He doesn’t see anything. He exits. The staircases move in almost a dance.
SCORPIUS enters behind him. He thinks he’s seen ALBUS, he realizes he isn’t there.
He slumps down to the floor as the staircase sweeps around.
MADAM HOOCH enters and walks up the staircase. At the top, she gestures for SCORPIUS to move.
He does. And slopes off — his abject loneliness clear.
ALBUS enters and walks up one staircase.
SCORPIUS enters and walks up another.
The staircases meet. The two boys look at each other.
Lost and hopeful—all at once.
And then ALBUS looks away and the moment is broken—and with it, possibly, the friendship.
And now the staircases part — the two look at each other — one full of guilt — the other full of pain — both full of unhappiness.
ACT TWO, SCENE THIRTEEN
HARRY AND GINNY POTTER’S HOUSE, KITCHEN
GINNY and HARRY watch each other warily. There is an argument due, and both of them know it.
HARRY: This is the right decision.
GINNY: You almost sound convinced.
HARRY: You told me to be honest with him, but actually I needed to be honest with myself, trust what my heart was telling me . . .
GINNY: Harry, you have one of the greatest hearts of any wizard who ever lived, and I do not believe your heart told you to do this.
They hear a knock on the door.
Saved by the door.
She exits.
After a moment, DRACO enters, consumed by anger but hiding it well.
DRACO: I can’t stay long. I won’t need long.
HARRY: How can I help?
DRACO: I’m not here to antagonize you. But my son is in tears and I am his father and so I am here to ask why you would keep apart two good friends.
HARRY: I’m not keeping them apart.
DRACO: You’ve changed school timetables, you’ve threatened both teachers and Albus himself. Why?
HARRY looks at DRACO carefully and then turns away.
HARRY: I have to protect my son.
DRACO: From Scorpius?
HARRY: Bane told me he sensed a darkness around my son. Near my son.
DRACO: What are you implying, Potter?
HARRY turns and looks DRACO dead in the eye.
HARRY: Are you sure . . . are you really sure he’s yours, Draco?
There’s a deadly silence.
DRACO: You take that back . . . right now.
But HARRY doesn’t take it back.
So DRACO takes his wand out.
HARRY: You do not want to do this.
DRACO: Yes, I do.
HARRY: I don’t want to hurt you, Draco.
DRACO: How interesting, because I do want to hurt you.
The two square up. And then release their wands.
DRACO and HARRY: Expelliarmus!
Their wands repel and then break apart.
DRACO: Incarcerous!
HARRY dodges a blast from DRACO’s wand.
HARRY: Tarantallegra!
DRACO throws himself out of the way.
You’ve been practicing, Draco.
DRACO: And you’ve got sloppy, Potter. Densaugeo!
HARRY just manages to get out of the way.
HARRY: Rictusempra!
DRACO uses a chair to block the blast.
DRACO: Flipendo!
HARRY is sent twirling through the air. DRACO laughs.
Keep up, old man.
HARRY: We’re the same age, Draco.
DRACO: I wear it better.
HARRY: Brachiabindo!
DRACO is bound tightly.
DRACO: That really the best you got? Emancipare.
DRACO releases his own binds.
Levicorpus!
HARRY has to throw himself out of the way.
Mobilicorpus! Oh, this is too much fun . . .
DRACO bounces HARRY 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?