The Smell of Fascism

As I've recently said, the first time we even hear about the Augurey is at the start of Act Three with Scorpius. Dolores Umbridge is mentioning "dispatches to the Augurey". There's no follow-up, no explanation. We don't know to whom she is referring, but we are meant to assume that this is a powerful individual. Two scenes later, this is expounded upon when we see flags for the Augurey.

DRACO is impressive in a way we haven't seen. He has the smell of power about him. Flying down either side of the room are Augurey flags - with the bird emblazoned in a fascistic manner.

Putting the notion aside that Draco "smells of power", because that doesn't make any fricking sense, the formidable reputation of the Augurey goes unexplained but is heavily implied. On paper, this is not altogether bad. It's setting the stage for a character to come. Unfortunately, it's so late in the play and so contrary to the context we were given in the original universe about Delphi, that it takes a lot of work to get us to accept her potential as a "fascistic" figure. Which is why this one line of dialogue by Alternate Universe Hermione (Alt-Hermione) is meant to tell us all we need to know about the Augurey, without telling us a thing.

SNAPE: You're risking everything -

HERMIONE: We get this right, Harry's alive, Voldemort's dead, and the Augurey is gone, for that no risk is too great.

I get why JKR and Co. would want to do this, or need to do this. They have a lot more narrative to get through. But it all just feels a bit last minute. This is the second half of the story, and now we have to be on the lookout for a character who could potentially become this "Augurey" in the alternate universe? It feels like a random and pointless addition to an already convoluted plot. Then... learning it's Delphi is an outrageous let-down. But it's not as if they gave us many options. I mean, had it been a Hogwarts teacher, that at least would have been more understandable. Give us a character in a position of power who secretly has an alternate agenda. Give us something that would make their transition to a fascist overlord believable.

Delphi? So. Not. Believable.

Invisible Friends

Part of the reason Delphi is so unbelievable as the antagonist is because of the efforts the writers took in diminishing her in order to make the reveal surprising. Under normal circumstances, this would be seen as a cheap writing tactic. One of their diminishing efforts falls under our heading of the Unexplained and Abnormal, when they admitted that Delphi had an imaginary friend as a teenager.

DELPHI: You know, I didn't have a best friend when I was your age. I wanted one. Desperately. When I was younger I even invented one but -

SCORPIUS: I had one of those too. Called Flurry. We fell out over the correct rules of Gobstones.

Heh... Weird. But, okay. Fine. Delphi, unprompted, admits to having an imaginary friend. This wouldn't necessarily be seen as a weakness, had Alt-Hermione not just mocked Albus for this very thing in the first universe shift, when she was his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

HERMIONE smiles a thin smile. She really is quite mean.

ALBUS: No. This is stupid. Where's Rose? She'll tell you that you're being ridiculous.

HERMIONE: Who's Rose? Your invisible friend?

Is it wrong to tell the audience that invisible friends are a weakness, but then show us this weakness in our antagonist? No. I guess. But it certainly makes her less of a threat. It kind of makes her pathetic, to be honest. Might as well just complete the look and give Delphi a blankie while you're at it.

(Don't remind us of Harry's baby blanket, Mike! Don't you dare!)

The Owlery

After Scorpius returns to the original universe, the boys plan to destroy the Time-Turner. We see them in the Owlery, coming up with all the ways they could destroy it then and there, only to have this be interrupted by Delphi walking around a corner. Albus, who is crushing on Delphi, alerted her to their plan... because, of course, he did... And now she just shows up in the Owlery... because, of course, she does...

Oh, you're not going to explain how she got there? Just that she was told they were going to blow up the Time-Turner? Did Albus mention they were heading to the Owlery to do this? Because it came across like a random decision. And if he had told her, because all of this was planned, how did Delphi even get to the Owlery so fast? Owls can fly, but they aren't text messages. And did she take a broom? She can't have Apparated, it disobeys the laws of the castle. So, how did she get up to the Owlery exactly? Did she just... enter through the front door and walk on up there? No one stopped her? Honestly, we would appreciate an answer here. Because if any old person can just stroll into Hogwarts, why did Draco have to spend a ton of Book 6 fixing the vanishing cabinet? Come on in, Death Eaters! Castle's warm! HAVE A SEAT AT THE FEAST, WHY DON'T YOU?!

WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHY ARE WE EXPECTED TO ACCEPT THIS?

The Reveal

After the shock of Delphi's sudden appearance fades, Scorpius fills her in on what had happened in the alternate universe, and Delphi's true identity is revealed. Kinda.

DELPHI's cloak has loosened. An Augurey tattoo is visible on the back of her neck.

This happens to me all the time. My cloak is constantly loosening. So real, this story. So real. While Albus fawns over the tattoo and Delphi's account of bird lore, Scorpius takes an inexplicable leap in logic.

SCORPIUS: They called you the Augurey. In - the other world - they called you the Augurey.

A slow smile grows on DELPHI's face.

DELPHI: The Augurey? I rather like that.

Ugh, no. Come on. There was someone called the Augurey, yes, but all Scorpius had to go on here was a tattoo. And Delphi had just explained that the Rowle's kept Augureys, that "Wizards used to believe that the Augurey's cry foretold death", and that the boys should have learned about them by now in Care of Magical Creatures. Those details tell me that the bird is pretty common in the wizarding world, which would mean that tattoos of the bird are also common.

This is confirmed in the next line by Albus: "Cool. I might get an Augurey tattoo."

However, to Scorpius, anyone with a tattoo of a common magical creature means that they MUST be the secret fascistic dictator of an alternate version of present day.

This play. It's so effortless! Literally!!

...?

*grumbles to himself*

Does this mean my fan edit needs to be complicated for it to be considered a true modification of this play? Because I was hoping this was gonna be easy for me and not at all difficult to comprehend for you.

*himself to grumbles*