Interesting questions about the plot

[Paula]

I loved reading The Cursed Child, but still came up with these questions to ponder. I'd prefer to think they can all be explained, rather than thinking of them as plot holes. That's why I want to ask others. There are plot spoilers for the play within the questions. Here goes.

1) Why didn't Albus and Scorpius have the trace on them? Remember, youngsters under the age of 17 had this tracking device around them, making it easy to detect them if they performed magic outside of school. These were 14 year old, schoolboy wizards, so why was it so difficult for the adults to track their whereabouts on different occasions?

2) When Delphi and the boys used the polyjuice potion to break into Hermione's office, where did the necessary hairs come from? The boys had just commenced another term at school, so how did they manage to get hold of hairs from Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were nowhere near them at the time?

3) Where was Baby Delphi? Somewhere in the play it's mentioned that she was born at Malfoy Manor, which makes sense, since Bellatrix was staying with her sister. Then why didn't teenage Draco know anything about a baby? The Death Eaters seemed to be keeping nothing from him at that stage, which is why he was getting so freaked out, finding himself mixed in all the evil way over his head. Also, nobody ever seems to twig that Delphi is actually his first cousin. Of course, that's a relationship he'd surely prefer to hide.

4) Why didn't Harry's scar bother him at all during those two decades? They are described as a time of peace, yet Delphi existed all that time. Surely she had several evil notions and plans during those growing years, being You-Know-Who's daughter? And then wouldn't his scar have at least prickled a bit in response, since it did in this story?

5) What's with Astoria Malfoy's blood disorder that caused her death? Is it possible that Scorpius could pass it on to his own children? I'd love to see some of Astoria's back story. She really never appears in the story, but she must have been incredible. The girl decided there was enough to love in Draco to make it worth her while putting up with his parents, who must have surely been the in-laws from hell.

6) Where are Lucius and Narcissa anyway? Are we to assume they're dead, since Draco says Scorpius is his only family? The text never actually says so. I'd like to assume Lucius is gone, for Scorpius' sake. Can you imagine two relatives with less common ground than this boy and his grandfather?

7) Why does the poor kid have to put up with the vicious rumor? Surely it can easily be proven untrue without a lot of messing around? For example, couldn't Draco voluntarily take veritaserum in front of witnesses, then declare that Scorpius really is his biological son? I might have over thought this one a bit, but I can't stand bullying.

8) Why no visits to Hagrid's hut? Hagrid was always so devoted to Harry, surely he'd be anxious to take Harry's lonely son under his wing, to improve his time at Hogwarts a bit. Sure, Albus might have pushed everyone who loved his father at arm's length, but I can't imagine Hagrid ever giving up trying.

9) This is the big question. Would different circumstances really make such a huge impact on people's characters as we see with the alternate time lines? Would we have a Cedric Diggory who would turn nasty if he was humiliated in the tournament? A Hermione who'd become a mean cow if she didn't marry Ron? A Scorpius who would willingly throw his weight around and inflict pain on other students?

I'd love it if people would respond with their thoughts on some of these, or maybe more of their own.

[Richard]

So the kids decide to send a message to the future. But it is established that there are multiple futures. Does the message on the blanket (how did they get ahold of it anyway?) go to all the possible futures? Most of those futures, there is no Albus to spill Love Potion on the blanket. Still, the kids get help from just the right future. That's so bogus. It's as if they tell us that the past can be tinkered with and it changes the present and then they say the present is immutible. And why does the help arrive moments after they write the messgae? Or do Harry and the gang hide and wait for the message to be written? My head aches!

[Jenn]

2. Excellent question. I wondered that too and they did this all (Jumping off the train, going to the Old Folks home, doing the poly juice potion and ministry. ) on September 1st, 2020.

3. Yeah, really I mean unless we are supposed to assume that her pregnancy was hidden and only a very few select people knew about it.

4. That’s a very good point. To be honest none of that made any sense to me. In DH we learn that Harry has this connection and is able to speak the language of snakes, feel Voldmort’s emotions, that his scar would hurt because he was a Horcrux and literally had a piece of Voldmorts soul in him. But since the piece of soul was blasted out of him then he shouldn’t have been able to speak snake or felt his scar in pain.

5. I wonder about her too wish we knew more about her. It says she passed due to the toll of a family curse on an ancestor. So yes it would seem it would be possible for her son to somehow inherit this illness.

I still don’t completely understand that. An ancestor was cursed and somehow that curse is able to become genetic. Maybe it would affect Men and Women differently. It seems implied that having her son caused her condition to deplete even further. Even though it sounds like it would have caused her premature death even if she hadn’t had a child but maybe she’d lived just slightly longer.

6. I just assumed they just weren't seen. Maybe Draco no longer had a really good relationship with his parents. JK previously indicated that visits were a bit tense seeing Astoria refused to raise Scorpius in the manner his parents would have preferred. Pureblood Supremacist seeing Muggles as trash. Perhaps he was talking about his immediate family (Spouse/children).

7. I was thinking wouldn’t a simple DNA test put these rumors to rest.

9. This really baffles me I just I’m sorry I can not ever believe that Cedric would become a Death Eater all because he was horribly embarrassed. Nor that Hermione would become the way she did all because she didn’t end up with Ron.

[Paula]

Richard wrote: "So the kids decide to send a message to the future. But it is established that there are multiple futures. Does the message on the blanket (how did they get ahold of it anyway?) go to all the possi..."

I didn't even think of that one! The two boys crept into the Potter house while James and Lily's backs were turned and nicked Harry's blanket! Time travel stories do get pretty twisted.

[Paula]

Healer wrote: "2. Excellent question. I wondered that too and they did this all (Jumping off the train, going to the Old Folks home, doing the poly juice potion and ministry. ) on September 1st, 2020.

3. Yeah, ..."
For #2, I was talking to someone who wondered if maybe the trace was 'switched off' during term time. That's a long shot, which is hard to believe. Even if something like that does happen, surely it can be switched 'on' again when two boys go AWOL from the train.
For #3, Yeah, maybe Voldy and Bellatrix could have kept it top secret as the ace up their sleeves. Malfoy Manor was big enough to conceal a baby and care taker, I guess :)
For #4, I agree that's a hard one. His connection wasn't to Delphi, so the fact that he felt anything at all is hard to get our heads around.
For #6, yes, maybe he told them, 'If you can't respect my wife and son, I want nothing more to do with you.' I would have liked to have seen that.
For #7, yeah, great point! Why not a good old muggle DNA test? Sounds way better proof than making a statement that all time turners are gone.
For #9, sounds like a lot of Cedric and Hermione fans are saying the same as us :)