Time-Turners illustrate the dangers of fixating on and altering the past. Time-Turners allow the user to go back in time and change the past, which often unintentionally changes the present. In the play, Albus and Scorpius steal a Ministry Time-Turner, hoping to try to save Cedric from an unjust death. However, as a result, they create ripple effects in time that have disastrous consequences—first making it so that Hermione and Ron never marry or have their daughter Rose, and then making it so that Voldemort wins the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry dies, Albus never exists, and Voldemort reigns over the wizarding world. This results in Scorpius having to go back in time again to correct the mistakes that he and Albus made, illustrating the potentially disastrous and life-altering consequences of changing the past.
Draco illustrates how not using a Time-Turner is a more noble thing to do. He holds onto a Time-Turner his entire life but never uses it, even though he would love to have more time with his late wife Astoria, because he knows the potentially dire consequences of altering the past even slightly. Ultimately, Harry and Draco use this Time-Turner only to try to prevent any further changes to the past. Their journey reflects the play’s suggestion that it’s better to focus on the present and come to terms with the past, rather than dangerously trying to alter the past and, as a result, creating chaos in the future.
Time-Turners Quotes in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
ALBUS: When Amos Diggory asked for the Time-Turner my father denied they even existed. He lied to an old man who just wanted his son back—who just loved his son. And he did it because he didn’t care—because he doesn’t care. Everyone talks about all the brave things Dad did. But he made some mistakes too. Some big mistakes, in fact. I want to set one of those mistakes right. I want us to save Cedric.
SCORPIUS: Okay, whatever was holding your brain together seems to have snapped.
ALBUS: I’m going to do this, Scorpius. I need to do this. And you know as well as I do, I’ll entirely mess it up if you don’t come with me. Come on.
SCORPIUS: From the moment I first heard of it, I was desperate to go. I mean, Dad didn’t much like it there but even the way he described it… From the age of ten I’d check the Daily Prophet first thing every morning—certain some sort of tragedy would have befallen it—certain I wouldn’t get to go.
ALBUS: And then you got there and it turned out to be terrible after all.
SCORPIUS: Not for me.
ALBUS looks at his friend, shocked.
All I ever wanted to do was go to Hogwarts and have a mate to get up to mayhem with. Just like Harry Potter. And I got his son. How crazily fortunate is that.
ALBUS: But I'm nothing like my dad.
SCORPIUS: You're better. You're my best friend, Albus. And this is mayhem to the nth degree.
ALBUS enters and walks up one staircase.
SCORPIUS enters and walks up another.
The staircases meet. The two boys look at each other.
Lost and hopeful—all at once.
And then ALBUS looks away and the moment is broken—and with it, possibly, the friendship.
And now the staircases part—the two look at each other—one full of guilt—the other full of pain—both full of unhappiness.
SCORPIUS: Have you heard me, Albus? This is bigger than you and your dad. Professor Croaker’s law—the furthest someone can go back in time without the possibility of serious harm to the traveler or time itself is five hours. And we went back years. The smallest moment, the smallest change, it creates ripples. And we—we’ve created really bad ripples. Rose was never born because of what we did. Rose.
SCORPIUS: An Augurey?
DELPHI: Haven’t you met them in Care of Magical Creatures? They’re sinister-looking black birds that cry when rain’s coming. Wizards used to believe that the Augurey’s cry foretold death. When I was growing up, my guardian kept one in a cage.
SCORPIUS: Your… guardian?
DELPHI looks at SCORPIUS, now she has the Time-Turner she’s enjoying the game of this.
DELPHI: She used to say it was crying because it could see I was going to come to a sticky end. She didn’t like me much. Euphemia Rowle… she only took me in for the gold.
ALBUS: Why would you want a tattoo of her bird, then?
DELPHI: It reminds me that the future is mine to make.
CEDRIC: Emancipare! Emancipare!
The boys are freed.
And now I can go on? Finish the maze?
The boys look at CEDRIC—they know exactly what it means for him to finish the maze.
ALBUS: I’m afraid you have to finish the maze.
CEDRIC: Then I shall.
CEDRIC walks confidently away. Albus looks after him—desperate to say something, unsure what to say.
ALBUS: Cedric-
CEDRIC turns towards him.
Your dad loves you very much.
Time-Turners Symbol Timeline in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
