Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

up and down on the table. And then as

HARRY

rolls away,

DRACO

jumps onto the table — he readies his wand, but as he does,

HARRY

hits him with a spell . . .

HARRY: Obscuro!

DRACO

releases himself from his blindfold as soon as it hits.

The two square up —

HARRY

throws a chair.

DRACO

ducks underneath it and slows the chair with his wand.

GINNY: I only left this room three minutes ago!

She looks at the mess of the kitchen. She looks at the chairs suspended in the air. She signals them back to the floor with her wand.

(Drier than dry.)

What did I miss?

ACT TWO, SCENE FOURTEEN

HOGWARTS, STAIRCASES

SCORPIUS walks unhappily down a staircase.

DELPHI scurries in from the other side.

DELPHI: So — technically — I shouldn’t be here.

SCORPIUS: Delphi?

DELPHI: In fact, technically I’m endangering our entire operation . . . which is not . . . well, I’m not a natural risk-taker as you know. I’ve never been to Hogwarts. Pretty lax security here, isn’t there? And so many portraits. And corridors. And ghosts! This half-headless, strange-looking ghost told me where I could find you, can you believe that?

SCORPIUS: You’ve never been to Hogwarts?

DELPHI: I was — unwell — as a child — for a few years. Other people got to go — I did not.

SCORPIUS: You were too — ill? I’m sorry, I didn’t know that.

DELPHI: I don’t advertise the fact — I prefer not to be seen as a tragic case, you know?

This registers with

SCORPIUS

. He looks up to say something but

DELPHI

suddenly ducks from view as a student walks past.

SCORPIUS

tries to look casual until the student passes.

Have they gone?

SCORPIUS: Delphi, maybe it is too dangerous for you to be here —

DELPHI: Well — someone’s got to do something about this.

SCORPIUS: Delphi, none of it worked, time-turning, we failed.

DELPHI: I know. Albus owled me. The history books changed but not enough — Cedric still died. In fact, failing the first task only made him more determined to win the second.

SCORPIUS: And Ron and Hermione have gone completely skewwhiff — and I still haven’t figured out why.

DELPHI: And that’s why Cedric has to wait. It’s all become quite confused and you’re entirely right to be keeping hold of the Time-Turner, Scorpius. But what I meant was — someone’s got to do something about the two of you.

SCORPIUS: Oh.

DELPHI: You’re best friends. Every owl he sends I can feel your absence. He’s destroyed by it.

SCORPIUS: Sounds like he’s found a shoulder to cry on. How many owls has he sent you now?

DELPHI

smiles softly.

Sorry. That’s — I didn’t mean — I just — don’t understand what’s going on. I’ve tried to see him, talk to him, but every time I do he runs off.

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.

DELPHI: Albus needs you, Scorpius. That’s a wonderful thing.

SCORPIUS: He needs me to do what?

DELPHI: That’s the thing, isn’t it? About friendships. You don’t know what he needs. You only know he needs it. Find him, Scorpius. You two — you belong together.

ACT TWO, SCENE FIFTEEN

HARRY AND GINNY POTTER’S HOUSE, KITCHEN

HARRY and DRACO sit far apart. GINNY stands between them.

DRACO: Sorry about your kitchen, Ginny.

GINNY: Oh, it’s not my kitchen. Harry does most of the cooking.

DRACO: I can’t talk to him either. Scorpius. Especially since — Astoria has gone. I can’t even talk about how losing her has affected him. As hard as I try, I can’t reach him. You can’t talk to Albus. I can’t talk to Scorpius. That’s what this is about. Not about my son being evil. Because as much as you might take the word of a haughty centaur, you know the power of friendship.

HARRY: Draco, whatever you may think . . .

DRACO: I always envied you them, you know — Weasley and Granger. I had —

GINNY: Crabbe and Goyle.

DRACO: Two lunks who wouldn’t know one end of a broomstick from another. You — the three of you — you shone, you know? You liked each other. You had fun. I envied you those friendships more than anything else.

GINNY: I envied them too.

HARRY

looks at

GINNY

, surprised.

HARRY: I need to protect him —