Throughout the play, adult characters like Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have to live with their reputations—Harry as the heroic “Boy Who Lived” and Draco as an evil Death Eater. Meanwhile, their children, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, have to grapple with the expectations that come with their famous parents—Albus feels constantly inadequate compared to his father’s shining example, and rumors plague Scorpius that he is actually Voldemort’s son, which leads other kids to avoid him because they assume he will be evil, too. For each of these characters, their reputations weigh heavily on them: Harry feels guilty about the people he could not save, Albus feels like he is a disappointment, and Draco worries that he lost his way and as a result doomed Scorpius to life as an outcast. In this way, the play demonstrates that reputation and expectation can both be heavy burdens that foster guilt and regret.
Albus struggles with the expectations people have of him because of Harry’s legacy, and his attempts to prove himself lead only to trouble. From Albus’s first days at Hogwarts, it immediately becomes clear that he struggles to live up to Harry’s standard. He is immediately placed into Slytherin House rather than Gryffindor, he shows no talent for Quidditch, and he struggles in school. As a result, students call him a “Slytherin Squib” and say that he “really isn’t like his father at all.” Later, Albus tells Harry that he feels “disappointing.” These descriptions demonstrate how Albus struggles with other people’s expectations of him, to the point where he feels like he’s letting down himself and his father. To prove his worth, Albus tries to save Cedric by changing the past, which he views as “set[ting] one of [Harry’s] mistakes right.” And yet as a result, he and Scorpius nearly destroy the wizarding world as they know it. Albus understands that he did this because he “had something to prove,” which directly links the pressure of high expectations to the reckless—and sometimes seriously dangerous—actions that people often take to meet expectations and prove themselves.
While Albus struggles to be as admired as his father, Scorpius has an inverse problem: his father’s reputation is so poor that Scorpius suffers by association. When Scorpius first sets foot on the Hogwarts Express, other students steer clear of him. Rose even tries to prevent Albus from making friends with Scorpius because of the rumor that he’s Voldemort’s son. In subsequent years, Scorpius has to get on the Hogwarts Express early to avoid people staring and shouting at him. His family’s reputation—and the false rumor about his paternity—weigh heavily on him. Then, when Albus and Scorpius fight, Albus says angrily that he thinks Scorpius holds him back and that he wasn’t a “loser” before he met Scorpius. Scorpius grows frustrated in response, crying out, “People look at you because your dad’s the famous Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world. People look at me because they think my dad is Voldemort.” Scorpius acknowledges that Albus has difficulties because of the comparison with his father, but even Albus plays into the bias that Scorpius is a “loser” that only exists because of a reputation that Scorpius cannot control. In this way, the play affirms that reputations can place a severe burden on kids like Scorpius, introducing conflict into even their most supportive relationships.
Draco also feels a burden, both in his reputation as a former Death Eater and in the reputation he has given Scorpius as Voldemort’s son. The fact that Draco was one of Voldemort’s followers makes other wizards and witches automatically suspicious of him. When Voldemort’s supporters start to stir again, Hermione explains that they’re investigating anyone involved in Dark Magic. Draco asks, “Back to being prejudiced against those with a Dark Mark?” In this way, Draco feels the burden of his past as he struggles to prove that he has become a better person. Draco also feels guilty for inadvertently causing the rumor about Scorpius’s parentage. When Astoria was pregnant with Scorpius, Draco hid away with her because she was very weak and he wanted to conserve her strength. He says that he didn’t realize that by hiding Scorpius away from “this gossiping, judgmental world, [he] ensured that [his] son would emerge shrouded in worse suspicion than [he himself] ever endured.” In this statement, he recognizes the profound burden that rumors and reputation have had on both him and on Scorpius, and the fact that those burdens led him to choices he now regrets.
Finally, even Harry is burdened by his heroic reputation—a positive reputation that he earned through his brave actions. A major aspect of this burden is Harry’s guilt that he can’t save everyone, even though he is known as a savior. For example, Amos Diggory approaches Harry to beg him to save his son Cedric, who died as a casualty in the conflict between Harry and Voldemort. As this would involve time travel, Harry refuses, saying that it would be too dangerous to attempt. In response, Amos asks, “How many people had to die for the Boy Who Lived?” This reputation, as the “Boy Who Lived,” plagues Harry and makes him feel guilty for those he cannot save, like Cedric, even though it’s not his fault that Cedric died. He struggles to want to live up to his own reputation as a hero and a savior, and when he fails to do so, he feels guilty.
By the end of the play, the characters have largely overcome their reputations and expectations: Albus shows that he can act heroically, Draco transcends his history as a Death Eater, people recognize that Scorpius isn’t Voldemort’s son, and Harry understands that not everyone can be saved. As a result, the characters feel much less encumbered, showing the importance of stepping past those heavy burdens of guilt and regret, and of living as oneself and not trying to live in a way defined by an external reputation.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Reputation and Expectation ThemeTracker
Reputation and Expectation Quotes in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
ALBUS: Dad…
ALBUS pulls on HARRY’s robes. HARRY looks down.
Do you think—what if I am—what if I’m put in Slytherin…
HARRY: And what would be wrong with that?
ALBUS: Slytherin is the House of the snake, of Dark Magic… It’s not a House of brave wizards.
HARRY: Albus Severus, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.
ALBUS: But just say…
HARRY: If it matters to you, you, the Sorting Hat will take your feelings into account.
ROSE: The rumor is that he’s Voldemort’s son, Albus.
A horrible, uncomfortable silence.
It’s probably rubbish. I mean… look, you’ve got a nose.
The tension is slightly broken. SCORPIUS laughs, pathetically grateful.
SCORPIUS: And it’s just like my father’s! I got his nose, his hair, and his name. Not that that’s a great thing either. I mean—father-son issues, I have them. But, on the whole, I’d rather be a Malfoy than, you know, the son of the Dark Lord.
SCORPIUS and ALBUS look at each other and something passes between them.
ALBUS: At Harry Potter and his disappointing son.
HARRY: What does that mean?
ALBUS: At Harry Potter and his Slytherin son.
[…] HARRY look at ALBUS, concerned.
HARRY: Al—
ALBUS: My name is Albus, not Al.
HARRY Are the other kids being unkind? Is that it? Maybe. if you tried making a few more friends… without Hermione and Ron I wouldn’t have survived Hogwarts, I wouldn’t have survived at all.
ALBUS: But I don’t need a Ron and Hermione. I’ve—I’ve got a friend, Scorpius, and I know you don’t like him but he’s all I need.
HARRY Look, as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters to me.
HARRY: Albus, I want you to have the blanket.
ALBUS: And do what with it? Fairy wings make sense, Dad, invisibility cloaks, they also make sense—but this—really?
HARRY is slightly heartbroken. He looks at his son, desperate to reach out.
HARRY: Do you want a hand? Packing. I always loved packing. It meant I was leaving Privet Drive and going back to Hogwarts. Which was… well, I know you don’t love it but…
ALBUS: For you, it’s the greatest place on earth. I know. The poor orphan, bullied by his uncle and aunt Dursley…
HARRY (finally losing his temper): You know what? I’m done with being made responsible for your unhappiness. At least you’ve got a dad. Because I didn’t, okay?
ALBUS: And you think that was unlucky? I don’t.
HARRY: You wish me dead?
ALBUS: No! I just wish you weren’t my dad.
HARRY (seeing red): Well, there are times I wish you weren’t my son.
There’s a silence. ALBUS nods. Pause. HARRY realizes what he’s said.
No, I didn’t mean that…
ALBUS: Yes. You did.
HARRY: Albus, you just know how to get under my skin…
ALBUS: You meant it, Dad. And, honestly, I don’t blame you.
There’s a horrible pause.
You should probably leave me alone now.
HARRY: Albus, please…
ALBUS picks up the blanket and throws it.
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.
DELPHI: I can think of one reason why you should trust them, Uncle.
They stop.
They’re the only ones volunteering to help. They’re prepared to bravely put themselves at risk to return your son to your side.
In fact, I’m pretty sure they put themselves at risk even getting here…
AMOS: This is Cedric we’re talking about…
DELPHI: And—didn’t you say yourself, having someone inside Hogwarts might be a massive advantage?
DELPHI kisses the top of AMOS’s head. AMOS looks at DELPHI, and then turns to look at the boys.
AMOS: Why? Why do you want to put yourself at risk? What’s in it for you? ALBUS: I know what it is to be the spare. Your son didn’t deserve to be killed, Mr. Diggory. We can help you get him back.
HARRY: I’ve never asked how you felt about me naming him after you, have I?
DUMBLEDORE: Candidly, Harry, it seemed a great weight to place upon the poor boy.
HARRY: I need your help. I need your advice. Bane says Albus is in danger. How do I protect my son, Dumbledore?
DUMBLEDORE: You ask me, of all people, how to protect a boy in terrible danger? We cannot protect the young from harm. Pain must and will come.
HARRY: So I’m supposed to stand and watch?
DUMBLEDORE: No. You’re supposed to teach him how to meet life.
HARRY: How? He won’t listen.
DUMBLEDORE: Perhaps he’s waiting for you to see him clearly.
SCORPIUS: Sometimes—sometimes I find myself thinking—maybe they're true too.
ALBUS: No. They’re not true. And I’ll tell you why. Because I don’t think Voldemort is capable of having a kind son—and you’re kind, Scorpius. To the depths of your belly, to the tips of your fingers. I truly believe Voldemort—Voldemort couldn’t have a child like you.
Beat. Scorpius is moved by this.
SCORPIUS: That’s nice—that’s a nice thing to say.
ALBUS: And it’s something I should have said a long time ago. And you don’t—you couldn’t—hold me back. You make me stronger—and when Dad forced us apart—without you—
SCORPIUS: I didn’t much like my life without you in it either.
SCORPIUS: You—Polly Chapman—want me to take you to a—ball?
There is the sound of screaming behind him.
What is that screaming?
POLLY CHAPMAN: Mudbloods, of course. In the dungeons. Your idea, wasn’t it? What’s going on with you? Oh Potter—I’ve got blood on my shoes again…
She bends and carefully cleans the blood of her shoes.
Like the Augurey insists—the future is ours to make—so here I am, making a future—with you. For Voldemort and Valor.
SCORPIUS: For Voldemort it is.
POLLY walks on, SCORPIUS look agonized. What is this world—and what is he within it?
ALBUS: And why was I so determined to do this? Cedric? Really? No. I had something to prove. My dad’s right—he didn’t volunteer for adventure—me, this, it’s all my fault—and if it wasn’t for you everything could have gone Dark.
SCORPIUS: But it didn’t. And you’re to thank for that as much as me. When the dementors were—inside my head—Severus Snape told me to think of you. You may not have been there, Albus, but you were fighting—fighting alongside me.
DRACO: Astoria always knew that she was not destined for old age. She wanted me to have somebody when she left, because… it is exceptionally lonely, being Draco Malfoy. I will always be suspected. There is no escaping the past. I never realized, though, that by hiding him away from this gossiping, judgmental world, I ensured that my son would emerge shrouded in worse suspicion than I ever endured.
HARRY: Love blinds. We have both tried to give our sons not what they needed, but what we needed. We’ve been so busy trying to rewrite our own pasts, we’ve blighted their present.
HARRY: Voldemort is going to kill my mum and dad—and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
DRACO: That’s not true.
SCORPIUS: Dad, now is not the time…
ALBUS: There is something you could do—to stop him. But you won’t.
DRACO: That’s heroic.
GINNY takes HARRY’s hand.
GINNY: You don’t have to watch, Harry. We can go home.
HARRY: I’m letting it happen… Of course I have to watch.
HERMIONE: Then we’ll all witness it.
RON: We’ll all watch.
