by Kena Worthen
HERMIONE WEASLEY: Surely you’re not implying that my daughter
DRACO MALFOY: Do you remember the hospital? And her untimely entrance? It was an error, on all of our parts, discussing such matters so openly.
HARRY POTTER: The dead girl’s name. If she heard
HERMIONE WEASLEY: Rose would do anything to get Albus back.
MINERVA MCGONNOGALL: If I was still in the position to give you all detentions, I would. Your carelessness allowed fanciful notions of heroism to invade their minds.
HARRY POTTER: Do we even know which direction they’ve run?
DRACO MALFOY: No.
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: But what if... I may have a lead. On her. If we follow
DRACO MALFOY: My priority is to find
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: Your son, yes, I agree but if we manage find her, she could lead us straight to the children.
DRACO MALFOY: And using Scorpius and Rose as bait is our plan of action? Allowing them to walk blindly into the dragon's den while we stalk the dragon?
HERMIONE WEASLEY: And how do you propose we stop them?
DRACO MALFOY: (Seeing red) I don’t know!
He slams his fist on a table, there is a stunned silence.
MINERVA MCGONNOGALL: If your children, as I suspect they do, have taken even the slightest bit after their parents, they are both incredibly reckless and resourceful.
HARRY POTTER: Neville, the lead.
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOML This book, it could have only come from her home.
HERMIONE WEASLEY
How could you possibly know that? She could have sold
it, or her house could have been raided in the nearly
six years since her death.
MINERVA MCGONNOGALL: I find that unlikely.
HARRY POTTER: Why, Professor?
MINERVA MCGONNOGALL: Her home is the best preserved and least visited museum of Divination that the Wizarding World has seen. I do believe it is only open every third full moon that isn’t in Aquarius, or some other absolute nonsense.
HERMIONE WEASLEY: If Cecilia, this woman, if she took it from Professor Trelawney’s home
MINERVA MCGONNOGALL: Then that is where you can begin looking for her.
HARRY POTTER: Neville, you’re brilliant.
DRACO MALFOY: Would anyone to care to explain just what exactly is going on?
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: We’ll explain on the way, Professor, find me a substitute.
The scene turns as the adults exit, and CECILIA and ALBUS take the stage. CECILIA leans against the wall, spinning her wand between her fingers. ALBUS is on the floor, knocked out. Groggily, he stirs.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: God Morning sunshine.
ALBUS POTTER: (Dazed) Cecilia... (Suddenly he remembers and is terrified)
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: Oh, stop. Don’t be so dramatic. I’m not going to kill you. Not yet, anyway. (Beat) Can I ask a question, how do you think I’m at snogging? I’ve had mixed reactions. Did you like it?
ALBUS POTTER: What are you going to do with me? You said it yourself, I’m pathetic, useless. Why are you keeping me?
CECILIA SINCLAIRE:Do you like stories? (He doesn’t respond) See, now I thought we were friends, and when a friend asks you a question, you answer.
ALBUS POTTER: Stories are fine. I’m just concerned this particularmstory has an unreliable narrator.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE:Very cheeky. You do belong in Slytherin.
The other half of the stage lights up, and we see: DRACO, HARRY, HERMIONE, and NEVILLE enter TRELAWNEY’s house.
DRACO MALFOY: Do we even know what we’re looking for?
HARRY POTTER: How do you find something out of place when nothing has a place?
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: Think like her?
DRACO MALFOY: (Sarcastic) Brilliant. Harry, you’ve plenty of experience jumping into other people’s minds, go on. Channel your inner teenage sociopath.
HERMIONE WEASLEY: This is wrong. I, admittedly, know little to nothing of the superstitious nonsense Sybil believed in, but look at the shelves. All in stacks of twelve, except for this
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: (Interrupting) One.
DRACO MALFOY: Thirteen books.
Both halves of the stage are lit; scenes happen concurrently.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: A long time ago, there was a little girl. And she loved her father. He was a good man, but they took him away.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: So her mother got scared, and they ran. They hid. Locked away from the world and everyone in it, in the forest by the town of the goblin war. Her mother loved the little girl very much, but she was frail. The mother died, and left the poor girl alone. So she ran.
HARRY POTTER: She never would have allowed a grouping of thirteen to stay together.
DRACO MALFOY What is this?
He has picked up a silver ORB from the shelf.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: She ran to find the people who had ruined her family. But she was weak like her mother. Pathetic. And when she couldn’t run anymore, when death had his finger on her throat, the woman found her. The psychic, the seer. Gave her food. Had a vision.
HARRY POTTER: Draco, be careful!
DRACO drops the ORB NEVILLE moves to stop its fall, but it rolls to the ground, shattering in a puff of smoke.
HERMIONE WEASLEY: A prophecy.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: A new prophecy.
SYBIL TRELAWNEY: With a vengeful heart, she with the power to conquer shall rise.
HERMIONE WEASLEY: It’s speaking of Cecilia. The prophecy continues to play in the background
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: Defied our greatest, Harry, that’s Voldemort, and you.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: It told her everything she needed to know, She needed to find the boy. But the seer, she was only in the way.
ALBUS POTTER: You killed Trelawney.
HARRY POTTER: Albus. My serpent heir.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: I waited, and I found you. Harry Potter’s Slytherin son, just as the prophecy foretold.
DRACO MALFOY: She needs him alive.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: But the boy had to come to her, on his own. You will join me, it is foretold in the stars. You and I will bring forth a new era, a new wizarding world unlike any other.
DRACO MALFOY: Pure death...
HERMIONE WEASLEY: Chaos. (Revelation) Harry, it’s, by Dumbledore, It’s the robberies, the platform, it’s all her. It’s all connected.
ALBUS POTTER: I won’t. I’ll never hurt people. Not willingly.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: You will. You already have.
NEVILLE kneels to lift a photograph from the floor.
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: This fell from the book. It’s her.
DRACO takes the photo from Neville’s hand, peering at it.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: I have to leave, Albus, and you must come to me on your own.
DRACO MALFOY: We need to leave, to my manor. I know who she is.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: And you will, it is your destiny. We were meant to be one. Crucio!
ALBUS screams as CECILIA disappears.
Blackout
Act 2 Scene 8
Int. HERMIONE’s office
MCGUFFIN stands at HERMIONE’s desk. CECILIA enters, though her face is obscured by a cloak and mask.
KERES MCGUFFIN: There is no need to hide. My office is secured. I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: (Removing her hood) It is all according to plan, according to the stars. (She meanders around the office, she is clearly in control) You’ve done well for me. Minister, so soon.
KERES MCGUFFIN: You are pleased, then?
CECILIA comes from behind to kiss KERES’s cheek, they are lovers.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: My dear Keres. You have been but the most loyal of people. It will not go unrewarded. You shall always be at my side. You will lead us to greatness.
KERES MCGUFFIN: And the boy?
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: He will come.
ELLEN MERRYRITE enters, hunched over a roll of parchment.
; ELLEN MERRYRITE: Minister, I have the, Sorry I didn’t realize that youwere
KERES MCGUFFIN: I’m in a meeting. Evacuate.
ELLEN MERRYRITE: Yes, of course, I was just
She stares at CECILIA, who smiles.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: Hello. I’m a friend.
She senses the tension and danger and realizes why she looks so familiar.
ELLEN MERRYRITE: It’s you. Your photo was in the Daily Prophet, the girl who went missing with the Potter boy. Minister, shall I call
KERES MCGUFFIN: Merryrite, please
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: Avada Kedavra.
KERES MCGUFFIN: Pity. I quite liked that one. (Beat, she picks up a roster, and peers at it intently) Twenty one deaths. Messy business, you and I. Dolores Umbridge, Gregory
Goyle, I understand. But killing Shaklebolt? He hardly fills the same category.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: Was he not one of the few who sparked the revolution? The war? The war that killed so many?
KERES MCGUFFIN: He fought valiantly.
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: Kind, evil, rich, poor. It makes no difference. They are a plague upon humanity. Upon wizarding kind.
KERES MCGUFFIN: All of them?
CECILIA SINCLAIRE: Every last one. It is cruel to allow a dying dog to suffer, Keres. I will put them out of their misery. And you will help me.
KERES MCGUFFIN: As you wish.
Blackout
Act 2 Scene 9
REPORTER 1: Minister of Magic Hermione WEASLEY officially removed from her post. Keres McGuffin declared acting Minister of
REPORTER 4: Disappearanes continue, wizarding world terrified, Kingsley Shacklebolt missing
REPORTER 3: Wizarding world uneasy in face of political changes. War criminals Dolores Umbridge and Gregory Goyle among missing wizards presumed to be deceased
REPORTER 2: Hermione WEASLEY wanted for connection to attacks
We see a faint light that glows bright as it approaches. It is SCORPIUS and ROSE, having located ALBUS with his wand.
ROSE WEASLEY: Albus!
SCORPIUS screams.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: Oh my, we found him we, Dumbledore, is he dead?!
ALBUS POTTER: Rose?
SCORPIUS MALFOY: (Overjoyed, nearly hysterical) Oh he’s alive!
ROSE WEASLEY Hi, yes I’m here.
ALBUS POTTER: How did you, (Suddenly terrified) Rose, you need to get out of here, it isn’t safe, Cecilia, she’s a lunatic, she’s held me hostage in this dungeon
SCORPIUS MALFOY: A dungeon?
ROSE WEASLEY: There’s no one here, you’re in the middle of the forest. Albus, are you alright? Slowly he get’s to his feet.
SCORPIUS rushes him, hugging him enthusiastically.
ALBUS POTTER:Do, do we hug?
ROSE WEASLEY: Second time he’s done that. It’s really good to see your stupid face.
ALBUS POTTER
Yours also. How did you find me?
SCORPIUS MALFOY
Magic. (He tosses ALBUS’ wand to him, who catches it)
ALBUS POTTER: You’re brilliant, the two of you. You were right, Rose. Both of you. She’s had me locked up in a cell. She killed Professor Trelawney, all those years ago.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: At this particular moment I take no pleasure in being right.
ROSE WEASLEY: And she just... left you in the woods? Just let you go?
ALBUS POTTER: She said she had to. That she needs me, to join her, whatever, to succeed. But I have to do it on my own, come back of my own will. There’s a prophecy
SCORPIUS MALFOY: (Dramatically) A prophecy. Is no one going to mention the irony of there being a prophecy about you? You’d think one prophecy per family would be more than
enough.
ROSE WEASLEY: Albus, that doesn’t make any sense. Why take you in the first place, why keep you for a month
SCORPIUS MALFOY: This conversation is lovely, but I don’t think we’re alone.
The three draw close. JAMES, FRANK, and LILY enter.
LILY POTTER: Stupe
FRANK LONGBOTTOM: No, Lily, look!
ALBUS POTTER: Lily?
LILY POTTER: Albus!
JAMES POTTER: Bloody hell. Albus... (He hugs LILY)
FRANK LONGBOTTOM: I was starting to think I’d never see you again. Rose, how did you find him?
ROSE WEASLEY: I’m clever. How did you find us?
JAMES POTTER: Because you only think you’re clever.
FRANK LONGBOTTOM: Lily saw you, She watched you and Scorpius leave.
LILY POTTER: So we followed.
ALBUS POTTER: I thought I was never going to see you lot again. (He hugs his brother, an emotional moment) I think, I’d really like to go home.
The group begins to walk, SCORPIUS and ALBUS isolated.
ALBUS POTTER: You know, when she had me in there, and they were torturing me... I thought about you.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: Me? (He is touched) That’s a bit weird.
ALBUS POTTER: Oh piss off, I just meant, how you would have handled it. You just... you talk your way out of anything. You’re brilliant. All I could do was sit there, too scared to even try to escape.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: I dunno. I think I talk my way into things, mostly. (Beat) I’m really sorry, Albus. I am. And, for the record, I never thought you were dead.
ALBUS POTTER (Rolling his eyes) Thanks for that (He collides with ROSE) Wotchit, Rose, why’d you stop
ROSE WEASLEY: Don’t you smell it?
SCORPIUS MALFOY: Those are
FRANK LONGBOTTOM: Bodies. Burnt.
LILY POTTER: All the missing witches and wizards...
JAMES POTTER: I, I know this wand. Kingsley Shaklebolt’s. He’s, he was, a friend of my dad’s.
ROSE WEASLEY: I can’t look at this.
ALBUS POTTER: Missing wizards? Like before?
LILY POTTER: It’s worse. Twenty eight more wizards have gone missing, and everyone’s terrified. Hogwarts is pretty much on lockdown.
ALBUS POTTER: We need to get home. Mum’s probably worried sick, and Dad, he’s (He notices the look on their faces) What?
JAMES POTTER: Albus, that night, in the forest, Mum was hurt. She’s alive but... It isn’t good.
ALBUS POTTER: You should all go home. (He waves off their protestations) This isn’t about any of you. It’s me. I’m the one Cecilia wants.
JAMES POTTER: That’s a bloody brilliant reason to not go marching back into her arms!
ALBUS POTTER: The prophecy said.
ROSE WEASLEY: It doesn’t matter what it said, prophecies can be broken! They’re only self fulfilling if you act upon them.
LILY POTTER: A prophecy?
SCORPIUS MALFOY: We’ll explain later.
ALBUS POTTER: No, we won’t. This entire mess is something I’ve created, and for once, I can do something to fix it
SCORPIUS MALFOY: We can’t fix anything, because we’ll mess it up. We’ll get it wrong.
ALBUS POTTER: Who says we’ll get it wrong?
SCORPIUS MALFOY: I do. Do you not see that that’s what we do. Welcome to the Losers Club, Albus, We mess up. We’re trapped in the middle of a forest because we never know how to get it right. (Beat. Simply) Haven’t you realized that yet?
ALBUS POTTER: Well. Maybe without any of you lot, without you, holding me back, I can make a proper go of it.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: Without me? Poor you. Poor Albus Potter. You’ve got parents who love you. A mother
ALBUS POTTER: Sick in a hospital
SCORPIUS MALFOY: And my mother is dead! The one person who really, truly loved me is dead. I am utterly alone. But you, for just one moment, have you ever considered what it is to be me? To have my life?
ALBUS POTTER: Don’t make this about
SCORPIUS MALFOY: People look at you and see the most famous wizard alive, The Boy Who Lived. Do you know what people see when they look at me? A motherless freak. They look at me because my father, my entire family, followed Voldemort. (Beat) Can you even slightly imagine what thats lik
e? Your dad, he’s always going to be Harry
Potter, you do know that? I don’t envy you Albus, I don’t, but for once, just try see that there are worse things, okay?
ALBUS POTTER: Scorpius...
SCORPIUS MALFOY: And if, if having me as a friend had made your life that much worse, I am sorry, but let me tell you, you would never have had a chance at making mine any worse than it was to begin with. Because I’m still the son of a Death Eater, a lonely kid with no mother, and that’s all I’m ever going to be.
ALBUS POTTER: I didn’t, I didn’t understand what it
SCORPIUS MALFOY: You never do. But please, go on. I’ll support you, like I always have. (Beat) Because that’s what friends are for, isn’t it?
ALBUS POTTER: (After a moment) Scorpius, I’m, I’m sorry, about your mum. We never talk about her, and it’s rubbish, honestly, but I am, you know, I am sorry that it happened.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: (Sniffles) Thanks. I’m sorry about yours.
ALBUS POTTER: You’re right. I’ve been a terrible, the most terrible, friend that I could have possibly been. You’re kind, you’re giving and supportive and, honestly, I’m nothing without you. You’re bloody brilliant, and I’m lucky that I’m able to call you a friend. My best friend.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: (Teary) That’s nice, that’s a nice thing to say. (Beat) Go on.
ALBUS POTTER: And yes, you’re right, I’ll always be his son, and I know that I’m lucky, and I’ve baggage that I need sort on my own, but, none of it’s worth it if you’re not in my life. (Beat) I’m sorry. Are we friends?
SCORPIUS MALFOY: I suppose I can make an exception. This once.
ALBUS POTTER: Good. But don’t you get it, I have to find her.
SCORPIUS MALFOY: Does your entire family posses the inability to move on from terrible ideas? Don’t you know how bad things could get?
ALBUS POTTER: No. I don’t. I, I need you. All of you. I can’t just go home, while she’s out there, hurting people. Hurting my mum. And yes, it dangerous and terrible, but someone has to do something. And I’m, we’re, the only ones who can.
JAMES POTTER: Do you even have the faintest idea of how to find her?
ROSE WEASLEY: Yes. I do.
LILY POTTER: The Bagglenox.
JAMES POTTER: The what?
ROSE WEASLEY: Albus, that charm, do you still have it? That’s a Bagglenox. It’s old, dark magic, and it creates a link between two people.