To say it's been awhile is an understatement to most die-hard Harry Potter fans. It has been nearly a decade since the last book, which for many Potter-heads is half their life! So yeah, it's been awhile. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" has been in production for quite some time now and has been enjoyed by hundreds while on stage. If you haven't been able to make it to London though, there was some jealousy. So when the standalone script was published a lot of people were ecstatic. I moved into college the same day the script was released so I wasn't able to purchase and read it until just this weekend.

I often procrastinate and this is mainly done by going onto Tumblr, and because I am trash for Draco Malfoy, I did think I knew some things about the story. I was wrong. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" was a lot different than I thought it would be. This wasn't a good or bad thing, it was just different than I thought. Stating that, I really had nothing to go off of after I realized how wrong I was. Going off of the degrees of difference and before I start going into details, I would also like to address the flack I have seen about the style. I have been in theater for a long time and for some time, I was a paid production worker. Scripts are very different than novels. I think that is where a lot of the disappointment is coming from. People want and expect more detail, and that is just not what scripts are like. They cannot be too long, especially ones expected to be performed by people live. A huge part of theater is the actors, not only their ability to add to the text but their interpretation. So no, it won't be like a novel. Get over it.

Time Travel is a huge plot in "The Cursed Child." "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"has and will always be my least favorite, so I was a little apprehensive. I think the time travel in "The Cursed Child" is much more interesting, though. It felt 100 times less redundant than the third book. It creates whole different dimensions while in the other, it seemed boring. Well done.

I have never been a huge fan of Ron or Harry. I know, I know, then why do I even like the series? I don't know and that's not the point. "The Cursed Child"doesn't much make me think differently. Harry is kind of a shitty dad to be really frank. I guess he is just trying and all that shit, but like, a lot of the mayhem could have been avoided if Harry hadn't told his son he sometimes wishes he wasn't his son. Like that kind of sucks. My mom and I rarely saw eye to eye, especially when I was Albus' age, but I can't imagine a world where she would have said that to me. There was a distinct moment when both Ginny and Harry go off into danger for Albus ( I don't want to go too in depth to avoid spoilers) and like what about their other two children? I felt like they literally forgot these other two exist. I had flashbacks of when both Remus and Tonks died leaving Teddy an orphan. Ron is definitely not redeemed in my mind from this play. He is such a minor character there isn't even anything to say.

Hermione is flawless as ever, though. Homegirl becomes Minister of Magic. Glo up girl. I think she finally gets the respect she deserves. Even though Harry Potter is more famous, she is his boss. She also raises a daughter that is basically her and I love it. Bossy girls forever. Rose Granger-Weasley being just like Hermione gives Dramione lovers everywhere hope.

What a good time to transition to my baby, Draco. He redeems himself like I knew he could. Not to continue to drag Harry and Ron, but Draco is a much better father. Malfoy shows he is not only a loving husband but a doting father as well. He expresses his frustrations at being alone as a child. Some of his actions become understandable when he talks about his loneliness. He even admits to being jealous of the Golden Trio. He speaks more than Ron, and honestly, has more character development than anyone.

Finally, we have a Slytherin Potter. It wasn't surprising in the least when Albus was sent to sit with the Slytherins. Typical middle child move, to be honest, he is named after Snape, and the first five pages are basically him talking about being placed in Slytherin, so yeah, less than shocked. It definitely shows a progressive thinking in the Slytherin house, though. Albus was like all of Harry's character arcs in one. He was bratty, self-righteous, hero, and extremely loyal. I liked Albus more than I like Harry, I think.

Scorpius was basically a sad version of Hermione as a child. Albus makes a quip about taking Scorpius to a library if he is emotionally distressed, and I think that would pretty much be Hermione. There are a few times where Hermione and Scorpius answer at the same time. I think this is really nice, especially since Scorpius asks her daughter out at the end of the play. Although I do not expect more to follow this story, I think we could see a development of a mother-son relationship-ish between the Scorpion King and the Minister of Magic. This thought makes me happy.

Without saying too much, I had great hope for Delphi, and that hope was shattered. Although it was greatly foreshadowed, so again, not suprised.

I will definitely re-reading this play. The nature of the beast being that scripts go very quickly. I feel as if I missed a lot.

The theme that bullying and loneliness can drastically change the world holds true through this play. I think this would be a great read for small children to adults. Middle school parents might really want to share this one. I was very much a Scorpius in middle school and I wish my Polly Chapmans had read "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."