SPOILERS. If you haven’t read or watched Cursed Child, you might want to turn back now.

It’s been a typically frustrating couple of days surrounding LGBT representation within the media. From the Mail’s disgust at two males hugging after winning a gold medal at the Olympics (real men don’t hug FYI) to the disgusting – and now deleted – Daily Beast article which threatened the privacy of numerous global athletes, it’s clear as ever that there is still a murky water just underneath the apparent progress we are meant to be enjoying in 2016.

This has all rather randomly sat amongst my thoughts on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which I’d not quite got round to writing about since watching the production in London last week. I’ll try and keep to the point here and not go off on one… too much.

First things first – I loved Cursed Child. It was absurd in so many ways, but it successfully brought together aspects of a world I love and threw in two new characters that fascinated me. At the same time, I understand why some are a bit disappointed having read the script book. Of course, it does not do the whole thing justice. Many sadly won’t be lucky enough to see the play, which is such a shame. The richness of the performances, the staging, the score – it transforms the story into everything you expect from Potter. Dodgy timeturner action aside.

So, why are we here. “I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed”. This is probably the best way to describe my feelings towards the relationship Harry Potter and the Cursed Child teases fans with between Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy. I say “teases”, I actually mean “quite obviously presents for 95% of the journey before abruptly snatching away right at the bloody end”.

There is another really long essay to be written about how what is presented during the mammoth production is so much more than the friendship Potter fans came to love, for example, between Harry and Ron throughout the original series. This isn’t just a gay male clinging onto the hope for some representation or a need to see something that didn’t exist. Truth be told, I failed to see what some saw between Poe and Finn when watching The Force Awakens, so I’ve no doubt others will disagree me on this particular relationship too.

I was and remain thrilled that JK Rowling confirmed that Albus Dumbledore was gay. Sure, it was never explicitly stated within the book, but it was still something I welcomed as a fan. My favourite character and I had something in common. It felt momentous at the time. But that’s not enough. If we were to revisit the wizarding world, I really hoped we would see the LGBT support in action. It didn’t even need to be a big deal. A character in a same-sex relationship mentioned in passing. He or she might just have been a student at Hogwarts, we might only have seen this character very briefly, but we would still know that they were there and doing their thing at Hogwarts. As someone who has few good memories of school, perhaps I was (and still am) clinging to the hope that Hogwarts might actually have been that safe environment for a LGBT witch or wizard.

So yes, when I was sat in the Palace Theatre last week, I found myself completely in awe of the relationship being presented between Albus and Scorpius. There wasn’t just a handful of moments, Cursed Child was full of them. I could list at least a dozen to explain; from their adorably awkward first meeting to an incredible sequence via Hogwarts staircases where they are attempting to avoid each other, this was undoubtedly a gay romance playing out in Hogwarts. When a conversation between the pair paid tribute to Snape’s now iconic “Always” line, I wanted to stand up and cheer. Perhaps it’s simply testament to the incredible chemistry between actors Anthony Boyle and Sam Clemmett that the relationship appeared to be so much more to me than the writer intended. But when the final scene between them saw Scorpius secure a date with Rose Granger-Weasley, I felt cheated. I was disappointed, and I’m still not sure if this was my own fault or not.

OK, I’m thrilled that their relationship was portrayed so strongly and their affection for each other remains obvious, but why go so far only to hit the brakes right at the point a simple but HUGE statement could have been made? The “I’M STRAIGHT AND I’M GETTING A GIRLFRIEND” conclusion felt stingingly false to me. No time had been invested in a relationship between Scorpius and Rose. It was an unnecessary detail that felt almost shoehorned to shut down these very suggestions. I’m intrigued to know if one or both characters being gay might even have been considered. Could it have been more? Was it ever an option discussed by JK Rowling and the play’s writer Jack Thorne?

Side note – I’m intrigued to hear if people who have so far only read the script book feel as strongly. Did the actor’s chemistry enhance the script, which may have come across differently in the hands of two other co-stars?

Anyway. While that was disappointing – I don’t want to linger on the point – there was one small line within the play that I had made a mental note of praising. Some more mild spoilers coming up.

When Moaning Myrtle (naturally making her glorious return in the girl’s bathroom) discusses Cedric Diggory (RIP, seriously, I’m over it), she tells Albus and Scorpius about how she had had to put up with “girls and boys” attempting “love incantations in this very bathroom”. Subtle, but gay students at Hogwarts DO EXIST!! Moaning Myrtle says so!!! Those two words made me smile to myself for several minutes. It might have gone over the heads of many sitting in the theatre, but it was a simple acknowledgement within the Potter world, and it felt long overdue.

A few days later I was reading the script book (I consider myself very lucky to have been able to read it after watching) and reached this particular scene.

“You’d be amazed at how many girls I had to hear doing love incantations in this very bathroom… and the weeping after he was taken”.

Oh. What’s happened here then? Noticing the difference above? Two little words missing.

Obviously Cursed Child went through several weeks of previews and there have undoubtedly been changes made, all too late to have been published in this “special rehearsal edition script”. A more complete edition will be published next year. This tiny change struck me though. “And boys” was an after thought. Cedric’s supposed appeal to some of gay students at Hogwarts came to the mind of someone too late. Why is that? Was the ~norm still to just consider that the handsome Triwizard champion was popular with only the female students?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy someone actually observed this and successfully adapted the line. Two words is the difference between feeling represented and feeling totally ignored. It’s that simple. However, knowing it was an after thought put a little bit of an unfortunate damper on it.

It’s these kind of things that make me further question the Albus / Scorpius situation. It’s a beautifully written and acted relationship – did someone, somewhere just overlook how much it might mean if it wasn’t the traditionally presented “boys can hug without being gay, dude” affair?

I certainly don’t think anyone is asking for anything impossible when talking about feeling represented. It’s not a big ask. It’s real life. It doesn’t always have to be a box tick or an after thought. Of course, no one is every going to be completely satisfied and it is damn near impossible to represent every single reader and fan, so I still take even the late inclusion of two extra words as a positive step in the right direction.

For now though, the fanfics will pick up from where we have been abandoned. Who’s to say that after a few dates with Rose, Scorpius and Albus didn’t head for a Butterbeer or two together. Someone get Carly Rae booked for Hogsmeade Pride 2017.