He turns and looks at them, confused. And it hits him. And around him the water glows gold.
And then CEDRIC starts to grow — and grow again — and grow some more. He looks around himself — entirely panicked. And the boys watch as CEDRIC ascends helplessly through the water.
But no, what’s this . . . Cedric Diggory is ascending out of the water and seemingly out of the competition. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have our winner but we certainly have our loser. Cedric Diggory is turning into a balloon, and this balloon wants to fly. Fly, ladies and gentlemen, fly. Fly out of the task and out of the tournament and — oh my, it gets wilder still, around Cedric, fireworks explode declaiming — “Ron loves Hermione” — and the crowd love that — oh, ladies and gentlemen, the look on Cedric’s face. It’s quite some picture, it’s quite some sight, it’s quite some tragedy. This is a humiliation, there’s no other word for it.
And ALBUS smiles widely and high-fives SCORPIUS in the water.
And ALBUS points up, and SCORPIUS nods, and they start to swim ever upwards. And as CEDRIC ascends, people start to laugh, and everything changes.
The world becomes darker. The world becomes almost black, in fact.
And there’s a flash. And a bang. And the Time-Turner ticks to a stop. And we’re back in the present.
SCORPIUS suddenly emerges, shooting up through the water. And he’s triumphant.
SCORPIUS: Woooo-hoooooo!
He looks around, surprised. Where’s ALBUS? He puts his arms into the air.
We did it!
He waits another beat.
Albus?
ALBUS still doesn’t emerge. SCORPIUS treads water, he thinks and then he ducks back into the water.
He emerges back up again. Now thoroughly panicked. He looks around.
Albus . . . ALBUS . . . ALBUS.
And there’s a whisper in Parseltongue. Which travels fast around the audience.
He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming.
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: Scorpius Malfoy. Get out of the lake. Get out of the lake. Right now.
She pulls him out of the water.
SCORPIUS: Miss. I need help. Please, Miss.
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: Miss? I’m Professor Umbridge, the headmistress of your school, I’m no “Miss.”
SCORPIUS: You’re the headmistress? But I . . .
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: I am the headmistress, and however important your family may be — it doesn’t give you an excuse to dillydally, to mess about.
SCORPIUS: There’s a boy in this lake. You need to get help. I’m looking for my friend, Miss. Professor. Headmaster. One of Hogwarts’s students, Miss. I’m looking for Albus Potter.
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: Potter? Albus Potter? There’s no such student. In fact, there hasn’t been a Potter at Hogwarts for years — and that boy didn’t turn out so well. Not so much rest in peace, Harry Potter, more rest in perpetual despair. Total troublemaker.
SCORPIUS: Harry Potter’s dead?
Suddenly from around the auditorium, the feel of a breath of the wind. Some black robes arise around people. Black robes that become black shapes. That become dementors.
Flying dementors through the auditorium. These black deadly shapes, these black deadly forces. They are everything to be feared. And they suck the spirit from the room.
The wind continues. This is hell. And then, right from the back of the room, whispering around everyone.
Words said with an unmistakable voice. The voice of VOLDEMORT . . .
Haaarry Pottttter.
HARRY’s dream has come to life.
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: Have you swallowed something funny in there? Become a Mudblood without any of us noticing? Harry Potter died over twenty years ago as part of that failed coup on the school — he was one of those Dumbledore terrorists we bravely overthrew at the Battle of Hogwarts. Now come along — I don’t know what game you’re playing but you’re upsetting the dementors and entirely ruining Voldemort Day.
And the Parseltongue whispers grow louder and louder. Grow monstrously loud. And giant banners with snake symbols upon them descend over the stage.
SCORPIUS: Voldemort Day?
We cut to black.
ACT THREE, SCENE ONE
HOGWARTS, HEADMISTRESS’S OFFICE
SCORPIUS enters the office of DOLORES UMBRIDGE. He is dressed in darker, blacker robes. He has a pensive look on his face. He remains coiled and alert.
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: Scorpius. Thank you so much for coming to see me.
SCORPIUS: Headmistress.
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: Scorpius, I’ve thought for a long time that you have Head Boy potential, as you know. Pure-blooded, a natural leader, wonderfully athletic . . .
SCORPIUS: Athletic?
DOLORES UMBRIDGE: No need to be modest, Scorpius. I’ve seen you on the Quidditch pitch, there’s rarely a Snitch you don’t catch. You are a highly valued student. Valued by the faculty. Valued especially by me. I’ve positively glowed about you in dispatches to the Augurey. Our work together flushing out the more dilettante students has made this school a safer, purer place —
SCORPIUS: Has it?