Editorial Note: As the title warns, there are spoilers ahead.
As everyone's probably heard by now, the new "Harry Potter" book is officially out. For me, this was the most exciting thing to happen all summer. I've been waiting to get my hands on this book since J.K. Rowling announced its public date. Having this book come out, reminded me of the previous books and how I would go to the midnight releases to get them. Unfortunately I was at dance camp, so couldn't attend a midnight release for it, but luckily my amazing mother reserved a copy for me at Barnes & Noble. This was honestly a blessing because when I picked up my book the day it came out, the lady who helped me literally had to escort me to the front of the store to check out because they were sold out of 500 copies (in just one day!) and they had issues with customers fighting to get the book. So basically I was Charlie and the book was my golden ticket.
Naturally I started reading the book as soon as I got home and didn't stop reading until I finished it that day, it's that good. I have to admit, script style format is not my format of choice but I quickly got used to the difference and actually enjoyed it. It starts off with Harry and Ginny dropping their kids off at platform 9 3/4. Harry's son, Albus, is attending Hogwarts for the first time, and he's worried about what house he'll be in. Harry reassures him that no matter which house he gets sorted in, he'll love him just the same. When Albus boards the train, he meets Scorpius Malfoy, who is arguably the sweetest character in all of the "Harry Potter" series. Scorpius has a troubled past, which consist of rumors floating around that he's the child of Voldemort, which was hard to believe for me.
Because of the rumors, he struggles with making friends but that quickly changes because Albus and him hit it off from the beginning, and I swear my heart was so full upon reading their interaction. When they get to Hogwarts I presumed Albus would be sorted into Gryffindor because he's a Potter and a Weasley, so it just seemed fit, but I secretly hoped he'd be the black sheep of the family and be sorted into Slytherin. I was really happy that Rowling decided to switch it up and in fact sort him into Slytherin. This obviously shocks everyone at Hogwarts, and they're even more shocked to find that Albus struggles with his magic studies. This turns Albus into a gloomy and angsty character...throwback to Harry in his fifth year. Albus blames his father's fame for his struggles in school, but he still wants to prove himself. This leads to a friendship with Delphi "Diggory." Something to me was always off about her, I never really trusted her character. Delphi convinces Albus and Scorpius to meddle with time in order to stop Cedric from being killed during the Triwizard Tournament. Basically, a disaster waiting to happen.
They went back to two different tasks to try and save Cedric, which caused serious problems in their world and resulted in alternate universes, one where Voldemort won the Battle of Hogwarts and now ruled, and Harry died, resulting in Albus not being alive. In Voldemort's world, Severus Snape was still alive, and oddly extremely noble, and still fighting against Voldemort because of his love for Lilly. You can hate him all you want, but for me this book really changed my view on Snape, may he rest in peace. Scorpius soon fixes the wrongs he and Albus caused and things are back to normal, but Harry realizes what they've done, and confronts Amos Diggory, Cedric's father, about what his niece, Delphi, made the boys do.
That's when things take a turn. Delphi turns out not to be his niece and was in fact Voldemort's daughter. OK. What? For me this was a little to far-fetched. The thought of Voldemort having offspring was almost comical to me. Like sure he was pretty good looking when he was at Hogwarts (Is that weird? Like did you see Tom Riddle in "Chamber of Secrets" though?) Then of course I knew who the mother would be. There's no denying that Bellatrix was in love with Voldemort, whether it was because of his power, or maybe she was somehow attracted to him; even though she was in fact married, she was definitely in love with Voldemort, so naturally she would have been the one to agree with having his child. Basically long story short, Delphi tries to warn Voldemort about how Harry's mother's love would protect Harry and destroy Voldemort, but she fails because Harry always has to win because he's the boy who lived, not the boy who died. Overall, I thought the book lived up to my high expectations. There was a lot of well needed humor, added by Ron, who in my opinion was trying to fill Fred's shoes. There were times when I thought the situation were even too far-fetched for the "Harry Potter" world, but the amount of amazing plot twists made up for the absurdity of certain situations. The child in me was very happy with this book and I'm keeping my fingers crossed they decide to turn it into a movie.
