9 Things 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' Teaches Readers About the Wizarding World
J.K. Rowling’s magical Wizarding World is the place we all wish we could apparate to whenever we wanted. For fans, it’s an ever-expanding imaginative alternate society in which all the things they’d ever fantasized about are actually real (but funnier and more thrilling). With every Harry Potter release we’ve learned more about his world and how it works – and on that note Cursed Child didn’t disappoint. Thanks to Rowling and her co-authors, the world of Harry and Hogwarts is now larger and weirder than ever. There are spoilers ahead, but here are nine brand-new things we learned about magical society from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
1/9There are different kinds of time turners.
While the Ministry’s time-turners have always operated with some restrictions — namely that you can only go back 5 hours — other witches and wizards have taken to creating their own Time Turners for personal use. We learn of two in the play: One which will take its users back to any time but only for five minutes, and another with almost no restrictions at all. Yes, it gets messy.
2/9And alternate realities.
While in previous time-travel adventures we saw it work in a casual loop (all the events that happened were already determined before and after the user traveled back in time), in the play we’re given a version of time-travel that’s closer to Back to the Future or The Butterfly Effect — meaning there are lots of alternate realities created by our characters mucking around in time. Some of them are pretty weird and scary.
3/9Hermione Granger becomes the Minister of Magic.
And Harry is the head of Magical Law Enforcement! We’d always dreamed our pals would ascend to such heights, but they really did not disappoint! Don’t worry, Ron’s married to the new Minister, running Weasley’s Wizards Wheezes, and raising their kids… so he’s got it pretty good too.
4/9There are books are so dark, they aren't even in the Hogwarts Restricted section.
In Hermione’s office at the Ministry, there’s a bookshelf packed with volumes so dark they’re not even allowed near Hogwarts. Wonder what kind of magic must be so bad it’s not even allowed to be off-limits… On second thought, we’d rather not know.
5/9St. Oswald’s Home for Old Witches and Wizards exists.
Where do magical people go when they hit their golden years? To an older person’s care facility, naturally… but a lot less natural are the ways these grandmas and grandpas are using their powers to keep themselves entertained. For example, a handful of them have taken to bewitching a male nurse to dance for them.
6/9Harry’s parseltongue and scar aches live on.
We thought we’d seen the last of Harry’s conversations with serpents when he exorcised Voldemort’s horocrux from his scar, but the aches and snake live on to slither around the Potters another day. We’re not sure how they survived just yet, but it does have to do with a character named Delphi.
7/9The Trolley Witch is over 200 years old.
Apparently she took at the job in 1830 and has been baking and selling her sweets ever since. Not only is she unnaturally well-preserved, she’s also been turning her wares into weapons; the pumpkin pasties are actually mini-grenades and there’s something off about the Chocolate Frogs. Hmmmm.
8/9Hogwarts is breaking environmental law.
Moaning Myrtle let us in on the secret that all the drains in Hogwarts are just dumping themselves out into the lake which is not good, guys! We hate to think the merpeople are swimming around in old toothpaste and who knows what else! Get the Ministry on this!
9/9Harry is scared of pigeons.
Yeah, this one threw us for a loop too, since he seemed to close with Hedwig. But hey, a fact is a fact.
