Warning: There are huge spoilers if you have not read "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," the eighth story in the franchise is here, and it's a doozy.

Taking place 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the play follows the sons of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Albus and Scorpius, as they venture back in time to the events of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" using an illegal Time-Turner to save Cedric Diggory. (Yes, it's weird.)

The boys' manipulation of time results in changing the future, and, eventually, the deaths of some beloved characters in the present. 

This results in even more time-traveling adventures to fix all of the wrongs made to the present timeline. After a multitude of characters travel back in time three times, it all begins to get quite exhausting. 

Recently, in the midst of rereading the "Harry Potter" series, I noticed the entire plot of the play was something author J.K. Rowling first hinted at years ago in her third book, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." 

It's in that book readers are first introduced to the idea of time travel and Time-Turners. However, these Time-Turners worked a bit different. They needed to be manually spun and only sent the wearers back in time several hours as opposed to years.

Hermione received special permission to use them to maintain an exhausting school schedule with overlapping classes during her third year. Near the end of the books, she and Harry are encouraged by Dumbledore to use the Time-Turner to go back in time to save the hippogriff Buckbeak and Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. 

At one point, Harry asks Hermione if they could instead just go and capture Peter Pettigrew, the man responsible for their time-travel adventure, but she warns him of the dangers of going back in time.

From "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban":

Hermione: "Don't you understand? We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, nobody! You heard Dumbledore, if we're seen—"

Harry: "We'd only be seen by ourselves and Hagrid!"

Hermione: "Harry, what do you think you'd do if you saw yourself bursting into Hagrid's house?

Harry: "I'd — I'd think I'd gone mad or I'd think there was some Dark Magic going on —"

Hermione: "Exactly! You wouldn't understand, you might even attack yourself! Don't you see? Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time ... Loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!"

Reading this excerpt after knowing the plot of "Cursed Child" immediately made me think of how Albus's meddling in the past eventually led to the death of his future self. 

However, my colleague Kim Renfro points out Hermione was speaking only about what may happen if you were to be seen by yourself in the past. That's not what happens to Albus in "Cursed Child." Still, I interpreted Hermione's explanation to speak more about the dangers of time travel in general.

Regardless, Rowling later expanded upon Time-Turners in a since-deleted post on Pottermore where she had Professor Saul Croaker, a man who spent his career in the Department of Mysteries, divulge some details on his investigations into the device and its effects on time throughout history.

Here's an excerpt from that since-deleted post which has been archived on fan sites and forums. Via Reddit:

All attempts to travel back further than a few hours have resulted in catastrophic harm to the witch or wizard involved. It was not realised for many years why time travellers over great distances never survived their journeys. All such experiments have been abandoned since 1899, when Eloise Mintumble became trapped, for a period of five days, in the year 1402. Now we understand that her body had aged five centuries in its return to the present and, irreparably damaged, she died in St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries shortly after we managed to retrieve her. What is more, her five days in the distant past caused great disturbance to the life paths of all those she met, changing the course of their lives so dramatically that no fewer than twenty-five of their descendants vanished in the present, having been "un-born."

That sounds more like what we see play out in "Cursed Child." Albus and Scorpius's forays into the past end up affecting many of the lives of people in the present around them including the entire Potter family line.

It's strange that this expansion on Time-Turners, along with other Rowling writings, have been removed from the revamped Pottermore site. Perhaps it was all taken down because it was to be used as inspiration for the next chapter in the series.

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This post contains spoilers for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" might become a movie. Not any time soon. But we can dream.

In any case, I put together a dream cast for a movie adaptation of the play. I'm sure the actors in the theatrical production are fine, but it's all the way in London, so I haven't seen it and can't say for myself. Here, I've cast the main actors based on the strength of their on-screen work. I've also tried to keep Rowling's rule on having only British actors in "Harry Potter" movies, and I've avoided actors who were already in the "Harry Potter" series, because that would be confusing.

For returning characters, the original actors would do a great job. By the time this movie gets made, two decades might pass, anyway, syncing up the actors' ages with the character ages.

Here's our dream cast for a "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" movie if it were made now.

Alex Lawther made his mark as a young Alan Turing in "The Imitation Game," and he can pull off the angst and riskiness of Albus Potter, Harry's son.

Charlie Heaton plays a creepy dude in the supernatural horror show "Stranger Things." As Scorpius Malfoy, he can let out his softer side. He also has the blonde, white look of a Malfoy.

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In "Cursed Child," Harry Potter is more gloomy, frustrated, and commanding than in the books. Idris Elba has the right swagger for the role.

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," — the new play that takes place 19 years after the end of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"— doesn't use the same cast as the movies.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are no longer played by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. Instead, they're portrayed by Jamie Parker, Noma Dumezweni, and Paul Thornley.

But, much to every Harry Potter fan's delight, Grint finally watched the play (well, just two weeks after it's official premiere), and even hung out with Thornley, the actor who plays a 19-years-older Ron Weasley. 

Thankfully, the official "Cursed Child" Twitter account shared pictures of the two meeting after the show in London.

Grint also took a photo with the whole cast backstage.

Similarly, Emma Watson met Noma Dumezweni, the actress who plays Hermione in the play, about a month ago, when the play was still in previews. The actress wrote about the experience of meeting another person who plays such a complicated character in a moving Facebook post.

Daniel Radcliffe, on the other hand, has his doubts about going to London to watch the show. "I want to see the show — I genuinely am intrigued and I've heard it's fantastic — but I just feel sitting in an audience of what will for the most of the near future be very enthusiastic Harry Potter fans might be like not a relaxing way to see a show,"he told Stephen Colbert.

Right now Radcliffe is pretty busy, anyway. He's in a play himself, called "Privacy," in New York. He also just finished doing publicity for his movie "Swiss Army Man," and is doing interviews for his next movie, "Imperium."

Hopefully, like his other former castmates, Radcliffe will watch "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" soon and we'll get to see epic pictures of him chatting with Parker, the actor playing Harry, about the role.

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Back in February, before the world had a glimpse of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,"Rupert Grint made a prediction about what Ron Weasley would be up to. He was totally wrong.

"I would expect Ron has probably divorced Hermione already,"Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the "Harry Potter" films, told The Huffington Post earlier this year. "I don’t think that relationship would have done very well."

According to Grint, Ron and Hermione split up, perhaps only temporarily. "He’s living on his own, in a little one-bedroom apartment. He hasn’t got a job," as Grint described it.

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is set 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," and, well, Grint's prediction hasn't come true. Ron and Hermione are still together.

It's still an odd coupling, though. Their relationship never made much emotional sense. J.K. Rowling herself once described it as "a form of wish fulfillment." She thought it made more sense to pair up Harry and Hermione. Grint echoed that sentiment when he guessed their relationship wouldn't have worked out.

"Cursed Child" does a little bit to repair perceptions of Ron's relationship with Hermione. The story's plot involves a lot of time travel and alternate timelines. In one of those timelines, Ron and Hermione aren't together, even though they plainly like each other. In the play's "correct" timeline, they're married — Hermione is minister for magic while Ron runs Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

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J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" universe has come a long way since "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released way back in 1997.

Right now, there are ten books, eight movies, and one play (also published as a book) — and it's getting even more complicated.

By the end of 2016, we'll have four new books and a movie. There's also been a steady stream of new stories coming out of Pottermore.

To help you out, here's a handy guide to all the material in the Harry Potter universe. The release years are included to give you an idea of how everything unfolded.

Over the next several years, we'll be getting a new trilogy of movies centered around J.K. Rowling's expanded "Harry Potter" wizarding world.

Five years after the debut of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," a trilogy of movies centered around Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the author of the "Fantastic Beasts" book from the original Harry Potter series is on its way.

 The films will kick off November 18 with "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." The movie will follow Scamander as he arrives in New York City in 1926 with a briefcase full of magical creatures. Things go awry when some of them go amok in the Big Apple.

The film's two untitled sequels are currently set for 2018 and 2020 releases.

A stage play following the events of the last "Harry Potter" book debuted in London July 31.

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," which can be watched over the course of two days or one long day, opened July 31 at London's West End.

The play takes place 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and is centered around the sons of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Albus Severus and Scorpius, respectively as they learn an important lesson about the dangers of time travel. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and more characters from the original series are in the play, too, but it's all new actors who play the roles of the beloved characters.

You can read more about the play's plot here.

A few new books and stories are also joining the "Harry Potter" universe. This summer we received "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

In addition to the stage play in London, the script of the play, referred to as a "Special Rehearsal Edition," written by Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany was released in stores July 31, 2016.

A "Definitive Edition" with more stage direction is set for release in early 2017.

Since J.K. Rowling wrapped up "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in 2007, she hasn't let the series go.

And though many of her fans wish she’d just leave the series alone, Rowling’s frequent tinkering with the “Harry Potter” universe is only making it better.

Just months after the final book was released, she told us that Albus Dumbledore was gay. It sent tremors across the fanverse. We knew that J.K. Rowling had untold piles of notes and ideas about every goblin and ghost in the "Harry Potter" universe, but could she still reveal things from — or add things to — the canon once the series was over?

It was just the beginning.

Next came Pottermore, a sort of interactive web game that also fulfilled the rumor that Rowling would release an encyclopedia of everything in the "Harry Potter" universe. Since then, Pottermore has grown, turning into a hub for additional Rowling-written material. It has everything from tiny details, to in-depth profiles of characters with fresh backstories, to a whole new short story about American wizardry that raises even more questionsabout the magical universe. This September, Rowling will even publish three "Pottermore Presents" ebooks, collecting the site's information and adding new stories.

After Pottermore, the floodgates were open. Rowling co-created a play, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," about what happens 19 years after the end of the original series and debuted on Harry's birthday, July 31, 2016. A lot of "Harry Potter" fans don't like it.

She's also writing a trilogy of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" screenplays about the adventures of Newt Scamander, a minor character in the "Harry Potter" series. The first movie comes out in November. 

And then there's her Twitter account, where she tells us even more trivia, like that Anthony Goldstein is a Jewish wizard. Okay!

The deluge of new information has exhausted people. Telling J.K. Rowling to shut up is a subgenre of the think piece now. The Atlantic, Slate, the New York Post, the Boston Globe, Time, the Sydney Morning Herald, Elle, and thousands of people have asked Rowling to please just give it a rest.

I used to agree. I know a lot of random Harry Potter trivia, and I'm proud of it. But Rowling's additional information became mildly annoying. If I don't care that Hesphaestus Gore's tenure as the Minister for Magic between 1752 and 1770 has a mixed record among magical historians, am I not a true Harry Potter fan?

But who are we to criticize J.K. Rowling for doing what she loves? It's literally her world — she created everything form Harry to Hogwarts. She can do whatever she wants. Rowling's former Twitter cover image says it best.

And once you've mastered the original material and talked about it to death, it's fun to get new information. It repositions aspects of the original series. Now that we know Dumbledore is gay, his friendship with Gellert Grindelwald is totally different. And knowing that a descendant of Salazar Slytherin escaped to America and started a new wizarding school further complicates the Slytherin legacy.

The way Rowling reveals the information also makes it fun. It unfolds kind of like the news cycle, in bits and pieces that dominate a certain sector of cultural conversation. The "Harry Potter" universe is just so comprehensive, it's almost like we're getting news reports. It's a fun distraction to take part in that conversation instead of discussing whatever Donald Trump just tweeted.

As we've found out, all of Rowling's trivia has become a bridge to bigger, newer projects. I enjoy her "Cormoran Strike" novels, which she writes under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, but they aren't as fun as her magical world. If years of tweeting about who she regrets killing at the Battle of Hogwarts is a way of keeping "Harry Potter" fans engaged until she comes out with a grand and enchanting "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" movie, then it will have all been worth it.

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If you thought Hollywood was totally over the Harry Potter franchise, think again.

The current West End play written by JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – picks up 19 years after final film Deathly Hallows and has gone down a proper storm with both critics and Potterheads.

But now, according to the New York Daily News, there are plans to bring it to the big screen. It was kind of inevitable, right?

Warner Bros. apparently wants a movie adaptation of Cursed Child by 2020 and also has a trilogy in mind. Oh, and producers are after Daniel Radcliffe to reprise his role as Harry.

If the first Cursed Child film does come out around 2020, that would be 10 years sinceDeathly Hallows released – when the story calls for a 19-year gap.

Still, Radcliffe is the name supposedly being targeted (to be honest, anyone else would be wrong) and he did recently say he'd be open to a return as Harry.

"It would depend on the script," he told the Radio Times. "The circumstances would have to be pretty extraordinary.

"But then I am sure Harrison Ford said that with Han Solo and look what happened there! So I am saying 'No' for now, but leaving room to backtrack in the future."

Whatever happens with this Cursed Child movie, there's lots to get excited about in the meantime – in particular, the prequel film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them coming this November.

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J.K. Rowling's life is a classic rags-to-riches story. Her parents never received a college education, she lived for years with government assistance as a single mother, and overcame a dozen rejections from publishers to become, almost overnight, one of the most successful and widely read authors in the history of the world.

After a couple of decades of "Harry Potter," Rowling has turned the boy wizard into an entertainment franchise including books, movies, a play, a theme park, and more. Here's how the author found her path to success.

J.K. Rowling — born Joanne Rowling — grew up in Gloucestershire, England, and always knew she wanted to be an author.

Rowling was constantly writing and telling stories to her younger sister, Dianne.

"Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit,"Rowling said in a 1998 interview. "He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee. And ever since Rabbit and Miss Bee, I have wanted to be a writer, though I rarely told anyone so."

When she was nine, Rowling moved near the Forest of Dean, which figures prominently in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," and spent the rest of her childhood there.

Her parents married when they were 20, and neither attended college: Her father was an aircraft engineer at Rolls Royce and her mother was a high school science technician.

"I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels,"Rowling said in her 2008 Harvard University commencement speech. "However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.

Rowling had difficult years when she was younger.

Rowling never had it as bad as Harry living with the Dursleys, but she described her teenage years as being filled with difficulty.

"I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life,"she told the New Yorker.

When Rowling was 15, her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She died a decade later, before Rowling became a published author. Later on, one of her philanthropic projects was founding the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic at the University of Edinburgh with a gift of $16 million.

After graduating from college, she had a stint working for Amnesty International.

The author studied French at the University of Exeter, graduating in 1986. According to her official biography, she "read so widely outside her French and Classics syllabus that she clocked up a fine of £50 for overdue books at the University library." Her Classics knowledge was later used when she came up with the names for spells in the "Harry Potter" series.

After graduating, Rowling worked at the research desk for Amnesty International, doing translation work. She found the work important — "I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them,"she said— but it didn't suit her, as she said in a later interview.

"I am one of the most disorganized people in the world and, as I later proved, the worst secretary ever," she said. "All I ever liked about working in offices was being able to type up stories on the computer when no-one was looking. I was never paying much attention in meetings because I was usually scribbling bits of my latest stories in the margins of the pad, or choosing excellent names for the characters."

Harry Potter fans have yet another reason to rejoice.

With the arrival of J.K Rowling's newest addition to the "Harry Potter" series — the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" play and accompanying book — comes another opportunity for kids to learn valuable life skills.

Apart from the facts that the "Harry Potter" series has reached more people than any other book series in history and inspired an entire generation to read, Adam Grant, a professor of managementat Wharton and author of "Originals," tells Business Insider that J.K. Rowling is perhaps the most influential person alive because of what her books teach kids: originality and morality.

When Business Insider spoke to Grant, who has a Ph.D. in organizational psychology, earlier this year, he said:

"There's a good deal of evidence that we can predict the innovation rates in a culture — even something as specific as patent rates — by looking at children's literature. Countries that end up innovating 20 to 30 years later are the ones where kids are reading about unique accomplishments — where childhood role models in stories do things that have never been done before.

"And there's a lot of originality in the 'Harry Potter' stories: The way to get to Hogwarts, all of the different ideas about how to cast spells, children being the individuals who are responsible for saving adults — all of that is setting a standard for saying, 'I want to do something new.'"

Grant also points to research that suggests the books could teach kids how to be more empathetic and less prejudiced.

"As you learn about muggles and how they're looked down upon by wizards, you actually generalize that to other groups and say, 'You know, maybe we should not stereotype people or discriminate against them based on something they have no control over whatsoever,'" Grant explains.

"Ms. Rowling, the world would be a better place if you kept writing 'Harry Potter' books," he writes on Quora. Thankfully, she seems to be taking that advice to heart.

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On a delayed train journey from Manchester to King's Cross station in London, the characters Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger came "fully formed" to the mind of a young temp named Joanne Rowling.

In the six tumultuous years following, she would imagine an entire magical world of witches and wizards, assume the pen name J.K. Rowling, and publish "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," the first novel in the now beloved "Harry Potter" series.

Rowling has since become the UK's best-selling living author, her books have brought in more than $25 billion and sold more copies than any other book series, and the newest installment in the story, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,"is already a best-selling book— but not before Rowling had to overcome the hardships of rejection and being a single mother living on welfare.

Here's an inside look at how Rowling went from living on welfare to becoming one of the world's top-earning authors:

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Born in the southwest of England, Rowling grew up along the border of England and Wales with her mother, father, and sister. She's said that she had always known she would be a book author. "As soon as I knew what writers were, I wanted to be one. I've got the perfect temperament for a writer; perfectly happy alone in a room, making things up." She wrote her first book (about a rabbit named Rabbit) at age six, and when her mother praised her work, she says she "stood there and thought, 'Well, get it published then.'"

Source: JKRowling.com

Rowling's teenage years weren't particularly happy, she told The New Yorker, claiming she came from a difficult family and saying her mother's 10-year battle with multiple sclerosis took a toll on her and the family. "You couldn't give me anything to make me go back to being a teenager. Never. No, I hated it," she told The Guardian.

Source: The New Yorker, The Guardian

Rowling said she "couldn't wait to get out" of her house. After studying French and classics at Exeter University, she went to work for Amnesty International in London as a researcher, among other jobs. It was during this time on a train journey from Manchester to her job in London that she began writing her "Harry Potter" series.

Source: The Guardian

J.K. Rowling says she's done writing "Harry Potter" books.

Speaking at the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," Rowling said this is Harry's last adventure.

"He goes on a very big journey during these two plays and then, yeah, I think we're done," she said according to The Independent. "This is the next generation, you know. So, I'm thrilled to see it realised so beautifully but, no, Harry is done now.”

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is a play Rowling co-wrote, set 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." It's now available as a book, which makes it the eighth story in the "Harry Potter" series.

This doesn't rule out more books in the "Harry Potter" universe. Much of "Cursed Child" focuses on Albus Potter, Harry's son, and Scorpius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's son. We might see more adventures with them.

Rowling also wrote the screenplay for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," the first in a trilogy of movies set in the "Harry Potter" universe, but several decades before Harry was born, and in America rather than Europe. It's coming out on November 19.

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WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for "Harry Potter and The Cursed Child."

This weekend, thousands of "Harry Potter" fans around the world eagerly waited in line at bookstores or downloaded a copy of J.K. Rowling's new "Harry Potter and The Cursed Child" script to their Kindles.

And while there are doubtless numerous fans who were thrilled to see Harry and his best friends back at it again trying to save the world, some aspects of the plot are like something out of fan fiction.

Rowling previously begged fans and viewers to not tell any spoilers, but everyone is talking about the wild twists and turns in "Cursed Child." If you do not want to know the plot, do not keep reading.

Last chance to head back before spoilers.

You were warned.

The general sketch of the play is that it involves time travel and centers around Albus Severus Potter, the middle child of Harry and Ginny, who becomes best friends with Draco Malfoy’s son, Scorpius.

Here are the major plot points:

1. Albus and Scorpius become best friends after they’re sorted into Slytherin together. Hermione and Ron’s daughter Rose is friends with Albus, and upset when he’s sorted into Slytherin. She’s sorted into Gryffindor.

2. Albus and Scorpius are both outcasts at Hogwarts. Albus is mocked for being the son of the great Harry Potter, but for being sorted into Slytherin. Scorpius is mocked because there are rumors that Draco went back in time and had his wife Astoria conceive their son with Voldemort. Yes, really!

3. Back at home, Hermione is the Minister for Magic, while Harry is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ron runs the Weasley joke shop along with George.

4. Cedric Diggory’s father Amos begs Harry to go back in time to save Cedric’s life by using a conveniently found Time-Turner that was never destroyed. Harry refuses, but Albus and Scorpius are convinced by Amos’ niece Delphi to help. They steal the Time-Turner.

5. Albus and Scorpius ditch Hogwarts and journey back to the events of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" to stop Cedric from winning the tournament with Harry so he’s no longer killed. They stop Cedric from winning the first event, but when they go back to the future, Rose was never born and Ron and Hermione never got married.

6. The pair decide to go back again to re-try to re-fix the past, but their continued meddling ends up having effects on the future so that by the time they come back to present day Professor Umbridge is the headmistress of Hogwarts, Harry is dead (and Albus ceases to exist), and Voldemort won the Battle of Hogwarts.

7. In this new world, Cedric Diggory has become a Death Eater and killed Neville. Snape is still alive and Scorpius convinces him that he’s from an alternate universe and needs Snape's help. Scorpius also convinces Ron and Hermione (who are now fugitives) to help and after a lot of close encounters with Dementors and Death Eaters (that don't end so well for alt-universe Ron, Hermione, or Snape), Scorpius is able to fix the past mistakes and use the Time-Turner to come back to the present.

8. When he returns, everything is the same and Albus is back. Scorpius tells Harry, Ginny, Draco, Albus, and McGonagall what happened and that the Time-Turner was lost in the Hogwarts lake.

9. Secretly, Scorpius tells Albus the Time-Turner wasn’t destroyed and they should destroy it themselves. For some reason, Albus also decides to tell Delphi what happened, but instead of helping them destroy the Time-Turner, she takes it and reveals she’s not really Amos’ niece (she had him under the Imperius Curse the whole time), but Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange’s daughter.

10. Delphi takes all three of them back to the time Harry’s parents were killed. Scorpius and Albus escape from her and are able to send a message back to present day Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Draco that they’re in trouble by burning a message into Harry’s childhood blanket.

11. The adults come back in time with a Time-Turner Draco had kept from his father, and after a few duels and near death encounters, they save the day and everything goes back to normal.

The End.

Though some fans are upset with the play’s use of time travel, the reviews from the majority of the people who saw "The Cursed Child" in action were very positive.

Business Insider UK’s Barbara Tasch was lucky enough to see the play live, and wrote: "The play struck the right balance really gripping the audience in the new story and developing the new characters, while at the same time answering some burning questions about the original story and shedding light on past issues that directly influenced the outcome of the new play."

It sounds like to fully enjoy "Cursed Child," you really do just have to be there. 

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Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

The eighth "Harry Potter" story is here, but some fans are not happy. Instead of rejoicing in the new material, some readers are choosing to ignore J.K. Rowling's assertion that "Cursed Child" is a continuation of the original seven novels. 

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is a play — penned by Rowling along with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany — currently only being performed in London. In order to get the story out to a broader audience, the full script for the play was published in book form and released on July 31. 

A group of disillusioned "Harry Potter" fans among those who have either seen the play or read the book version are outright refusing to accept "Cursed Child" as part of the book canon (a term used to assign official status to "Harry Potter" stories). Instead of counting the story as a legitimate part of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's overall fictional lives, these people are writing off "Cursed Child" as a third-party story that doesn't fit with the original plan.

As a longtime "Harry Potter" enthusiast myself, I regretfully agree with the vocal minority who did not enjoy "Cursed Child" and would rather it wasn't part of Harry's story. My colleague and Senior Culture Editor for Tech Insider, Megan Willett, also agrees.

So what happens in "Cursed Child" that has fans so upset? 

Part of the issue stems from the story's origin and the medium in which it is told. "Cursed Child" is not a conventional novel written by J.K. Rowling. Instead, it's a play for which Rowling collaborated with two co-authors: Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. 

Rowling's lack of creative autonomy in the project means that fans can't be sure which parts of the story were her idea — which is cause for some purists to think of the story as a break away from the book canon. The reason this co-authorship can be such a sticking point is that the plot of "Cursed Child" is so outrageous to certain fans that it reads as fan fiction.

We've written a synopsis of all the main plot points in case you need a refresher (or want spoilers). But the biggest issue people have with the story is the new character Delphi — the secret daughter of Lord Voldmort and Bellatrix Lestrange. 

Aside from the unbelievable nature of Voldemort and Bellatrix having a secret sexual relationship, Delphi's character rings false compared to Rowling's rich cast of witches and wizards. This may very well be due to the fact "Cursed Child" is not a fully fleshed out novel and therefore readers aren't given as much time on character development. 

But there's another big issue readers have with the plot of "Cursed Child," and that's the issue of time travel. The story focuses on Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, the children of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy respectively, as they decide to help Delphi use a Time-Turner to save Cedric Diggory. Yeah, Cedric Diggory, a character who died at the hands of Voldemort in the fourth "Harry Potter" book. Eventually, Delphi reveals that her plan all along was to alter the past in order to make Voldemort, her father, alive again in the present day. 

This is not how Time-Turners worked in the original canon— one more reason "Cursed Child" feels disconnected from the original "Harry Potter" novels.

In the books, Time-Turners work in a causal loop — meaning the things wizards do while using them were always part of the timeline. Suddenly in "Cursed Child," Time-Turners enable wizards to create alternate timelines and change the future by meddling with other things in the past. This approach to time travel is more of the "butterfly effect" method, and it's much harder for readers to get their minds around. Not to mention it opens the story up to have a lot of plotholes.

Early reviews from those lucky enough to see the play in person were overwhelmingly positive, leaving some people with the impression that you have to be there in order to "get" the story. Discussion of "Cursed Child" on the official Harry Potter subreddit has a mixed batch of reviews.

"Am I the only one who's trying to convince myself to love this book but finding it insanely hard?" asked Redditor marauderer. "It's like [Rowling] tried to compile every single scenario she wished she had written into one play that lacked character/relationship development. And although I'm sure that it is spectacular on stage, it is quite literally impossible for me to go see it and so this is my only alternative and I am, quite frankly, disappointed."

But in the same discussion thread, a group of readers didn't understand the hate. "I for one enjoyed it," Redditor Hvammer wrote. "I get all the reasons that people aren't into it but I found it enjoyable overall and am fine with it, to be honest, yeah," replied methodandred.

For me, someone who has read the original "Harry Potter" books dozens of times and obsessed over every chapter and character and lines, "Cursed Child" fell flat. I felt none of the magic of Rowling's usual storytelling, and was jarred by the constant references to the original series done in a very fan-servicey way. I could spend an exorbitant amount of time detailing each gripe, but for now I will just say that "Cursed Child" missed the mark.

The next time I set out to do a re-read of the series, it will end with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Then all will be well.

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Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." 

"Harry Potter" fans are in a tizzy about J.K. Rowling's latest story set in the wizarding world. The play script for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"— co-authored with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany — was released on July 31. The play contains a controversial new character: Voldemort's daughter.

Readers are introduced to a young woman, about 22 years old, named Delphi Diggory. She meets young Albus Potter and leads him to believe she is the niece of Amos Diggory, and cousin to the long-dead Cedric Diggory. 

But in the play's third act, Delphi reveals herself to be the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. Fans were shocked, to say the least.

People even compared the plot twist to poor fan fiction.

"I too felt like the whole thing read like a cringey fanfic," Redditor gvalchca wrote in the "Harry Potter" subreddit. "I can only assume it was not [Rowling's] writing on the whole [...] Voldemort having a child? No-ho-hooo way."

According to Delphi, Bellatrix Lestrange was pregnant with Delphi in the year before the great Battle of Hogwarts. She gave birth in the Malfoy's manor house, which was being used as headquarters for Death Eaters at the time. After both Bellatrix and Voldemort were killed at Hogwarts, baby Delphi was given to Euphemia Rowle — the relative of another Death Eater killed in a battle named Thorfinn.

Delphi was raised by the Rowle family and hidden from the general wizarding community. She never attended Hogwarts but she learned powerful magic anyway. She is capable of flying without a broomstick and speaking Parseltongue — just like Voldemort. 

She uses magic to make the elderly Amos Diggory believe that she is his niece, and then ingratiates herself with Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy in order to get her hands on a Time-Turner. Delphi's sole mission is to go back in time and change events so that her father, Lord Voldemort, lives again.

The comparison of this plotline to fan fiction stems from a few different places. First, reworking character stories from the original seven books into romances is very common in "Harry Potter" fan fiction. Pairings like Draco and Hermione or Snape and Voldemort (yes, you read that right) have made star appearances in fan's reimaginings of the plot.

But there's more to it than the retroactive creation of romance between Voldemort and Bellatrix. Many fans used to believe that Voldemort was disinterested in love or sex. 

"Sex is a basic human need, and Voldemort wanted to distance himself from being human as much as possible," Sandhya Ramesh wrote in a popular Quora thread two years ago. "He would abhor the physical union of a man and a woman's body (or a man and a man's)."

People are also confused by how Bellatrix's pregnancy works into the published story of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." She must have been pregnant and gave birth right before the Battle of Hogwarts, but readers saw Bellatrix throughout Deathly Hallows and there doesn't seem to be a stretch of nine months when she was hidden and growing baby Delphi.

Plus, it's rather incredulous that Draco Malfoy wouldn't have known about Bellatrix being pregnant when they were living in the same house that entire time.

Whether you're a "Harry Potter" fan who enjoyed the new Voldemort love life twist or a disappointed reader, one this is certain — almost no one saw this coming.

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This post contains spoilers for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

In "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," the new play  co-written by J.K. Rowling set 19 years after the last "Harry Potter" novel, we have a new villain. Delphi is the daughter of Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange, and she wants to change the past so that her father can rule the world.

But where was Delphi for the past couple of decades? Apparently, she spent her early years under the care of Euphemia Rowle.

We know about the Rowle name because of Thorfinn Rowle, one of the Death Eaters who pledged allegiance to Voldemort. We also know the Rowle name is one of the so-called "Sacred Twenty-Eight" pure-blood families, meaning they supposedly aren't descended from any Muggles.

But Euphemia Rowle doesn't show up in ANY of the "Harry Potter" novels. But she does show up in one place: a fanfiction written by someone who seems to be named Alison S. Green, posting under the name notwilde on InsaneJournal.

As far as I can tell, the name doesn't show up anywhere else on the internet, even though "Cursed Child" has been in previews on stage in London for weeks.

There's a lot of "Harry Potter" fan fiction out there. It's cool, but not that crazy that someone came up with the same character name as J.K. Rowling. But what makes it eerie is that the details of Rowling's Euphemia Rowle and the details of the fan fiction's Euphemia Rowle totally match up. 

The fan fiction comes in the form of a character sketch of a (also made-up) Death Eater named Oscar Robert Ketteridge. He graduated from Hogwarts (Slytherin) in 1965, and married Euphemia Rowle a few years later. He fell in with Voldemort while pursuing her:

He always leaned more toward the society side of his ancestry, however, fascinated by blood purity, magical history, and, as his reputation grew, Lord Voldemort. It was his relationship with Euphemia that lead him to the Dark Lord, however inadvertently. When he was courting her, he was intent on making a good impression on her father, Acastus, and some of his honest beliefs concerning Muggles, Muggleborns, and blood shone through.

Euphemia graduated in 1967, which puts her in her 30s when Voldemort was at the height of his power. It also means she was rather old when raising Delphi, which makes sense. Delphi made Euphemia sound like a neglectful guardian who had better things to do than take care of a child: "She didn’t like me much," Delphi said. "Euphemia Rowle . . . she only took me in for the gold."

It's hard to tell when exactly the fan fiction was posted. The post date was manually changed to the year 2020. But the book version of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" came out just hours ago, as of writing, and it's unlikely that the author wrote such an extensive fan fiction in that amount of time.

It's possible that Green saw the play's previews and then wrote her fan fiction. However, at the bottom of the post, she notes that her writing used little information from the "Harry Potter" canon and is instead "OC," or "original content."

We have reached out to Green for comment and will update this post when we hear back.

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

You're ready for spoilers? Okay, good.

In "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"— the play set in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" universe 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,"which is now available as a book— Hermione Granger is the Minister for Magic.

Much of the play focuses on Albus Potter (Harry Potter's son), Scorpius Malfoy (Draco's son), and Harry himself. We don't get to spend a whole lot of time with Ron and Hermione — at least not as much as we did in Rowling's novels.

But a good way to learn about a person is by looking at their books, and we can learn a whole lot by looking at Hermione's bookshelf in her Ministry office.

We get to see the bookshelf when Albus, Scorpius, and a new character named Delphi take Polyjuice Potion to transform into Harry, Ron, and Hermione, in order to sneak into Hermione's office to steal a time turner. Here are the books they find in her library:

• "Magick Moste Evile" by Godelot
• "Fifteenth Century Fiends"
• "Sonnets of a Sorcerer"
• "Shadows and Spirits"
• "The Nightshade Guide to Necromancy"
• "The True History of the Opal Fire"
• "The Imperius Curse and How to Abuse It"
• "My Eyes and How to See Past Them" by Sybill Trelawney
• "Dominating Dementors: A True History of Azkaban"
• "The Heir of Slytherin"
• "Marvolo: The Truth"

Notice anything about them? Yeah, they're all about dark magic.

"Magick Moste Evile" first comes up in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which Hermione checks out to find out about Horcruxes. "Fifteenth-Century Fiends" appeared in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Ron cites "Sonnets of a Sorcerer" as an example of a dangerous book in "Chamber of Secrets," to dissuade Harry from using Tom Riddle's diary. And "The True History of the Opal Fire" may be an obscure reference to the cursed opal necklace from Borgin and Burkes in "Chamber of Secrets," which nearly kills Katie Bell in "Half-Blood Prince."

The other books don't appear in the rest of the "Harry Potter" series, but based on their titles, it's clear that they're about dark magic or the history of dark magicians.

So what does that say about Hermione? That she knows how to study the enemy, and that she's still smart enough not to give up.

When Hermione first read "Magick Moste Evile," she found it impenetrable and nearly useless. As Rowling writes in "Half-Blood Prince:"

"I haven’t found one single explanation of what Horcruxes do!" she told him. "Not a single one! I’ve been right through the restricted section and even in the most horrible books, where they tell you how to brew the most gruesome potions — nothing! All I could find was this, in the introduction to 'Magick Moste Evile' — listen — 'Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction. …' I mean, why mention it then?" she said impatiently, slamming the old book shut; it let out a ghostly wail. "Oh, shut up," she snapped, stuffing it back into her bag.

But later, in "Tales of Beedle the Bard" Dumbledore tells us that the book's author, Godelot, was a powerful wizard who owned the Elder Wand and that "Magick Moste Evile" was a landmark work of dark magic.

And the only book on her shelf that isn't about evil is Trelawney's book, "My Eyes and How to See Past Them." Hermione hated Trelawney, and thought the whole idea of divination — seeing into the future — was bunk magic.

But even though those books were useless to her, she went out of her way to get them on her shelves.

That's because she knew that just because something doesn't click the first time, or just because you disagree with ideas, doesn't mean you can't learn from them.

The books also may serve a more specific, practical purpose.

In "Cursed Child," Harry is the head of Magical Law Enforcement, or the Auror Office. He's dashing about the wizarding world, scrubbing away the remainders of Voldemort's footprints.

But while he may be a good field officer, he's bad at paperwork. When Hermione visits his office in an earlier scene, she chides him for ignoring the piles of briefs on his desk, saying that within that literature there may be clues that can help him track down dark magicians.

From the previous "Harry Potter" books, the head of Magical Law Enforcement seemed like the #2 position in the Ministry of Magic. For example: Kingsley Shacklebolt, a head auror, later became the Minister for Magic himself. It looks like the Minister for Magic's office and the Auror Office work together closely.

Hermione seems to be the research part of that equation. While Harry's off on missions taking down the bad guys and doing field work, Hermione is doing the book-reading, figuring out the enemy.

It's just like the old "Harry Potter" books. Harry and Hermione would be nothing without each other.

(Ron, on the other hand, is running Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes.)

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Warning: Spoilers for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" ahead.

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," the eighth story in the "Harry Potter" series, was released this weekend to high anticipation. 

Co-authored by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne, the story was released as a script for the new London play of the same name.

Set 19 years after the end of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the play follows the sons of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy — Albus and Scorpius, respectively — as they travel back in time with a Time-Turner to prevent Cedric Diggory from dying in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

Yes, really. (You can read our full breakdown of the plot here.)

The play has a lot of callbacks to the original books, but one you may not have noticed is the character who set the entire plot of "Cursed Child" into motion — Theodore Nott.

Readers will remember that after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, all the Time-Turners were destroyed. However, it turned out that there was another illegal Time-Turner in the hands of a man named Theodore Nott. Unlike the one first used in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" to go back in time for a mere few hours, this Time-Turner allowed the user to go back farther in time. 

Albus and Scorpius take said Time-Turner and decide to make it their mission to go back in time and save Cedric, a boy they never met. Why? Basically because they can (and because Albus has this big grudge against his dad who casts a large shadow over him).

But who's Theodore Nott?

The inclusion of him in "Cursed Child" is interesting. Nott was first introduced in the first "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." You probably don't remember him though. 

He was briefly mentioned during the Sorting Hat ceremony simply as "Nott." We don't hear about him again until the fifth book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." In Chapter 21, he's presumably described as "a stringy Slytherin boy" standing behind Draco Malfoy's friend Goyle. He's one of a few students who is able to see a Thestral, a creature only able to be seen by those who have seen death. A few chapters later he's referenced by name as he's seen hanging out with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle in the library. There, he's also described as a "weedy-looking boy."

They were seen together after their fathers were proclaimed Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort, in a tabloid. At the start of book six, Professor Slughorn asks a Slytherin about Nott's father.

So knowing that he had a Time-Turner years later is slightly troublesome in the event that he planned to try and bring back the Dark Lord.

Nott's inclusion in "Cursed Child" is more interesting when you know that Rowling originally planned to include the character more in the original "Harry Potter" series. A scene between Nott and Malfoy was left on the cutting room floor because Rowling apparently couldn't find a place in "Chamber of Secrets" or "Goblet of Fire" for it.

Rowling once opened up about the scene on her personal site, but it appears to have since been taken down. Her quote on the scene is archived on various Harry Potter fan sites. Here's how she describes the scene via HP-lexicon.org:

I really liked the scene, firstly because it showed the Malfoys' home, and the difference between the place where Draco has grown up and number four, Privet Drive; then because we rarely see Draco talking to anybody he considers a real equal, and he is forced to see Theodore as such, because Theodore is just as pure-blooded as he is, and somewhat cleverer. Together these two Death Eaters' sons discuss Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts and Harry Potter, with all sorts of stories that the Death Eaters tell about how this baby boy survived the Dark Lord's attack.

Nott's reappearance 19 years later may signify that she had some unfinished business with his character. Unfortunately, Nott didn't get a lot more exposition in "Cursed Child" other than being apprehended for having an illegal Time-Turner. 

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This post contains spoilers for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

In "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," we get to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione two decades after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." For fans of the series, it's an opportunity to see how much they've changed.

Harry is the head of Magical Law Enforcement, married to Ginny Weasley, and has three children. Hermione is the Minister for Magic, married to Ron, and has two children with him. Ron... is running Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the joke shop founded by his twin brothers.

Ron Weasley is one of the three principal characters in the "Harry Potter" series, but in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," he shows up as mere comic relief. In "Deathly Hallows," Ron destroyed one of Voldemort's horcruxes. In "Cursed Child," he's there to crack dad jokes when things are getting too dark.

J.K. Rowling demoted Ron, which plays into his worst fear: that he is less important than Harry and Hermione. By neglecting Ron's heroic transformation at the end of "Deathly Hallows," Rowling is betraying the details of the rich world she has already created.

Ron's role throughout the "Harry Potter" series was less heroic than Harry's or Hermione's. He was Harry's best friend and bridge to the wizarding world. Their first meeting on the Hogwarts Express was fate.

As the series progressed, Ron became more frustrated playing a secondary role to Harry in his heroic journey, which came to a head in a fight during "Deathly Hallows." But he redeemed himself by returning to Harry in a crucial moment and helping him finish off Voldemort.

In the years since then, it looks like Ron's stock has fallen. And while it makes sense for the play's writers — Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, and Rowling — to put the old characters in the background to make room for the new ones, no one's fate has suffered more than Ron's. As with other details in the play, some parts of "Cursed Child" make this new entry in the series feel like it doesn't quite fit into the "Harry Potter" series as a whole.

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This post contains spoilers for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

At the end of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows," we learn that Harry names his children James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna Potter. With each name, Harry is trying to honor people close to him.

Albus Severus is the main character in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." He's the ugly duckling of the family, is sorted into Slytherin, befriends Scorpius Malfoy, and isn't good at magic. He's nicknamed "Albus Potter, the Slytherin Squib." 

Albus and his father have a tense relationship. "There are times I wish you weren’t my son," Harry tells him early in the play, setting in motion a rebellious streak in Albus.

Much of the play's plot deals with Harry trying to fix his relationship with his son, and Albus asserting himself as an individual hero, out of his father's shadow. But on a deeper level, Harry is dealing with the complicated legacies left by the two Hogwarts headmasters he named Albus Severus after: Dumbledore and Snape.

At the end of "Cursed Child," Harry and Albus fix their relationship. And Harry's only able to get there because of lesson he learned from Dumbledore and Snape — the two people Albus is named after.

Dumbledore first appears in the "Harry Potter" series as an all-powerful saintly wizard, but his legacy becomes more complicated. He withholds crucial information about Harry's past until the end of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." Severus Snape was a cruel potions teacher and had little love for Harry, but we find out late in the story that he loved Harry's mother, and was willing to betray Voldemort for her memory.

In "Cursed Child," Dumbledore is immortalized as a magical portrait, and can still talk to Harry. It's a way for Dumbledore and Harry to clear some of the baggage between them.

In one scene, Harry asks Dumbledore how to save Albus when he gets in trouble. "You ask me, of all people, how to protect a boy in terrible danger?" Dumbledore responds. He's still apologetic about how he acted two decades earlier.

Dumbledore also reminds Harry that he never had a son himself. It's a way for Dumbledore to echo the conversation he had with Harry at the end of "Order of the Phoenix," apologizing for how he raised Harry. He wants to make sure Harry doesn't make the same mistakes he did. Later in the play, during a second conversation with Harry, Dumbledore is still tortured by his actions and openly weeps in apology. Harry still has trouble accepting the apology — "You were absent every time it really counted," Harry reminds him.

Severus Snape, on the other hand, doesn't talk to Harry through his portrait. He shows up in the play in a segment of its complicated time-travel plot, where he helps save Scorpius Malfoy, and Albus. He becomes not only responsible for saving Harry in the first seven "Harry Potter" books, but Harry's son as well.

In the end, Harry follows Dumbledore's advice, trying to understand Albus for who he is. He also follows Snape's example: love is unconditional, even in the harshest of circumstances. By repairing his relationship with Albus Severus by the end of "Cursed Child," Harry also repairs his relationship with Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape.

In a conversation at the end of the play, Harry brings up the legacy of the two headmasters:

HARRY
Those names you have – they shouldn’t be a burden. Albus Dumbledore had his trials too you know – and Severus Snape, well, you know all about him—
ALBUS
They were good men.
HARRY
They were great men, with huge flaws, and you know what – those flaws almost made them greater.

It's the same with Albus. He has his flaws. But in the end, they make him greater.

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

J.K. Rowling's latest published work is the full play script for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," a stage production co-authored by Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany. The story follows Harry Potter's youngest son Albus and his best friend Scorpius Malfoy as they mess with time travel and interact with characters both old and a new. 

While reading through the script, we found several moments and lines that were references to scenes or events from the original seven "Harry Potter" books. Scroll down for a look at the fan-service moments we spotted.

Harry gives his young daughter, Rose, the exact same advice Mrs. Weasley gave him in "Sorcerer's Stone."

In the opening scene of "Cursed Child," Harry and Ginny coach their youngest children (Albus and Lily) before they walk through the magical Platform 9 ¾ for the first time. While doing so, they use the exact same words Mrs. Weasley said to Harry when he needed to access the Hogwarts Express for the first time. 

"Not to worry," Mrs. Weasley told Harry in the first book. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

And here's the dialogue from "Cursed Child."

"All you have to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms nine and ten," Ginny tells Lily. "Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important," Harry chimes in right after. "Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

Professor McGonagall reports that two ingredients used for making Polyjuice Potion were stolen from Hogwarts.

In Act One, Scene 12 of "Cursed Child," now Minister of Magic Hermione Granger asks a gathered group of people if they've noticed anything strange lately. 

"It did look like the potions stores had been interfered with when we returned from summer break, but not a huge amount of ingredients were missing, some Boomslang skin and lacewing flies, nothing on the Restricted Register," McGonagall reveals. "We put it down to Peeves."

Diehard "Harry Potter" fans would have immediately realized something fishy was up. Boomslang skin and lacewing flies are two of the ingredients needed to brew a Polyjuice Potion, as explained by Hermione in "Chamber of Secrets."

Later it's revealed that Delphi, the daughter of Lord Voldemort, has made polyjuice potion to fulfill her dastardly plan. She must have been sneaking into Hogwarts long before Albus and Scorpius realized.

There's an implied role-reversal when it comes to Hermione and Harry's magical abilities.

After taking the Polyjuice potion, Delphi transforms into Hermione and Scorpius takes the form of Harry Potter. When trying to break into the real Hermione's office, Scorpius comes to the rescue. Delphi (disguised as Hermione) tries and fails to pull open the door, using physical forces instead of magic. Then Scorpius (disguised as Harry) says: "Stand back. Alohomora!"

This is an odd reversal of what happened between the real Harry and Hermione in "Sorcerer's Stone." When Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville are on the run from Filch, they encounter a locked door. Harry and Ron panic and can't get into the room, but Hermione comes to the rescue.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"