Fridge / Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

• So Delphi is the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange. Seems like a real Ass Pull since the narration didn't imply it... but on a meta-level this actually seems to be a nod to the movie production. Originally, the actress who tried out for Bellatrix Lestrange's role was denied because of pregnancy, but she actually did appear in the movies: as Narcissa Malfoy — Bellatrix's younger sister.
  • Bellatrix Lestrange's actress was pregnant throughout the sixth movie and had to hide it under loose robes. Guess who's a mother now?
• Lots of people have been complaining that the majority of Slytherins we see in Albus's generation basically just keep showcasing the bad behavior of the previous generation instead of trying to build a better reputation. However, there's a simple explanation: the "purebloods good; Mudbloods, half-bloods, and blood traitors bad" crowd are just the loud ones; the decent Slytherins don't make any waves and as such, aren't noted.
• Why would Voldemort want a child? Because he'd already spent more than a decade without a corporeal body once and he accepts that it's possible his body might be destroyed again. His resurrection in Goblet required the bone dust of a first-degree relative (his father), which was all used up by that process. It's never stated specifically, but Merope probably wound up in an unmarked pauper's grave or got cremated routinely by indigent services. So where's Voldemort supposed to find more bone dust from a close relative if he ever needs to be reborn again? Even if he digs up Morfin's grave at Azkaban or wherever his grandparents are buried, this guy is planning to live forever. If he doesn't keep the bloodline going, eventually he'll run out of chances to slither back out of the grave at his dead relations', servants', and enemies' expense.
• Delphi's Secret-Keeper turning out to be Rodolphus Lestrange does put his absence throughout Deathly Hallows into a clearer light — he wouldn't have been able to participate for most of the war, chiefly during the Battle of Hogwarts, because he was probably too busy hiding out with her and keeping her existence a secret.
• There could be another reason why Albus is so unpopular: Harry named him Albus "Severus" Potter. As in, he named him after Snape. The one who was despised by the entire wizarding world for seemingly murdering Dumbledore. While Harry likely told Ron, Hermione, and Ginny about Snape's true allegiance, it's unknown if he spread word to anyone else. And even if he did, Snape was well-known for being unlikable, blatantly biased towards his own house, and specifically picked out certain students to bully and torment whom he especially disliked. And since it was just Harry's word with no actual evidence to the contrary, it's not hard to imagine most people wouldn't believe him. Meaning Harry's family name was likely thrown into the mud once people realized he named his son after the man who murdered Dumbledore.
• Albus Severus Potter being sorted into Slytherin makes more sense - his initials spell "Asp".

Fridge Horror

• Delphi's parentage. Don't think about it for too long.
  • You mean that thing many normal people take part in on a regular basis? Forgive me, but I never understood what was so discomforting about Delphi's conception, in particular.
    • It's discomforting because Voldemort looked like a Humanoid Abomination with snakelike facial features at this point.
• So Delphi was conceived and born sometime before the Battle of Hogwarts. This means that Draco would have been fully aware of Bellatrix's pregnancy, her living at the Manor and all. Was he told Rodolphus was the father....or did he know the truth? No wonder he acted so traumatized during the last book.
  • If he had known, he was probably told it was someone else's. He never seemed to have any hints of knowing about it here - rather, he spent most of the story trying to deny rumors that his own son was the child she turned out to be. Bringing it up at any point during those events would've been ideal.
    • Maybe I should've added that the original post was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek....
    • ...Sorry, what's that mean?
    • It was meant humorously.
  • Her pregnancy was likely top-secret and he didn't need to know.
• A low-key example. When the heroes get the aid of the Muggle authorities in searching for the MIA Scorpius, Hermione cluelessly refers to a missing person's report as a "misper". It seems she's lost touch with her Muggle roots...
  • This is actually explainable - Hermione has spent how many years living amongst magical society by this point? People frequently pick up jargon and find themselves subconsciously using it. Actors often pick up characteristics of their characters, such as Kelsey Grammar saying "oh good lord" when he falls off the stage, much like his character in Frasier or gamers finding themselves speaking in memes and slang in non-gaming context, even adapting to new slang as it's used.
• As mentioned under Fridge Brilliance, it's possible Voldemort did have Delphini on purpose... specifically to harvest her bone for a ritual.
• Erasing the first altered timeline and going back to the original timeline essentially murdered Panju Weasley by erasing him from time. He is the only character who has been erased who is never given any attention.
• From reading the script, it’s easy to get the sense that Delphi uniting with her father might not have been the celebratory event she expected it to be. While she and Voldemort have much in common in terms of their upbringings and how they regard other people, chief among their differences is that Delphi (at least the main-timeline Delphi, who wasn’t raised as a Death Eater) is overly sentimental; she doesn’t let on that she cares about ambition or blood purity or any of the ideals that Voldemort held dear. She even asks for a Mercy Kill when she can’t get her way, a request Voldemort couldn’t bear having to consider. That alone proves how incompatible they are, that their greatest and deepest desires simply don’t line up. Knowing Voldemort, the best case scenario of him getting to know her as she is would have him using her unfettered loyalty as a tool to gain more prominence and further his own ends. But we all know that he’s incapable of feeling genuine love or empathy, so who’s to say he wouldn’t eventually tire of Delphi’s blatant pining for a father that he’s not cut out to be?