JAMES: Apart from the Thestrals. Watch out for the Thestrals.
ALBUS: I thought they were invisible!
HARRY: Listen to your professors, don’t listen to James, and remember to enjoy yourself. Now, if you don’t want this train to leave without you, you should leap on . . .
LILY: I’m going to chase the train out.
GINNY: Lily, come straight back.
HERMIONE: Rose. Remember to send Neville our love.
ROSE: Mum, I can’t give a professor love!
ROSE exits for the train. And then ALBUS turns and hugs GINNY and HARRY one last time before following after her.
ALBUS: Okay, then. Bye.
He climbs on board. HERMIONE, GINNY, RON, and HARRY stand watching the train — as whistles blow up and down the platform.
GINNY: They’re going to be okay, right?
HERMIONE: Hogwarts is a big place.
RON: Big. Wonderful. Full of food. I’d give anything to be going back.
HARRY: Strange, Al being worried he’ll be sorted into Slytherin.
HERMIONE: That’s nothing, Rose is worried whether she’ll break the Quidditch scoring record in her first or second year. And how early she can take her O.W.L.s.
RON: I have no idea where she gets her ambition from.
GINNY: And how would you feel, Harry, if Al — if he is?
RON: You know, Gin, we always thought there was a chance you could be sorted into Slytherin.
GINNY: What?
RON: Honestly, Fred and George ran a book.
HERMIONE: Can we go? People are looking, you know.
GINNY: People always look when you three are together. And apart. People always look at you.
The four exit. GINNY stops HARRY.
Harry . . . He’ll be all right, won’t he?
HARRY: Of course he will.
ACT ONE, SCENE THREE
THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS
ALBUS and ROSE walk along the carriage of the train.
The TROLLEY WITCH approaches, pushing her trolley.
TROLLEY WITCH: Anything from the trolley, dears? Pumpkin Pasty? Chocolate Frog? Cauldron Cake?
ROSE (spotting ALBUS’s loving look at the Chocolate Frogs): Al. We need to concentrate.
ALBUS: Concentrate on what?
ROSE: On who we choose to be friends with. My mum and dad met your dad on their first Hogwarts Express, you know . . .
ALBUS: So we need to choose now who to be friends with for life? That’s quite scary.
ROSE: On the contrary, it’s exciting. I’m a Granger-Weasley, you’re a Potter — everyone will want to be friends with us, we’ve got the pick of anyone we want.
ALBUS: So how do we decide — which compartment to go in . . .
ROSE: We rate them all and then we make a decision.
ALBUS opens a door — to look in on a lonely blond kid — SCORPIUS — in an otherwise empty compartment. ALBUS smiles. SCORPIUS smiles back.
ALBUS: Hi. Is this compartment . . .
SCORPIUS: It’s free. It’s just me.
ALBUS: Great. So we might just — come in — for a bit — if that’s okay?
SCORPIUS: That’s okay. Hi.
ALBUS: Albus. Al. I’m — my name is Albus . . .
SCORPIUS: Hi Scorpius. I mean, I’m Scorpius. You’re Albus. I’m Scorpius. And you must be . . .
ROSE’s face is growing colder by the minute.
ROSE: Rose.
SCORPIUS: Hi, Rose. Would you like some of my Fizzing Whizbees?
ROSE: I’ve just had breakfast, thanks.
SCORPIUS: I’ve also got some Shock-o-Choc, Pepper Imps, and some Jelly Slugs. Mum’s idea — she says (sings), “Sweets, they always help you make friends.” (He realizes that singing was a mistake.) Stupid idea, probably.
ALBUS: I’ll have some . . . Mum doesn’t let me have sweets. Which one would you start with?
ROSE hits ALBUS out of sight of SCORPIUS.
SCORPIUS: Easy. I’ve always regarded the Pepper Imp as the king of the confectionery bag. They’re peppermint sweets that make you smoke at the ears.
ALBUS: Brilliant, then that’s what I’ll — (ROSE hits him again.) Rose, will you please stop hitting me?
ROSE: I’m not hitting you.
ALBUS: You are hitting me, and it hurts.
SCORPIUS’s face falls.
SCORPIUS: She’s hitting you because of me.
ALBUS: What?
SCORPIUS: Listen, I know who you are, so it’s probably only fair you know who I am.
ALBUS: What do you mean you know who I am?
SCORPIUS: You’re Albus Potter. She’s Rose Granger-Weasley. And I am Scorpius Malfoy. My parents are Astoria and Draco Malfoy. Our parents — they didn’t get on.
ROSE: That’s putting it mildly. Your mum and dad are Death Eaters!
SCORPIUS (affronted): Dad was — but Mum wasn’t.
ROSE looks away, and SCORPIUS knows why she does.
I know what the rumor is, and it’s a lie.
ALBUS looks from an uncomfortable ROSE to a desperate SCORPIUS.
ALBUS: What — is the rumor?
SCORPIUS: The rumor is that my parents couldn’t have children. That my father and my grandfather were so desperate for a powerful heir, to prevent the end of the Malfoy line, that they . . . that they used a Time-Turner to send my mother back . . .
ALBUS: To send her back where?
ROSE: The rumor is that he’s Voldemort’s son, Albus.
A horrible, uncomfortable silence.
It’s probably rubbish. I mean . . . look, you’ve got a nose.
The tension is slightly broken. SCORPIUS laughs, pathetically grateful.
SCORPIUS: And it’s just like my father’s! I got his nose, his hair, and his name. Not that that’s a great thing either. I mean — father-son issues, I have them. But, on the whole, I’d rather be a Malfoy than, you know, the son of the Dark Lord.
SCORPIUS and ALBUS look at each other and something passes between them.
ROSE: Yes, well, we probably should sit somewhere else. Come on, Albus.
ALBUS is thinking deeply.
ALBUS: No. (Off ROSE’s look.) I’m okay. You go on . . .
ROSE: Albus. I won’t wait.
ALBUS: And I wouldn’t expect you to. But I’m staying here.
ROSE looks at him a second and then leaves the compartment.
ROSE: Fine!
SCORPIUS and ALBUS are left — looking at each other — unsure.
SCORPIUS: Thank you.
ALBUS: No. No. I didn’t stay — for you — I stayed for your sweets.
SCORPIUS: She’s quite fierce.
ALBUS: Yes. Sorry.
SCORPIUS: No. I like it. Do you prefer Albus or Al?
SCORPIUS grins and pops two sweets into his mouth.
ALBUS (thinks): Albus.
SCORPIUS (as smoke comes out of his ears): THANK YOU FOR STAYING FOR MY SWEETS, ALBUS!
ALBUS (laughing): Wow.
ACT ONE, SCENE FOUR
TRANSITION SCENE
And now we enter a never-world of time change. And this scene is all about magic. The changes are rapid as we leap between worlds. There are no individual scenes, but fragments, shards that show the constant progression of time.
Initially we’re inside Hogwarts, in the Great Hall, and everyone is dancing around ALBUS.