NUMBER TWELVE, GRIMMAULD PLACE

The dark vision of a shabby, moonlit square comes into view as the imposing wall of the previous scene turns 180 degrees. The rear of the wall now makes up three tall and identical derelict houses. Above the black doors are the numbers eleven, twelve, and thirteen. Number Twelve is particularly dilapidated, with grime-coated windows.

Standing very still in the square are HARRY and DELPHI, eyes on the buildings. It begins to snow.

DELPHI: The Fidelius Charm is in effect. I can only see numbers eleven and thirteen.

HARRY (tepid): It's there.

DELPHI: And you inherited this house from your uncle? Sirius Black?

HARRY: Yes, though I had no need for it. Ginny... (beat) She didn't think it was the right place to raise Teddy and start a family. So, when a Lestrange squib wanted to purchase it, I transferred the ownership. She had a young child and... I thought I was doing a good deed for a desperate person. But now I know they were just using me.

DELPHI: How so?

HARRY: Rodolphus Lestrange escaped from Azkaban shortly after. And this is why I couldn't find him all these years. Or Pariah Prin —

HARRY stops himself. He looks up at the moon, suddenly morose.

They were here, in the one place I'd never look.

DELPHI: Are you sure you want to go in there alone?

HARRY: I need to. Even if... You know, for the first time, I'm a little afraid.

DELPHI: You shouldn't be. From what I saw — with how you wielded that wand.

They both look down at VOLDEMORT's wand in HARRY's hand.

HARRY: I'm so confused. There has to be some part of Voldemort left inside of me! It can't have been me you saw. I couldn't do this. I wouldn't, or at least... I think I wouldn't. Delphi, what does it mean, if I'm capable of doing that? Of using an Unforgivable Curse?

DELPHI: From my recollection, it was you who once used the Imperius Curse to gain access to Gringotts.

HARRY: That was a different time. We were at war. I needed to stop Voldemort and protect our people.

DELPHI: And in that alley, you were protecting me.

DELPHI takes HARRY by the hand.

Harry, spells are deemed unforgivable by those who want to guilt you into never using them. You were wise enough twenty years ago to make up your own mind. Trust in yourself. You would only do so again if the reason were just.

HARRY: But when is there ever a justification to kill?

HARRY approaches the three houses. He mounts the stone steps. DELPHI seems to lose sight of him.

DELPHI: Harry! I'm here for you. Auror's privilege.

HARRY (muted): Auror's privilege.

HARRY taps the battered front door with VOLDEMORT's wand. The auditorium is filled with metallic clicks and clattering chains until, with a great creak, the door to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place swings open.

The entire building facade wall separates at the center to reveal a very dark, high-ceilinged hallway with peeling wallpaper and a cobweb-covered chandelier. As HARRY takes a careful step, a series of sputtering, old-fashioned gas lamps come alive with an ominous hissing sound. It is not enough to brighten the many shadows of the long and eerie space. HARRY tilts his head cautiously as he progresses toward a darkened staircase. He comes to a stop at a pair of moth-eaten curtains. He retreats a step and raises his wand. He takes another step back. And then we see why —

Coming slowly through the curtains is the silvery, gossamer shape of a HOODED GHOST. It advances on HARRY. We cannot see their face.

HARRY: Come no further. Lumos!

His wand lights, but the face of the HOODED GHOST is still concealed.

HOODED GHOST (the voice female): Harry Potter is afraid of the dark? Hmm... She's a notorious beauty, after all. When, in fact, it is the light he should fear. The light reveals.

HARRY: I do not know you. Leave me.

HOODED GHOST: Oh, we are well-acquainted.

HARRY: Then you'll have no problem answering a few questions.

HOODED GHOST: I would enjoy that. Immensely. I'm so glad you've come.

HARRY: Sorry, I'm not very good at small talk, do you mind if we skip on to the serious business?

HOODED GHOST: Carry on.

HARRY: Are we alone?

HOODED GHOST: Yes.

HARRY: This is the headquarters of The Tempest?

HOODED GHOST: Yes. And if you are here, that means my husband is dead.

HARRY: What?

HARRY whips his wand arm forward. The gas lamps brighten.

Name yourself!

The HOODED GHOST hovers closer to one of the lamps.

HOODED GHOST (with a soft cackle): No, no. Come here, in the light, so you may examine what death made.

The ghost eases back her hood. HARRY cannot believe what he is seeing. The dark, fixed gaze of the woman is coming through heavily lidded eyes. It is the ghost of BELLATRIX LESTRANGE — and her gaunt face and maniacal expression is unusually sedate.

HARRY: Bellatrix Lestrange. Why are you... still here?

BELLATRIX: A mother's duty.

Her voice is silky. Each new word she speaks is more crazed than the last.

HARRY: Mother? You had a child?

BELLATRIX: A very special child. The heir of Lord Voldemort.

HARRY: That's a lie. Why would Voldemort want a child? He was incapable of love.

BELLATRIX: To achieve his ultimate goal, the Dark Lord entrusted me, his most loyal, most faithful servant, with the precious gift of carrying his child. And so, I remained to raise the heir of Voldemort. To carry out his will and welcome his return, even after death. But life... life revealed a different plan.

HARRY:  To welcome his return? I killed him. And what — what goal? What are you talking about?

BELLATRIX: Five Horcruxes were made before he died in your bedroom so long ago. But he had always planned for a sixth and a seventh. The sixth, he made years later. A living Horcrux.

HARRY: Nagini.

BELLATRIX: Yes, Harry. Nagini was practice. A test to see if the Dark Lord could attach a fragment of his soul to a living thing. And it worked. Which meant he was free to attempt his final Horcrux — another human. He learned that the soul upon which he would bind himself needed to be young. Very young, in fact. He would place his seventh Horcrux into the body of a child. Which is why — to extend his death — he made life. And it was wondrous.

There is a pause as HARRY digests this.

The Dark Lord went so boldly into the Battle of Hogwarts because the ceremony was complete and he was protected by the life of the child who was guarded night and day by such powerful magic. But the Dark Lord died that day because he didn't know the truth.

HARRY: That Nagini was his seventh. He had already made a living Horcrux, unintentionally, many years earlier.

BELLATRIX: You.

BELLATRIX hovers closer to HARRY, her expression growing more fanatical by the minute.

The Dark Lord never knew that you were a Horcrux, Harry. Nor that the ceremony over our child was a failure. His soul could be split no further.  And yet, his ultimate plan was realized. Realized in you, all along. But we didn't know. None of us understood. We were so lost.

HARRY: Then you came here.

BELLATRIX: With the child, Rabastan Lestrange, brother of Rodolphus, used Polyjuice Potion to convince you to give us back our ancestral home. We left Malfoy Manor and settled at Grimmauld Place.

HARRY: Malfoy Manor?

BELLATRIX: Of course. Where do you think the child was born?

HARRY (to himself): And my son knew this... That's why he went back. But your protections stopped him.

BELLATRIX: He tried. He failed. And I raised the child.

HARRY: A ghost raising a child...

BELLATRIX: Until Rodolphus came. He befriended your son in Azkaban, who told him the truth, that you were a living Horcrux of the Dark Lord. And it all made such glorious sense. Because my dear husband recalled something important from long before the war, when we had tortured that poor family of Aurors.

HARRY (sourly): Frank and Alice Longbottom.

BELLATRIX: Was that their name? I'd forgotten.

HARRY: What did Rodolphus recall?

BELLATRIX: It was the prophecy. A boy would have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. When hearing it, the Aurors feared the prophecy pertained to their child. And so, they sought the help of a seer, in the hopes that the prophecy would be complete and set their minds at ease. Funny. We hadn't realized at the time, perhaps we were enjoying ourselves too much to notice.

HARRY: Realized what?

BELLATRIX: That the wording of the prophecy we Crucio'd out of them was slightly different than the one overheard by Severus Snape at the Hog's Head Inn. (beat) You met her, I believe.

HARRY: Who?

BELLATRIX: She was seeing for your wife.

HARRY: The seer? And that's why she had to die?

BELLATRIX: Yes.

HARRY: Why? I'm confused.

BELLATRIX: It's because she wanted to tell you. But you weren't ready. You will be soon. Our child will show you the way. His heir, the Augurey.

HARRY frantically searches through his pockets for a crinkled note.

HARRY (reading): "...and the one with the power will be born anew..." (beat) Ginny's seer gave this to me at the funeral. The Augurey is your child? What is this? I don't have time for your games! Tell me what the bloody hell is going on!

BELLATRIX: It was Rodolphus who remembered the prophecy, but only a partial. And so we abducted the seer and brought her here. Kept her locked away for years. So, so many years. I had almost lost hope that she would ever give another prophecy. And then...

Slowly, very slowly, BELLATRIX swoops in close. She raises her silvery arms, looking alive with excitement and exhilaration. As she speaks in earnest, a writhing mass of painted snakes emerges on all the walls of the auditorium. And on them, in fluorescent paint for only us to see, words are revealed — dangerous words, horrible words. A prophecy.

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... both shall perish, but the one with the power shall rise again, entwined in soul and blood to the Dark Lord... from the tempest, lightning... from the augurey, darkness... and the one with the power will be born anew... born to those who defied him... greater and more terrible than ever he was...

HARRY backs away, shaking his head, his chest rising and falling.

HARRY: No...

BELLATRIX (with a thin grin): ...and he shall be called...

HARRY: No, no!

BELLATRIX: Blitzfanger...

HARRY: No, you're wrong.

BELLATRIX (her voice filled with jubilant affection): It is you, Harry Potter. The last surviving Horcrux of the Dark Lord.

HARRY: No, I died. His soul was destroyed!

BELLATRIX: And yet, you live. Lord Voldemort had to die so that you, his equal, with powers he knew not, could survive. The era of the Dark Lord Blitzfanger has come. And the Augurey has heralded your arrival. My Lord...

She closes her eyes, overcome with complete adoration.

I will follow you. Follow you into the storm.

HARRY (voice trembling in terror): Get away from me!

BELLATRIX: Do not mistake — I would not claim to be worthy of you, Lord. But I have devoted my death to being a servant you could be proud of.

HARRY: No. No, I think you're all mad.

BELLATRIX: It is your destiny, Lightning Catcher. I see what you are, and I see what you could be.

As BELLATRIX gets closer, HARRY backs away. He slams into the wall. She is practically worshipping him, fawning as HARRY runs for the exit. He falls and starts crawling away as she hovers over him, eyes gleaming.

HARRY: It's not true! There's no part of Voldemort left!

BELLATRIX: There is! And it lives on in you, my Lord.

HARRY: Stop calling me that! Stay away — from me!

BELLATRIX: Your fate was foretold! Blitzfanger rises!

HARRY exits on all fours, wanting so desperately to run when his legs are struggling to stand. And BELLATRIX is left alone onstage. Her clothes faded, her eyes blazing, she is full of adoration again and it rather suits her. She giggles as the stage goes dark.

We still hear her voice. It is lyrical. It is bone-chilling.

He's coming. He's coming. He's coming.

There is a final cackle of triumphant, satisfied laughter.