Ending the Harry Potter Chapter

There was an announcement on Bookworm Bangladesh's page on Facebook, and I squealed, out loud, sitting at my office desk. The squeal was all too familiar to those who had the heart of a Potterhead, and my colleague (a fellow Potterhead) sprung up from her seat and yelled, 'I BOUGHT IT! I BOUGHT IT!'

Yes, the new Harry Potter book had just come out, and the 'Potterverse' was alive and thriving all over again. Facebook flooded with selfies with the new book, statuses were of excited shrieks and HP quotes – it was just like how it was with the other books of the original series. Nine years ago, millions of heart from the world over broke in unison as the 7th book of the series, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, was released. After almost a decade, when the announcement of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child play was made, we were excited alright- but nothing like when it's script was published on July 30, 2016.

The book is the special edition rehearsal script, and is written by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne. The play is directed by Jack Thorne, while it is based on the original story by J.K. Rowling. The fact that it is written by people other than J.K. Rowling should have been the first clue. To what? Wait.

It was obvious to all of us that the story wouldn't read like Rowling's did, considering the format and the writers. But we still weren't sure what to expect. Upon opening the book, the first page, Act One, Scene One, I felt my heart deflate. The writing style struck me first. While it is nothing like Rowling's, it gave me a very amateurish feel to it- almost fan-fiction like. There were sentences that bewildered me (“don't damage our Diggory, Mr Dragon”?????) to a point where I had to put the book down and breath, for while to calm down (yes, Potterheads take things very personally). I picked the book back up later.

As I read on with scepticism, I moved on further and realised that characterisation had gone a little haywire. While it was 19 years on, we had a little taste of what Harry, Ron and Hermoine were like in the 7th book itself, and more so in the movie. Here, Harry, Ron, Hermoine, even Draco to some extent, did not feel like them. I had never been so disconnected with the trio as I was throughout this book. The recreation of the trio through Albus, Scorpious and Delphini did not feel like it did any justice to the previous generation. I loved Scorpious, though he is nothing like Draco. Or even a proper Malfoy, for that matter. Good thing is, Draco and Scorpious both admit it. The one character that disappointed me most was Minerva McGonagall. I'm sorry, but she would never tolerate a student, ex or not, misbehaving with her- even if it is Harry Potter!

What really did stand out though was the thought in my head that kept asking, “how did they even do this on stage?” As a script of a play, if one thinks about it, albeit the dialogues aren't all that flattering, the execution must have been absolutely brilliant. The way they have described magic and at least given us an idea of how they are displaying the magic on stage will really make you wonder of their production value and how exhilarating it might have been to watch this upfront.

As I kept reading, a little less sceptic now, I found myself smiling in some parts. I even laughed at the parts that remained true to the humour of the original series. I started feeling slight familiarity. I started feeling nostalgic. I smiled because this book, whether well written or not, took me back to a simpler time- a time when nothing else mattered except Harry Potter and his shenanigans. So, with a little enthusiasm now, I kept reading.

I realised that no matter what happens in the plot, no matter how it is written, a Potterhead will finish this book. It is far from the '8th book', I personally wouldn't include it in the series. But I still feel like my collection is now complete. I feel like it has now finished. If it were written better, if it were a work of Rowling, if it were much too familiar, it may have been more difficult to say goodbye than it was nine years ago. But it's not too hard this time around. With a trip down memory lane, this book served as a time-turner for me. I am now back in the present, happy to have gone back for a little while.

This book, it was the perfect closure.