lokifan

alley_skywalker asked ‘did Harry ever return Draco’s wand? In person?’

Sorry for the delay… She Who Must Not Be Named’s most recent run of terribleness knocked me off course. I don’t think meta or fic or w/e about Potter is endorsing her, to be clear, but the ‘ugh’ can taint it for me :(

So - I think yes. I tend to think Harry would feel like having Draco’s wand was something unfinished, and he’d return it.

Which could be more or less awkward depending on how things were going legally. (Was Lucius in Azkaban? Was Draco facing trial?)

I think in that conversation Draco might ask about Snape, and perhaps be some combination of pleased and relieved and mightily pissed off. This is actually something I touched on in my fic Sparking Like The Perfect Match, which is Snape/Draco set during DH. It’s relatively close to canon in that Snape is a spy who’s betraying Voldemort, and Draco doesn’t know. He hates Voldemort, but he doesn’t dare fight against him, especially since he’s increasingly close to Snape the Death Eater. When he finds out, part of his reaction is anger: if you’d told me, I could’ve helped you, and been better, and hated myself so much less.

Man, I still think the climax of Harry vs Voldemort would’ve been better if it was Draco throwing the Elder Wand to Harry. That would’ve been great. This moment of Harry and Malfoy’s weird parallel-yet-opposite thing bearing fruit, as they swap wands, this moment of their Seeker skills coming into play as the wand went end over end and Harry caught it, like he always does. Not to mention theme/character-wise: Harry wins because he’s kinder. Draco’s literally marked with the loyalty he swore to Voldemort, but Harry’s the one who saved Draco’s life, who managed to save one of his best friends, not the one who threatened Draco’s family. So Harry wins because he deserves to.

I very rarely do ‘it should’ve been x instead!’ type criticism but in this case I’ll make an exception :) I just love it when themes and character and plot all come together nicely - that’s why I love the ending of Cursed Child so much. “I’ve never fought alone and I never will!” <333

(More days available over here if you'd like to ask a question.)

Going to see Cursed Child today!!!

(It is, I believe, my ninth time. Only three in the last year though, so, y’know, it’s getting better?)

This time I’m seeing it with my family, for my dad’s birthday. They managed to get tickets thanks to my nudge (thanks to

januarium’s nudge) a year ago, and today’s the day!

How they react - and how I react to their reaction - will tell me a lot about whether I should try to get them to take me to see Hamilton (which I’ve seen once already, in previews) for my birthday next February. I love this play a lot! Obvs with CC I have to be more used to people disliking it ;) although I’ve yet to meet a person who saw it onstage without at least kind of liking it. Certainly the reactions from critics and non-fandom fans have been, like, Olivier-award-record-breakingly-positive.

I’ve been ramping up emotional energy this week to see my family and spend all day with them, because that can be a bit rough, but right now I’m just like CURSED CHILD AGAIN :D :D :D

Plus, the joy of seeing it with people who’re unspoiled! IT’S GONNA BE GREAT. I’m hoping to sit in the middle of my family so I can enjoy their reactions to Various Unnamed Big Moments :D

I am a little bit concerned, too, like… okay, so this emotional reaction took a while to form, even if it’s a comparison I saw immediately, but… I’m someone with two siblings, and parents who are good people who tried hard, but were clearly much better at parenting my siblings than me. (I was also a more difficult child.) It wasn’t really like the Harry & Albus situation but like… yeah IDK, seeing Lady Bird with my mum and sisters turned out to be a mistake. WE WILL SEE.

I 100000% bet my mum cries at the end. ( cut for spoilers I guess )

This is the LAST TIME with the second cast. Complete coincidence but I’m very pleased. It’s also pretty nice because I wasn’t all that impressed with the second cast the two times I saw them before, but I didn’t think they were awful - it’s exciting to get to see them having had a year to inhabit those roles, without actually having to pay £80 to think, ‘I wish Noma Dumezweni would come back’, lol.

CURSED CHILD YOU GUYS

(FYI: in general I love disagreement, but this is not the moment to tell me how much you hate it.)

Crossposts: https://lokifan.livejournal.com/384233.html

Sooo slight communication hiccup on my end, and now I've got an extra ticket for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child this Wednesday, 30th August. It's for both Part 1 and Part 2, i.e. the equivalent of a matinee and then the evening play. It's £200 overall (£100 for each part, and good seats!) and starts at 2pm, and you can do your own thing or come with me,

januarium, and the marvellous

drinkingcocoa while she's here from across the pond :D

I can return the ticket (probably?) or sell it (definitely), but I'd muuuuuuch rather bring one of you guys who's asked how I keep getting tickets :D Message me or comment here or email at lokifan.lj AT gmail.com

COME SEE IT WITH US IT IS SO SO FANTASTIC

Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/373650.html

This latest attack has hit closer to home than any attack before. I have students at Finsbury Park mosque; I have a student living on Seven Sisters Road; it’s two tube stops from me. There were friends-of-friends on Facebook whose mums go to that mosque and hadn’t heard from them yet; an old National Union of Students LGBTQ acquaintance goes there. Today has not been my best day ever. And given that both ISIS-inspired dickheads and Islamophobic terrorists seem to love attacking during Ramadan I am worrying a bit about Eid.

I keep thinking about the imam there, Mohammed Mahmoud. He’s just thirty years old, and he heard the crash and ran out. By then a group of men had the suspect pinned down, and they were beating him - incredibly scary, but understandable, given they’d just seen him mow people down. (And specifically mow down people who had circled round an elderly man having a medical emergency, wanting to help. I don’t understand.) And the imam yelled at them - don’t hurt him, just wait for the police. Then he and a group of others stayed there, protecting this person they’d just seen gleefully murder people they knew, for what must have been an endless eight minutes until the police arrived.

A few hours earlier I’d been watching Cursed Child again with two good friends.

HARRY: She’s a murderer, and we’re not.

HERMIONE: We have to be better than them.

RON: It’s really annoying but it’s what we learnt.

Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/370445.html

Hi guys! Wow, it’s been aaaages. I’ve been working like crazy the last few weeks. It should taper off in the next few weeks, or at least the timetabling should get less crazy. (These are the moments when I wonder if I should try qualifying as a secondary school teacher after all, cos I’d get paid a lot more for my exhaustion. My tax form tells me I survived on £12.6k for nine months in London, which is TMI but I’m sharing it because that number keeps rattling around in my head. I don’t know whether it makes me what to curl up and never spend money again or be like I AM A FUCKING GOD OF BUDGETING LET’S DO THIS.)

Anyway.

I’m adding new people here on Dreamwidth, and I’m gonna try and do an intro post/getting-to-know-you meme soon. (As well as brief thoughts on LJ’s latest round of poor choices, and the new series of Doctor Who.) But for now I’m just gonna post what I got, which is a slightly edited Tumblr reblog I want to be able to find again.

The

online_bookclub read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in April and I was in the group chat for some of it. Something that came up was Delphi’s existence, and the weirdness of the idea of Voldemort and Bellatrix having a baby - and it’s a massive sticking point for people in general, I think, even those who like CC. I was thinking about that, and then my friend

boundingheart posted that “if you can accept that Hagrid’s parents had him, you can accept that Voldemort and Bellatrix had Delphi.”

Now I’m actually totally down for Delphi’s existence (even if I’m firmly Team IT WAS A MAGICAL RITUAL) but I still disagree with that, because there are definitely factors that affect people not accepting Voldemort and Bellatrix conceiving a child that don’t affect Hagrid’s parents. ( It’s about more than just squick )

Current Mood: exanimate
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/369381.html

Draco: Did you know that in this other reality - the reality Scorpius saw into - I was Head of Magical Law Enforcement? Maybe this room will be mine soon enough.

*pause*

Draco (deadpan): Mwa ha ha.

Current Mood: amused
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/369043.html

So this is Part 1 of the Why Cursed Child Isn’t Queerbaiting post, because this point kept growing and threatening to overwhelm everything else.

As ever, feel free to disagree strongly and tell me about it! We can still be friends :D Although I’m also going to explain why I disagree with you if I do.

I’ve repeatedly seen the idea that Albus and Scorpius’ discussion of his crush on Rose at the end of Cursed Child comes out of nowhere, and therefore constitutes a frantic “no homo” - i.e. the moment that turns queer subtext into queerbaiting, rushing to assure the audience that there’s nothing gay here despite all the homoerotic hinting.

Well, no. For one thing, Scorpius’ feelings about Rose do not come out of nowhere at the end. He says “I think she’s brilliant” right from the start; he’s the one who freaks out when Rose is vanished by the changes to the timeline (“it’s Rose!”) even though she’s Albus’ cousin. Scorpius barely knows her, so this definitely comes across as a crush/hero-worship, but he’s got it going on throughout. But more importantly, ( Scorpius and Albus are not written as a romance in JKR’s idiom )

Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/368514.html

Let’s talk about Cursed Child in script vs production. Now obviously the production adds a vast amount of detail & light and shade to the script that can’t exist in the script alone. That’s theatre. But there are a few elements of that and a few outright changes that I want to document for people.

NB: I’ve seen Cursed Child four times in the last seven months, and have seen more than one actor for several key roles including Albus, Scorpius, and Harry. That said my memory is not perfect!

#1 and #2 are the actual script changes, fyi. Everything else is about implication.

( script vs production )

Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/364900.html

I saw Cursed Child again last night ♥ ♥ ♥ It was still atmospheric and exciting and beautiful. One of the phrases I keep using to talk about Cursed Child is Epic Friendship, with those capitals. It’s a phenomenon I’ve seen before but I hadn’t thought of it in quite those terms before. So to define: Epic Friendship, to me, is when the relationship itself is a grand story, given great and likely central weight in the narrative in all its nuances, strong and affirming and wonderful. And also when the friendship is central to the fight against evil.

So think of Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles, and them joining themselves to fight as one at the end of S4. The Doctor bringing all his companions back to help him. Everything about Steven Universe, most obviously in gem fusion (although that also has a sexual & romantic subtext, of course).

( this is where the post gets spoilery for Cursed Child and Sherlock s4 so far )

Current Mood: thoughtful
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/362957.html

( my favourite line of the entire play was )

Current Mood: touched
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/355441.html

Guys it’s been a week and I think it’s going to stick. Horrifyingly.

Of course there’ll always be AUs. And on an intellectual level I think changing mediums and introducing a bunch more creative voices means that the play can’t be part of the text of the novels, so it’s not really ‘canon’ in that sense - but it does FEEL like part of the whole to me. I just…

I can’t ship Harry/Draco in a CC-compliant world.

( I’m thrilled with their characterisation and evolving relationship in the play but )

Current Mood: morose
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/355291.html

Part two of my massive rambling Cursed Child post be here. This is getting more into plot, thematic stuff, and particular scenes/moments. ( spoilers abound, natch )

Sleeptime for me now :) I promise I’ll catch up on comments tomorrow!

Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/354988.html

That was stunning. Truly one of the best pieces of theatre I've ever seen; maybe the best. And I see quite a bit of theatre. As a production in itself it’s slick, funny, emotional, brilliantly put together. And I loved the story.

I can totally see why I heard a couple of people say they thought the idea sounded silly or “like bad fanfic” but as I thought at the time, "a lot of great theatre would sound ridiculous if you just explained the plot”. And yeah. I’m now reading the script and again, I can easily imagine how that would be “meh” which I’ve seen several times, including from non-fandom people - but in performance it is honestly BRILLIANCE. The script, as a friend of mine said, is maybe 5% of everything.

Sorry, I’m aware that I’m very lucky to live within thirty minutes of the West End, and that is probably a really annoying thing to hear. But it’s true.

I’m going to assume you’ve read or seen the play, but if you want me to explain stuff in comments I totally can!

This turned out to be many many words, so I’m going to put it in two parts for all our sakes. This is the stuff about specific characters, and then the next post will be everything else.

( okay, SO MANY SPOILERS )

Current Mood: jubilant
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/354402.html

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December posting meme: Day 19
Cursed Child today!
Extra Cursed Child ticket for THIS WEDNESDAY
We'll find a way to fight it. We always have.
Voldemort and Bellatrix as parents
The most important part of seeing Cursed Child again on Wednesday
Romance in Potter is a mystery
Cursed Child: script vs production
Epic Friendship in Sherlock S4 (so far) vs Cursed Child
My Little Harry: Friendship is Magic (and a Scorpius/Albus tangent)
DISASTER
Cursed Child reaction post part 2
Cursed Child reaction post part 1 (the characters): IT IS FUCKING AMAZING GUYS

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Entries tagged with cursed child

December posting meme: Day 19

Cursed Child today!

Extra Cursed Child ticket for THIS WEDNESDAY

We'll find a way to fight it. We always have.

Voldemort and Bellatrix as parents

The most important part of seeing Cursed Child again on Wednesday

Romance in Potter is a mystery

Cursed Child: script vs production

Epic Friendship in Sherlock S4 (so far) vs Cursed Child

My Little Harry: Friendship is Magic (and a Scorpius/Albus tangent)

DISASTER

Cursed Child reaction post part 2

Cursed Child reaction post part 1 (the characters): IT IS FUCKING AMAZING GUYS