Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Plot Holes in the play.
So the new Harry Potter script has finally been released. But I consider it to be fanfiction and NOT canon. The Cursed Child contradicts many canon elements from the seven books. There are gaping plot holes and lots of people acting out of character.
I've compiled several Reddit comments and comments from elsewhere that point out all the issues of the play. I added my own thoughts and other observations I had while reading the script as well. It’s really LONG, but I hope you read it all.
I did enjoy reading the script though, but I won’t read it again. This could have been a good story on its own if it didn’t have anything to do with Harry Potter.
BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!
Introduction
There are several problems with the play. I think all of them stem from the main one - the plot. Time travel to change and then prevent changed past as well as court hearing that examines character's past are an overused tools of TV shows. Tools to make easy filler episodes. They never move the story forward and are just a side steps with many "what ifs". And the play's story never moves, it's just old characters reliving past events. And this is why it feels like a bad fanfic - many fanfic authors reuse old plot points ad naseum. Stories progress only when new things happen, not when old stuff is relived and is allowed to proceed.
And it seems that story was constructed to produce as many twists and cheap thrills as possible using easiest writer tool. An emotional part of the ending was nice, but I would be glad if the same conclusion was reached with, you know, actual original story. How about actually seeing what the future ministry and Hogwarts are like? New policies at the ministry? New teachers and classes at Hogwarts for example? We never got to see anything about them, because we were stuck in the past reliving the same plot lines which were resolved nicely in the books!
I don't know how many times Voldemort needs to be resurrected, to be honest. We don't really need him as a super villain anymore! Couldn't Jo just leave the whole Voldemort thing out, as it's over and done with, and create a new villain brewing from the darkness? Dumbledore defeated the previous super villain, Grindelwald and that was that. He died and stayed dead. Instead of going back and bringing up old villains that have already been dealt with which brings the plot nowhere. There is almost no character growth whatsoever. It's just a load of action and OMG revelation moments that don't really add to the depth of the established canon.
I would've been happy to watch a play about middle aged Ron, Harry and Hermione grappling with middle age problems while a new species of evil lurks somewhere while following the adventures of Scorpius, Rose and Albus. Something like that could've even spawned a new series which focuses on new but still relevant characters without rewriting anything about the old characters.
Another thing I want to point out though is why I think it reads like bad fanfiction: it's not just the plot points, it's how characters talk about past events that bugs me. It's like they've all read the Harry Potter books and know the summaries of them, not like they are in the world within those books. That's what bad fanfic writers do, because they are readers of the HP series, and thus know greater detail about the world and characters (and HP fans) than the characters themselves can know.
For example, Scorpius and Albus know so much about Cedric's every move from the Triwizard Tournament, more than I'd expect them to know just from passing stories from their parents. Why would they know all of that? Also, when they are talking about why Ron and Hermione don't get together in the messed up timeline, why do they know so much about the dating lives of Albus' uncle and aunt? Like, I can imagine Ron and Hermione reminiscing about Yule Ball with their own kids, but would they tell details about who was dating whom and boring teen drama that happened decades ago? It just seemed like every time one of the children talked about past events or met characters from that time period, they knew too much about it, like they had read the HP series for a history class or something. And they treat intimate details about the original characters like common knowledge, with no room for the new characters' discoveries or perspectives.
Time Turner Plot Holes
1) In Prisoner of Azkaban the time travel was perfect. There's a single timeline and when Hermione or Harry and Hermione go back in time they join the past - i.e. what they do has already happened, and in fact Harry comments at one point that he knows it happened because he saw it happened. This is how single-timeline time travel works. Going back in time doesn't alter the past, present, or future because what you do has already happened.
Then in the Cursed Child they decide that going back in time does change the past, either because the playwright apparently didn't understand the brilliant time travel in Prisoner of Azkaban, or he didn't care. So suddenly we go from single-timeline time travel to multiple-timeline time travel, a la The Butterfly Effect, which by the way means that they never go back to the original timeline.
2) On Pottermore it was stated that you could go back 5 hours with the old Time Turners. If you tried to go back further, it would result in the death of the user and people being unborn. This also explained why nobody could go back in time and kill Voldemort when he was a child for example. Now with the new Time Turner existing, everyone is going to point this out once again. The trials Harry went through can just be undone. Also with the new Time Turner you can go back as far as you want and it isn’t single-timeline travel anymore. It’s not possible that two different time travel methods exist in one universe (single-timeline travel and multiple timelines/Butterfly effect).
3) Surprise! Yes, the Time-Turners were all destroyed, but what if - gasp! - the baddies made a new one?! The ministry of magic must have spent tons of time developing the Time Turner of Prisoner of Azkaban in the Department of Mysteries. How can one guy, all on his own, develop a ‘better’ Time Turner without the people and the resources from the ministry to help him?
4) Draco: "oh look, I had a time turner the whole time and it's an even better version. How convenient!” It’s a deus ex machina that he conveniently had a perfect version of the Time Turner at the end. Why not use it earlier to go back in time and take the 5-minute Time Turner from Albus and Scorpius?
5) The idea that Scorpius and Albus can do their thing with burning holes in the blanket and Harry will see it in the future and be able to travel back in time before Delphi makes her move on Voldemort doesn't make sense. Time travel logic doesn't work like that, not even through magic. Whatever Delphi did would have also taken effect in the future where Harry sees the writing on the blanket.
6) EVEN IF HARRY HAD DIED AND VOLDEMORT HAD WON THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS SNAPE WOULD BE DEAD! Voldemort killed Snape because he was convinced that the Elder Wand answered to him after killing Dumbledore. Neville's dying did not change the wand's alliance to Voldemort, and Harry would have died after Snape regardless, as per Deathly Hallows' normal timeline. The only thing that changed in the "Voldemort and Valor" universe is that Neville didn't kill Nagini, but Nagini kills Snape prior to when her death is supposed to happen, so Snape should have died anyway.
7) If Voldemort killed Harry in the darkest timeline, he would’ve had to kill Harry at least twice, because Harry is protected by his mother’s sacrifice which also lingers in Voldemort because he used Harry’s blood. Harry would’ve come back to life the first time.
Major plot holes
1) How is Harry's scar even hurting him?! The horcrux inside him was destroyed?! So shouldn't that not even be a remote possibility?! Why was Harry able to speak Parseltongue again? He could only speak it because a part of Voldemort lived in him. And the explanation at the end of the play is bullshit. “I needed to get rid of Voldemort mentally”. He already did! The piece of soul of Voldemort isn’t something physical, it’s something mental that defines you. The only reason these things happened was for the plot.
2) Why are the werewolves and giants on the move? What were they doing? Apparently this is because of Delphi, because the giants have wing tattoos on their backs. But Delphi never does anything with them and it remains unexplained. Btw, how did Delphi put a tattoo on those giants’ backs?
3) The trolley witch being some kind of veela monster and growing spikes from her hands? Being over 200 years old? Exploding candy? All the people who have accidentally dropped their Pumpkin Pasty and it exploded on them, rest in peace. She was just a nice lady selling sweets on the train.
4) TROLLEY WITCH: “Never - never - have I let anyone off this train before they reached their destination.” I guess she's forgetting about Harry's seventh year when multiple students were taken off the Hogwarts Express. What about preventing the dementors from boarding the train in book 3?
5) And why are the only people who have attempted to get off the train people we know? (Sirius, James etc.) Couldn’t some unknown student have tried as well? Anyway, Sirius and James are talented Animagi and Fred and George are smart as well. If they didn’t manage to get off the train, why do Albus and Scorpius manage it by simply jumping off?
6) When they had the bit about Lily taking Harry out in the pram I was like "Wait, what?" What about the Fidelius Charm?? They were in hiding! It would have been dangerous to do that and then anyone could attack them!
7) There is no way Albus and Scorpius (or any character except perhaps Harry) would have been able to see James and Lily's house, and James and Lily couldn't have taken a walk. They were under the Fidelius Charm at that time- they could not leave and the house could not be seen, and as both Peter and Sirius are long dead before Scorpius and Albus are born, there is no way in any world that they would be able to perceive the Potter house in Godric's Hollow. We hear about how frustrated James was about being "cooped up" in the series so it's pretty clear he couldn't just take walks. And with all of that, they definitely would not be able to break in to get the blanket.
8) Albus talks about brewing up some Polyjuice Potion because Bathilda Bagshot probably has the ingredients...? It takes a month! Plus, Bathilda Bagshot is an historian, not a potioneer- why would she have exceptionally rare ingredients lying around? (Demiguise is what some invisibility cloaks are made of, Fantastic Beasts establishes their rarity and difficulty to hunt). Why not just make it a more common ingredient that reacts?
9) Once everyone was back in 1981 near the end of the story, they assumed that Delphi was going to go murder Harry before Voldemort to prevent the curse from rebounding. Okay. But if that was her plan, how would she have found their house? Pettigrew never told her where it was so the Fidelius Charm would still be in place. Hermione never thought about that? What the hell?
10) Where the hell did the second prophecy about Voldemort come from?! It’s also kind of cliché that there’s ANOTHER prophecy about Voldemort.
11) Why wasn't Sirius mentioned as being at the Potters the night they were killed? He ought to have been there to give Hagrid his motorcycle!
12) When Scorpius gets out of the lake and pretends he lost the Time Turner, Harry or anyone else could have said “Accio Time Turner!”, to get the Time Turner back! No need to drain the lake and the whole Delphi going back in time plot would’ve been prevented.
13) When Albus and Scorpius come back from their first time travel, they ask Delphi what's changed. Now we've already established that by Prisoner of Azkaban time travel rules, nothing could be changed because it would have already been changed, but even if we were going by Back to the Future 2 time travel rules, Delphi couldn't have known what has changed because she would have changed too with the rest of the time stream. This happens a few times throughout their time jumps and it just doesn't make sense.
14) At the time Scorpius, Delphi and Albus try to infiltrate the ministry and they make Polyjuice potion to imitate Hermione, Harry and Ron. How the hell did they get bits of off them to use them in the potion?
15) Apparently Scorpius knows that Lily’s Patronus was a doe, but when Snape shows his Patronus Scorpius is surprised it’s the same as Lily’s. So he doesn’t know about that? And how would Scorpius know about Lily’s Patronus unless Albus told him about it? Didn’t Albus tell him the whole story? As I’ve said the characters seem to know way too much about their parents’ lives, but here is one inconsistency.
16) That rumour about Scorpius being Voldemort’s son, because Draco went back in time to collect Voldy’s sperm? It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Where the hell did that rumour even come from? People only knew about the old Time Turners, the ones that go back 5 hours. So why would they create/believe such a rumour? They would know it’s not possible that Draco could go back so far in time with those Time Turners. The new Time Turners were only discovered later in the play and not a lot of people knew about them.
17) How did Delphi learn to fly without a broomstick? Voldemort invented that spell/magic himself and he was the only one who could use it until he taught it to Snape, his right-hand man. Voldemort and Snape are both dead, so who taught it to her?
18) Fake Moody was keeping a lookout at the Triwizard Tournament. He never saw Scorpius or Albus running around, especially in the maze, with his magical eye?
Voldemort & Bellatrix
1) Does anyone else realize that Bellatrix had to have been massively pregnant during some of the most crucial moments in Deathly Hallows? How did no one notice, how did no one know? Not even her sister? Or Draco?
2) Why would Voldemort want an heir? He expected to live forever. He would be his own legacy, so he wouldn’t need a child. And the Voldemort I've always imagined would hate the idea of a child - he's incapable of love, and would never want to share power with someone else. Voldemort does not do love, intimacy or human relationships. Even if it is meaningless sex, I can't see him... in such close contact with, or holding anyone, get it? Argh. I can believe it if Voldemort had a baby when he was a handsome young lad, but as an adult, no, because - "There wasn't enough human left in him", remember?
Acting out of character
1) Harry having suffered much abuse by his aunt and uncle tells his own child that he is unwanted? Just no. Harry, who had no friends growing up, forbids his son from seeing his only friend? Harry, who endured Umbridge's regime in book 5, imposes Umbridge-like surveillance on his son? Harry, who told Lupin off for wanting to abandon his own kid in Deathly Hallows, tells his son that he sometimes wishes he weren't his son?
2) Harry: There's NO EXPLANATION for why his personality would be affected besides "lol time travel" and he's suddenly a horrifying, abusive, creepy father who goes completely off the deep end. Telling your son that he can't talk to his literal only friend? Grounding him to his room at boarding school? Having his headmistress (who apparently has nothing better to do) literally stalk his every move??? Rearrange the entire year's schedules so Slytherin and Gryffindor didn't have classes together??? Threatening McGonagall with the ministry?? He was a completely different person in the worst possible way.
3) This is all because apparently Harry misinterprets advice from Dumbledore’s portrait in the worst way (because he’s that dumb in the play) and takes divination from centaurs seriously. Harry would never take divination from centaurs that seriously. He knows from following Divination that you rarely predict something real and Firenze told Harry’s class that divination from centaurs was often wrong as well. I didn’t see Harry freaking out in book 1 when the centaurs were predicting stuff.
4) McGonagall: “Because far be it from me to doubt the wisdom of the centaurs…” Um, since when does McGonagall trust the wisdom of the centaurs? She thinks Divination is rubbish and that there are few true Seers out there.
5) Something that amuses me about the play is that even going on 40, Harry still reacts to trouble the same as ever:
Harry: "The Malfoys are to blame!!!"
Everyone: "Harry no!"
Harry: "Harry YES!"
Some things never change... It's like her characters haven't evolved as real people and still keep the same character flaws as adults they had in their teens (according to the play writer).
6) Albus and Scorpius are BFFs and Harry tries to separate the two. Harry and Draco do not like each other. I'm not sure that's even consistent with the end of Deathly Hallows and Harry's growth as a character in the original series. The epilogue shows Harry being civil and acknowledging Draco on platform 9 3/4. Harry himself had been through a lot and had had to learn to accept or trust people he didn't like (like Snape, whom he named his child after!). Now if he's got something against A CHILD, that just kills all of his previous character development.
7) People believe that Draco's son is actually Voldemort's son because Draco went back in time for no other purpose but to collect Voldemort's sperm - by who-knows-WHAT means! And Harry, who's been a victim of gossip and rumour and ought to know it's bullshit by now... is the biggest dupe of all! It’s strange because in the beginning of the play he didn’t care about the rumours and then all of a sudden he does.
8) Everyone still hating on Slytherin after 20 years. Albus being sorted into Slytherin and subsequently bullied to the point of despair despite the fact that it's 2016 and we know Houses aren't that one-dimensional anymore. Weren’t the houses going to be more tolerant of each other and change, compared to 20 years ago?
9) Rose not being friends with Albus just because he’s in Slytherin. Rose Granger-Weasley being so incredibly ignorant that she straight-up shuts out her cousin and best friend FOR FOUR YEARS because God forbid he befriends a nerdy boy on the train on his first day at school. And I just can't imagine Hermione would raise a daughter who would ignore her cousin just because he was sorted into Slytherin. Not when she struggled in the past with Mudblood naming insults and fought so hard to free elves. Ron and Hermione would have raised Rose to accept Albus even if he was in Slytherin and to stick up for him.
10) I can’t believe that Albus gets bullied and Rose ignores him for FOUR years and that no one has stepped in yet or tried to help Albus. Shouldn’t Harry and Ginny have helped Albus or asked what was wrong after a year or two? Okay, they did, but not enough in my opinion. Ron and Hermione should’ve reprimanded Rose already. What happened in family gatherings? How can Rose and Albus pretend to be civil to each other for four years except at Hogwarts? Someone should have noticed something. What about James? We don’t even see him in the play! He might have a laugh at Albus first because he was in Slytherin, but after a while he would have stood up for him I think.
11) Ron was just being comedic relief without his depth he had in the books. Ron was funny in the books, but it wasn’t always because he was constantly spouting dumb jokes every few minutes. He had his serious moments. Now he acts like a dumb buffoon. Not knowing how to use Floo Powder and using his wand the wrong way? Ron isn’t that stupid. And Ron was so drunk at his wedding he doesn't even remember getting married?? He would never be that disrespectful. I don’t think he would ruin such an important moment in his life with Hermione.
12) So Ron is just casually distributing love potions impetuously. After his experience with them, surely it'd be more characteristic of him to be apprehensive and not just flippantly give one to his best friend's son as a joke?
13) That is not even fanfiction Snape. That is straight up someone else who had a personality transplant. A brave man yes, but a vindictive mean bully with emotional baggage such as bad childhood /obsession with dark arts/death eater/losing love of his life/playing spy/killing Dumbledore/losing the war with death of the one boy who he protected all his life? Now he suddenly has conversations and jokes with no sarcasm with Ron and Hermione??? Not even the tiniest bit similar. Just before Voldemort killed Snape in the normal timeline, he was still the same as ever. (Still doesn’t make sense how Snape’s alive now).
14) Does anyone else feel like Snape's lines are too much out of character? Would he really say something like "Tell Harry I'm proud his son bears my name"? I don't think so. I also don't think he would ever say something as dramatic as "I could not save Lily but I could help fight for the side she supported", especially to Scorpius (whom he barely knows). That's just ridiculous.
15) Hermione: They at least explained why she and Ron didn't get married, I guess, but I have an extremely hard time believing two best friends of many, many years only got together because Ron was jealous that one time. Just because of that one incident they don’t get together? Weird. I think they would’ve gotten together sooner or later regardless of that moment. Otherwise, it seems Ron and Hermione’s relationship was really shallow. (Which it isn’t in the books).
16) And that scene with Hermione and Ron in the dark timeline - assuring themselves that they are still friends? This is the stuff of bad romcoms. But the idea that her not marrying Ron directly leads to her becoming Snape instead of Minister is infuriating. Her being literally so bitter about not getting together with him that she just picks up a job at Hogwarts where she can bully kids is the worst possible thing that could happen to my favourite character and one of the strongest, most well-developed female characters in literature. Hermione isn’t dependant on a man (Ron) for her happiness. She would’ve moved on eventually.
17) Cedric being humiliated by a floating bubble head charm would not turn him into a death eater!!! He was a genuinely nice guy... There's just... there's no way. This goes against Cedric’s character: he was hardworking, loyal and kind. He wouldn’t turn into a Death Eater just because he was humiliated once or twice.
18) It seems very strange to me that Mr Diggory asked Harry to bring Cedric back. He seemed to have accepted his death in book 4 and surely he knows that changing the past is an incredibly risky and dangerous thing to do? Mr Diggory worked for the Ministry, surely he knows that Time Turners are restricted for good reason?
19) How come everyone in the Voldemort and Valor universe are totally cool with saying Voldemort? He's still alive in this universe right? SO why the hell is he suddenly cool with people using his name? Does he go by Tom, now? Ugh. Didn’t everyone who was afraid of him address him as You-Know-Who? The Death Eaters never addressed him by name; it was always “the Dark Lord”.
Minor plot holes
1) Even more importantly, how in god's name have no measures been put in place to counteract the threat of polyjuice impersonation? The woman who heads up the ministry broke into the ministry as a child with the help of its transformative properties. You'd think she of all people would be very much aware of the need for security policy that neutralizes that threat.
•More importantly still, why is her office door still able to open with Alohamora? I would expect more security for the minister’s office.
•Also wouldn’t the Time Turner be kept in the Department of Mysteries? That’s a much safer and secure place. At least McGonagall tells Hermione how stupid she is for keeping it in a bookcase in her office. Hermione is normally smarter than this.
2) Scorpius knows the exact reactions of potion ingredients in his fourth year? Wouldn’t that be more for O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. levels?
3) Harry leaves the ministry with the telephone box. But isn’t that the visitors entrance? As a regular employee, shouldn’t he be using the fireplaces or Disapparating?
4) Harry knows Albus and Scorpius are in the Forbidden Forest because of some random dream he had, which is so convenient. He shouldn’t even know because normally his scar shouldn’t hurt anymore and if it did, he would be having dreams about Voldemort, not them.
5) Didn’t anyone see Albus use Expelliarmus on Cedric? He was standing near Hermione and the crowd. Wouldn’t ministry wizards recognize that as a disarming spell from someone in the crowd?
6) Scorpius and Albus wouldn’t be able to pass for Durmstrang students because they’re too young. The Durmstrang students were all seventeen or older, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to put their names in the Goblet of Fire. Scorpius and Albus are only fourteen. They would look out of place.
7) Okay, when Harry and Draco are duelling, Draco uses the spell Levicorpus. How would he know that spell? Harry discovered it in Snape’s potion book and he only told his friends about it. The spell was used during the time Snape, Sirius and James were at school, but then it went out of fashion. Maybe Snape taught it to Draco…
8) I didn’t really understand the part where Albus and Scorpius get to the lake from Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. How can they go through a sink to the lake? And is this the bathroom with the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets? Why would there be two sinks with two special entrances in one room? How did Albus get the gillyweed?
9) Albus and Scorpius use an Engorgement Charm on Cedric in the lake, but then Cederic floats out of the water. Don’t Engorgement charms just make their subjects bigger? I don’t think they make their subjects float as well. Hagrid’s pumpkins and the spiders from Moody didn’t float away.
10) The hedge apparently tries to dissect Albus and Scorpius in the maze. This the movie hedge. In book 4 the hedges don’t do anything. I thought the play was supposed to be a continuation of the books? Also, they shouldn’t be able to hear Ludo Bagman commentating, because the hedge in the books blocks out all the noise from outside the maze. Harry notices it when he steps into the maze.
11) How can the Time Turner go from the 1995 Triwizard Tournament maze to 1981 Hogwarts? Every time the 5-minute limit was passed, the Time Turner returned to the present. Then you’d have the chance to go back in the past again. You can’t go from one moment in the past to another moment in the past.
12) I know you can Transfigure parts of your appearance, but it’s a bit of a stretch to able to transform Harry into Voldemort. In Deathly Hallows, Hermione changed Ron’s hair and gave him a beard. You know, small stuff. But to change your whole body and the shape of your head, nose and eyes with Transfiguration? If that were possible, there would be no need for Polyjuice Potion! Also, wouldn’t Harry need Voldemort’s clothes?
13) Why does Harry get disarmed so easily by Delphi? He can’t be such a pathetic fighter. He was the best in Defence against the Dark Arts and now he’s an Auror with multiple years of combat experience!
14) Harry says to Delphi he never fought alone. Uh, yes he did sometimes. What about facing Quirrel, the Tom Riddle memory and Voldemort in the graveyard? Of course his friends helped him, but some things he did alone. He even starts yelling about all of it to Ron and Hermione in book 5, I believe.
Other stuff
1) Seems like no one is bringing up the fact that Albus snogged Hermione, while transformed as Ron, multiple times. Like full-on tongue? I wonder what her reaction would be if she found out? What would the whole family's reaction be?
2) Anyone here who's a bit disappointed that they killed off Astoria, who seems like a genuinely good person that Draco loved very much? We didn’t get to see what she was like as a person.
3) Is Harry's boggart a pigeon now? Since when has Harry been afraid of pigeons? They just threw a random pigeon arc in there. I don't recall a pigeon ever coming up in any of the original series. Maybe he was joking when he said that to Albus…
4) Just because Delphi is Voldemort's daughter doesn't mean she had to automatically be loyal to him and be evil. Albus saying to Scorpius that Voldemort can’t have a kind son/daughter just doesn’t ring true. There have been many kind people in real life who have had bad parents. Delphi may have turned out to be kind as well, but she might have been brainwashed by the Rowles who are ex-Death Eaters.
5) One pet peeve: What's up with them using "Dumbledore" the way we'd use "God"? It seems to have taken the place of the book phrases "Merlin/Merlin's beard/Merlin's pants” etc. which are funny and make sense. But in my opinion saying "Thank Dumbledore" just sounds bizarre. Using “Potter” as a curse word in the dark timeline is equally strange.
6) So there was still that weird scene where clearly Ron and Hermione are still in love or are supposed to be? Which would be sweet if he didn't have a wife (Padma) and a child but instead was just uncomfortable and inappropriate. As a side note, I do kind of want to see little Panju.
7) The scenes from the books, like boarding the Hogwarts Express and Harry’s dreams are slightly different than the books. It’s not that important, but I’m just pointing it out.
8) When Albus tries to get his broom to go up, it doesn’t work for him. But it’s strange that he’s the only one. In book 1 with Harry there were a few people whose broom just stayed on the ground. Everyone’s brooms going up except Albus’s is kind of exaggerated. He shouldn’t be the only one having trouble.
9) The lines of Ludo Bagman and the audience at the Triwizard Tournament were so CHEESEY and awful. Ludo didn’t sound like himself with those dumb puns and comments. “Krazy Krum?” “Don’t hurt Cedric, Mr. Dragon!” Seriously?
10) This is my opinion, but ‘engorgimpressed’ and ‘discombobulated’ are weird words. Also “Squeak, my geekiness is a-quivering?” No fourteen-year-old talks like that.
11) Why would Albus need to eat chocolate after coming back from the past? He only broke his arm. Chocolate is for dementors. Madam Pomfrey would know that he wasn’t attacked by dementors. It just seems it was written in, because “hey, look, remember this from the Harry Potter books?”
12) In the dark timeline Ron and Hermione don’t even attempt to fight off the dementors. Snape doesn’t try either. This really bugs me. Why don’t they do a Patronus Charm and then head back to the room under the Willow? Or everyone stays together and casts four Patronuses that circle around them while they walk to the lake. It seems that Ron, Hermione and Snape’s deaths were unneeded. If they’d gone down putting up a fight, it would be different…
13) Why does Draco’s dad want a Time Turner, but he doesn’t want to use it? What if Theodore Nott decided after making the Time Turner: “hey, I’m going to use this ultra-powerful Time Turner for myself”?
I've compiled several Reddit comments and comments from elsewhere that point out all the issues of the play. I added my own thoughts and other observations I had while reading the script as well. It’s really LONG, but I hope you read it all.
I did enjoy reading the script though, but I won’t read it again. This could have been a good story on its own if it didn’t have anything to do with Harry Potter.
BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!
Introduction
There are several problems with the play. I think all of them stem from the main one - the plot. Time travel to change and then prevent changed past as well as court hearing that examines character's past are an overused tools of TV shows. Tools to make easy filler episodes. They never move the story forward and are just a side steps with many "what ifs". And the play's story never moves, it's just old characters reliving past events. And this is why it feels like a bad fanfic - many fanfic authors reuse old plot points ad naseum. Stories progress only when new things happen, not when old stuff is relived and is allowed to proceed.
And it seems that story was constructed to produce as many twists and cheap thrills as possible using easiest writer tool. An emotional part of the ending was nice, but I would be glad if the same conclusion was reached with, you know, actual original story. How about actually seeing what the future ministry and Hogwarts are like? New policies at the ministry? New teachers and classes at Hogwarts for example? We never got to see anything about them, because we were stuck in the past reliving the same plot lines which were resolved nicely in the books!
I don't know how many times Voldemort needs to be resurrected, to be honest. We don't really need him as a super villain anymore! Couldn't Jo just leave the whole Voldemort thing out, as it's over and done with, and create a new villain brewing from the darkness? Dumbledore defeated the previous super villain, Grindelwald and that was that. He died and stayed dead. Instead of going back and bringing up old villains that have already been dealt with which brings the plot nowhere. There is almost no character growth whatsoever. It's just a load of action and OMG revelation moments that don't really add to the depth of the established canon.
I would've been happy to watch a play about middle aged Ron, Harry and Hermione grappling with middle age problems while a new species of evil lurks somewhere while following the adventures of Scorpius, Rose and Albus. Something like that could've even spawned a new series which focuses on new but still relevant characters without rewriting anything about the old characters.
Another thing I want to point out though is why I think it reads like bad fanfiction: it's not just the plot points, it's how characters talk about past events that bugs me. It's like they've all read the Harry Potter books and know the summaries of them, not like they are in the world within those books. That's what bad fanfic writers do, because they are readers of the HP series, and thus know greater detail about the world and characters (and HP fans) than the characters themselves can know.
For example, Scorpius and Albus know so much about Cedric's every move from the Triwizard Tournament, more than I'd expect them to know just from passing stories from their parents. Why would they know all of that? Also, when they are talking about why Ron and Hermione don't get together in the messed up timeline, why do they know so much about the dating lives of Albus' uncle and aunt? Like, I can imagine Ron and Hermione reminiscing about Yule Ball with their own kids, but would they tell details about who was dating whom and boring teen drama that happened decades ago? It just seemed like every time one of the children talked about past events or met characters from that time period, they knew too much about it, like they had read the HP series for a history class or something. And they treat intimate details about the original characters like common knowledge, with no room for the new characters' discoveries or perspectives.
Time Turner Plot Holes
1) In Prisoner of Azkaban the time travel was perfect. There's a single timeline and when Hermione or Harry and Hermione go back in time they join the past - i.e. what they do has already happened, and in fact Harry comments at one point that he knows it happened because he saw it happened. This is how single-timeline time travel works. Going back in time doesn't alter the past, present, or future because what you do has already happened.
Then in the Cursed Child they decide that going back in time does change the past, either because the playwright apparently didn't understand the brilliant time travel in Prisoner of Azkaban, or he didn't care. So suddenly we go from single-timeline time travel to multiple-timeline time travel, a la The Butterfly Effect, which by the way means that they never go back to the original timeline.
2) On Pottermore it was stated that you could go back 5 hours with the old Time Turners. If you tried to go back further, it would result in the death of the user and people being unborn. This also explained why nobody could go back in time and kill Voldemort when he was a child for example. Now with the new Time Turner existing, everyone is going to point this out once again. The trials Harry went through can just be undone. Also with the new Time Turner you can go back as far as you want and it isn’t single-timeline travel anymore. It’s not possible that two different time travel methods exist in one universe (single-timeline travel and multiple timelines/Butterfly effect).
3) Surprise! Yes, the Time-Turners were all destroyed, but what if - gasp! - the baddies made a new one?! The ministry of magic must have spent tons of time developing the Time Turner of Prisoner of Azkaban in the Department of Mysteries. How can one guy, all on his own, develop a ‘better’ Time Turner without the people and the resources from the ministry to help him?
4) Draco: "oh look, I had a time turner the whole time and it's an even better version. How convenient!” It’s a deus ex machina that he conveniently had a perfect version of the Time Turner at the end. Why not use it earlier to go back in time and take the 5-minute Time Turner from Albus and Scorpius?
5) The idea that Scorpius and Albus can do their thing with burning holes in the blanket and Harry will see it in the future and be able to travel back in time before Delphi makes her move on Voldemort doesn't make sense. Time travel logic doesn't work like that, not even through magic. Whatever Delphi did would have also taken effect in the future where Harry sees the writing on the blanket.
6) EVEN IF HARRY HAD DIED AND VOLDEMORT HAD WON THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS SNAPE WOULD BE DEAD! Voldemort killed Snape because he was convinced that the Elder Wand answered to him after killing Dumbledore. Neville's dying did not change the wand's alliance to Voldemort, and Harry would have died after Snape regardless, as per Deathly Hallows' normal timeline. The only thing that changed in the "Voldemort and Valor" universe is that Neville didn't kill Nagini, but Nagini kills Snape prior to when her death is supposed to happen, so Snape should have died anyway.
7) If Voldemort killed Harry in the darkest timeline, he would’ve had to kill Harry at least twice, because Harry is protected by his mother’s sacrifice which also lingers in Voldemort because he used Harry’s blood. Harry would’ve come back to life the first time.
Major plot holes
1) How is Harry's scar even hurting him?! The horcrux inside him was destroyed?! So shouldn't that not even be a remote possibility?! Why was Harry able to speak Parseltongue again? He could only speak it because a part of Voldemort lived in him. And the explanation at the end of the play is bullshit. “I needed to get rid of Voldemort mentally”. He already did! The piece of soul of Voldemort isn’t something physical, it’s something mental that defines you. The only reason these things happened was for the plot.
2) Why are the werewolves and giants on the move? What were they doing? Apparently this is because of Delphi, because the giants have wing tattoos on their backs. But Delphi never does anything with them and it remains unexplained. Btw, how did Delphi put a tattoo on those giants’ backs?
3) The trolley witch being some kind of veela monster and growing spikes from her hands? Being over 200 years old? Exploding candy? All the people who have accidentally dropped their Pumpkin Pasty and it exploded on them, rest in peace. She was just a nice lady selling sweets on the train.
4) TROLLEY WITCH: “Never - never - have I let anyone off this train before they reached their destination.” I guess she's forgetting about Harry's seventh year when multiple students were taken off the Hogwarts Express. What about preventing the dementors from boarding the train in book 3?
5) And why are the only people who have attempted to get off the train people we know? (Sirius, James etc.) Couldn’t some unknown student have tried as well? Anyway, Sirius and James are talented Animagi and Fred and George are smart as well. If they didn’t manage to get off the train, why do Albus and Scorpius manage it by simply jumping off?
6) When they had the bit about Lily taking Harry out in the pram I was like "Wait, what?" What about the Fidelius Charm?? They were in hiding! It would have been dangerous to do that and then anyone could attack them!
7) There is no way Albus and Scorpius (or any character except perhaps Harry) would have been able to see James and Lily's house, and James and Lily couldn't have taken a walk. They were under the Fidelius Charm at that time- they could not leave and the house could not be seen, and as both Peter and Sirius are long dead before Scorpius and Albus are born, there is no way in any world that they would be able to perceive the Potter house in Godric's Hollow. We hear about how frustrated James was about being "cooped up" in the series so it's pretty clear he couldn't just take walks. And with all of that, they definitely would not be able to break in to get the blanket.
8) Albus talks about brewing up some Polyjuice Potion because Bathilda Bagshot probably has the ingredients...? It takes a month! Plus, Bathilda Bagshot is an historian, not a potioneer- why would she have exceptionally rare ingredients lying around? (Demiguise is what some invisibility cloaks are made of, Fantastic Beasts establishes their rarity and difficulty to hunt). Why not just make it a more common ingredient that reacts?
9) Once everyone was back in 1981 near the end of the story, they assumed that Delphi was going to go murder Harry before Voldemort to prevent the curse from rebounding. Okay. But if that was her plan, how would she have found their house? Pettigrew never told her where it was so the Fidelius Charm would still be in place. Hermione never thought about that? What the hell?
10) Where the hell did the second prophecy about Voldemort come from?! It’s also kind of cliché that there’s ANOTHER prophecy about Voldemort.
11) Why wasn't Sirius mentioned as being at the Potters the night they were killed? He ought to have been there to give Hagrid his motorcycle!
12) When Scorpius gets out of the lake and pretends he lost the Time Turner, Harry or anyone else could have said “Accio Time Turner!”, to get the Time Turner back! No need to drain the lake and the whole Delphi going back in time plot would’ve been prevented.
13) When Albus and Scorpius come back from their first time travel, they ask Delphi what's changed. Now we've already established that by Prisoner of Azkaban time travel rules, nothing could be changed because it would have already been changed, but even if we were going by Back to the Future 2 time travel rules, Delphi couldn't have known what has changed because she would have changed too with the rest of the time stream. This happens a few times throughout their time jumps and it just doesn't make sense.
14) At the time Scorpius, Delphi and Albus try to infiltrate the ministry and they make Polyjuice potion to imitate Hermione, Harry and Ron. How the hell did they get bits of off them to use them in the potion?
15) Apparently Scorpius knows that Lily’s Patronus was a doe, but when Snape shows his Patronus Scorpius is surprised it’s the same as Lily’s. So he doesn’t know about that? And how would Scorpius know about Lily’s Patronus unless Albus told him about it? Didn’t Albus tell him the whole story? As I’ve said the characters seem to know way too much about their parents’ lives, but here is one inconsistency.
16) That rumour about Scorpius being Voldemort’s son, because Draco went back in time to collect Voldy’s sperm? It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Where the hell did that rumour even come from? People only knew about the old Time Turners, the ones that go back 5 hours. So why would they create/believe such a rumour? They would know it’s not possible that Draco could go back so far in time with those Time Turners. The new Time Turners were only discovered later in the play and not a lot of people knew about them.
17) How did Delphi learn to fly without a broomstick? Voldemort invented that spell/magic himself and he was the only one who could use it until he taught it to Snape, his right-hand man. Voldemort and Snape are both dead, so who taught it to her?
18) Fake Moody was keeping a lookout at the Triwizard Tournament. He never saw Scorpius or Albus running around, especially in the maze, with his magical eye?
Voldemort & Bellatrix
1) Does anyone else realize that Bellatrix had to have been massively pregnant during some of the most crucial moments in Deathly Hallows? How did no one notice, how did no one know? Not even her sister? Or Draco?
2) Why would Voldemort want an heir? He expected to live forever. He would be his own legacy, so he wouldn’t need a child. And the Voldemort I've always imagined would hate the idea of a child - he's incapable of love, and would never want to share power with someone else. Voldemort does not do love, intimacy or human relationships. Even if it is meaningless sex, I can't see him... in such close contact with, or holding anyone, get it? Argh. I can believe it if Voldemort had a baby when he was a handsome young lad, but as an adult, no, because - "There wasn't enough human left in him", remember?
Acting out of character
1) Harry having suffered much abuse by his aunt and uncle tells his own child that he is unwanted? Just no. Harry, who had no friends growing up, forbids his son from seeing his only friend? Harry, who endured Umbridge's regime in book 5, imposes Umbridge-like surveillance on his son? Harry, who told Lupin off for wanting to abandon his own kid in Deathly Hallows, tells his son that he sometimes wishes he weren't his son?
2) Harry: There's NO EXPLANATION for why his personality would be affected besides "lol time travel" and he's suddenly a horrifying, abusive, creepy father who goes completely off the deep end. Telling your son that he can't talk to his literal only friend? Grounding him to his room at boarding school? Having his headmistress (who apparently has nothing better to do) literally stalk his every move??? Rearrange the entire year's schedules so Slytherin and Gryffindor didn't have classes together??? Threatening McGonagall with the ministry?? He was a completely different person in the worst possible way.
3) This is all because apparently Harry misinterprets advice from Dumbledore’s portrait in the worst way (because he’s that dumb in the play) and takes divination from centaurs seriously. Harry would never take divination from centaurs that seriously. He knows from following Divination that you rarely predict something real and Firenze told Harry’s class that divination from centaurs was often wrong as well. I didn’t see Harry freaking out in book 1 when the centaurs were predicting stuff.
4) McGonagall: “Because far be it from me to doubt the wisdom of the centaurs…” Um, since when does McGonagall trust the wisdom of the centaurs? She thinks Divination is rubbish and that there are few true Seers out there.
5) Something that amuses me about the play is that even going on 40, Harry still reacts to trouble the same as ever:
Harry: "The Malfoys are to blame!!!"
Everyone: "Harry no!"
Harry: "Harry YES!"
Some things never change... It's like her characters haven't evolved as real people and still keep the same character flaws as adults they had in their teens (according to the play writer).
6) Albus and Scorpius are BFFs and Harry tries to separate the two. Harry and Draco do not like each other. I'm not sure that's even consistent with the end of Deathly Hallows and Harry's growth as a character in the original series. The epilogue shows Harry being civil and acknowledging Draco on platform 9 3/4. Harry himself had been through a lot and had had to learn to accept or trust people he didn't like (like Snape, whom he named his child after!). Now if he's got something against A CHILD, that just kills all of his previous character development.
7) People believe that Draco's son is actually Voldemort's son because Draco went back in time for no other purpose but to collect Voldemort's sperm - by who-knows-WHAT means! And Harry, who's been a victim of gossip and rumour and ought to know it's bullshit by now... is the biggest dupe of all! It’s strange because in the beginning of the play he didn’t care about the rumours and then all of a sudden he does.
8) Everyone still hating on Slytherin after 20 years. Albus being sorted into Slytherin and subsequently bullied to the point of despair despite the fact that it's 2016 and we know Houses aren't that one-dimensional anymore. Weren’t the houses going to be more tolerant of each other and change, compared to 20 years ago?
9) Rose not being friends with Albus just because he’s in Slytherin. Rose Granger-Weasley being so incredibly ignorant that she straight-up shuts out her cousin and best friend FOR FOUR YEARS because God forbid he befriends a nerdy boy on the train on his first day at school. And I just can't imagine Hermione would raise a daughter who would ignore her cousin just because he was sorted into Slytherin. Not when she struggled in the past with Mudblood naming insults and fought so hard to free elves. Ron and Hermione would have raised Rose to accept Albus even if he was in Slytherin and to stick up for him.
10) I can’t believe that Albus gets bullied and Rose ignores him for FOUR years and that no one has stepped in yet or tried to help Albus. Shouldn’t Harry and Ginny have helped Albus or asked what was wrong after a year or two? Okay, they did, but not enough in my opinion. Ron and Hermione should’ve reprimanded Rose already. What happened in family gatherings? How can Rose and Albus pretend to be civil to each other for four years except at Hogwarts? Someone should have noticed something. What about James? We don’t even see him in the play! He might have a laugh at Albus first because he was in Slytherin, but after a while he would have stood up for him I think.
11) Ron was just being comedic relief without his depth he had in the books. Ron was funny in the books, but it wasn’t always because he was constantly spouting dumb jokes every few minutes. He had his serious moments. Now he acts like a dumb buffoon. Not knowing how to use Floo Powder and using his wand the wrong way? Ron isn’t that stupid. And Ron was so drunk at his wedding he doesn't even remember getting married?? He would never be that disrespectful. I don’t think he would ruin such an important moment in his life with Hermione.
12) So Ron is just casually distributing love potions impetuously. After his experience with them, surely it'd be more characteristic of him to be apprehensive and not just flippantly give one to his best friend's son as a joke?
13) That is not even fanfiction Snape. That is straight up someone else who had a personality transplant. A brave man yes, but a vindictive mean bully with emotional baggage such as bad childhood /obsession with dark arts/death eater/losing love of his life/playing spy/killing Dumbledore/losing the war with death of the one boy who he protected all his life? Now he suddenly has conversations and jokes with no sarcasm with Ron and Hermione??? Not even the tiniest bit similar. Just before Voldemort killed Snape in the normal timeline, he was still the same as ever. (Still doesn’t make sense how Snape’s alive now).
14) Does anyone else feel like Snape's lines are too much out of character? Would he really say something like "Tell Harry I'm proud his son bears my name"? I don't think so. I also don't think he would ever say something as dramatic as "I could not save Lily but I could help fight for the side she supported", especially to Scorpius (whom he barely knows). That's just ridiculous.
15) Hermione: They at least explained why she and Ron didn't get married, I guess, but I have an extremely hard time believing two best friends of many, many years only got together because Ron was jealous that one time. Just because of that one incident they don’t get together? Weird. I think they would’ve gotten together sooner or later regardless of that moment. Otherwise, it seems Ron and Hermione’s relationship was really shallow. (Which it isn’t in the books).
16) And that scene with Hermione and Ron in the dark timeline - assuring themselves that they are still friends? This is the stuff of bad romcoms. But the idea that her not marrying Ron directly leads to her becoming Snape instead of Minister is infuriating. Her being literally so bitter about not getting together with him that she just picks up a job at Hogwarts where she can bully kids is the worst possible thing that could happen to my favourite character and one of the strongest, most well-developed female characters in literature. Hermione isn’t dependant on a man (Ron) for her happiness. She would’ve moved on eventually.
17) Cedric being humiliated by a floating bubble head charm would not turn him into a death eater!!! He was a genuinely nice guy... There's just... there's no way. This goes against Cedric’s character: he was hardworking, loyal and kind. He wouldn’t turn into a Death Eater just because he was humiliated once or twice.
18) It seems very strange to me that Mr Diggory asked Harry to bring Cedric back. He seemed to have accepted his death in book 4 and surely he knows that changing the past is an incredibly risky and dangerous thing to do? Mr Diggory worked for the Ministry, surely he knows that Time Turners are restricted for good reason?
19) How come everyone in the Voldemort and Valor universe are totally cool with saying Voldemort? He's still alive in this universe right? SO why the hell is he suddenly cool with people using his name? Does he go by Tom, now? Ugh. Didn’t everyone who was afraid of him address him as You-Know-Who? The Death Eaters never addressed him by name; it was always “the Dark Lord”.
Minor plot holes
1) Even more importantly, how in god's name have no measures been put in place to counteract the threat of polyjuice impersonation? The woman who heads up the ministry broke into the ministry as a child with the help of its transformative properties. You'd think she of all people would be very much aware of the need for security policy that neutralizes that threat.
•More importantly still, why is her office door still able to open with Alohamora? I would expect more security for the minister’s office.
•Also wouldn’t the Time Turner be kept in the Department of Mysteries? That’s a much safer and secure place. At least McGonagall tells Hermione how stupid she is for keeping it in a bookcase in her office. Hermione is normally smarter than this.
2) Scorpius knows the exact reactions of potion ingredients in his fourth year? Wouldn’t that be more for O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. levels?
3) Harry leaves the ministry with the telephone box. But isn’t that the visitors entrance? As a regular employee, shouldn’t he be using the fireplaces or Disapparating?
4) Harry knows Albus and Scorpius are in the Forbidden Forest because of some random dream he had, which is so convenient. He shouldn’t even know because normally his scar shouldn’t hurt anymore and if it did, he would be having dreams about Voldemort, not them.
5) Didn’t anyone see Albus use Expelliarmus on Cedric? He was standing near Hermione and the crowd. Wouldn’t ministry wizards recognize that as a disarming spell from someone in the crowd?
6) Scorpius and Albus wouldn’t be able to pass for Durmstrang students because they’re too young. The Durmstrang students were all seventeen or older, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to put their names in the Goblet of Fire. Scorpius and Albus are only fourteen. They would look out of place.
7) Okay, when Harry and Draco are duelling, Draco uses the spell Levicorpus. How would he know that spell? Harry discovered it in Snape’s potion book and he only told his friends about it. The spell was used during the time Snape, Sirius and James were at school, but then it went out of fashion. Maybe Snape taught it to Draco…
8) I didn’t really understand the part where Albus and Scorpius get to the lake from Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. How can they go through a sink to the lake? And is this the bathroom with the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets? Why would there be two sinks with two special entrances in one room? How did Albus get the gillyweed?
9) Albus and Scorpius use an Engorgement Charm on Cedric in the lake, but then Cederic floats out of the water. Don’t Engorgement charms just make their subjects bigger? I don’t think they make their subjects float as well. Hagrid’s pumpkins and the spiders from Moody didn’t float away.
10) The hedge apparently tries to dissect Albus and Scorpius in the maze. This the movie hedge. In book 4 the hedges don’t do anything. I thought the play was supposed to be a continuation of the books? Also, they shouldn’t be able to hear Ludo Bagman commentating, because the hedge in the books blocks out all the noise from outside the maze. Harry notices it when he steps into the maze.
11) How can the Time Turner go from the 1995 Triwizard Tournament maze to 1981 Hogwarts? Every time the 5-minute limit was passed, the Time Turner returned to the present. Then you’d have the chance to go back in the past again. You can’t go from one moment in the past to another moment in the past.
12) I know you can Transfigure parts of your appearance, but it’s a bit of a stretch to able to transform Harry into Voldemort. In Deathly Hallows, Hermione changed Ron’s hair and gave him a beard. You know, small stuff. But to change your whole body and the shape of your head, nose and eyes with Transfiguration? If that were possible, there would be no need for Polyjuice Potion! Also, wouldn’t Harry need Voldemort’s clothes?
13) Why does Harry get disarmed so easily by Delphi? He can’t be such a pathetic fighter. He was the best in Defence against the Dark Arts and now he’s an Auror with multiple years of combat experience!
14) Harry says to Delphi he never fought alone. Uh, yes he did sometimes. What about facing Quirrel, the Tom Riddle memory and Voldemort in the graveyard? Of course his friends helped him, but some things he did alone. He even starts yelling about all of it to Ron and Hermione in book 5, I believe.
Other stuff
1) Seems like no one is bringing up the fact that Albus snogged Hermione, while transformed as Ron, multiple times. Like full-on tongue? I wonder what her reaction would be if she found out? What would the whole family's reaction be?
2) Anyone here who's a bit disappointed that they killed off Astoria, who seems like a genuinely good person that Draco loved very much? We didn’t get to see what she was like as a person.
3) Is Harry's boggart a pigeon now? Since when has Harry been afraid of pigeons? They just threw a random pigeon arc in there. I don't recall a pigeon ever coming up in any of the original series. Maybe he was joking when he said that to Albus…
4) Just because Delphi is Voldemort's daughter doesn't mean she had to automatically be loyal to him and be evil. Albus saying to Scorpius that Voldemort can’t have a kind son/daughter just doesn’t ring true. There have been many kind people in real life who have had bad parents. Delphi may have turned out to be kind as well, but she might have been brainwashed by the Rowles who are ex-Death Eaters.
5) One pet peeve: What's up with them using "Dumbledore" the way we'd use "God"? It seems to have taken the place of the book phrases "Merlin/Merlin's beard/Merlin's pants” etc. which are funny and make sense. But in my opinion saying "Thank Dumbledore" just sounds bizarre. Using “Potter” as a curse word in the dark timeline is equally strange.
6) So there was still that weird scene where clearly Ron and Hermione are still in love or are supposed to be? Which would be sweet if he didn't have a wife (Padma) and a child but instead was just uncomfortable and inappropriate. As a side note, I do kind of want to see little Panju.
7) The scenes from the books, like boarding the Hogwarts Express and Harry’s dreams are slightly different than the books. It’s not that important, but I’m just pointing it out.
8) When Albus tries to get his broom to go up, it doesn’t work for him. But it’s strange that he’s the only one. In book 1 with Harry there were a few people whose broom just stayed on the ground. Everyone’s brooms going up except Albus’s is kind of exaggerated. He shouldn’t be the only one having trouble.
9) The lines of Ludo Bagman and the audience at the Triwizard Tournament were so CHEESEY and awful. Ludo didn’t sound like himself with those dumb puns and comments. “Krazy Krum?” “Don’t hurt Cedric, Mr. Dragon!” Seriously?
10) This is my opinion, but ‘engorgimpressed’ and ‘discombobulated’ are weird words. Also “Squeak, my geekiness is a-quivering?” No fourteen-year-old talks like that.
11) Why would Albus need to eat chocolate after coming back from the past? He only broke his arm. Chocolate is for dementors. Madam Pomfrey would know that he wasn’t attacked by dementors. It just seems it was written in, because “hey, look, remember this from the Harry Potter books?”
12) In the dark timeline Ron and Hermione don’t even attempt to fight off the dementors. Snape doesn’t try either. This really bugs me. Why don’t they do a Patronus Charm and then head back to the room under the Willow? Or everyone stays together and casts four Patronuses that circle around them while they walk to the lake. It seems that Ron, Hermione and Snape’s deaths were unneeded. If they’d gone down putting up a fight, it would be different…
13) Why does Draco’s dad want a Time Turner, but he doesn’t want to use it? What if Theodore Nott decided after making the Time Turner: “hey, I’m going to use this ultra-powerful Time Turner for myself”?