort won the Battle of Hogwarts?

What if, their first time on the Hogwarts Express, Harry and Draco became friends?

Well, no, that would have been quite different. Draco was an arrogant little insert-four-letter-word-here; Scorpius is anything but. I’ll get to him later.

All this jumping around does give us new perspective on the series. Snape’s return in the Darkest Timeline was one of my favorite parts. Even after Harry’s death, with Voldemort in power for decades, he, Ron and Hermione still kept the resistance alive. For all his unpleasantness, it cemented him being a good person at heart – deep down, anyway.

And the part where he kills Umbridge was extremely gratifying. There’s a scene in Order of the Phoenix where they face off, the two people Harry hated most in the world; he couldn’t decide who he wanted to win. I wanted Snape to win.

Yes, I read the lines in Alan Rickman’s voice. He will be missed.

1946 - 2016.

It’s not just the alternate timelines, either. Near the end, adult Harry speaks with Dumbledore’s portrait, admitting that he’s been as poor a father to Albus as Dumbledore was to him. Mind blown. Of course Harry looked up to Dumbledore as a mentor, guardian and role model. But as a father figure? I thought back and realized: of course he was.

Having said that. Acknowledging the relationship is one thing. Harry and the portrait saying they loved each other was a bit much.

Maybe it’s just my inner guy-ness. At times, I felt uncomfortable with Albus and Scorpius, too. This kind of close male friendship is outside my experience. They are close. Both are outcasts at Hogwarts. All they have is each other, and it shows. They depend on each other. They share their feelings. They hug.

And they complement one another. With his daddy issues, Albus soon seemed perfect for Slytherin. I couldn’t figure out what Scorpius was doing there. A pureblood, sure. But he was so nice. Not angry or manipulative. I thought he was written in just to be a foil for Albus.

Until that part where he convinced everyone, even Albus, that he’d lost the Time-Turner in the lake. On the spot, with a straight face. That was good acting. I was impressed.

Huh. Maybe I really do belong in Slytherin.

Ahem.

Scorpius Malfoy is the best part of Cursed Child. He’s funny, awkward, introverted, a bookworm. He’s a lonely boy, and stays optimistic despite it. He is absolutely the most original character. The story needs him.

Because at the end of the day, Cursed Child is not an original story. This eighth tale is largely a tribute to the previous seven. The ending loops back to the very beginning, with adult Harry watching his parents being killed yet again. (And having a melodramatic reaction at that.) Each of the main novels stands on its own merits. Does Cursed Child stand on its own? I’m not so sure.

Then again, that’s not a fair comparison. Cursed Child is not a novel. It’s a play. A completely different medium. The script alone is the barest of bare-bones translations. There are hints of what it’s really like in the stage directions. Live actors (duh). Transforming set pieces. Black-cloaked Dementors who rise up amidst the audience and converge on the stage.

If it was a novel, there’d be room for so much more detail. Descriptions, backstories. Exposition not told through dialogue. Explanations for questionable plot twists3. Development for minor characters. As far as I could tell, Albus' older brother, James, is a mischievous cool kid, just like his namesake. His little sister, Lily, is a girl. Really, that’s all I got.

So where does that leave us?

Neither a novel nor the play itself, the Cursed Child script book is something of a middle child, just like Albus. Don’t go into this expecting too much. It doesn’t live up to the series’ legacy.

But it is a fun read nonetheless. Albus and Scorpius’ friendship is moving; their adventures are interesting; and the story does give new perspective on the series as a whole.

For all of us not seeing the play - it’s the best we’re going to get.



1 - I never mentioned my wand, did I? Cedar, dragon heartstring, quite bendy. Perceptive and loyal, with a high level of adaptability. Dragon heartstring has the greatest potential for power – and the greatest chance to turn to the Dark Arts. Isn’t that a coincidence.

2 - Completely unrelated, but I just found an excellent examination of darkness on Waiter Rant. Check it out.

3 - Taking the whole Voldemort-having-sex bit for granted; when, exactly, did Bellatrix Lestrange have time to be pregnant?