Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two: The Official Playscript of the Original West End Production

by John Tiffany

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.

DRACO MALFOY, his robes perfect, his blond ponytail precisely placed, emerges from within the crowds to be beside HARRY. DRACO: I need a favor. HARRY: Draco. DRACO: These rumors — about my son’s parentage — they don’t seem to be going away. The other Hogwarts students tease Scorpius about it relentlessly — if the Ministry could release a statement reaffirming that all Time-Turners were destroyed in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries . . . HARRY: Draco, just let it blow over — they’ll soon move on. DRACO: My son is suffering and — Astoria hasn’t been well recently — so he needs all the support he can get. HARRY: If you answer the gossip, you feed the gossip. There’ve been rumors Voldemort had a child for years, Scorpius is not the first to be accused. The Ministry, for your sake as well as ours, needs to steer well clear.

You’re fourteen years old now, Albus, and I wanted to give you something which — meant something. This . . . is the last thing I had from my mum. The only thing. I was given to the Dursleys wrapped in it. I thought it had gone forever and then, when your great-aunt Petunia died, hidden amongst her possessions, surprisingly, Dudley found this and he kindly sent it on to me, and ever since then — well, anytime I’ve wanted luck I’ve found it and just tried to hold it and I wondered if you . . . ALBUS: Wanted to hold it too? Okay. Done. Let’s hope it brings me luck. I certainly need some. He touches the blanket. But you should keep it. HARRY: I think — believe — Petunia wanted me to have it, that’s why she kept it, and now I want you to have it from me. I didn’t really know my mother — but I think she’d have wanted you to have it too. And maybe — I could come find you — and it — on Hallows’ Eve. I’d like to be with it on the night they died — and that could be good for the two of us . . .

You can be honest with him, Harry . . . That’s all he needs. HARRY: I just wish he was more like James or Lily. GINNY (dry): Yeah, maybe don’t be that honest. HARRY: No, I wouldn’t change a thing about him . . . but I can understand them, and . . . GINNY: Albus is different and isn’t that a good thing. And he can tell, you know, when you’re putting on your Harry Potter front. He wants to see the real you. HARRY: “The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” GINNY looks at him, surprised. Dumbledore. GINNY: A strange thing to say to a child. HARRY: Not when you believe that child will have to die to save the world.

SCORPIUS: Albus! Oh hello, Rose, what do you smell of? ROSE: What do I smell of? SCORPIUS: No, I meant it as a nice thing, you smell like a mixture of fresh flowers and fresh — bread. ROSE: Albus, I’m here, okay? If you need me. SCORPIUS (digging desperately): I mean, nice bread, good bread, bread . . . what’s wrong with bread? ROSE walks away, shaking her head. ROSE: What’s wrong with bread! ALBUS: I’ve been looking for you everywhere . . . SCORPIUS: And now you’ve found me. Ta-da! I was hardly hiding. You know how I like to — get on early. Stops people staring. Shouting. Writing “son of Voldemort” on my trunk. That one never gets old. She really doesn’t like me, does she?

SCORPIUS: Albus Severus Potter, get that strange look out of your eye. ALBUS: First question. What do you know about the Triwizard Tournament? SCORPIUS (happy): Ooooh, a quiz! Three schools pick three champions to compete in three tasks for one Cup. What’s that got to do with anything? ALBUS: You really are an enormous geek, you know that? SCORPIUS: Ya-huh. ALBUS: Second question. Why has the Triwizard Tournament not been run in over twenty years? SCORPIUS: The last competition included your dad and a boy called Cedric Diggory — they decided to win together but the Cup was a Portkey — and they were transported to Voldemort. Cedric was killed. They canceled the competition immediately after. ALBUS: Good. Third question: Did Cedric need to be killed? Easy question, easy answer: No. The words Voldemort said were “Kill the spare.” The spare. He died only because he was with my father and my father couldn’t save him — we can. A mistake has been made and we’re going to right it. We’re going to use a Time-Turner. We’re going to bring him back. SCORPIUS: Albus, for obvious reasons, I’m not a massive fan of Time-Turners . . . ALBUS: When Amos Diggory asked for the Time-Turner my father denied they even existed. He lied to an old man who just wanted his son back — who just loved his son. And he did it because he didn’t care — because he doesn’t care. Everyone talks about all the brave things Dad did. But he made some mistakes too. Some big mistakes, in fact. I want to set one of tho...

Never — never — have I let anyone off this train before they reached their destination. Some have tried — Sirius Black and his cronies, Fred and George Weasley. ALL HAVE FAILED. BECAUSE THIS TRAIN — IT DOESN’T LIKE PEOPLE GETTING OFF IT . . . The TROLLEY WITCH’s hands transfigure into very sharp spikes. She smiles. So please retake your seats for the remainder of the journey. ALBUS: You were right, Scorpius. This train is magical. SCORPIUS: At this precise moment in time, I take no pleasure in being right.

HARRY: Now this is difficult but we have to ask it to rule it out. Those of you with a Dark Mark . . . have you felt anything? Even a twinge? DRACO: Back to being prejudiced against those with a Dark Mark, are we, Potter? HERMIONE: No, Draco. Harry is simply trying to — DRACO: You know what this is about? Harry just wants his face back in the newspapers again. We’ve had rumors of Voldemort coming back from the Daily Prophet once a year every year — HARRY: None of those rumors came from me! DRACO: Really? Doesn’t your wife edit the Daily Prophet? GINNY steps towards him, outraged. GINNY: The sports pages! HERMIONE: Draco. Harry brought this matter to the attention of the Ministry. And I — as Minister for Magic — DRACO: A vote you only won because you are his friend. RON is held back by GINNY as he charges at DRACO. RON: Do you want a smack in the mouth? DRACO: Face it — his celebrity impacts upon you all. And how better to get everyone whispering the Potter name again than with (he does an impression of HARRY) “my scar is hurting, my scar is hurting.” And do you know what this all means — that the gossipmongers once again have an opportunity to defame my son with these ridiculous rumors about his parentage. HARRY: Draco, no one is saying this has anything to do with Scorpius . . . DRACO: Well, I, for one, think this meeting a sham. And I’m leaving. He walks out. Others start to disperse after him. HERMIONE: No. That’s not the way . . . Come back. We need a strategy.

DRACO: I don’t care what you did or who you saved, you are a constant curse on my family, Harry Potter.

SCORPIUS/HARRY: I know the — Voldemort thing isn’t — true — and — you know — but sometimes, I think I can see my dad thinking: How did I produce this? ALBUS/RON: Still better than my dad. I’m pretty sure he spends most of his time thinking: How can I give him back?

Suddenly there is another rumble in the chimney and DRACO comes down hard, surrounded by cascading soot and dust. Everyone looks at him, surprised. He stands and brushes the soot off himself. DRACO: Sorry about your floor, Minerva. PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: I dare say it’s my fault for owning a chimney. HARRY: Quite a surprise to see you, Draco. I thought you didn’t believe in my dreams. DRACO: I don’t, but I do trust your luck. Harry Potter is always where the action is at. And I need my son back with me and safe. GINNY: Then let’s get to the Forbidden Forest and find them both.

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. D...

DELPHI: You know, I didn’t 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. That’s a wonderful thing. SCORPIUS: He needs me to do what? DELPHI: That’s the thing, isn’t it? About friendships. You don’t know what he needs. You only know he needs it. Find him, Scorpius. You two — you belong together.

HARRY and DRACO sit far apart. GINNY stands between them. DRACO: Sorry about your kitchen, Ginny. GINNY: Oh, it’s not my kitchen. Harry does most of the cooking. There’s a silence. DRACO (this is hard for him): I can’t talk to him either. Scorpius. Especially since — Astoria has gone. I can’t even talk about how losing her has affected him. As hard as I try, I can’t reach him. You can’t talk to Albus. I can’t talk to Scorpius. That’s 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 wouldn’t 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. People say parenting is the hardest job in the world — they’re wrong — growing up is. We all just forget how hard it was. As hard as he tries to resist them, these words resonate with HARRY. 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 you’ve learnt to hate your parent by then and you have no f...

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 dad’s the famous Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world. People look at me because they think my dad is Voldemort. Voldemort. ALBUS: Don’t even — SCORPIUS: Can you even slightly imagine what that’s like? Have you even ever tried? No. Because you can’t see beyond the end of your nose. Because you can’t 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 it’s 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 hadn’t got sick. Maybe my mum wasn’t dead. But no, turns out, she was. I’m still the child of Voldemort, without a mother, giving sympathy to the boy who doesn’t ever give anything back. So I’m sorry if I’ve ruined your life because I tell you — you wouldn’t have a chance of ruining mine — it was already ruined. You just didn’t make it better. Because you’re a terrible — the most terrible — friend. ALBUS digests this. He sees what he’s done to his friend.

Mum always told me that you were a better man than I could see, but this is what you really are, isn’t it? A murderer, a torturer, a — DRACO rises up and pulls SCORPIUS hard onto the table. The violence is surprising and deadly. DRACO: Do not use her name in vain, Scorpius. Do not score points that way. She deserves better than that. SCORPIUS says nothing, horrified and scared. DRACO reads this. He lets go of SCORPIUS’s head. He doesn’t like hurting his son. And no, those idiots blasting Muggles, that’s not my doing, though it’ll be me the Augurey asks to bribe the Muggle Prime Minister with gold . . . Did your mother really say that of me? SCORPIUS: She said that Grandfather didn’t like her very much — opposed the match — thought she was too Muggle-loving — too weak — but that you defied him for her. She said it was the bravest thing she’d ever seen. DRACO: She made being brave very easy, your mother. SCORPIUS: But that was — another you. He looks at his dad, who looks back with a frown. I’ve done bad things, you’ve done worse. What have we become, Dad? DRACO: We haven’t become anything — we simply are as we are. SCORPIUS: The Malfoys. The family you can always rely on to make the world a murkier place.

SNAPE: Tell Albus — tell Albus Severus — I’m proud he carries my name. Now go. Go.

PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: Your intentions to save Cedric were honorable, if misguided. And it does sound as if you were brave, Scorpius, and you, Albus, but the lesson even your father sometimes failed to heed is that bravery doesn’t forgive stupidity.

ALBUS: I’m pretty sure you told everyone that was on the bottom of a lake. SCORPIUS: Turns out Malfoy the Unanxious is a pretty good liar. ALBUS: Scorpius . . . We should tell someone about this . . . SCORPIUS: Who? The Ministry kept it before, do you really trust them not to keep it again? Only you and I have experienced how dangerous this is, that means you and I have to destroy it. No one can do what we did, Albus. No one. No, (grandly) it’s time that time-turning became a thing of the past. ALBUS (smiling at his friend): You’re quite proud of that phrase, aren’t you? SCORPIUS (grinning back): Been working on it all day.

DELPHI: You think you can fight me? SCORPIUS: No. But we can defy you. If we lay down our lives to do so. DELPHI: The prophecy must be fulfilled. We will fulfill it. SCORPIUS: Prophecies can be broken. DELPHI: You’re mistaken, child, prophecies are the future. SCORPIUS: But if the prophecy is inevitable why are we here trying to influence it? Your actions contradict your thoughts: You’re dragging us through this maze because you believe this prophecy needs to be enabled — and, by that logic, prophecies can also be broken — prevented.

You have a right to be angry. You all do. But this is not all Hermione’s fault. We don’t know how the witch got hold of the Time-Turner. Whether my son gave it to her. GINNY: Whether our son gave it her. Or whether it was stolen from him. GINNY joins HARRY on the stage. PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: Your solidarity is admirable, but it doesn’t make your negligence negligible. DRACO: Then it’s a negligence I too should face. DRACO walks up to the stage and stands beside GINNY. This is almost a Spartacus moment. There are gasps. Hermione and Harry have done nothing wrong but try and protect us all. If they’re guilty then I am too. HERMIONE looks across at her cohort — moved. RON determinedly joins them on the stage. RON: Just to say — I didn’t know about much of it so can’t take responsibility — and I’m pretty sure my kids had nothing to do with it — but if this lot are standing up here then so am I. GINNY: No one can know where they are — whether they’re together or apart. I trust that our sons will be doing all they can to stop her, but . . . HERMIONE: We haven’t given up. We’ve gone to the giants. The trolls. Everyone we can find. The Aurors are out flying, searching, talking to those who know secrets, following those who won’t reveal secrets. HARRY: But there is one truth we can’t escape: that somewhere in our past a witch is trying to rewrite everything we ever knew — and all we can do is wait — wait for the moment she either succeeds or fails. PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: And if she ...

DUMBLEDORE: Harry, there is never a perfect answer in this messy, emotional world. Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show them your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.

DRACO: The thing is, though — never really fancied being a Ministry man. Even as a child. My dad, it’s all he ever wanted — me, no. HARRY: What did you want to do? DRACO: Quidditch. But I wasn’t good enough. Mainly I wanted to be happy.

DRACO: No five-minute problem, and it gleams like gold, just the way the Malfoys like it. You’re smiling. HARRY: Hermione Granger. It was the reason she kept the first, the fear that there might be a second. Hanging on to this, you could have been sent to Azkaban. DRACO: Consider the alternative — consider if people had known that I had the ability to travel in time. Consider the rumor that would have been given increased — credence. HARRY looks at DRACO, understanding him perfectly. HARRY: Scorpius. DRACO: We were capable of having children but Astoria was frail. A blood malediction, a serious one. An ancestor was cursed . . . it showed up in her. You know how these things can resurface after generations . . . HARRY: I’m sorry, Draco. DRACO: I didn’t want to risk her health, I said it didn’t matter whether the Malfoy line died with me — whatever my father said. But Astoria — she didn’t want a baby for the Malfoy name, for pureblood or glory, but for us. Our child, Scorpius, was born . . . it was the best day of both our lives, although it weakened Astoria considerably. We hid ourselves away, the three of us. I wanted to conserve her strength . . . and so the rumors started. HARRY: I can’t imagine what that was like. DRACO: Astoria always knew that she was not destined for old age. She wanted me to have somebody when she left, because . . . it is exceptionally lonely, being Draco Malfoy. I will always be suspected. There is no escaping the past. I never realized, though, t...

ALBUS: So we need to — talk to the future. We need to send Dad a message. SCORPIUS: But we don’t have an owl that can fly through time. And he doesn’t have a Time-Turner. ALBUS: We get a message to Dad, he’ll find a way to get back here. Even if he has to build a Time-Turner himself. SCORPIUS: We send a memory — like a Pensieve — stand over him and send a message, hope he reaches for the memory at exactly the right moment. I mean, it’s unlikely, but . . . Stand over the baby — and just repeatedly shout HELP. HELP. HELP. I mean, it might traumatize the baby slightly. ALBUS: Only slightly. SCORPIUS: A bit of trauma now is nothing compared to what’s happening . . . and maybe when he then thinks — later — he might remember the faces of us as we — shouted — ALBUS: Help. SCORPIUS looks at ALBUS. SCORPIUS: You’re right. It’s a terrible idea. ALBUS: It’s one of your worst ideas ever.

HERMIONE: You remember when we were last here? This feels just like old times. RON: Old times with a few unwelcome ponytails added to the mix. DRACO knows a barb when he hears one. DRACO: Can I just say — RON: Malfoy, you may be all chummy chummy with Harry, and you may have produced a relatively nice child, but you’ve said some very unfair things to and about my wife . . . HERMIONE: And your wife doesn’t need you fighting her battles for her. HERMIONE looks witheringly at RON. RON takes the hit. RON: Fine. But if you say one thing about her or me . . . DRACO: You’ll do what, Weasley? HERMIONE: He’ll hug you. Because we’re all on the same team, aren’t we, Ron? RON (hesitating in the face of her unwavering gaze): Fine. I, um, I think you’ve got really nice hair. Draco. HERMIONE: Thank you, husband.

Harry, has anyone thought — why has she picked now? Today? HARRY: Because this is the day that everything changed . . . GINNY: Right now you’re over a year old, am I right? HARRY: A year and three months. GINNY: That’s a year and three months she could have killed you in. Even now, she’s been in Godric’s Hollow for twenty-four hours. What’s she waiting for? HARRY: I’m still not entirely following — GINNY: What if she’s not waiting for you — she’s waiting for him . . . to stop him. HARRY: What? GINNY: Delphi’s picked tonight because he’s here — because her father is coming. She wants to meet him. Be with him, the father she loves. Voldemort’s problems started when he attacked you. If he hadn’t done that . . . HARRY: He’d have only got more powerful — the darkness would only have got darker. GINNY: The best way to break the prophecy is not to kill Harry Potter, it’s to stop Voldemort doing anything at all.

The group are gathered and full of confusion. RON: So let me get this right — we’re fighting to protect Voldemort? ALBUS: Voldemort killing my grandparents. Voldemort trying to kill my dad? HERMIONE: Of course, Ginny. Delphi’s not trying to kill Harry — she’s stopping Voldemort trying to kill Harry. Brilliant.

HARRY: How close can we get through Transfiguration? HERMIONE: We know what he looks like. We’ve got some excellent wizards and witches here. GINNY: You want to transfigure into Voldemort? ALBUS: It’s the only way. HERMIONE: It is, isn’t it? RON steps forward bravely. RON: Then I would like to — I think I should be him. I mean, it won’t be — exactly nice being Voldemort — but without wishing to blow my own trumpet — I am probably the most chilled out of all of us and . . . so maybe transfiguring into him — into the Dark Lord — will do less damage to me than — any of you more — intense — people. HARRY steps away, introspective. HERMIONE: Who are you calling intense? DRACO: I’d also like to volunteer. I think being Voldemort requires precision — no offense, Ron — and a knowledge of Dark Magic and — HERMIONE: And I’d like to volunteer too. As Minister for Magic I think it’s my responsibility and right. SCORPIUS: Maybe we should draw lots — DRACO: You’re not volunteering, Scorpius. ALBUS: Actually — GINNY: No, no way. I think you’re all mad. I know what that voice is like inside your head — I won’t have it in mine again — HARRY: And anyway — it has to be me. Everyone turns to HARRY. DRACO: What? HARRY: For this plan to work she has to believe it’s him, without hesitation. She’ll use Parseltongue — and I knew there was a reason why I still have that ability. But more than that, I — know what it is to feel — like him. I know what it is to be him. It has to be me. RON: Rubbish. B...

HERMIONE: Positions. Everybody. And remember, don’t come out until he’s got her in the light — we’ve one shot at this, we don’t want to mess it up. They all move fast. DRACO: Hermione Granger, I’m being bossed around by Hermione Granger. (She turns towards him. He smiles.) And I’m mildly enjoying it.

HARRY/VOLDEMORT: I have never met a witch or a wizard who’s attempted to be my equal before. DELPHI: Do not mistake me — I would not claim to be worthy of you, Lord. But I have devoted my life to being a child you could be proud of. HARRY/VOLDEMORT (interrupting): I see what you are, and I see what you could be. Daughter. She looks at him, desperately moved.

HARRY: A lot of people have tried to hurt me — but my son! You dare hurt my son! DELPHI: I only wanted to know my father. These words take HARRY by surprise. HARRY: You can’t remake your life. You’ll always be an orphan. That never leaves you. DELPHI: Just let me — see him. HARRY: I can’t and I won’t. DELPHI (truly pitiful): Then kill me. HARRY thinks a moment. HARRY: I can’t do that either. ALBUS: What? Dad? She’s dangerous. HARRY: No, Albus . . . ALBUS: But she’s a murderer — I’ve seen her murder — HARRY turns and looks at his son and then at GINNY. HARRY: Yes. Albus, she’s a murderer, and we’re not. HERMIONE: We have to be better than them. RON: Yeah, it’s annoying but it’s what we learnt. DELPHI: Take my mind. Take my memory. Make me forget who I am. RON: No. We’ll take you back to our time.

SCORPIUS: I can’t quite believe I did that. ALBUS: I can’t quite believe you did that either. SCORPIUS: Rose Granger-Weasley. I asked out Rose Granger-Weasley. ALBUS: And she said no. SCORPIUS: But I asked her. I planted the acorn. The acorn that will grow into our eventual marriage. ALBUS: You are aware that you’re an utter fantasist. SCORPIUS: And I’d agree with you — only Polly Chapman did ask me to the school ball . . . ALBUS: In an alternate reality where you were significantly — really significantly more popular — a different girl asked you out — and that means — SCORPIUS: And yes, logic would dictate I should be pursuing Polly — or allowing her to pursue me — she’s a notorious beauty, after all — but a Rose is a Rose. ALBUS: You know logic would dictate that you’re a freak? Rose hates you. SCORPIUS: Correction, she used to hate me, but did you see the look in her eyes when I asked? That wasn’t hate, that was pity. ALBUS: And pity’s good? SCORPIUS: Pity is a start, my friend, a foundation on which to build a palace — a palace of lurve. ALBUS: I honestly thought I’d be the first of us to get a girlfriend. SCORPIUS: Oh, you will, undoubtedly, probably that new smoky-eyed Potions professor — she’s old enough for you, right? ALBUS: I don’t have a thing about older women! SCORPIUS: And you’ve got time — a lot of time — to seduce her. Because Rose is going to take years to persuade. ALBUS: I admire your confidence. ROSE comes past them on the stairs. She looks at them both...