Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Act I, Scenes 1-9

Reading Check

1. How old is Harry at the start of the play?

2. To whom is Harry referring in Act 1, Scene 2 when he says Albus was named after “a Slytherin [who] was probably the bravest man [he] ever knew”?

3. Who is better at flying, Rose or Albus?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who is Theodore Nott? Identify this character and explain his significance.

2. What administrative task at the Ministry of Magic does Hermione urge Harry to complete? Why?

3. What wish does Harry make during his argument with Albus after trying to give him the blanket?

Paired Resource

“How to Name Characters: Names with Meaning”

• This 6-minute video discusses the connection between a character’s name and their personality and considers past literary examples.
• In thinking about character names and naming, readers might discuss connections to the theme of The Impact of Fame and Legacy on the Parent-Child Relationship.
• In what ways are characters often named? What significance does Albus’s name hold?

“The Origins of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”

• This article comes directly from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It contains quizzes, articles, and fan-driven content, and it explores the Hogwarts Founders’ motivations in detail.
• Shared themes include The Impact of Fame and Legacy on the Parent-Child Relationship.
• Who were the founders of Hogwarts? How did their individual goals shape the world’s best magic school?

Act I, Scenes 10-19

Reading Check

1. Whom does Voldemort call a “spare”?

2. What was the first and last name of the person who offered the Trolley Witch her job?

3. Which character convinces Amos Diggory to trust Albus and Scorpius?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Ron’s dialogue contribute to the character dynamics in Harry and Ginny’s kitchen as Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny discuss Draco?

2. What is awkward about Albus’s interaction with Hermione at the Ministry of Magic?

Act II, Scenes 1-9

Reading Check

1. What spell do Delphi and Albus practice at the edge of the forbidden forest? What is it used for?

2. What convinces Draco to come to Hogwarts to join Harry and the others?

3. How does Cedric initially get past the first task of the Triwizard Tournament?

4. Which character “makes a sound like a horse’s cry” (Act II, Scene 5) in the Forbidden Forest after talking with Harry?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Aunt Petunia’s reaction to Young Harry wetting himself tell us about his upbringing?

2. What is the purpose of the following stage directions in Act II, Scene 1?

She exits with a bang.

And YOUNG HARRY is left holding the sheets.

And the stage contorts and trees rise as the dream twists into something else entirely.

3. How do Albus and Scorpius respond to the sight of Hogwarts in Scene 6? Which theme relates to this characterization?

Paired Resource

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Set Design”

• Christine Jones, one of the set designers from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, discusses the process of bringing Hogwarts to the stage in this 3-minute video.
• This information connects to the themes of The Role of Friendship in Overcoming Crises and The Interaction of Destiny and Free Will in Influencing History.
• Does the set design for the professional production of the play match your expectations or predictions? Why or why not? What differences are there between the set design and the way you visualize Hogwarts?

Act II, Scenes 10-20

Reading Check

1. Who is the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher Albus encounters at Hogwarts?

2. What action interrupts Harry and Draco’s duel?

3. Why does Delphi say she wants to help Albus reconnect with Scorpius?

4. What does Draco think might be the real “dark cloud” around Albus?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does the stage description below strategically foreshadow the scene to come?

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL is full of unhappiness, HARRY is full of purpose, GINNY is not sure what she’s supposed to be.

2. Which theme does the following stage direction best represent?

The staircases meet. The two boys look at each other.

Lost and hopeful—all at once.

3. How is Draco’s confession after the duel a representation of bildungsroman (growth)?

Act III, Scenes 1-11

Reading Check

1. What is Scorpius’s nickname in the Time-Turner-influenced reality?

2. How is the phrase, “Oh Potter,” used in the play?

3. What is Draco’s new profession in the Time-Turner-influenced reality?

4. What does Hermione confess to Ron before the Dementor’s Kiss?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Scorpius react in meeting Snape? Why?

2. What is Hermione’s role in the resistance?

3. Why is Professor McGonagall upset about the Time-Turners?

Paired Resource

“Time-Turner”

• This Wizarding World feature is a J. K. Rowling original short extending the lore of Harry Potter. It describes the Time-Turner and the usage of time in the series.
• This short piece of writing connects to the theme of The Interaction of Destiny and Free Will in Influencing History.
• Given J. K. Rowling’s thoughts on Time-Turners, why would she choose to include them as a plot device in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

“Ron and Hermione Most Perfect Moments”

• This 2-minute compilation includes the most memorable moments of Ron and Hermione’s relationship in the film adaption of the novels.
• This video connects to the theme of The Interaction of Destiny and Free Will in Influencing History.
• Why doesn’t the Time-Turner influence destiny and free will?

Act III, Scenes 12-21

Reading Check

1. How does Delphi know to meet Albus and Scorpius in the Hogwarts Owlery?

2. Whom does Cedric Diggory kill after becoming a Death Eater?

3. Who first recognizes Delphi’s treachery?

4. What does Delphi say is Albus and Harry’s shared weakness?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does the blocking—a character’s planned movements on stage—in this stage direction impact the scene?

AUNT PETUNIA looks around, she sees all the flowers as if for the first time and it moves her hugely. She approaches and then sits by her sister’s grave, trying hard to fight the emotions as they come to her but succumbing all the same.

2. What does Scorpius mean when he says, “Prophecies can be broken,” in Act III, Scene 20? How is this ironic?

Paired Resource

“Blocking—TDF’s Theatre Dictionary”

• This intentionally awkward 1-minute video defines blocking and how it helps guide actors on stage.
• Why is blocking so important in drama? Imagine different blocking for a scene in this act. What would your stage directions be like and why?

Act IV, Scenes 1-15

Reading Check

1. What is the Ministry’s response to Delphi’s plan?

2. Why has Albus never been to Godric’s Hollow?

3. Why does Delphi go back in time to October 31, 1981?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Albus’s regard for his father change after the trip to Godric’s Hollow?

2. What does Ginny’s dramatic speech about opening the Chamber of Secrets say about her role as an outsider?

Recommended Next Reads

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

• Meg Murry is an average high school girl until she finds herself traveling through time and space to rescue her father from evil forces that hold him prisoner on another planet.
• This novel connects to the themes of The Role of Friendship in Overcoming Crises and The Interaction of Destiny and Free Will in Influencing History.
• Shared topics include time travel, friendship and comradery, and the legacies of family and heredity.
• A Wrinkle in Time on SuperSummary

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

• The story features 12-year-old Serafina, a mysterious girl who secretly lives in the basement of the historic Biltmore Estate. When some of the Biltmore guests’ children go missing, Serafina discovers that an evil intruder—the Man in the Black Cloak—is responsible. Serafina sets out to learn the man’s identity and defeat him, discovering more about her own identity in the process.
• Shared themes include The Role of Friendship in Overcoming Crises.
• Shared topics include the adaptation of a well-known narrative, grief, and fighting for what is right.
• Serafina and the Black Cloak on SuperSummary