19 Years Later

by Kena Worthen

JAMES leaves as ROSE enters.

  ROSE WEASLEY: Hey.

  SCORPIUS MALFOY: H hey.

  ROSE WEASLEY: (She kisses him) Don’t mess it up.

  She exits. SCORPIUS is ecstatic. ALBUS nearly chokes.

  ALBUS POTTER: Well look at that.

  SCORPIUS MALFOY: The seeds of love have sprouted. Maybe for you as well. Julianne’s a sixth year, I know you’ve got a thing for older women. How old was Cec- sorry, Helena? 25 ...85?

  ALBUS POTTER: Sod off. (Beat) Have you seen Frank, since...?

  SCORPIUS MALFOY: No. I hear he’s still with his mum. Do you know, that night, for the first time, my dad told me he loved me? (Beat) Do you want to go eat? I’m starved.

  ALBUS POTTER: I can’t. Dad’s coming down. He wants to talk.

  SCORPIUS MALFOY: Huh. Dad issues, I get it, I mean I have them. Good luck.

  HARRY enters and ALBUS stands, the two cross downstage.

  HARRY POTTER: Exams. Sixth year, it’s massive. In my, well you don’t care.

  ALBUS POTTER: No. I don’t.

  They smile.

  HARRY POTTER: I was terrified I’d lost you, Albus.

  ALBUS POTTER: I thought Harry Potter wasn’t scared of anything?

  HARRY POTTER: I was scared of this. I know, I’ve made mistakes. I’ve hurt you terribly. Albus, there are so many things I’m scared of, but none so much as losing you. As being a dad to you. I don’t know how, and you deserve so much more than I’ve given.

  ALBUS POTTER: I know I’m difficult, I’m not like James.

  HARRY POTTER: I don’t want you to be. You’re wonderful, exactly as you are. James is - well, he’s nothing like us. Everything is so bloody easy for him. And it never was for me.

  ALBUS POTTER: Nor me.

  HARRY POTTER: I think you’re more like your old man than either of us might have realized. (Beat) I am so very proud of you. Even the Slytherin side.

  ALBUS POTTER: (Quiet, distraught) I killed her, Dad.

  HARRY POTTER: You saved the world. You saved me. Before I knew Sirius, when I believed the lie, I wanted him dead. I would have killed him, given the chance. I did kill Voldemort. Albus, what you’ve had to do, I can’t tell you that an easy road lies ahead. But I know you - I didn’t before, I don’t think, but I do now. And you are good. To your very core.

  ALBUS POTTER: How do you keep going after - after things like this? After Neville.

  HARRY POTTER: I don’t know. But you do. You suffer, and you grieve, and you persist. And then one day, you live. They circle around to FRANK, who is kneeling.

  FRANK LONGBOTTOM: Thank you for coming.

  HARRY POTTER: Your father was one of the bravest men I’ve ever known. He was kind, and selfless. He saved the world. Your father is the reason that any of us are alive today.

  HARRY claps a hand on FRANK’s shoulder. GINNY, JAMES and LILY enter, trailed by RON, HERMIONE, and ROSE. RON moves to stand next to HARRY.

  HARRY POTTER: I am sorry.

  RON WEASLEY

  I know. (He smirks halfheartedly) Tosser.

  JAMES POTTER: I miss Uncle Neville.

  HERMIONE WEASLEY: We all do.

  GINNY POTTER: Even if he was a terrible dance partner.

  SCORPIUS and DRACO enter, still awkward around one another.

  RON WEASLEY: Malfoy.

  DRACO MALFOY: We came to pay our respects.

  RON WEASLEY: I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to your son. I hear he’s bloody brilliant.

  ROSE looks petrified, SCORPIUS smiles, they join hands. DRACO smirks, raising his wand to the air.

  DRACO MALFOY: To Neville.

  The group follows suit, one by one.

  HARRY POTTER: To Neville.

  SCORPIUS MALFOY: To Professor Longbottom.

  FRANK LONGBOTTOM: To dad.

  They stare out over the audience, contemplative of what lies ahead.

  ALBUS POTTER: To Neville.

  The End