Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The Potters meet the Granger-Weasleys—Ron, Hermione, and their children, Rose and Hugo. Albus confides in Harry his worries about being sorted into Slytherin, as the house is associated with Dark Magic; Harry reminds Albus that he was named after two headmasters of Hogwarts, and “one of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew” (9). Harry further reassures Albus that the Sorting Hat will take his feelings into account, as it once did for Harry himself; this is something Harry has never told anyone else before. The parents see James, Albus, and Rose onto the Hogwarts Express, then leave quickly, as people are staring at them.

On the train, Rose tells Albus they must concentrate on choosing their friends; their parents befriended each other on their first train to school, and she insists on following in their footsteps. Albus finds the prospect of having to already choose their “friends for life” scary, but Rose is excited—because of their famous parents, they will have the pick of the lot.

Albus and Rose enter a compartment occupied only by Scorpius Malfoy. He introduces himself to them, and while Albus is friendly, Rose is not—Scorpius’s parents didn’t get along with Rose’s and Albus’s when they were young. Furthermore, Scorpius confesses that there is a rumor about him being the deceased Dark Wizard Voldemort’s illegitimate son conceived using a Time-Turner, though he denies its veracity. Rose leaves to find another compartment, but Albus chooses to stay with Scorpius, which angers Rose. The boys share Scorpius’s stash of sweets.

This transition scene cycles through different times and locations, showing fragments of events that occur over the next two years.

In the Great Hall at Hogwarts, Rose is sorted into Gryffindor, while Scorpius and Albus go to Slytherin, the latter to everyone’s astonishment.

A flying lesson in their first year at Hogwarts displays Rose’s natural talent, while Albus is terrible, inviting his classmates’ mockery and comparisons with Harry’s legendary skill on a broomstick.

Back at platform nine and three-quarters before the beginning of their second year, Albus asks Harry to stand apart from him—Albus believes himself a disappointing son and does not like people staring. After Albus leaves, Draco Malfoy approaches Harry with a request to squash rumors about Scorpius’s parentage by publicly reaffirming that all the Time-Turners had been destroyed decades ago during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries; Harry tells Draco to ignore the rumors instead. Aboard the train, Rose leaves Albus as soon as Scorpius approaches—Rose and Albus’ friendship is now a pretense maintained only in front of their parents.

In the Great Hall once more, Rose is announced as the newest member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team; Scorpius claps for her as he “thinks she’s brilliant” (26).

In a Potions lesson, Albus messes up a potion amidst jeers from his classmates.

Once again at platform nine-and-three-quarters, Albus combusts his signed permission slip to visit Hogsmeade village near school, telling Harry that he will hate any place with Hogwarts students. Harry expresses concern over reports of Albus’s isolation and “surly” behavior at school; Albus belligerently dismisses these concerns and runs off to meet Scorpius. Scorpius numbly informs Albus that his mother has passed away and asks Albus to come to the funeral and “be [his] good friend” (29).

In the Great Hall, Albus’s sister, Lily, is sorted into Gryffindor. Albus is disappointed, but Scorpius is unsurprised: “Potters don’t belong in Slytherin” (29). Albus retorts that he does and responds to the other students’ laughter surrounding him with the assertion that he didn’t choose to be Harry Potter’s son.

Harry arrives at the Ministry of Magic office, where Hermione is waiting for him. He reveals an illegal Time-Turner seized from a Death-Eater, an old follower of Voldemort, Theodore Nott. Harry questions Hermione’s presence in his office, and she mildly reprimands him for the paperwork that he, as Head of Magical Law Enforcement, has left pending; as Minister for Magic, she gives him a “gentle nudge” to complete his work. They discuss their respective children, each expressing the feeling that they are falling short in parenting owing to their busy Ministry jobs. Harry asks Hermione if the existence of the Time-Turner could mean something; she affirms that it could, but if so, they’ll find a way to fight it as they always have.

Hidden on the stairs at his house, Albus overhears a conversation; a wheelchair-bound wizard named Amos Diggory has come to visit Harry. Having heard rumors of the Ministry finding a Time-Turner, he asks Harry to use it and bring back his dead son, Cedric, whose death he blames on Harry. Harry refutes the rumors, apologizing for being unable to help Amos.

As Albus eavesdrops, he is startled by Delphi Diggory, Amos’s niece and caretaker, who discovers him on the stairs. Delphini and Albus talk, and she invites him to visit her at the old-age home where she lives with Amos. She then leaves to take Amos home; Amos calls Harry a “stone-cold Ministry man” (39) before he leaves.

Harry visits Albus in his room to deliver some gifts before the start of the new school year. Ron has sent Albus a love potion, while Harry gives Albus an old blanket—the one Harry was wrapped in when he was left on the Dursleys’ doorstep, the only thing he has of his mother. Albus callously rejects the gift and riles Harry up about his past. The two fight, leading Harry to tell Albus that he sometimes wishes Albus weren’t his son. Harry immediately apologizes, but Albus throws the blanket away and runs out of the room. The blanket collides with the love potion, which spills all over it.

In this dream sequence, Harry relives the moment he found out he was a wizard. On Harry’s 11th birthday, Hagrid visits Harry at the Hut-on-the-Rock where the Dursleys are hiding and tells him he’s a wizard bound for Hogwarts. The dream ends with Harry’s name being whispered in the background, in Voldemort’s voice.

Harry awakens from the nightmare, which wakes Ginny as well. Ginny attributes Harry’s agitation to his fight with Albus; she tells Harry that all Albus needs is for Harry to be honest with him. Suddenly, Harry’s scar hurts—it has been 22 years since this has happened, and Ginny and Harry are worried.

Rose approaches Albus aboard the Hogwarts Express, telling him about the rumors that the Ministry has seized an illegal Time-Turner. Albus divines that Rose’s sudden attempts to be friendly are in response to a request from their parents and asks her to leave him alone.

Albus finds Scorpius and tells him that they must get off the train. He plans to find and use the Time-Turner to save Cedric Diggory, who was a competitor alongside Harry in the Triwizard Tournament many years ago. During the tournament, they encountered Voldemort, who killed Cedric—Voldemort was only expecting Harry, and Cedric was the “spare.” Albus believes Harry lied to Amos about the Time-Turner because he doesn’t care what happened to Cedric, and Albus wants to correct Harry’s mistake. Albus climbs out of a window, and Scorpius follows.

Atop the roof of the Hogwarts Express, Albus and Scorpius encounter the Trolley Witch, who sells food on the train. She reveals that her job is to stop students from leaving the train and has never failed in her duties over the past two centuries. Albus and Scorpius manage to jump off the roof and evade her.

Hermione and Harry address a large gathering of witches and wizards in the Grand Meeting Room at the Ministry of Magic; Ginny, Ron, and Draco are also present. They tell the gathering that Voldemort’s allies have been stirring, and Harry’s scar has been hurting again. Draco dismisses this as an attempt on Harry’s part to draw attention to himself; he also insinuates Hermione only became Minister owing to her friendship with Harry, which angers Ron. Angry that the circumstances will lead to people gossiping about his son again, Draco declares the meeting a “sham” and leaves; the crowd disperses after him, with Hermione calling them back, to no avail.

Albus and Scorpius arrive at St. Oswald’s Home for Old Witches and Wizards, where Amos and Delphini live. They ask for Amos; Delphini appears and welcomes them.

Amos distrusts Albus and initially dismisses his offer to help; Delphini changes his mind, pointing out that Albus and Scorpius are the only ones volunteering to help. Amos questions Albus’s motive for putting himself at risk, to which Albus responds that he “know[s] what it is to be the spare” (70). Albus reiterates that they are ready to risk their lives, though Scorpius is less sure; Delphini agrees to accompany the boys on their mission.

At the Potters’ house, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione discuss Draco’s reaction in the meeting, attributing it to his grief over losing his wife. Ron suggests Harry’s scar hurting might be due to age; however, Hermione and Ginny are scared by the possibility that some part of Voldemort might have survived. Hermione refuses to act in denial the way Cornelius Fudge, the minister in office when Voldemort first returned, did. A letter arrives from Hogwarts informing the group that Harry and Scorpius never made it to school.

Albus, Scorpius, and Delphini take Polyjuice Potion, which helps them transform their appearances to that of Ron, Harry, and Hermione, respectively. Thus disguised, they enter the Ministry of Magic.

In a meeting room at the Ministry, Harry, Ginny, Draco, and Hermione discuss the children’s disappearance. Ginny and Harry realize that Albus and Scorpius have run away, attributing it to the fight Harry had with Albus. Draco is furious, and he offers the Ministry gold because he is desperate to find his son. Hermione refuses the gold, and Draco leaves, calling Harry a “constant curse on [his] family” (81).

Albus, Scorpius, and Delphini head to Hermione’s office, where Delphini knows the Time-Turner to be hidden. Harry and Hermione are heard approaching; Delphini and Scorpius quickly enter the office, leaving Albus, disguised as Ron, to block Harry and Hermione from entering. He successfully does so, leading Hermione to believe that “Ron” has left stink pellets in her office.

Inside the office, the trio divines that Hermione has hidden the Time-Turner among her books. The books have been magicked to speak, simultaneously spouting riddles about where the Time-Turner is located and trying to swallow the three of them up. Albus and Delphini get dragged in by the shelves but are eventually released as Scorpius solves the riddles and finds the Time-Turner.