The main conflict I would have to say in the 8th book of the Harry Potter series would be the signs of Voldemort coming back or traces. This has been something heavily implied since the beginning of the book which is pretty obvious since the book title implies it as well. The traces were around from the beginning but showed that after Albus and Scorpius messed with time they are shown to have grown stronger. This is a conflict because it could threaten the lives of the new generation as well as start another war. Harry reacts to these traces immediately and becomes a possessive father over his son as seen when he completely restricts Albus from seeing Scorpius and calls Scorpius a “black cloud” and the “son of Voldemort”. Draco believes these traces just another rumor to pin on his son’s heritage and seems as most wizards think these signs to be untrue. The point in which the return of Voldemort is shown is when it is revealed he did indeed have a child which happened to be the source of the traces. This conflict would be an external conflict since it is a matter of whether another war is about to begin. The fact that his child has hidden themselves amongst time is something everyone deeply feared since they can’t do anything but as Harry said “Wait for her to succeed at rewriting history or fail at doing so”. Since I have not yet finished the book it isn’t clear whether the conflict has been resolved yet or not.

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An important scene in the 8th book in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the cursed child) would be when Albus and Scorpius steal the only Time Turner left in the Wizarding World so they can save Cedric from his tragic death. This scene takes place after Harry denies Cedric’s aged father that the Ministry had a Time Turner in their hands. This scene is very important because in the next few chapters we see how dramatically one action could change everything in history. This scene creates varying complications, characters such as Rose (Ron and Hermione's daughter) wasn’t born, mud-bloods were killed and put into death camps, and Albus never was born either since Harry died. Not only do major things change but small things as well as characteristics of characters like Hermione's attitude in one universe where she is a defense against the dark arts teacher who is very cruel which is a parallel to Dolores. Albus and Scorpius both realize the errors they’ve made but panic at the whole situation. Scorpius as seen in one scene feels and is told to be “helpless” by dementors. I’d say that this scene took place during the climax of the book. This scene heavily impacted Scorpius though since we really saw character development in him as well as how he felt about being the son of a Malfoy. Scorpius even calls himself a “chip on Albus’s shoulder” this of course brings the two friends closer though since they further understand each other’s emotions. I overall still wonder why Albus decided to save Cedric since he made it clear he had no interest in Cedric it makes me wonder whether he did it to prove something to his father.

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 Throughout the Harry Potter series, J.K Rowling has stuck to the same cast of characters but recently in the 8th book (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) a cast of new characters have been introduced which will take Harry and his friend’s places at Hogwarts. Albus Severus Potter (Harry’s son) is the main protagonist and is set high standards by all of the wizarding community as well as his parents and relatives (Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione) but, when he is sorted into Slytherin during his first year at Hogwarts he immediately gets tormented with taunts and disappointment. Albus immediately grows a hatred towards Hogwarts and his last name “Potter” as seen on page 26 where Albus thinks to himself “As he tries to melt into the background, the other students laugh. He looks up at them all. I didn’t choose, you know that? I didn’t choose to be his son.” Due to the taunts Albus faces at Hogwarts he begins to develop issues with his father (Harry) making him distant from Harry. Scorpius Malfoy is Albus’s best friend and only friend at Hogwarts who faces some of the same problems Albus does. Scorpius is teased and called “Voldemort's son” throughout the first few chapters due to a rumor that his parents were unable to have children so they traveled back in time to create one and continue the Malfoy family line. Scorpius suffers and develops father-son issues as well and to make it worse his mother becomes ill and passes away during the summer of his 4th year. Draco pleads that Harry to tell the Ministry that his son isn’t Voldemort's son because “the Hogwarts students tease Scorpius about it relentlessly” (pg. 23). Albus and Scorpius are a duo who even their parents are surprised they get along so well.  

An important scene that majorly impacts the plot of "Pretties" by Scott Westerfeld would be the Pretty Party scene that takes place in the first 4-5 chapters of the book. I believe this is an important scene since it gives the reader some clarification on how the characters have been dealing with the events from the first book. Also David a character who was a love interest for both Tally and Shay makes a reappearance and leads Tally to pull off another "Ugly Prank". This shows that Tally couldn't help but feel non-bubbly thought the party scene but the other guest just think she's doing it to live up to her "Crim" title. This creates yet another slight rift between Tally and Shay since soon after she believes that Tally plans to abandon her once again. David ends up not being David but another member of the previous "Smoke", Tally doesn't realize this until the end of the chapter(s) but immediately plans not to be included in anything from her past ugly stages. Tally at the sight of seeing the Smoke member makes her feel "un-bubbly" and just overall anxious (pg. 8). This event would be in the Rising Action point of the plot structure since it's a marking point of the chain of events that are about to unravel through the story. This event helps create the theme of multiple perspectives since Tally is ashamed and scared of her Ugly past as seen on (Pg.9) "Tally wanted to leave the Smoke behind, to escape all the tangled memories of running and hiding and feeling like a betrayer."  but yet all the other pretties see it as something to be proud of. The only question that I have about this scene is why didn't Shay react the same way towards seeing the smoke member at the party? Shay had gone through an equal amount of traumatic events as Tally, so why didn't she feel the same way?

It seems that so far in "Hollow City (The second Novel to the series of Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children) one of the main conflicts is Miss Peregrine being stuck in her falcon form. This conflict started in the ending of the first book after Miss Peregrine was saved from the hollowgast but seemed to have hit her head on one of the steel beams on the boat structure. This is a major conflict since Miss Peregrine was the only protector an adult that the children and Jacob could go to for safety and information about the loop holes that contained other safe areas for the peculiar. This problem majorly effects all the children that lived in the orphanage  because now without a leader/guardian figure they have no idea weather to try to find a new loop hole or risk it and stay in the one they currently live. If they were to leave where would they go? Without a map of loop holes that are safe and ones that have been invaded by the enemy everything is risky. It's unclear to tell how exactly Miss Peregrine feels about everything but as seen on page 32 after reaching an unnameable island Jacob mentions how "Miss Peregrine still hadn't transformed back but she had her falcon head turned towards the direction of the island and her guilty eyes seemed to speak, I'm sorry i failed you". This means that even though it wasn't her fault she was thrown off the ship and hit her head she still feels as if it was and that it was her fault that the place she promised to be a peculiar "safe zone" was no longer that. This conflict seems like it's a bit of both internal and external because it seems like the hit to Miss Peregrines head caused some kind of reaction in her head as well as all the events that took place on the night of her kidnapping made her feel ashamed for not being able to protect the children. The external part of the conflict is her not being able to regain her physical body form as stated on page 45 "Maybe Miss P. just needs some privacy? chirped Olive. No she needs a doctor or another Yymbrne to take a look at her. spat Emma". As I am still reading the book the children have not found any source of help for Miss Peregrine to solve this conflict. 

The main characters in "Hollow City (The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children)" are as the title states peculiar. To start off we have the main protagonist in the story Jacob Portman. Jacob is able to see and sense "hollowgast" which are creatures who seek to kill Jacob and his friends but it's hard to tell if something wants to kill you when you can't see the creature or sense them. This is what makes Jacob special and peculiar, he's the only character (besides his grandfather Abraham Portman who died in the first book) to be able to sense hollowgast. Jacob is the lead protagonist and he's now in charge of protecting all the children in the orphanage from those who seek to harm them. Jacob is obviously really worried he won't be able to fulfill his new role because as seen on page 20 of the first chapter Emma (another main character) snaps him out of daydreaming of what's to come when she points out to him and states "You're sweating buckets. Let me have a go at the oars before your worries melt you away". Speaking of Emma, Emma Bloom is the leading female protagonist who is Jacob's companion and love interest. Emma has the power of pyrokinesis and was left at a circus by her parents at a young age, saddening but it made her become who she is today which is a persistent and very independent girl. Emma and Jacob are both dynamic characters who either started smooth then rough or started rough then smooth either way neither one of them have had the most pleasant life experiences. At the beginning of the story Jacob was sane and had a rather swell life until his grandfathers rather traumatic death which lead him to be drugged up on antidepressants and sleeping pills for the next couple of months. Everyone thought he was crazy due to the fact he kept describing his grandfathers murder as stated on page 15 "The murder wasn't human he had bright white eyes and an enlarged mouth with tentacles and sharp teeth! You have to believe me." but it turned out he was completely sane and what he saw was the truth. Emma on the other hand was happy for quite some time until Abe (Jacob's grandfather) left for the military and never returned or even wrote to her that he now was married and had a family. Abe leaving led to Emma mistrusting everyone and when Jacob arrived at the orphanage she hated him because all she could see was Jacob's grandfather. With both Emma and Jacob's characteristics and personalities changing at a fast rate they managed to get use to each other and eventually accept each other's company. Both Jacob and Emma are the lead protagonists who by the others are looked as the leaders as if now in the story and I'm excited to see how this duo will deal with the conflicts thrown at them as well as to see how their dynamic personalities will change.