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spare

did.

She looks at them both.

Voldemort will return and the Augurey will sit at his side. Just as it was prophesized. “When spares are spared, when time is turned, when unseen children murder their fathers: Then will the Dark Lord return. ”

She smiles. She pulls

SCORPIUS

viciously towards her.

Cedric is the spare, and Albus —

She pulls

ALBUS

viciously towards her.

— the unseen child who will kill his father by rewriting time and so return the Dark Lord.

The Time-Turner starts rotating. She pulls their hands to it.

Now!

And there is a giant whoosh of light. A smash of noise.

And time stops. And then it turns over, thinks a bit, and begins spooling backwards, slow at first. . .

And then it speeds up.

And then there’s a sucking noise. And a BANG.

ACT THREE, SCENE TWENTY

TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT, MAZE, 1995

The maze is a spiral of hedges that don’t stop moving. DELPHI walks determinedly through it. Behind her she drags ALBUS and SCORPIUS. Their arms bound, their legs reluctantly moving.

LUDO BAGMAN: Ladies and gentlemen — boys and girls — I give you — the greatest — the fabulous — the one — and the only TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT.

There’s a loud cheer.

DELPHI

turns left.

If you’re from Hogwarts. Give me a cheer.

There’s a loud cheer.

If you’re from Durmstrang — give me a cheer.

There’s a loud cheer.

AND IF YOU’RE FROM BEAUXBATONS GIVE ME A CHEER.

There’s a fulsome cheer.

DELPHI

and the boys are forced to move as a hedge closes upon them.

The French, finally showing us what they’re capable of there. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you — the final of the Triwizard tasks. A maze of mysteries, a disease of uncontrollable darkness, for this maze — it lives. It lives.

VIKTOR KRUM

passes across the stage, moving through the maze.

And why risk this living nightmare? Because inside this maze is a Cup — and not just any Cup — yes, the Triwizard trophy stands within this vegetation.

DELPHI: Where is he? Where is Cedric?

A hedge almost dissects

ALBUS

and

SCORPIUS

SCORPIUS: The hedges want to kill us too? This gets better and better.

DELPHI: You will keep up or face the consequences.

LUDO BAGMAN: The perils are plentiful, but the prizes are palpable. Who will fight their way through? Who will fall at the final hurdle? What heroes do we have within our midst? Only time will tell, ladies and gentlemen, only time will tell.

They move through the maze,

SCORPIUS

and

ALBUS

being compelled by

DELPHI

. As she moves ahead, the boys have a chance to talk.

SCORPIUS: Albus, we need to do something.

ALBUS: I know, but what? She has snapped our wands, we’re bound, and she’s threatening to kill you.

SCORPIUS: I’m ready to die if it’ll stop Voldemort returning.

ALBUS: Are you?

SCORPIUS: You won’t have to mourn me for long, she’ll kill me and quickly kill you too.

ALBUS(desperate): The flaw in the Time-Turner, the five-minute rule. We do all we can to run down the clock.

SCORPIUS: It won’t work.

As another hedge changes direction,

DELPHI

pulls

ALBUS

and

SCORPIUS

in after her. They continue through this maze of despair.

LUDO BAGMAN: Now let me remind you of the current standings! Tied in first place — Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter. In second place — Mr. Viktor Krum! And in third place — sacr& #233; bleu, Miss Fleur Delacour.

Suddenly,

ALBUS

and

SCORPIUS

emerge from behind a hedge, they’re running.

ALBUS: Where did she go?

SCORPIUS: Does it matter? Which way do you think?

DELPHI

rises up after them. She’s flying, and without a broom.

DELPHI: You poor creatures.

She throws the boys to the ground.

Thinking you can escape me.

ALBUS(astonished): You’re not — even on a broom.

DELPHI: Brooms — such unwieldy, unnecessary objects. Three minutes gone. We have two minutes left. And you will do what you’re told.

SCORPIUS: No. We won’t.

DELPHI: You think you can fight me?

SCORPIUS: No. But we can defy you. If we lay down our lives to do so.

DELPHI: The prophecy must be fulfilled. We will fulfill it.

SCORPIUS: Prophecies can be broken.

DELPHI: You’re mistaken, child, prophecies are the future.

SCORPIUS: But if the prophecy is inevitable why are we here trying to influence it? Your actions contradict your thoughts — you’re dragging us through this maze because you believe this prophecy needs to be enabled — and by that logic prophecies can also be broken — prevented.

DELPHI: You talk too much, child. Crucio!

SCORPIUS

is racked with pain.

ALBUS: Scorpius!

SCORPIUS: You wanted a test, Albus, this is it, and we’re going to pass it.

ALBUS

looks at

SCORPIUS

, finally aware what he has to do. He nods.

DELPHI: Then you will die.

ALBUS(full of strength): Yes. We will. And we’ll do so gladly knowing it’s stopped you.

DELPHI

rises up — full of fury.

DELPHI: We don’t have time for this. Cru —

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: Expelliarmus!

Bang.

DELPHI

’s wand is pulled away from her.

SCORPIUS

looks on in astonishment.

Brachiabindo!

And

DELPHI

is bound.

SCORPIUS

and

ALBUS

then turn as one and stare in astonishment at where the bolt came from: a young, good-looking lad of seventeen or so,

CEDRIC

CEDRIC: Come no further.

SCORPIUS: But you’re. . .

CEDRIC: Cedric Diggory. I heard screaming, I had to come. Name yourselves, beasts. I can fight you.

ALBUS

wheels around, astonished.

ALBUS: Cedric?

SCORPIUS: You saved us.

CEDRIC: Are you also a task? An obstacle? Speak. Do I have to defeat you too?

There’s a silence.

SCORPIUS: No. You just have to free us. That’s the task.

CEDRIC

thinks, trying to work out whether it’s a trap, and then waves his wand.

CEDRIC: Emancipare! Emancipare!

The boys are freed.

And now I can go on? Finish the maze?

The boys look at

CEDRIC

— they are heartbroken.

ALBUS: I’m afraid you have to finish the maze.

CEDRIC: Then I shall.

CEDRIC

walks confidently away.

ALBUS

looks after him — desperate to say something, unsure what to say.

ALBUS: Cedric —

CEDRIC

turns towards him.

Your dad loves you very much.

CEDRIC: What?

Behind them,

DELPHI

’s body creeps into movement. She crawls along the ground.

ALBUS: Just thought you should know that.

CEDRIC: Okay. Um. Thank you.

CEDRIC

looks at

ALBUS

a moment more, and then walks on.

DELPHI

pulls out the Time-Turner from within her robes.

SCORPIUS: Albus.

ALBUS: No. Wait. . .

SCORPIUS: The Time-Turner is spinning. . . Look at what she’s doing. . . She can’t leave us behind.

ALBUS

and

SCORPIUS

both scramble to grab part of the Time-Turner.

And there is a giant whoosh of light. A smash of noise.

And time stops. And then it turns over, thinks a bit, and begins spooling backwards, slow at first. . .

And then it speeds up.

Albus. . .

ALBUS: What have we done?

SCORPIUS: We had to go with the Time-Turner, we had to try to stop her.

DELPHI: Stop me? How do you think you’ve stopped me? I am done with this. You may have destroyed my chances of using Cedric to darken the world but maybe you’re right, Scorpius — maybe prophecies can be prevented, maybe prophecies can be broken. What is undoubtedly true is: I’m done with trying to use you annoying, incompetent creatures for anything. No more wasting precious seconds on either of you. Time to try something new.

She crushes the Time-Turner. It explodes in a thousand pieces.

DELPHI

ascends again into the air. She laughs in delight as she sets off hard away.

The boys try to chase her, but they’ve not the slightest chance. She flies, they run.

ALBUS: No. . . No. . . You can’t. . .

SCORPIUS

turns back and tries to pick up the Time-Turner pieces.

The Time-Turner? It’s destroyed?

SCORPIUS: Utterly. We’re stuck here. In time. Wherever in time we are. Whatever it is she’s planning to do.

ALBUS: Hogwarts looks the same.

SCORPIUS: Yes. And we can’t be seen here. Let’s get out of here before we’re spotted.

ALBUS: We need to stop her, Scorpius.

SCORPIUS: I know we do — but how?

ACT THREE, SCENE TWENTY-ONE

ST. OSWALD’S HOME FOR OLD WITCHES AND WIZARDS, DELPHI’S ROOM

HARRY, HERMIONE, RON, DRACO, and GINNY look around a simple oak-paneled room.

HARRY: It must have been a Confundus Charm she used on him. Used on them all. She faked being a nurse, she faked being his niece.

HERMIONE: I’ve just checked in with the Ministry — but there’s no record of her. She’s a shadow.

DRACO: Specialis Revelio!

Everyone turns to look at

DRACO

Well, it was worth a try, what are you waiting for? We know nothing, so we just have to hope this room reveals something.

GINNY: Where can she have hidden anything? It’s quite a spartan room.

RON: These panels, these panels must conceal something.

DRACO: Or the bed does.

DRACO

starts examining the bed,

GINNY

a lamp, as the rest start examining the wooden wall panels.

RON(shouting as he hammers on the walls): What you hiding? What you got?

HERMIONE: Maybe we should all stop for a moment and have a think about what —

GINNY

unscrews a chimney from an oil lamp. There’s a breathing-out noise. And then hissing words. They all turn towards it.

What was that?

HARRY: That’s — I’m not supposed to be understanding — that’s Parseltongue.

HERMIONE: And what does it say?

HARRY: How do I. . . ? I haven’t been able to understand Parseltongue since Voldemort died.

HERMIONE: And nor has your scar hurt.

HARRY

looks at

HERMIONE

HARRY: It says “Welcome, Augurey. ” I think I need to tell it to open. . .

DRACO: Then do it.

HARRY

shuts his eyes. He speaks in Parseltongue.

The room transforms around them, becoming darker and more desperate. A writhing mass of painted snakes emerges on all the walls.

And on them, written in fluorescent paint, a prophecy.

What is this?

RON: “When spares are spared, when time is turned, when unseen children murder their fathers: Then will the Dark Lord return. ”

GINNY: A prophecy. A new prophecy.

HERMIONE: Cedric — Cedric was called a spare.

RON: When time is turned — she has that Time-Turner, doesn’t she?

Their faces sink.

HERMIONE: She must do.

RON: But why does she need Scorpius or Albus?

HARRY: Because I’m a parent — who hasn’t seen his child. Hasn’t understood his child.

DRACO: Who is she? To be so obsessed with all this?

GINNY: I think I’ve got the answer to that.

They all turn to her. She points up. . . Their collective faces sink further and fill with fear.

Words are revealed on all the walls of the auditorium — dangerous words, horrible words.

“I will rebirth the Dark. I will bring my father back. ”

RON: No. She can’t. . .

HERMIONE: How is it even — possible?

DRACO: Voldemort had a daughter?

They look up, terrified.

GINNY

takes

HARRY

’s hand.

HARRY: No, no, no. Not that. Anything but that.

Cut to black.

ACT FOUR, SCENE ONE

MINISTRY OF MAGIC, GRAND MEETING ROOM

Wizards and witches from all over cram into the grand meeting room. HERMIONE walks onto a hastily made stage. She raises her hand for silence. Silence falls. She’s surprised at the lack of effort it took. She looks around herself.

HERMIONE: Thank you. I’m so pleased so many of you were able to make my — second — Extraordinary General Meeting. I’ve got some things to say — I ask that we deal with questions — and there will be a lot of questions — after I speak.

As many of you know, a body has been found at Hogwarts. His name was Craig Bowker. He was a good boy. We have no firm information who was responsible for the act but yesterday we searched St. Oswald’s. A room there revealed two things — one, a prophecy that promised — the return of darkness — two, written on the ceiling, a proclamation — that the Dark Lord had a — that Voldemort had a child.

The news reverberates around the room.

We don’t know the full details. We’re only just investigating — questioning those with a Death Eater connection. . . And as yet no record has been found either of the child or of the prophecy — but, it does look like there’s some truth to it. This child was kept hidden from the wizarding world, and now she’s — well now she’s. . .

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: She? A daughter? He had a daughter?

HERMIONE: Yes. A daughter.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: And is she now in custody?

HARRY: Professor, she did ask for no questions.

HERMIONE: It’s fine, Harry. No, Professor, that’s where this gets worse. I’m afraid we’ve no means of taking her into custody. Or indeed, stopping her doing anything. She’s out of our reach.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: We can’t — look for her?

HERMIONE: We have good reason to believe — she’s hidden herself — in time.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: Of all the reckless stupid things, you kept the Time-Turner even now?

HERMIONE: Professor, I assure you —

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: Shame on you, Hermione Granger.

HERMIONE

flinches in the face of the anger.

HARRY: No, she doesn’t deserve that. You have a right to be angry. You all do. But this is not all Hermione’s fault. We don’t know how the witch got hold of the Time-Turner. Whether my son gave it to her.

GINNY: Whether our son gave it her. Or whether it was stolen from him.

GINNY

joins

HARRY

on the stage.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: Your solidarity is admirable, but it doesn’t make your negligence negligible.

DRACO: Then it’s a negligence I too should face.

DRACO

walks up to the stage and stands beside

GINNY

. This is almost a Spartacus moment. There are gasps.

Hermione and Harry have done nothing wrong but try and protect us all. If they’re guilty then I am too.

HERMIONE

looks across at her cohort — moved.

RON

joins them on the stage.

RON: Just to say — I didn’t know about much of it so can’t take responsibility — and I’m pretty sure my kids had nothing to do with it — but if this lot are standing up here then so am I.

GINNY: No one can know where they are — whether they’re together or apart. I trust that our sons will be doing all they can to stop her, but. . .

HERMIONE: We haven’t given up. We’ve gone to the giants. The trolls. Everyone we can find. The Aurors are out flying, searching, talking to those who know secrets, following those who won’t reveal secrets.

HARRY: But there is one truth we can’t escape: That somewhere in our past a witch is trying to rewrite everything we ever knew — and all we can do is wait — wait for the moment she either succeeds or fails.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: And if she succeeds?

HARRY: Then — just like that — most of the people in this room will be gone. We’ll no longer exist and Voldemort will rule again.

ACT FOUR, SCENE TWO

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS, AVIEMORE TRAIN STATION, 1981

ALBUS and SCORPIUS are looking at a STATIONMASTER, apprehensively.

ALBUS: One of us should talk to him, don’t you think?

SCORPIUS: Hello, Mr. Stationmaster. Mr. Muggle. Question: Did you see a flying witch passing here? And by the way, what year is it? We just ran away from Hogwarts because we were frightened of upsetting things, but this is okay?

ALBUS: You know what annoys me most of all? Dad will think we did it deliberately.

SCORPIUS: Albus. Really? I mean, really really? We’re — trapped — lost — in time — probably permanently — and you’re worrying what your dad might think about it? I will never understand the two of you.

ALBUS: There’s a lot to understand. Dad’s pretty complicated.

SCORPIUS: And you’re not? Not to question your taste in women, but you fancied. . . well. . .

They both know who he’s talking about.

ALBUS: I did, didn’t I? I mean, what she did to Craig. . .

SCORPIUS: Let’s not think about that. Let’s focus on the fact that we have no wands, no brooms, no means of returning to our time. All we have is our wits and — no, that’s all, our wits — and we have to stop her.

STATIONMASTER(in very strong Scots): Ye ken th’ auld reekie train is running late, boys?

SCORPIUS: Sorry?

STATIONMASTER: If you’re waiting oan th’ auld reekie train, you’ll need tae ken it’s running late. Train wirks oan th’ line. It’s a’ oan th’ amended time buird.

He looks at them, they look back bewildered. He frowns and hands them an amended timetable. He points to the right bit of it.

Late.

ALBUS

takes it and examines it. His face changes as he takes in enormous information.

SCORPIUS

just stares at the

STATIONMASTER

ALBUS: I know where she is.

SCORPIUS: You understood that?

ALBUS: Look at the date. On the timetable.

SCORPIUS

leans in and reads.

SCORPIUS: The 30th October, 1981. Day before Hallows’ Eve, thirty-nine years ago. But — why is she? Oh.

SCORPIUS

’s face falls as he realizes.

ALBUS: The death of my grandparents. The attack on my dad as a baby. . . The moment when Voldemort’s curse rebounded on himself. She’s not trying to bring about her prophecy — she’s trying to prevent the big one.

SCORPIUS: The big one?

ALBUS: “The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. . . ”

SCORPIUS

joins in.

SCORPIUS and ALBUS: “. . . born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. . . ”

SCORPIUS

’s face falls with every word.

SCORPIUS: It’s my fault. I told her that prophecies can be broken — I told her the whole logic of prophecies is questionable —

ALBUS: In twenty-four hours’ time Voldemort curses himself trying to kill the baby Harry Potter. Delphi is trying to prevent that curse. She’s going to kill Harry herself. We need to get to Godric’s Hollow. Now.

ACT FOUR, SCENE THREE

GODRIC’S HOLLOW, 1981

ALBUS and SCORPIUS walk through the center of Godric’s Hollow and it’s a bustling, beautiful little village.

SCORPIUS: Well, there’s no visible signs of attack that I can see. . .

ALBUS: This is Godric’s Hollow?

SCORPIUS: Your dad’s never taken you?

ALBUS: No, he tried to a few times but I refused.

SCORPIUS: Well, there’s no time for a tour — we have a murderous witch to save the world from — but regard: The Church, St. Jerome’s. . .

As he indicates a church becomes visible.

ALBUS: It’s magnificent.

SCORPIUS: And St. Jerome’s graveyard is supposedly magnificently haunted, (he points in another direction) and that’s where the statue of Harry and his parents will be —

ALBUS: My dad has a statue?

SCORPIUS: Oh. Not yet. But he will. Hopefully. And this — this house is where Bathilda Bagshot lived, lives. . .

ALBUS: The Bathilda Bagshot? A History of Magic Bathilda Bagshot?

SCORPIUS: The very same. Oh my, that’s her. Wow. Squeak. My geekness is a-quivering.

ALBUS: Scorpius!

SCORPIUS: And here it is —

ALBUS: The home of James, Lily, and Harry Potter. . .

A young, attractive couple leave a house with a baby in a pushchair.

ALBUS

moves towards them,

SCORPIUS

pulls him back.

SCORPIUS: They can’t see you, Albus, it might damage time, and we’re not doing that — not this time.

ALBUS: But this means, she hasn’t. . . We’ve made it. . . She hasn’t. . .

SCORPIUS: So what do we do now? Get ready to fight her? Because she’s pretty. . . Fierce.

ALBUS: Yes. We haven’t really thought this one through, have we? What do we do now? How do we protect my dad?

ACT FOUR, SCENE FOUR

MINISTRY OF MAGIC, HARRY’S OFFICE

HARRY is hurriedly going through paperwork.

DUMBLEDORE: Good evening, Harry.

A beat.

HARRY

looks up at the portrait of

DUMBLEDORE

, his face passive.

HARRY: Professor Dumbledore, in my office, I’m honored. I must be where the action is tonight?

DUMBLEDORE: What are you doing?

HARRY: Going through papers, seeing if I’ve missed anything I shouldn’t have. Marshaling forces to fight in the limited way we can fight. Knowing that the battle is being raged far away from us. What else can I do?

Pause.

DUMBLEDORE

says nothing.

Where have you been, Dumbledore?

DUMBLEDORE: I’m here now.

HARRY: Here just as the battle is lost. Or are you denying that Voldemort is going to return.

DUMBLEDORE: It is — possible.

HARRY: Go. Leave. I don’t want you here, I don’t need you. You were absent every time it really counted. I fought him three times without you. I’ll face him again, if needs be — alone.

DUMBLEDORE: Harry, don’t you think I wanted to fight him on your behalf? I would have spared you if I could —

HARRY: “Love blinds us”? Do you even know what that means? Do you even know how bad that advice was? My son is — my son is fighting battles for us just as I had to for you. And I have proved as bad a father to him as you were to me. Leaving him in places he felt unloved — growing in him resentments he’ll take years to understand —

DUMBLEDORE: If you’re referring to Privet Drive, then —

HARRY: Years — years I spent there alone, without knowing what I was, or why I was there, without knowing that anybody cared!

DUMBLEDORE: I — did not wish to become attached to you —

HARRY: Protecting yourself, even then!

DUMBLEDORE: No. I was protecting you. I did not want to hurt you. . .

DUMBLEDORE

attempts to reach out of the portrait — but he can’t. He begins to cry but tries to hide it.

But I had to meet you in the end. . . eleven years old, and you were so brave. So good. You walked uncomplainingly along the path that had been laid at your feet. Of course I loved you. . . and I knew that it would happen all over again. . . that where I loved, I would cause irreparable damage. I am no fit person to love. . . I have never loved without causing harm.

A beat.

HARRY: You would have hurt me less if you had told me this then.

DUMBLEDORE(openly weeping now): I was blind. That is what love does. I couldn’t see that you needed to hear that this closed-up, tricky, dangerous old man. . . loved you.

A pause. The two men are overcome with emotion.

HARRY: It isn’t true that I never complained.

DUMBLEDORE: Harry, there is never a perfect answer in this messy, emotional world. Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.

HARRY: You said that to me once before.

DUMBLEDORE: It is all I have to offer you tonight.

He begins to walk away.

HARRY: Don’t go!

DUMBLEDORE: Those that we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch. Paint. . . and memory. . . and love.

HARRY: I loved you too, Dumbledore.

DUMBLEDORE: I know.

He is gone. And

HARRY

is alone.

DRACO

enters.

DRACO: Did you know that in this other reality — the reality Scorpius saw into — I was Head of Magical Law Enforcement? Maybe this room will be mine soon enough. Are you okay?

HARRY

is consumed in his grief.

HARRY: Come in — I’ll give you the tour.

DRACO

walks hesitantly inside the room. He looks around distastefully.

DRACO: The thing is, though — never really fancied being a Ministry man. Even as a child. My dad, it’s all he ever wanted — me, no.

HARRY: What did you want to do?

DRACO: Quidditch. But I wasn’t good enough. Mainly I wanted to be happy.

HARRY

nods.

DRACO

looks at him a second more.

Sorry, I’m not very good at small talk, do you mind if we skip on to the serious business?

HARRY: Of course. What — serious — business?

Beat.

DRACO: Do you think Theodore Nott had the only Time-Turner?

HARRY: What?

DRACO: The Time-Turner the Ministry seized was a prototype. Made of inexpensive metal. It does the job — sure. But only being able to go back in time for five minutes — that’s a serious flaw — it isn’t something you’d sell to true collectors of Dark Magic.

HARRY

realizes what

DRACO

is saying.

HARRY: He was working for you?

DRACO: No. My father. He liked owning things that no one else had. The Ministry’s Time-Turners — thanks to Croaker — were always a little vanilla for him. He wanted the ability to go back further than an hour, he wanted the ability to travel back years. He’d never have used it. Secretly I think he preferred a world without Voldemort. But yes, the Time-Turner was built for him.

HARRY: And did you keep it?

DRACO

reveals the Time-Turner.

DRACO: No five-minute problem, and it gleams like gold, just the way the Malfoys like it. You’re smiling.

HARRY: Hermione Granger. It was the reason she kept the first, the fear that there might be a second. Hanging on to this, you could have been sent to Azkaban.

DRACO: Consider the alternative — consider if people had known that I had the ability to travel in time. Consider the rumor that would have been given increased — credence.

HARRY

looks at

DRACO

, understanding him perfectly.

HARRY: Scorpius.

DRACO: We were capable of having children but Astoria was frail. A blood malediction, a serious one. An ancestor was cursed. . . it showed up in her. You know how these things can resurface after generations. . .

HARRY: I’m sorry, Draco.

DRACO: I didn’t want to risk her health, I said it didn’t matter whether the Malfoy line died with me — whatever my father said. But Astoria — she didn’t want a baby for the Malfoy name, for pureblood or glory, but for us. Our child, Scorpius, was born. . . it was the best day of both our lives, although it weakened Astoria considerably. We hid ourselves away, the three of us. I wanted to conserve her strength. . . and so the rumors started.