SCORPIUS: Sounds like hes found a shoulder to cry on. How many owls has he sent you now?

DELPHI smiles softly.

Sorry. Thats - I didnt mean - I just - dont understand whats going on. Ive tried to see him, talk to him, but every time I do he runs off.

DELPHI: You know, I didnt have a best friend when I was your age. I wanted one. Desperately. When I was younger I even invented one but - SCORPIUS: I had one of those too. Called Flurry. We fell out over the correct rules of Gobstones.

DELPHI: Albus needs you, Scorpius. Thats a wonderful thing.

SCORPIUS: He needs me to do what?

DELPHI: Thats the thing, isnt it? About friendships. You dont know what he needs. You only know he needs it. Find him, Scorpius. You two - you belong together.

ACT TWO, SCENE FIFTEEN.

HARRY AND GINNY POTTERS HOUSE, KITCHEN.

HARRY and DRACO sit far apart. GINNY stands between them.

DRACO: Sorry about your kitchen, Ginny.

GINNY: Oh, its not my kitchen. Harry does most of the cooking.

DRACO: I cant talk to him either. Scorpius. Especially since - Astoria has gone. I cant even talk about how losing her has affected him. As hard as I try, I cant reach him. You cant talk to Albus. I cant talk to Scorpius. Thats what this is about. Not about my son being evil. Because as much as you might take the word of a haughty centaur, you know the power of friendship.

HARRY: Draco, whatever you may think . . .

DRACO: I always envied you them, you know - Weasley and Granger. I had - GINNY: Crabbe and Goyle.

DRACO: Two lunks who wouldnt know one end of a broomstick from another. You - the three of you - you shone, you know? You liked each other. You had fun. I envied you those friendships more than anything else.

GINNY: I envied them too.

HARRY looks at GINNY, surprised.

HARRY: I need to protect him - DRACO: My father thought he was protecting me. Most of the time. I think you have to make a choice - at a certain point - of the man you want to be. And I tell you that at that time you need a parent or a friend. And if youve learnt to hate your parent by then and you have no friends . . . then youre all alone. And being alone - thats so hard. I was alone. And it sent me to a truly dark place. For a long time. Tom Riddle was also a lonely child. You may not understand that, Harry, but I do - and I think Ginny does too.

GINNY: Hes right.

DRACO: Tom Riddle didnt emerge from his dark place. And so Tom Riddle became Lord Voldemort. Maybe the black cloud Bane saw was Albuss loneliness. His pain. His hatred. Dont lose the boy. Youll regret it. And so will he. Because he needs you, and Scorpius, whether or not he now knows it.

HARRY looks at DRACO, he thinks.

He opens his mouth to speak. He thinks.

GINNY: Harry. Will you get the Floo powder or shall I?

HARRY looks up at his wife.

ACT TWO, SCENE SIXTEEN.

HOGWARTS, LIBRARY.

SCORPIUS arrives in the library. He looks left and right. And then he sees ALBUS. And ALBUS sees him.

SCORPIUS: Hi.

ALBUS: Scorpius. I cant . . .

SCORPIUS: I know. Youre in Gryffindor now. You dont want to see me now. But here I am anyway. Talking to you.

ALBUS: Well, I cant talk so . . .

SCORPIUS: You have to. You think you can just ignore everything thats happened? The world has gone crazy, have you noticed?

ALBUS: I know, okay? Rons gone strange. Hermiones a professor, its all wrong, but . . .

SCORPIUS: And Rose doesnt exist.

ALBUS: I know. Look, I dont understand everything but you cant be here.

SCORPIUS: Because of what we did, Rose wasnt even born. Do you remember being told about the Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball? All the four Triwizard champions took a partner. Your dad took Parvati Patil, Viktor Krum took - ALBUS: Hermione. And Ron got jealous and behaved like a prat.

SCORPIUS: Only he didnt. I found Rita Skeeters book about them. And its very different. Ron took Hermione to the ball.

ALBUS: What?

POLLY CHAPMAN: Sshhhh!

SCORPIUS looks at POLLY and drops his volume.

SCORPIUS: As friends. And they danced in a friendly way, and it was nice, and then he danced with Padma Patil and that was nicer, and they started dating and he changed a bit and then they got married and meanwhile Hermione became a - ALBUS: - psychopath.

SCORPIUS: Hermione was supposed to go to that ball with Krum - do you know why she didnt? Because she had suspicions the two strange Durmstrang boys she met before the first task were somehow involved in the disappearance of Cedrics wand. She believed we - under Viktors orders - cost Cedric the first task . . .

ALBUS: Wow.

SCORPIUS: And without Krum, Ron never got jealous and that jealousy was all-important and so Ron and Hermione stayed very good friends but never fell in love - never got married - never had Rose.

ALBUS: So thats why Dads so - did he change too?

SCORPIUS: Im pretty sure your dad is exactly the same. Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Married to Ginny. Three kids.

ALBUS: So why is he being such a - A LIBRARIAN enters at the back of the room.

SCORPIUS: Have you heard me, Albus? This is bigger than you and your dad. Professor Croakers law - the furthest someone can go back in time without the possibility of serious harm to the traveler or time itself is five hours. And we went back years. The smallest moment, the smallest change, it creates ripples. And we - weve created really bad ripples. Rose was never born because of what we did. Rose.

LIBRARIAN: Ssshhh!

ALBUS thinks quickly.

ALBUS: Fine, lets go back - fix it. Get Cedric and Rose back.

SCORPIUS: . . . is the wrong answer.

ALBUS: Youve still got the Time-Turner, right? No one found it?

SCORPIUS takes it out of his pocket.

SCORPIUS: Yes, but . . .

ALBUS snatches it from his hand.

No. Dont . . . Albus. Dont you understand how bad things could get?

SCORPIUS grabs for the Time-Turner, ALBUS pushes him back, they wrestle inexpertly.

ALBUS: Things need fixing, Scorpius. Cedric still needs saving. Rose needs bringing back. Well be more careful. Whatever Croaker says, trust me, trust us. Well get it right this time.

SCORPIUS: No. We wont. Give it back, Albus! Give it back!

ALBUS: I cant. This is too important.

SCORPIUS: Yes, its too important - for us. Were not good at this stuff. Well get it wrong.

ALBUS: Whos saying that well get it wrong?

SCORPIUS: I say. Because thats what we do. We mess things up. We lose. Were losers, true and total losers. Havent you realized that yet?

ALBUS finally gets the upper hand and pins SCORPIUS to the ground.

ALBUS: Well, I wasnt a loser before I met you.

SCORPIUS: Albus, whatever youve got to prove to your dad - this isnt the way.

ALBUS: I dont have anything to prove to my dad. Ive got to save Cedric to save Rose. And maybe - without you holding me back - I can make a proper go of it.

SCORPIUS: Without me? Oh poor Albus Potter. With his chip on his shoulder. Poor Albus Potter. So sad.

ALBUS: What are you saying?

SCORPIUS (exploding): Try my life! People look at you because your dads the famous Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world. People look at me because they think my dad is Voldemort. Voldemort.

ALBUS: Dont even - SCORPIUS: Can you even slightly imagine what thats like? Have you even ever tried? No. Because you cant see beyond the end of your nose. Because you cant see beyond the end of your stupid thing with your dad. He will always be Harry Potter, you know that, right? And you will always be his son. And I know its hard, and the other kids are awful, but you have to learn to be okay with that, because - there are worse things, okay?

Beat.

There was a moment I was excited, when I realized time was different, a moment when I thought maybe my mum hadnt got sick. Maybe my mum wasnt dead. But no, turns out, she was. Im still the child of Voldemort, without a mother, giving sympathy to the boy who doesnt ever give anything back. So Im sorry if Ive ruined your life because I tell you - you wouldnt have a chance of ruining mine - it was already ruined. You just didnt make it better. Because youre a terrible - the most terrible - friend.

ALBUS digests this. He sees what hes done to his friend.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL (from off): Albus? Albus Potter. Scorpius Malfoy. Are you in there - together? Because I advise you not to be.

ALBUS looks at SCORPIUS, he pulls a Cloak from his bag.

ALBUS: Quick. We need to hide.

SCORPIUS: What?

ALBUS: Scorpius, look at me.

SCORPIUS: Thats the Invisibility Cloak? Isnt it Jamess?

ALBUS: If she finds us, well be forced apart forever. Please. I didnt understand. Please.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL (from off - trying to give them every chance): I am about to enter.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL comes into the room, the Marauders Map in her hands. The boys disappear beneath the Cloak. She looks around, exasperated.

Well, where have they - I never wanted this thing and now its playing tricks on me.

She thinks. She looks back at the map. She identifies where they should be. She looks around the room. Objects move as the boys invisibly move past them. She sees where theyre heading, she makes to block them. But they skirt around her.

Unless. Unless . . . Your fathers Cloak.

She looks back at the map, she looks at the boys. She smiles to herself.

Well, if I didnt see you, I didnt see you.

She exits. The two boys remove the Cloak. They sit in silence for a moment.

ALBUS: Yes, I stole this from James. Hes remarkably easy to steal from; his trunk combination is the date he got his first broom. Ive found the Cloak made avoiding bullies . . . easier.