To call myself a fan of Harry Potter as a child is an understatement. I was so invested in that magical world that J.K. Rowling had created. There were days when I chose to spend my recess time reading the books instead of playing kickball with my friends out on the playground.
The "Cursed Child" left me with disappointment.
Warning: spoilers are ahead. In order to understand why “The Cursed Child fails, one must understand the main points of the plot. This is going to be fairly extensive so the plot summary will be part one of a two-part review of “The Cursed Child”.
The book starts immediately after the last scene in “The Deathly Hallows”, where Harry comforts his youngest son, Albus, before he boards the Hogwarts Express to start his first year of school. Albus is concerned that he may be sorted into Slytherin and Harry assures him that his house would not determine the quality of person he is. Albus then befriends a young boy named Scorpius on the train. Scorpius reveals himself to be the son of Draco Malfoy, but he’s a much nicer kid than Draco ever was. He’s considerate and caring of others. He is the opposite of what you would expect from a Malfoy. Other students aren’t very trusting of Scorpius because of a rumor that he is the son of Lord Voldemort which isn’t the case at all based on his character and assurances from Draco.
The story then focuses on the struggles of Albus. He is indeed sorted into Slytherin with Scorpius and because of that, has a hard time making friends. He isn’t very good at magic and isn’t what anybody expected from the son of Harry Potter. It doesn’t help that he and Scorpius have become the targets for bullies at the school. His relationship with Harry becomes strained as Harry doesn’t quite know how to be a good father for his struggling son and Albus shows contempt towards Harry because he has to live up to “The Boy Who Lived”. Right before Albus has to start his fourth year of school, he and Harry get into a heated argument and Harry says that he sometimes wishes Albus wasn’t his son in frustration.
Harry is the Head of Magical Law and he recovers a time turner. Time turners have been made illegal and nearly all of them have been destroyed. Upon Hermione’s request (she is the Minister of Magic), Harry does not destroy the time turner and gives it to her just in case something drastically bad happens where they’ll need it.
Amos Diggory, the father of fan favorite Cedric Diggory, meets with Harry upon hearing that he recovered a time turner and asks him to use it to stop his son from being killed by Voldemort. Harry refuses because this is irresponsible and could change everything about the world they live in. His niece, Delphi Diggory, looks after him in his old state and she befriends Albus while Amos talks with Harry.
Albus overhears Harry’s conversation with Amos and takes it upon himself to steal the time turner and save Cedric’s life. He convinces Scorpius to accompany him despite Scorpius uneasiness and disproval of the plan. The two actually succeed when they travel all the way back to Harry’s fourth year of school. They sabotage Cedric during the first event of the Tri-Wizard Tournament in hopes that he won’t make it to the final task where he is killed by Voldemort.
Of course, this changes everything and the present isn’t exactly a desirable world for them because their actions caused Ron and Hermione to never get married and Harry is a much more controlling father. He won’t let Albus be friends with Scorpius and exerts much more authority over Albus. Their actions caused Ron and Hermione’s daughter Rose to never be born and both Albus and Scorpius are upset because Albus lost a good friend and Scorpius lost the girl he was in love with. They go back to try and fix their mistake but only make things worse and create a new present where Voldemort killed Harry during the Battle of Hogwarts and is in control.
Albus no longer exists in this reality and Scorpius has to get help from Severus Snape who is still alive in this timeline to stop the counterpart versions of himself and Albus from changing history.
He succeeds and fixes the world so that it’s back to what it was at the start of the book. Everything is well, until Delphi reveals herself to actually be the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange and abducts Albus and Scorpius. She steals the time turner and takes them back to the night when Harry’s parents were killed. She surprisingly spares their lives and abandons them in the past while she waits at an unknown location.
Her goal is to tell Voldemort to not go after Harry because this is truly the action that set up his defeat. Harry’s mother started the domino effect that made it possible to destroy Lord Voldemort. Albus and Scorpius realize this but are powerless compared to her because they are only in their fourth year and she is a lot older and much more experienced than she appears to be. They devise a plan to enchant a message on the blanket that Harry had as a baby. Harry kept this blanket for his whole life because it’s the only thing he has from his mother. They enchant the message so that it’ll only reveal when Harry needs to see it as an adult after realizing that his son has been abducted. They tell their location in the past to Harry in hopes that he can find a way to help them.
While this is happening, Harry works with Draco in an attempt to find their missing sons. The two put their long rivalry aside and become trusting of each other. Harry receives the message that Albus left him and Draco has the way to get to them. Draco kept a time turner because his wife died early in their marriage. He considered using it to go back and see her but didn’t because he feared the consequences.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Draco go back in time to get Albus and Scorpius. They defeat Delphi and Harry has to watch Voldemort murder his parents to ensure that history will play out as it was meant to be.
The book ends with everything back to normal. Delphi is sent to Azkaban and Harry reconciles with his son. Draco and Harry now have a much better relationship. They’re not friends by any means, but they have learned to respect and trust one another.
