The eighth Harry Potter story (the script of the new West End play) was released on Sunday, and we have LOTS of feelings about it. Here are some important thoughts we had after finishing the book.

Please note – this blog post contains spoilers.

Scorpius is our new favourite character.

Okay, we freaking love Scorpius. He is delightful – a knowledge-hungry, good-hearted, resilient Slytherin with big dreams for the future, and an excellent sense of humour. Plus, his friendship with Albus is A+, especially when he dresses Albus down for being a self-obsessed git.

Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange? Hmmm…

While one of us believes Voldemort was a sexual deviant, two of us find it highly questionable that he had any sexual urge at all. Plus, we’re also not 100% convinced about the timing of his child’s birth (leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts). Is it possible that Voldemort impregnated Bellatrix with magic, instead of through physical contact? Also, we’re a little iffy on Voldemort’s child being evil because of genetics. Once more, hmmm…

Does the time travel make sense?

Time travel is always tricky to get right, and some of the repercussions of the ‘butterfly effect’ invoked by Albus and Scorpius felt a little too simplistic (ahem, Cedric becoming a deatheater because he was humiliated?). Plus, the time-turner in this story worked differently from how Hermione’s time-turner worked in the third book, which was a little jarring at first. But we did enjoy how the different futures revealed different versions of characters.

Let’s all reflect on the significance of Neville Longbottom throughout the entire series.

Neville is a brilliant character – his transformation throughout the series is heartwarming – and he was so often underrated by other characters. So we really loved how the moment where he killed Nagini was so pivotal in this story too (Voldemort essentially wins the battle of Hogwarts due to Neville’s absence).

No matter the future, Hermione is always amazing.

Also important… In all of the possible futures imagined here, Hermione remains the best – whether she is the minister of magic, a ‘mean’ (we argue, ‘efficient’) teacher, or a notorious rebel on the run from Voldemort. She is an astonishing witch.

We need to talk about Ron.

We had a lot of problems with the way Ron as an adult was represented. As Dani put it: ‘Why did Ron go from being the funny, but equally important, third member of a team to being just comic relief? How did he slip back to being his insensitive 14-year-old self?’ Or, as Nina put it: ‘I guess Ron peaked in high school.’

SO many daddy issues.

The Harry Potter books have always been ripe with daddy issues but never more so than now – from the conversations between Harry and the Dumbledore portrait to the moment where Draco tells Scorpius he can’t lose him too. There are even references to ‘daddy issues’ in the dialogue between characters. (On the other side of the coin, the trope of the dead mother continues to prosper, as well as the mother who is forced to take on all of the emotional heavywork.)

Snape – always.

Put your hand up if you got tears when Snape was alive in one of the possible futures. And then dies again. :(

Professor McGonagall knows way more about parenting than Harry.

In one scene Harry tells Professor McGonagall she doesn’t know anything about parenting given she has no children. To this we say: LOL.

The play rewards Draco/Hermione shippers – kind of.

No, there’s no alternate reality where Draco and Hermione are together but fans may get some solace in seeing the big crush that Scorpius (Draco’s son) has on Rose (Hermione’s daughter). It may be unrequited as of now, but who knows what the future holds.

And also… Who else is now shipping Albus/Scorpius?

As we’ve said, the friendship between Albus and Scorpius is A+, and we sensed there may be some simmering romantic tension there. It’s possible we’re just feeling inspired after reading Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On.

How scary is the future where Voldemort comes into power? Very scary.

Umbridge as the headmistress of Hogwarts? Dementors clogging the atmosphere? Horrible experiments on muggles? Students walking around with BLOOD on their shoes? This future is seriously grim.

Can we please have a story with a Ravenclaw hero? Or better yet, a heroine?

Given we saw Slytherins in the spotlight with this story, and we’re going to see a Hufflepuff take centrestage in the the forthcoming film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, we’re hoping that a Ravenclaw story is due to follow. (Yes, we know Rowling said no more, but fingers crossed!) And we’d very much love to see a heroine this time.

Will the Augury return?

On the topic of hopes for the future… How dangerous is the Augury? Will she escape and gain followers? Or will another dark wizard or witch emerge? (Bronte hopes very much for the latter.)

The story is definitely canon.

We’ve heard this question getting tossed around a bit lately. Some people feel this story is less part of the world given Rowling was only a co-contributor, but the key thing here is that she was a contributor. Whatever feelings we have towards her portrayal – this is ultimately how she envisions the characters. The exciting thing about this is that by extending the story, Rowling also opens up new gaps for us to build different kinds of narratives.

It felt like we were only getting glimpse of the future, which was very bittersweet.

Basically, we all loved being back in the world of Harry Potter. The script format meant we were looking at the world in glimpses, and so we missed seeing the full scope of how it looked, and we didn’t get to catch up with all our favourite characters. We’re all very, very keen to see the play though.

On this topic… When can Australia expect to see the play?

Anyone?