As a huge "Harry Potter" fan, I waited desperately for the release of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" full screenplay. I got it for my Kindle app and started reading. As I was working it took a little while to read it, and I was delighted throughout most of it. I loved every second of it, until the very end. Before I move any further, I have one statement:
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. Read at your own risk.
The relationship between Albus and Scorpius made an impact on me from the very first time they met, and I was extremely disappointed by the end of the play.
1. First conversation
Their relationship starts with what seems like love at first sight, "SCORPIUS and ALBUS look at each other and something passes between them" (p. 18). In this very moment, I looked up from my phone and looked around me, hoping someone was there I could talk with. Sadly, I was in my dorm room alone in the middle of the night, so I just turned back to my book. Like any other LGBT Harry Potter fan, I've been hoping for a LGBT character for... well, since I started to read the books. Dumbledore just isn't cutting it anymore -- we need more representation than just an afterthought. #DumbledoreIsNotEnough
2. Hugs
Okay, this might seem like nothing, but Albus and Scorpius's hugs are adorably awkward. "ALBUS hugs his friend. With fierceness. They hold for a beat. SCORPIUS is surprised by this" (p. 43). The first hug took Scorpius by surprise, which led him to ask what was even happening. He didn't seem to not want it, though! An important hug happened a little later on, after Scorpius thought he lost Albus in an alternate universe, "SCORPIUS: You have no idea how good it is to see you again.
"ALBUS: You just saw me two minutes ago.
"SCORPIUS hugs ALBUS in the water, a difficult task.
"SCORPIUS: A lot has happened since then" (p. 145). And finally, the last hug which left everyone wanting more, "ALBUS: I know, I think it's a bonding thing or something similarly vomit-inducing. Still, you know, I think I'll go.
"SCORPIUS reaches in and hugs ALBUS.
"ALBUS: What's this? I thought we decided we don't hug.
"SCORPIUS: I wasn't sure. Whether we should. In this new version of us -- I had in my head" (p. 215). After this, readers thought for sure that Albus and Scorpius would get together. I mean, come on, "In this new version of us -- I had in my head?" What else could this new version be?
3. Jumping off trains
"He looks down desperately after his friend. He looks at the approaching TROLLEY WITCH. Her hair wild. her spikes particularly spiky.
"Well, as fun as you clearly look, I have to go after my friend.
"He pinches his nose, he jumps after ALBUS, incanting as he goes.
"Molliare" (p. 47.). IT'S CRAZY! Scorpius knew his friend wouldn't make it without him, and if he had just turned back to the Trolley Witch, she would have gone back to normal and helped him back into the train. As a completely logical person, Scorpius knows he should not have jumped, but he did. Love makes us all blind.
4. Harry tells Albus to stay away from Scorpius
In an alternate universe after Albus and Scorpius change time, Harry asks Albus to stop seeing Scorpius, "ALBUS: My best friend? My only friend?
"HARRY: He's dangerous.
"ALBUS: Scorpius? Dangerous? Have you met him? Dad, if you honestly think he's the son of Voldemort..." (p. 87). From there, Scorpius and Albus are described as lost and heartbroken, "ALBUS: Just -- we'll be better off without each other, okay?
"SCORPIUS is left looking up after him. Heartbroken" (p. 91). Due to their not being friends, even if it is for a short period of time, they're both broken, "ALBUS enters and walks up one staircase.
"SCORPIUS enters and walks up another.
"The staircases meet. The two boys look at each other.
"Lost and hopeful -- all at once.
"And then ALBUS looks away and the moment is broken -- and with it, possibly, the friendship.
"And now the staircases part -- the two look at each other -- one full of guilt -- the other full of pain -- both full of unhappiness" (p. 96). This moment was big for me. I thought for sure that they would end up together because of this scene. Albus is filled with guilt, Scorpius with pain and it's pretty obvious to me at least that this is more than just a friendship.
5. Dementors
"SCORPIUS is helpless. Consumed by all the dementor is making him feel.
"One person. All it takes is one person. I couldn't save Harry for Lily. So now I give my allegiance to the cause she believed in. And it's possible -- that along the way I started belieing in it myself.
"SCORPIUS smiles at SNAPE. He steps decisively away from the dementor" (p. 143). Once this happens, you'd think he would just forget about it, but no. He brought it up... to Albus, "When the dementors were -- inside my head -- Severus Snape told me to think of you" (p. 155). And it worked! Scorpius was able to get away from the dementors unscathed, thanks to him being helplessly in love with Albus er-- friends with Albus.
6. Delphi
Scorpius, Albus's best friend, is jealous of Delphi. Very jealous of Delphi, "SCORPIUS appears at the back of the stage. He looks at his friend talking to a girl -- and part of him likes it and part of him doesn't" (p. 74). The jealousy just keeps on brewing, "SCORPIUS isn't enjoying the DELPHI-ALBUS double act" (p. 75) and, to be honest, I wasn't either. Delphi notices this, and she also notices how close Albus and Scorpius are, because later when she needs to make Albus do her bidding, she knows who the threaten. Scorpius. "DELPHI: No. To fulfill the prophecy, this has to be on you, not a puppet of you. You have to be the one to humiliate Cedric, so Imperio just won't do it -- I'll have to force you by other means.
"She takes out her wand. She points it at ALBUS, who sticks his chin out.
" ALBUS: DO your worst.
"DELPHI looks at him. And then turns her wand on SCORPIUS.
"DELPHI: I will.
"ALBUS: No" (p. 166). Albus is a lot like his father here. Harry was always willing to risk his life for the greater good, but never the lives of those he loved, just like Albus here. No matter how many times Scorpius told him not to do anything, as soon as Delphi used Crucio on him, Albus cracked.
7. Act Four, Scene Five
I'm just going to drop this little nugget here, "ALBUS: As pleasurable as it will be to hide in a hole with you for the next forty years... they'll find us. And we'll die and time will be stuck in the wrong position. No. We need something we can control, something we know he'll get at exactly the right time. We need a --
"SCORPIUS: There's nothing. still, if I had to choose a companion to be at the return of eternal darkness with, I'd choose you" (p. 188). I'd like to begin by apologizing to all my friends, because I would not want to be stuck in a hole with them for 40 years. I couldn't do it. No one could do that. I could maybe tolerate being in a hole for 40 years, or seeing the end of the world with the love of my life, though. And that's a strong maybe.
Queer Baiting
Oh, you thought it would end there, didn't you? With me leaving you to think for yourself about what this means? Don't worry, I'll take it one step further and tell you what this is and what it means. This is queer baiting. Queer baiting is "a term used to describe the perceived attempt by canon creators to woo queer fans and/or slash fans, but with no intention of actually showing a gay relationship being consummated."Queer baiting happens in TV, movies and books, for the most part. Basically, it's teasing. Readers and viewers are teased with what seems like a perfectly cute and adorable LGBT couple, then at the very end it doesn't happen. Whether it's because one of them is hopelessly in love with the rudest person in the play (I'm looking at you, Rose Granger-Weasley!) or they just don't know how to pursue their feelings, they don't end up together. Even after three and a half acts of flirting, cute moments, "heartbreaking" scenes and fear of losing each other, canon creators choose to say it's friendship instead of actually having LGBT characters in a major play.
The fear of representing the LGBT community in media is, quite frankly, shit. Rowling can make Dumbledore gay as an afterthought in hopes of getting even more support, yet can't actually follow through with her support for the LGBT community by allowing a main character be in the LGBT community and actually be in a happy, safe and comfortable relationship. It made me think-- how would things have been different if either Albus or Scorpius were a girl? If they suddenly could have been in a hetero-normative relationship, how would things have turned out? We already know. We see it everywhere-- the guy always ends up with his best friend, so why didn't it happen here?
