KING'S CROSS — DATE UNKNOWN

HARRY prepares himself for the truth, but he seems to already know. His face is pained in the awareness of it.

DRACO: Yes, they went back when Voldemort's forces were invading Hogwarts.

HARRY (unconvinced): So, it was them — the Killing Curse? That's what you're telling me? Our sons tried to kill a defenseless child?

DRACO: That wasn't the intention. They merely planned to move the child from one place to another. To hide her from them.

HARRY: But how could they enter your house in the first place? I thought there was a shield enchantment keeping out those who intend to cause harm.

DRACO: Blood magic. The house trusts the family. (beat) Scorpius opened a vein in his arm and marked Albus on the cheek. They acted quickly. The enchantment was deceived.

HARRY: And then?

DRACO: Aunt Bella left Euphemia Rowle behind to guard the child. She undoubtedly wasn't expecting guests. The boys bewitched her to sleep and proceeded to the secret chamber below the drawing room.

HARRY: But something went wrong.

DRACO strains to lean against the barrier for platform nine. He was injured in the fall.

DRACO: Scorpius and Albus were unable to step beyond the threshold. Voldemort went to great lengths to protect his living Horcrux. There was an extra level of defense guarding the chamber.

HARRY: Which spells did they use?

DRACO: I never knew. Whatever the magic was, it barred them from entry. The boys were mere feet away when they had to turn back. This was too hard to accept for Albus. They had come so far. Scorpius tried to stop him. But your son was... determined.

HARRY's face softens. And for the first time since confronting DRACO, he looks like himself.

HARRY (wearily): Al...

HARRY closes his eyes and leans his head back momentarily. He sips in a deep breath.

How did Voldemort's heir survive the Killing Curse? It couldn't have been love if she was only created to be a vessel for his soul.

DRACO (in a tentative voice): That's the thing, Potter. Scorpius thought... They both thought...

HARRY: That she was dead? Why?

DRACO: It's not as if they could stroll up and give her a tickle.

HARRY: Why not use the Imperius Curse on Euphemia Rowle? Have her take the child.

DRACO: Even if they had thought of it, only three people could enter the bedchamber. Bellatrix, Voldemort, and the master of the estate.

HARRY: Lucius Malfoy.

DRACO nods.

DRACO: My mother and I returned from Hogwarts to find my father on the sofa in the drawing room, cradling the cursed child. She had been saved — and by the same magic that had saved Albus.

HARRY: Saved Albus?

DRACO: The curse, Harry. It rebounded and struck him in the forehead. Both of them were scarred, yet neither died.

HARRY realizes.

HARRY: The Chimera Egg — the one Ginny made me stuff under Al's pillow at Hogwarts. It actually works?

DRACO: Yes. The magic was still active. The cursed child had been sleeping on one as well. But as I said...

HARRY: They didn't know.

DRACO: Albus thought he had killed a child. Despite what that could mean for the future, his shame was too great. And there is no escaping the past.

HARRY: Then they were caught and taken to Azkaban. And that's when Scorpius used the Time-Turner to escape.

DRACO: Not exactly. Albus couldn't live with the decision. There is no greater crime than the murder of a child, wouldn't you agree? Your son felt he needed to pay a penance... to suffer for what he'd done... and he welcomed the punishment with open arms.

HARRY: What are you saying? He put himself in Azkaban?

DRACO: With Scorpius as a witness. Albus was certain that his father would never look at him the same way again, not with that scar on his forehead. He told my son that you... that you would always see Severus before Albus. That he'd be an outcast in his own family.

HARRY: A pariah...

HARRY looks unsteady. He catches his balance.

DRACO: Pariah Prince wasn't your son. The man you saw, the face behind Voldemort. That was... whatever the dementors left.

There is a pause.

The young... they suffer most. The dementors steal their sanity. And the treatment he suffered in Azkaban was particularly cruel because of the scar. He looked like —

HARRY: Me.

There is a longer pause.

DRACO: Should we stop?

HARRY: No, I... I have to understand.

DRACO: I didn't know what they were planning, only that your son wanted to live with us. I was taken by surprise when you came by Malfoy Manor to question my son. It was the morning after Albus ran away from home. When you left, Scorpius showed me the Time-Turner and told me everything. He had returned from the past to discover that their plan had failed. That Albus was Pariah Prince, that the child lived on... Everything was exactly the same.

HARRY: They fulfilled the past.

DRACO: Your son ran headlong into danger, just like you always had. Don't blame him. Boys will do anything to get their mothers back.

HARRY nods solemnly as a cloud travels over the skylights. The moonlight dims, then returns.

Well, that's the whole story, Potter. You know everything.

HARRY: That explains how Al wound up in Azkaban, but how did he become Voldemort? What sort of magic can hide someone in the body of a reanimated corpse?

DRACO: I wish I knew. It had to be something truly dark. But he was not the only one hiding in plain sight, you know. The cursed child wanted to conceal her scar from those who knew the truth.

HARRY: Let me guess. She covered it with a tattoo of an Augurey in flight.

DRACO: If my sources are correct, yes. The new Dark Mark is on the back of her neck.

HARRY: I can use that to find her. Thank you. I'm... I shouldn't have accused your son.

DRACO: No. But I can understand why you did.

DRACO limps closer to HARRY. They share an unexpected closeness in little more than silence and expression.

HARRY: I was wrong to keep them apart, wasn't I?

DRACO: Scorpius was devastated. He loved Albus. He needed him. Especially since — Astoria had gone. The connection they shared was like something I've never known.

HARRY: Maybe it was me. Maybe I was the black cloud Bane saw around my son.

DRACO: As much as you might take the word of a haughty centaur, you know the power of friendship. I always envied them, you know — Weasley and Granger. I had Crabbe and Goyle, 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 those friendships more than anything else.

HARRY: Well, we're not very close anymore. I ruined that as well.

DRACO: And I pity you for it.

HARRY (sounding resentful): Yeah, maybe don't be that honest.

DRACO: At least I had Astoria. For a time.

DRACO reaches into his jacket pocket. He takes out a silver chain. There is a locket. He opens the locket and looks down with fondness at what is assumed to be a photograph of his wife.

Astoria always knew that she was not destined for old age. A blood malediction, a serious one. An ancestor was cursed... it showed up in her. You know how these things can resurface after generations... She wanted me to have somebody when she left because... it is exceptionally lonely being Draco Malfoy. I will always be suspected.

HARRY is silent. DRACO closes the locket and returns it to his jacket.

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. Voldemort's heir was born at Malfoy Manor — which meant it had to be Scorpius. I never realized that by hiding him away from this gossiping, judgmental world, I ensured that my son would emerge shrouded in worse suspicion than I ever endured. Until your inquiry cleared him, that is, for which I am forever grateful.

HARRY: I told you I had nothing to do with that.

DRACO: It meant the world to me, to see him free. And though I had lost Astoria, I wasn't alone.

DRACO moves closer, embracing the freedom that comes with taking Veritaserum.

You're all alone, Harry. And being alone — that's so hard. I was alone as a child. 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, but I do.

HARRY (irritated): I was an orphan, Draco. I was treated like dirt. At least you had a father. A father who bought your way onto the Quidditch team.

DRACO: My father thought he was protecting me. Most of the time.

HARRY: Spare me your sad story, Malfoy.

DRACO (discomfited): I think we've learned why your son ran away.

HARRY: Why is that?

DRACO: Because, in your anger and pursuit of the truth, you stop thinking of others. That's what this is about.

HARRY: Try my life! Can you even slightly imagine what it's like being me? Have you ever even tried? No. Because you can't see beyond the end of your nose.

DRACO: That may be true. But I'm trying now.

DRACO considers the wand in HARRY's hand — VOLDEMORT's wand.

I think you have to make a choice — at a certain point — of the man you want to be. You're in a dark place, Harry. Tom Riddle didn't emerge from his dark place. And so Tom Riddle became Lord Voldemort.

HARRY: You're right. I can't become what I've seen. If some part of Voldemort remained in me...

DRACO: Then you're no different. You've always been a Horcrux.

HARRY: But the things I've had to do... the things I will do in the future... I may already be long gone.

DRACO: Giving up so easily? Thought you were a Gryffindor.

HARRY: Okay, that's enough.

DRACO: You will always be Harry Potter, you know that, right? Hero who saves the day. (beat) Unlike you, I was glad to know that our sons became close. I had hoped that part of who you are would rub off on Scorpius.

HARRY looks genuinely conflicted by this.

Don't lose hope, Harry. This battle has always been between you and your fate.

HARRY: You can stop talking now, Draco.

DRACO (insistently): Never let circumstances beyond your control change who you are the inside. You don't have to become Lord Blitzfanger.

HARRY (dejectedly): It's too late for that.

HARRY takes out the Time-Turner. He beckons DRACO to come close and eyes him with uncertainty.

I'm not sure if I like this side of you.

DRACO (smirking): I'm not sure if I dislike it.

HARRY: Sorry about the...

HARRY gestures to DRACO's leg. Then to their surrounding environment.

DRACO: I won't tell a soul. Even after they lock you away for good. You know they'll be hunting you. You understand that, don't you?

HARRY: Who?

DRACO: Your own people. After what you just did on the platform.

HARRY: Oh. Right.

DRACO: They'll be waiting for us the moment we return.

HARRY: Then I'll have to fight my way out. We should take cover.

HARRY leads DRACO to the ticket counter. He readies the Time-Turner.

DRACO: I thought Harry Potter wasn't afraid of anything?

HARRY: After all I've been through, I'm pretty much good with fear. It's the Aurors I'm worried about.

DRACO holds up his wand.

DRACO: Well, if I had to choose a companion to be with at the return of eternal darkness, I'd choose you.

HARRY (to himself): Merlin's tooth, when does Veritaserum wear off?

He looks to DRACO.

No offense, Malfoy, but I'd choose someone massive and really good at magic.

DRACO: That stings, Potter.

HARRY: You'll survive.

HARRY spins the Time-Turner. There is a smash of sound and light as it turns over. The train station resets.