And then suddenly a jet of water emerges from the sink — and after it ascends a very wet MOANING MYRTLE.
MOANING MYRTLE: Whoa. That feels good. Never used to enjoy that. But when you get to my age, you take what you can . . .
SCORPIUS: Of course — you’re a genius — Moaning Myrtle . . .
MOANING MYRTLE swoops down onto SCORPIUS.
MOANING MYRTLE: What did you call me? Do I moan? Am I moaning now? AM I? AM I?
SCORPIUS: No, I didn’t mean . . .
MOANING MYRTLE: What’s my name?
SCORPIUS: Myrtle.
MOANING MYRTLE: Exactly — Myrtle. Myrtle Elizabeth Warren — a pretty name — my name — no need for the moaning.
SCORPIUS: Well . . .
MOANING MYRTLE (she giggles): It’s been a while. Boys. In my bathroom. In my girls’ bathroom. Well, that’s not right . . . But then again, I always did have a soft spot for the Potters. And I was moderately partial to a Malfoy too. Now how can I help you pair?
ALBUS: You were there, Myrtle — in the lake. They wrote about you. There must be a way out of these pipes.
MOANING MYRTLE: I’ve been everywhere. But where specifically were you thinking?
ALBUS: The second task. The lake task. In the Triwizard Tournament. Twenty-five years ago. Harry and Cedric.
MOANING MYRTLE: Such a shame the pretty one had to die. Not that your father is not pretty — but Cedric Diggory — you’d be amazed at how many girls I had to hear doing love incantations in this very bathroom . . . And the weeping after he was taken.
ALBUS: Help us, Myrtle, help us get into that same lake.
MOANING MYRTLE: You think I can help you travel in time?
ALBUS: We need you to keep a secret.
MOANING MYRTLE: I love secrets. I won’t tell a soul. Cross my heart and hope to die. Or — the equivalent. For ghosts. You know.
ALBUS nods at SCORPIUS, who reveals the Time-Turner.
ALBUS: We can travel in time. You’re going to help us travel the pipes. We’re going to save Cedric Diggory.
MOANING MYRTLE (grins): Well, that sounds like fun.
ALBUS: And we’ve no time to lose.
MOANING MYRTLE: This very sink. This very sink empties directly into the lake. It breaks every bylaw but this school has always been antiquated. Dive in and you will be piped straight to it.
ALBUS pulls himself into the sink, dumping his cloak as he does. SCORPIUS copies.
ALBUS hands SCORPIUS some green foliage in a bag.
ALBUS: Some for me and some for you.
SCORPIUS: Gillyweed? We’re using gillyweed? To breathe underwater?
ALBUS: Just like my dad did. Now, are you ready?
SCORPIUS: Remember, this time we can’t be caught out by the clock . . .
ALBUS: Five minutes, that’s all we allow for — before we get pulled back to the present.
SCORPIUS: Tell me this is all going to be okay.
ALBUS (grinning): It’s all going to be entirely okay. Are you ready?
ALBUS takes the gillyweed and disappears down.
SCORPIUS: No, Albus — Albus —
He looks up, he and MOANING MYRTLE are alone.
MOANING MYRTLE: I do like brave boys.
SCORPIUS (a little bit scared, a tiny bit brave): Then I’m entirely ready. For whatever comes.
He takes the gillyweed and disappears down.
MOANING MYRTLE is left alone onstage.
There is a giant whoosh of light and smash of noise. And time stops. And then it turns over, thinks a bit, and begins spooling backwards . . .
The boys are gone.
HARRY appears at a run, a deep frown on his face, behind him DRACO, GINNY, and PROFESSOR McGONAGALL.
HARRY: Albus . . . Albus . . .
GINNY: He’s gone.
They find the boys’ cloaks on the ground.
PROFESSOR McGONAGALL (consulting the map): He’s disappeared. No, he’s traveling under Hogwarts grounds, no, he’s disappeared . . .
DRACO: How is he doing this?
MOANING MYRTLE: He’s using a rather pretty trinket thingy.
HARRY: Myrtle!
MOANING MYRTLE: Oops, you caught me. And I was trying so hard to hide. Hello, Harry. Hello, Draco. Have you been bad boys again?
HARRY: What trinket is he using?
MOANING MYRTLE: I think it was a secret, but I could never keep anything from you, Harry. How is it you’ve grown handsomer and handsomer as you’ve aged? And you’re taller.
HARRY: My son is in danger. I need your help. What are they doing, Myrtle?
MOANING MYRTLE: He’s after saving a dishy boy. A certain Cedric Diggory.
HARRY immediately realizes what’s happened, and is horrified.
PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: But Cedric Diggory died years ago . . .
MOANING MYRTLE: He seemed quite confident he could get around that fact. He’s very confident, Harry, just like you.
HARRY: He heard me talking — to Amos Diggory . . . could he have . . . the Ministry’s Time-Turner. No, that’s impossible.
PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: The Ministry has a Time-Turner? I thought they were destroyed?
MOANING MYRTLE: Isn’t everyone so naughty?
DRACO: Can someone please explain what’s going on?
HARRY: Albus and Scorpius are not disappearing and reappearing — they’re traveling. Traveling in time.
ACT TWO, SCENE TWENTY
TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT, LAKE, 1995
LUDO BAGMAN: Ladies and gentlemen — boys and girls — I give you — the greatest — the fabulous — the one — and the only TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT. If you’re from Hogwarts. Give me a cheer.
There’s a loud cheer.
And now ALBUS and SCORPIUS are swimming through the lake. Descending through the water with graceful ease.
If you’re from Durmstrang — give me a cheer.
There’s a loud cheer.
AND IF YOU’RE FROM BEAUXBATONS GIVE ME A CHEER.
There’s a slightly less limp cheer.
The French are getting into this.
And they’re off . . . Viktor’s a shark, of course he is, Fleur looks remarkable, ever plucky Harry is using gillyweed, clever Harry, very clever — and Cedric — well, Cedric, what a treat, ladies and gentlemen, Cedric is using a Bubble Charm to cruise through the lake.
CEDRIC DIGGORY approaches them through the water, a bubble over his head. ALBUS and SCORPIUS raise their wands together and fire an Engorgement Charm through the water.
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.