Summary
The play begins where the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows left off, when Harry and Ginny drop off their children at the Hogwarts Express. Harry’s oldest son James is taunting his brother, Albus Potter. He tells Albus that he might be sorted into Slytherin, a Hogwarts house all the Dark wizards were sorted into, including Lord Voldemort. Albus stares at platforms Nine and Ten, before his mother told him that, in order to reach the right platform, he only has to walk straight into the wall. His father tells that he can’t be scared or stop because he will crash. Harry, Lily, and Albus run into the wall transporting them to platform 9 ¾.
The platform is filled with Hogwarts students and their families. Harry’s daughter, Lily, looks around for Ron, her favorite uncle. He arrives and shows her a trick from his joke shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, causing embarrassment to his daughter, Rose. Before boarding the train, Albus asks his father what he would think of him if he was sorted into Slytherin. He tells him that he was named after two headmasters of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, the bravest men that he ever knew, and one was a Slytherin. And if it mattered to him he could always ask the Sorting Hat to place him in Gryffindor like it did for him at Hogwarts. Albus is relieved and boards the train. Harry tells Hermione about Albus's worries. She tells him that Rose is worried about breaking the Quidditch scoring record during her first or second year and how early can she take the O.W.L.s.
On the way to Hogwarts, the Trolley Witch asks Albus and Rose if they want anything from the candy trolley. Albus locks eyes on a chocolate frog, but Rose tells him that he needs to concentrate on making friends on the train since their parents met on their first train ride to Hogwarts. Albus opens a door to find a compartment with one blond kid. It turns out to be Scorpius Malfoy; he tells them that the seats are empty and offers them his sweets. Albus accepts the sweets, but Rose wants to leave the compartment because Scorpius's father was a Death Eater, and rumor has it that Scorpius' true father was Voldemort. Albus learns the details of the rumor: that Scorpius's parents could not conceive a child, so Draco and Lucius Malfoy used a Time-Turner to send Draco’s wife Astoria to the past where she became pregnant with Voldemort’s son. Still, Albus stays with Scorpius. Scorpius thanks him for staying but Albus tells him that he stayed for his sweets.
The First-Year students enter the Great Hall where the Sorting Ceremony is about to start. The students look at Albus, happy that they have a Potter in their year. Rose overhears them and tells them that Albus is her cousin. The Sorting Hat calls Rose Granger-Weasley and she is sorted into Gryffindor, like the rest of her family. Then it calls Scorpius Malfoy and places him in Slytherin; his entire family has been sorted into Slytherin. Lastly, it calls Albus Potter, but the hat takes a longer time to sort him. Finally, it sorts him into Slytherin. The students are shocked. Albus joins the rest of the Slytherin students; Scorpius is excited to have someone that he knows in his house.
We begin a montage sequence that speeds up the passage of time. The scene transitions to Madam Hooch’s flying lesson; the students are ordered to yell “ip” to lift up the brooms. On the first try, Rose and Yann Fredericks successfully lift their brooms; Albus can't move his broom at all. The rest of the classmates say that Albus was a humiliation for Harry Potter.
The scene changes to Platform 9 3/4 a year later. Albus tells Harry to stand far away because he doesn’t want people comparing him to his father. Harry asks him if it might help to have friends like Ron and Hermione, but Albus tells him that he already has a friend, Scorpius, and departs. Draco Malfoy appears and tells Harry to release a statement by the Ministry of Magic stating that all of the Time-Turners were destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Harry explains to him that he needs to let the rumor about Scorpius' parentage die on its own since he isn’t the first person to be accused of being Voldemort’s son.
At Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall announces Rose Granger-Weasley as the new Quidditch Chaser for the Gryffindor House. Meanwhile, by contrast, in Potion class, Albus and Scorpius are brewing a potion, which explodes in their face, causing the students to laugh at him. Later, Harry is leaving his son in his third year and handing him his signed Hogsmeade permission slip. Albus told his father that he hates that place because it will be filled with Hogwarts students. Harry tells him that if agrees to go, he can make a trip to Honeydukes and eat all the sweets that he wants without his mother’s permission; Albus crumples up the paper and sets it on fire. Harry tells him that he has been exchanging owls to McGonagall, in which she tells him that his son has been isolating himself and being uncooperative in lessons. He asks his father if he can conjure a spell to make him popular or be more skilled in magic, something to make his life better. Before Harry can respond, Albus runs to Scorpius and gets on the train. On the train, Scorpius tells him that his mother died during the vacation and asks him to come to the funeral. Then the Sorting Hat sorts his younger sister Lily Potter into Gryffindor house, further isolating Albus from his family.
At the Ministry of Magic, Harry enters his messy office, where he finds Hermione looking around his paperwork. She asks him if the rumor of Theodore Nott possessing a Time-Turner was true. He proves its existence when he revealed his Time-Turner, this device is unlike the one Hermione owned during his Third year. This Time-Turner can send its user into the past for more than an hour at a time. Hermione asks why isn’t he on top of his paperwork, and he explains he is getting his information from the streets, including the Theodore Nott story. Hermione changes the subject, asking Harry if he wants a toffee, which Harry declines because he is off sugar. Hermione asks about Ginny and his children, and he replies that he is as good at being a father as he at organizing his paperwork. She tells him to go home to his family because the Hogwarts Express is about to depart for another year.
Harry is visited by Amos Diggory in his home, after Harry kept delaying appointments with him. Harry apologizes but Amos reminds him that he is responsible for the death of his son Cedric, because Lord Voldemort intended to kill Harry, not Cedric. He asks Harry to bring back his son, which Harry says is impossible. But Amos said that a rumor around town is that the Ministry seized an illegal Time-Turner, so he wants him to use it to save his son. Harry tells him that it’s too dangerous to mess with time. Meanwhile, A girl appears next to Albus, who overheard the conversation. She introduces herself as Delphi Diggory, niece of Amos. Delphi takes care of her Uncle at St. Oswald’s Home for Old Witches and Wizards.
On holiday, Albus sits on his bed and overhears his brother talking about hiding himself with the Invisibility Cloak since his hair is now pink and Lily is laughing about her new fairy wings. Then Harry enters his room with gifts for his son. He got a love potion from his Uncle Ron, and he gives Albus a blanket. It was the blanket in which Harry was wrapped when Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid first left him in Privet Drive. When his Aunt Petunia died, his cousin Dudley found it and sent it to him, so anytime that he wanted luck he grabs it and wants Albus to have it for luck also. Albus said that he needed the luck, but he thinks that his father should keep it. Harry tells him that he really wants him to have it, but Albus aggressively responds by asking him what he’s going to do with it. He gave James a cloak of Invisibility and Lily some fairy wings, but he didn’t understand why he gave him an old, moldy blanket. Then he tells his father that he needs to pack for tomorrow. Harry asks if he needs help; Harry always enjoyed packing, because it meant that he was leaving to Privet Drive and going back to Hogwarts; Albus interrupts him, completing his sentence, and tell him he's tired of listening to the same story. He saved the Wizarding World! Wow! Albus mockingly offers his gratitude, but Harry says that he never wanted gratitude. Harry says he's tired of feeling responsible for his son’s unhappiness and that he should be happy to at least have a dad, since Harry himself didn’t have one. Albus asks if he felt that not having a father was unlucky because in his case he didn’t. Harry asks him if he wishes that he was dead, Albus says no, but sometimes wishes that he wasn’t his father. Harry replies that sometimes he wishes Albus wasn’t his son. He then retracts his comment, but Albus knows that he truly meant it. He tells him to leave his room, Harry tries to talk to him, but Albus grabs the blanket and throws it on the floor, knocking over Ron’s love potion and spilling all over the blanket.
We see a dream Harry is having the night when Hagrid tells him that he is a wizard. We see Harry hiding in a lighthouse with his Aunt, Uncle, and his cousin when Hagrid arrives with a birthday cake and his Hogwarts letter. He asks what Hogwarts was and Hagrid tells him that it was a school for witches and wizards. The dream is interrupted by the voice of Voldemort calling his name, and he wakes up.
Ginny asks if he had a nightmare. He tells her yes; it was about the Dursleys, but it later became something dark. He tells her that he said some bad things to Albus, she says she knows and she also knows that with time Albus will forgive his father. The only thing that Harry can do is be honest with his son. He then tells her that he wishes that Albus was more like James or Lily. He then feels a sharp pain on his forehead, she asked him if his scar hurts he replies yes, and that it hasn’t since twenty-two years ago.
Analysis
For all of their supposed differences, Harry and Albus actually reveal that they have many things in common in the opening scene: both of them were worried that they would be sorted into Slytherin, because it’s known to be the house of dark wizards. However, Harry tells him that he could decide his house and the Sorting Hat would listen to his decision. Highlighting the difference between the two, because we know the Sorting Hat takes the will of the wearing into consideration, we can assume Albus was sorted into Slytherin somewhat consciously. He accepts his fate, remembering that his father told him that it wouldn’t make a difference to him if he wasn’t sorted into Gryffindor. Ironically, Gryffindor is the house of bravery, but Albus's middle name originates from Severus Snape, a Slytherin, who according to his father was the bravest man that he ever met.
The success of Rose Granger-Weasley becomes an excellent foil for the failures of Albus. We see him make totally different decisions from her. She advises him not to ally himself with Scorpius, but he befriends him anyway. As she is sorted into Gryffindor, he is sorted into Slytherin. As she succeeds in Flying Lessons, he fails. As she is praised as the young new Chaser, he is shown to be a failure in his potion class. This juxtaposition highlights her success as a traditional Hogwarts student like Harry was, and Albus's own failure to measure up.
Albus not wanting to go to Hogsmade, the Hogwarts village, highlights the differences between the father and son, not because of their separate houses, but because of Albus's own lack of popularity. Harry in his third year wanted to go to Hogsmade, but was unable to go because his Uncle Vernon refused to sign his permission slip. For Albus, as an outcast, Hogwarts is every bit as miserable as Privet Drive. Furthering his isolation, Lily Potter is sorted into Gryffindor, which makes Albus the only Slytherin in the family.
The rumor of a Time-Turner existing in this section is what Anton Chekov calls the "gun" of the play (if there's a gun introduced, it's going to go off at some point in the play.) We know that this Time-Turner will be found and used at some point. The Time-Turner is a plot device used in the third Harry Potter book, The Prisoner of Azkaban. It allows the user to return to the past and be in two places at once. Hermione Granger received one in her third year at Hogwarts from Professor McGonagall, so she could take more classes in one year. She was warned in the novel not to change the past. Normal Time-Turners allow the user to travel back at most five hours in the past; Theodore Nott’s Time-Turner allows traveler to go back decades. The foreshadowing makes us expect that the play will feature long-term time travel.
The most dramatic scene involves Harry giving his children each a gift before going to Hogwarts. He gives his eldest son his Invisibility Cloak, but for Harry the most personal gift was his childhood blanket, the only thing he has to remember his parents. Albus, feeling self-conscious about being his father's least favorite, despises the gift because to him it feels like an empty gift compared to the gifts given to his other siblings. Albus always thought that Harry liked James more, because James was more like himself. The irony is that in many ways Albus and Harry both struggled; Harry might have been famous, but often that gained him negative attention rather than allowing him to ease through life, as James seems to be able to do.
