Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

POLLY CHAPMAN: Scorpius.

POLLY CHAPMAN is standing on the stairs, SCORPIUS turns towards her, surprised to hear her say his name.

SCORPIUS: Polly Chapman?

POLLY CHAPMAN: Shall we cut to it? I know everyone is waiting to know who you’re going to ask because, you know, you need to ask someone and I’ve been asked by three people already and I know I’m not alone in refusing them all. In case, you know, you were to ask me.

SCORPIUS: Right.

POLLY CHAPMAN: Which would be great. If you were interested. Which rumor is — you are. And I just want to make clear — at this moment — that I am also interested. And that isn’t a rumor. That’s a — f-a-c-t — fact.

SCORPIUS: That’s um — great but — what are we talking about?

POLLY CHAPMAN: The Blood Ball, of course. Who you — the Scorpion King — are taking to the Blood Ball.

SCORPIUS: You — Polly Chapman — want me to take you to a — ball?

There is the sound of screaming behind him.

What is that screaming?

POLLY CHAPMAN: Mudbloods, of course. In the dungeons. Your idea, wasn’t it? What’s going on with you? Oh Potter, I’ve got blood on my shoes again . . .

She bends and carefully cleans the blood off her shoes.

Like the Augurey insists — the future is ours to make — so here I am, making a future — with you. For Voldemort and Valor.

SCORPIUS: For Voldemort it is.

POLLY walks on, SCORPIUS looks agonized after her. What is this world — and what is he within it?

ACT THREE, SCENE THREE

MINISTRY OF MAGIC, OFFICE OF THE HEAD OF MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

DRACO is impressive in a way we haven’t seen. He has the smell of power about him. Flying down either side of the room are Augurey flags — with the bird emblazoned in a fascistic manner.

DRACO: You are late.

SCORPIUS: This is your office?

DRACO: You are late and unapologetic, maybe you are determined to compound the problem.

SCORPIUS: You’re Head of Magical Law Enforcement?

DRACO: How dare you! How dare you embarrass me and keep me waiting and then not apologize for it!

SCORPIUS: Sorry.

DRACO: Sir.

SCORPIUS: Sorry, sir.

DRACO: I did not bring you up to be sloppy, Scorpius. I did not bring you up to humiliate me at Hogwarts.

SCORPIUS: Humiliate you, sir?

DRACO: Harry Potter, asking questions about Harry Potter, of all the embarrassing things. How dare you disgrace the Malfoy name.

SCORPIUS: Oh no. Are you responsible? No. No. You can’t be.

DRACO: Scorpius . . .

SCORPIUS: The Daily Prophet today — three wizards blowing up bridges to see how many Muggles they can kill with one blast — is that you?

DRACO: Be very careful.

SCORPIUS: The “Mudblood” death camps, the torture, the burning alive of those that oppose him. How much of that is you? Mum always told me that you were a better man than I could see, but this is what you really are, isn’t it? A murderer, a torturer, a —

DRACO rises up and pulls SCORPIUS hard onto the table. The violence is surprising and deadly.

DRACO: Do not use her name in vain, Scorpius. Do not score points that way. She deserves better than that.

SCORPIUS says nothing, horrified and scared. DRACO reads this. He lets go of SCORPIUS’s head. He doesn’t like hurting his son.

And no, those idiots blasting Muggles, that’s not my doing, though it’ll be me the Augurey asks to bribe the Muggle Prime Minister with gold . . . Did your mother really say that of me?

SCORPIUS: She said that Grandfather didn’t like her very much — opposed the match — thought she was too Muggle-loving — too weak — but that you defied him for her. She said it was the bravest thing she’d ever seen.

DRACO: She made being brave very easy, your mother.

SCORPIUS: But that was — another you.

He looks at his dad, who looks back with a frown.

I’ve done bad things, you’ve done worse. What have we become, Dad?

DRACO: We haven’t become anything — we simply are as we are.

SCORPIUS: The Malfoys. The family you can always rely on to make the world a murkier place.

This hits home with DRACO. He looks carefully at SCORPIUS.

DRACO: This business at the school — what’s inspired it?

SCORPIUS: I don’t want to be who I am.

DRACO: And what’s brought that on?

SCORPIUS desperately thinks for a way of describing his story.