I had been waiting for this day for the last nine years — J.K. Rowling succumbing to pressure and writing another Harry Potter story. Imagine my glee when I realised that I would have the book in my hand an hour-and-a-half before (most) other Potterheads. I have never been so glad that my colleague, who would have been the one reading the review copy, was going on leave from that very day.
WHEN THE CLOCK STRUCK 10
As excited as I have been for every Harry Potter book release since I read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 1999, I didn’t mind that I had to travel all the way to Dalhousie (from the back of the Bypass beyond) on a Sunday morning to get my copy. I was supposed to pick the book up from Gillander House (even the name had a Harry Potter feel). I reached Dalhousie before 10am wearing my Deathly Hallows earrings (I had thought about carrying my Elder wand but decided it was too precious), but no matter who I asked, Gillander House like 12, Grimmauld Place seemed like a place unseen to Muggle eyes.
To cut a long story short I finally made it to the building only to get the Harry Potter feels again while climbing up the long, wide, circular and dark staircase to the distributor’s office. I can tell you I waited only till I sat in my Uber to open the book and from Act One, Scene One of Part One of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the script-book based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (Hachette India Rs 899), I was hooked.
I OPEN AT THE CLOSE
It was like looking into the pensieve as we jumped straight into the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — a 37-year-old Harry Potter with wife Ginny at King’s Cross Station to see their children James and Albus off to The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
And just like that you are pulled right back into the magic of the world Rowling gifted us in 1997, sometimes literally. Every Potterhead worth their grain will notice that Ginny and Harry’s advice to Albus on how to get onto Platform 9 3/4 is exactly the same as Molly Weasley’s to Harry in Philosopher’s Stone, when he boards the Hogwarts Express for the first time. You revisit the Triwizard Tournament. You return to Hogwarts and the Quidditch pitch. And old long-gone characters come back in goosebump-raising sequences.
The story unfolds at a breakneck speed zooming through four years and flipping between past and present in loops that could have left the reader dizzy but does not because, despite being a play (it is odd reading the set-up of a scene at the beginning of a chapter) it is held together perfectly with Rowling’s magic of storytelling. We are presented with different possibilities, that could have happened if things worked out differently than they did (many fan-fiction readers will find a lot to squeal about here) and some of those outcomes are dreadful. And not all that is evil stays in the past.
NINETEEN YEARS LATER
It is good to see that the kids you’ve loved have grown up to be exactly the kind of people you would want them to be. Hermione is Minister of Magic (fist pump!) while Ron has taken over the running of Weasley’s Wizarding Whizzes and is exactly the irreverent, lovable and easy-going joker you’d expect him to be. You would expect Hermione to tell Ron off for trying to fight her battles and melt when Ron says he wants to renew their marriage vows, just like you expect Ron to make it clear that he was not responsible for whatever bad thing that happened but standing by his friends anyway. And of course their children go by Granger-Weasley!
Ginny is a young Molly Weasley with the same quiet strength and holds the Potter family together. Harry is the hassled head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and hates the paperwork (but, of course he does) and though he tries, he is not so good at parenting, especially when it comes to Albus, who he struggles to reach out to. That does come as a surprise for fans, but at least it is not for the lack of trying.
POTTER BEFRIENDS MALFOY
This story is as much about Harry Potter and his world as it is about Harry’s second son Albus Severus Potter who struggles to live with the shadow cast by his famous father and the weight of the names he bears. Unlike his brother James, who is very much like his namesake, Harry’s father. Then imagine what happens when he gets sorted into Slytherin! A Potter in Slytherin, a failure at Quidditch (his broom wouldn’t even rise when he said ‘Up’!) and not good at spells — that would make any Potter angry and sulky, except you know what Potters are best at? Making friends and Albus is no different.
And his friend, according to me, is one of the best, if not the best, things about the script. Scorpius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy’s son, is a wise-cracking, sweet geek who tries to keep Albus out of trouble but ends up jumping into it with both feet. His pursuit of Rose Granger-Weasley, despite her very Hermione-like bossy rebuffs is so cute, you’re bound to go awwwwww.
Like Albus he has daddy issues, and is not upto accepting the Malfoy-things-to-do list. But while Albus wallows in his falling-out with his father, Scorpius, who loses his mother, deals with it and gets on with his life. Something not easy to do when there are rumours that you could be Voldemort’s child.
Then there is the mysterious, and alluring Delphi Diggory, a great addition with a nice twist.
WHO IS THE CURSED CHILD?
The story suffers from being in the script format where you hardly get to meet most of the characters for more than a couple of minutes and it lacks the depths that the seven books had. But it is ultimately a story familiar not just in terms of the magic but in terms of the themes it deals with — love, loss, acceptance, family legacies and, above all, friendship.
For this Harry Potter fan the book felt almost cathartic. It gave us the opportunity to say proper goodbyes to some of the people we lost so suddenly. Cedric Diggory, who now dies assured that his father loved him. Snape now dies the hero’s death he was meant to, as he gives up his soul to the dementors to save Scorpius. You cannot help but feel the prick of tears as Snape, “looking every inch a hero”, urges Scorpius to tell Albus that he is proud that Albus carries his name. Then there is Dumbledore finally owning up to his selfish behaviour, telling Harry that it was the fear of getting attached and feeling pain that kept him aloof. Dumbledore for the first time tells Harry that he loved him and it was love that made him push so hard.
And through it all it was friendship that triumphed every time. Whether it was Draco admitting he hated Harry, Ron and Hermione’s friendship more than anything. Or Harry saying aloud what we all knew, that he has “never fought alone... and never will”, acknowledging all his friends who had fought with him and those who had given their lives.
The one burning question — who is the cursed child, is something I’ve thought about for long and I still can’t decide who it means. There could be as many as three possibilities and what is this about Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange having a child? Just thinking about it made me want to shrivel up and die!
I didn’t want to turn the last page after four hours of shutting out the world. I am glad I got a chance to go back with this eighth story nineteen years later. But I still don’t want to say goodbye to Harry and his world.
Chandreyee Chatterjee
THE TEN PHASES OF THE CURSED CHILD CRAZE
Phase 1. Faking apathy. Oh great, there’s a Potter play hitting West End, that I won’t see for years. Another one for the interminable bucket list.
Phase 2. Curiosity. Oh a script for all the Potter fans who can’t travel to London, eh? Interesting.
Phase 3. Indecision. To preorder or not to preorder? I’ll make a decision when it hits the stores.
Phase 4. Stirred. Look at all these kids, they’re so happy. Let me rifle through this book. Potter junior and Malfoy junior are friends. What?!
Phase 5. Playing hooky. I don’t want to come in to work today… I have a terrible cold *cough cough* No, of course I’m not secretly reading the new Potter. I have fever.
Phase 6. Chilling with the old gang. Hermione is the coolest. Ron is the comical Weasley in the absence of the twins. Rose Granger-Weasley is so much like her mother; I’m reading her dialogues in Hermione’s voice. If Draco could take a leaf out of his son Scorpius’ book, I’d have despised him less. Albus Severus Potter is a Slytherin, but that’s not where the plot thickens.
Phase 7. Frantic. This script has as many twists and turns as the Triwizard maze which, incidentally, also makes an appearance.
Phase 8. Bewilderment. HOW are they pulling this off on stage… flying, alternative realities, transfiguring… someone buy me tickets already!
Phase 9. Fascination. There’s so much more to know. For instance, more on James Potter Jr who seems to have all the self-assurance of Grandpa James. More on Astoria Malfoy, who seems to have made Draco tolerable and her son a lovable dork. And MORE on this business of Voldemort and Bellatrix producing an heir… I mean whaaaaat? That has to be some serious dark magic and not just Voldy letting Batty Bella play out her sick fantasies on him.
Phase 10. Wailing. GIVE ME MOOOORRRREEEEE!
Ramona Sen
CURSED CHILD BREAKS NOTIONS
Getting my hands on a Harry Potter book on the day of its release is a first for me and needless to say, I was ecstatic. Just like all the previous books, the best part about reading Cursed Child is imagining all the shenanigans that Potter Jr. and Malfoy Jr. get up to. The fact that it’s a play script makes it an easy breezy read but it has some negatives as well, mainly the development of characters. While we are introduced to new characters it is seeing the old ones, especially those long gone, on page that gave me goosebumps.
The best thing about Cursed Child is that it breaks notions. Harry’s son Albus is sorted into Slytherin, not Gryffindor; he sucks at Quidditch; he’s best friends with a Malfoy (Scorpius, who is one of my new favourites); and he has some serious daddy issues. Scorpius, on the other hand, is a delight and is a mix of Hermione and Ron, the perfect combination of geeky and goofy. He’s had a hard life, being a Malfoy isn’t easy, and coupled with some personal tragedies he could have been a sulky teenager, but he fights that and is the perfect friend to the stubborn and hot-headed Albus.
The book takes us back to Hogwarts, Godric’s Hollow, The Ministry of Magic and most importantly, back to the magical world, both dark and wonderful. It is action-packed and the narrative makes my brain go haywire while I wonder, just how awesome it would be to witness the play! It’s definitely been added to my bucket list.
Deborima Ganguly
WHERE IS THE MAGIC?
This is certainly not what I thought I had in store when, overwhelmed at getting the book, I had tears in my eyes! Not a story that literally has no lesson to learn. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Unacceptable for a person belonging to a generation for whom the Harry Potter series served as a moral compass.
Things are thrown around and not explained. I still don’t have a clue about what an Augurey is! I am reeling with disappointment after turning the last page.
There is nothing happening in the book! Granted this is a play, but god lies in the details! Where are the details? Where are the thrills?
With a title so spectacular, the book promised to pack in so much punch. I get that the whole point of this story was only the father-son relationship. It was played out well, however Harry saying that he didn’t have a father to fall back upon and thus was always learning could’ve been said before. And cursed child? I hope it’s not Albus Severus Potter!
Oh no you don’t, Miss Rowling. You don’t give us teaser after teaser of a possible Voldemort comeback and then make it this disappointing! I demand explanations. I deserve explanations.
Riddhima Khanna
T2 TALK
You, the t2 reader, on your pottermania! write in to t2@abp.in
I was so not satisfied with the books and movies that I decided to take it to a whole new level. I played the Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup daily on my PC and after that I was again busy exploring Hogwarts through Harry’s eyes to unlock every secret passageway in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a video game.
My favourite is from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the scene where Harry was riding Buckbeak. His happy “woo-hoo” gave me the goosebumps and the electrifying background music made it even better.
P.S: I wanted to be a Gryffindor but I got Ravenclaw on Pottermore (FML) (Share your Pottermania with us... July 31)
Soubhick Saha
I’m a Potterhead, so it’s mandatory to have some Pottermania stories. Here’s the list:
l Sorting random people into Hogwarts houses mentally. Even fictional characters! That’s the first thing I do when I meet new people.
• Re-enacting several HP scenes in crowded places with fellow Potterheads. Places including classrooms, stations and gatherings. *cue crazy stares*.
• I’ve argued and insulted people who think HP is just for kids and Potterheads are stupid, both online and in real life. I pity those who haven’t experienced the magic of HP.
• I’ve bought HP merchandise without my parents’ consent. Sadly I had to return a few of them because they were way too expensive. My mom went into a frenzy when I got the “Always” tattoo. She calmed down after learning it was a temporary one.
• When I was 14, there was a HP movie marathon on TV. I didn’t want to go to school but my parents were forcing me to and they put a lock in the TV room. So I took a bobby pin and broke the lock in
30-40 minutes. I basically became a burglar in my love for Harry Potter. Also got beaten for the ‘lock-breaking’ episode.
Angana Roy, Raja Narendralal Khan Women’s College
I remember the first time I had heard the name Harry Potter was when I was 10, and just could not fathom why my desk partner was hiding a book under her desk and sneaking peeks at it during an English lesson. Now I am just as much a crazy Potterhead and my Pottermania includes:
• Threatening my father that he won’t be allowed to enter the house unless he brought along a copy of the just-released Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He had to rush back out after coming back home tired when I found he hadn’t.
• Picking regular fights with people who said that HP was a waste of time and money.
• Almost ruining a vacation with incessant moaning and moping when I lost my Harry Potter book.
• Reading the entire series again during the final week leading up to my Class X boards.
Mum: I thought your syllabus includes Julius Caesar. Then why are you reading Harry Potter?
Me: For essays I need my imagination to work.
Mum: Harry won’t make you get a 90. (I had the last laugh. *wink*)
• Debated my time away with Dramione shippers. Harry and Hermione were meant to be together. Period.
• The most recent: Coerced the beau, who now lives away, into getting his ass off the couch and visit a bookstore, instead of getting the Kindle version. Harry Potter books are meant to be lovingly held in one’s hands, the intoxicating smell of the book invading the senses, and then read.
Susmita Bose
Here are some clear examples of my Pottermania:
• Me being in the library and picking up a book called Mapping the World of Harry Potter, which is a book of essays about Harry Potter written by authors of various fiction genres. Yes, I read commentaries on Harry Potter, which I enjoy!
• Hachette India gave a lifetime chance to win a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by writing on ‘what Harry Potter means to you’, and I wrote my heart out... hoping to get the book.
• There have been instances in my childhood when I used to have exams in August, and all the Harry Potter films would show on WB and HBO. My mom would not let me watch so I slipped into granny’s room to watch my wizard boy with a scar....!!
Indrila Basak (a Potterhead)
Pottermania is —
• Walking down Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley with the Elder Wand in your hand and jinxing someone. #TrueSlytherin
• Drinking Butterbeer and handing over Canary Creams to someone. #BecauseIAmEvil
• Wearing the old Peverell Invisibility Cloak and listening to discussions with Extendable Ears when excluded.
• Flaunting my Ilvermorny House Horned Serpent, and my copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
• Well, I already flaunted my Deathly Hallows necklace in school.
• Begging my sister to find a HP Slytherin tee.
• Making someone eat a Frog Spawn Soap or a Vomit flavoured Bertie Bott bean. Mwahahaha!
• Dreaming that I was on a Chocolate Frog card and could go to Ontario to visit the Wizarding World.
• Wishing I could really speak to snakes.
• Reading t2 about spoilers!
Ankita Bal
Harry Potter books have ALWAYS been the key to happiness in my darkest times. Under my parents’ compulsion I read in a Calcutta school, but the ‘real’ me is out there in HOGWARTS, my second home. I have learnt about the philosophy of life from Dumbledore, friendship from the Harry-Hermione-Ron trio, true love from Snape (my favourite character) and so many other things that’s too long for me to list here. Harry Potter flows through my blood running through my veins.
P.S: A heartful thank you to the Daily Prophet — t2, for keeping me updated about the wizarding world.
Debanjana Banerjee,
National Gems H.S. School
HARRY POTTER GO? YO!
Ever since Pokemon Go has taken over our lives, we the Potterheads haven’t been able to stop thinking about how magical it would be if we could get a Harry Potter Go app. Harry Potter fans, started the hashtag
#WeNeedHarry PotterGo. And now with the buzz that the guys behind Pokemon Go are working on a Harry Potter Go, we of course started thinking about everything that could happen once we hit the streets with our wands, er, phones raised, even though there is no confirmation whether such a project is in development yet!
• Bumping into a fellow wizard on the street and going “Hey! I am Annie and I am a Ravenclaw” wouldn’t sound strange anymore.
• Trying out different wands before your own chooses you.
• Wizarding duels would be a real thing! Our phones will become our wands, literally. Expelliarmus anyone?
• Catching a Hippogriff? Woah! Wouldn’t that be just the coolest thing ever? #Feels
• I know Pottermore sorts us into houses, but wouldn’t it just be a little more exciting to have a place in your para where fellow wizards could just visit and get sorted? It would be a great way to make friends!
• Making potions might become even more fun, if we have to go on a treasure hunt for the Ashwinders eggs to make that Amortentia potion?
• Also, there might be challenges and ceremonies. Say, that a real-life Yule Ball takes place in your para pandal, attending which will give you more XPs and points or maybe even a Triwizard Tournament.
• Everyone gets assigned challenges on a per day/ per week basis. Prank someone Fred and George-style? Learn to be an animagus. The possibilities are absolutely endless.
• Fight Lord Voldemort.
’Nuff said.
Sulogna Ghosh
