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Mild spoilers for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. As I don't have a copy to hand, nor intend to touch one again, I can't provide exact quotes.

As I recall, one of the premises in Act 3 is as follows:

- Due to some time travel shenanigans, Neville died in the battle of Hogwarts.
- Because Neville died too early, Nagini survived the battle.
- Because Nagini survived the battle, Harry died (by Voldemort's hand?) when he faced Voldemort.

How does this last point make sense? From what I understood of Deathly Hallows, Voldemort's remaining number of Horcruxes has nothing to do with him being or not being able to harm or be harmed by Harry.

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    Are you really comparing the accuracy of the cursed child to the books?
    – MBEllis
    Commented Jan 10, 2021 at 14:15
  • @MBEllis I thought that I'd give it a chance. Once I had this idea, it wouldn't leave my head.
    – J. Mini
    Commented Jan 10, 2021 at 14:21
  • Butterfly Effect. Even small things can have non-linear impacts on a complex system. With Nagini intact, Voldemort had full subconscious confidence and he didn't lose his temper to make mistakes.
    – Doctor Doom
    Commented Jan 10, 2021 at 15:02
  • Since it's not really stated how Harry died, maybe it's just that if Voldemort still had a remaining horcrux, instead of dying when trying to kill Harry, his body would be destroyed and his followers would see his wraith, know he could still come back and join in killing Harry, rather than being demoralized by the death of their leader and surrendering
    – Gwyn
    Commented Jan 10, 2021 at 16:30

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Nagini's death was a turning point in the battle for Voldemort. He was extremely angry about her death (described as furious beyond the capacity to make noise). This, presumably along with the fact that her death was at the hand of a peon like Neville, seems to have driven him into a paroxysm of rage when he fought Harry. A cool, calm and collected Voldemort would be a much more dangerous opponent.

With a single stroke, Neville sliced off the great snake’s head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the Entrance Hall, and Voldemort’s mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake’s body thudded to the ground at his feet.

Additionally, Neville was instrumental in taking down Fenrir Greyback with Ron just before Harry fought with Voldemort. Had he not been there, it's possible that Ron would have faced the werewolf alone and been killed, demoralising Harry during his climactic battle with Voldemort.

He saw Ron and Neville bringing down Fenrir Greyback, Aberforth Stunning Rookwood, Arthur and Percy flooring Thicknesse, and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.

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Because Voldemort couldn't be killed. There was still one more horcrux, so Harry couldn't kill Voldemort, so Voldemort killed him instead. Also you could argue Cursed Child isn't canon.

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    Harry couldn't be killed either, since Voldemort had Lily's blood in him.
    – IloneSP
    Commented Jan 11, 2021 at 2:45
  • Yeah, this is one of the cases where Cursed Child doesn't align up with canon, so this is the best thing I can come up with.
    – Hello
    Commented Jan 11, 2021 at 4:45
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Look at it this way: If Nagini didn't die,

  1. Harry couldn't kill Voldemort (Horcrux)
  2. Voldemort couldn't kill Harry (Elder Wand)

How does Voldemort get around this problem? He could blow up the ground under Harry, he could tell a Death Eater to kill him (unlikely, though, because he has an obsession with killing him himself), he could even use Nagini to kill Harry like he did with Snape. The possibilities are endless, but Harry doesn't have any chance of killing Voldemort.
So there you go. In that timeline, Harry dies.

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  • Harry could totally kill Voldemort, just not permanently.
    – J. Mini
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 12:42
  • Defeats the purpose, though @J.Mini. He couldn't go killing Voldemort every Sunday of his life. Voldemort was much more SKILLED than Harry. He was very intelligent too, and sooner or later would find a way to kill Harry.
    – Righter
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 14:08
  • @Righter Well presumably he could kill Voldemort then kill Nagini. Then even if Voldy comes back once more he has no Horcruxes and is a mortal who can be killed by anyone.
    – GamerGypps
    Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 10:41
  • Well, maaaaybe. Then again, it could go either way; any of the two sides could win. Maybe in that reality Voldemort won; maybe in some other reality Harry won. I'm just trying to fit the Cursed Child into canon (it's difficult 🙃)
    – Righter
    Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 13:53

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