PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS — SUMMER, PRESENT DAY

Steam expands all over the stage. We're still on platform nine and three-quarters but time has ticked on mercilessly. The steam dissipates to reveal the platform in a very different state. The faces on the wanted posters have been replaced with the enchanted portraits of RODOLPHUS LESTRANGE, FENRIR GREYBACK, AMYCUS CARROW, ALECTO CARROW, a faceless silhouette marked BLITZFANGER, and another with the scarred Death Eater mask of the AUGUREY. Plastered haphazardly over the edges of these are adverts for the upcoming release of a new tell-all book, "The Life and Lies of Harry Potter" — an unauthorized biography by RITA SKEETER. And if that weren't enough, emblazoned over it all in messy red spray-paint are the words "Blitzfanger Rises".

The stationmaster is attempting to clean off the paint, wand aimed, as PARENTS look on in concern. They are waiting for the Hogwarts Express to return with their children. This was not at all what they had expected to greet them. And yet, for some, there is a sight even worse. There is a man hunched into a shadowed corner of the platform — disheveled, unshaven, and sleeping with his mouth open. It is none other than HARRY POTTER, brandishing a nasty cut on his cheek. REPORTERS wait impatiently for him to wake. Nearby PARENTS cannot help but comment as the world goes on outside HARRY's dream.

PARENT 01: He's a mess — a grieving mess.

HARRY (mumbles in his sleep): Albus?

PARENT 02: You know, he hides it well, but —

PARENT 03: You call that "hiding it well"?

They all frown, thinking. The whistle blares again, stirring HARRY. He leaps awake. His hand immediately goes to his forehead and he winces from the stabbing pain. HARRY looks easily a year older sitting there against the wall. He slumps, then stands. HARRY thinks he's seen ALBUS, then realizes he isn't there.

HARRY (raspy): Where did you go, Albus?

The parents continue to whisper as HARRY stumbles on, not even an inch of the man he was.

PARENT 01: Are we sure that's even Harry Potter? Seems like a different man to me.

PARENT 02: That's someone who used to be a hero.

PARENT 03: Someone who has given up.

PARENT 04: Have you heard the rumors? Potter hasn't been to the Ministry in weeks. He might get the sack.

PARENT 05: I hear he's gone rogue. He's obsessed.

PARENT 03: To think, we used to look up to him.

PARENT 02: Merlin knows what he's suffered.

PARENT 04: I'm sorry for his loss but it's his own fault.

PARENT 01: How could you say such a thing?

PARENT 04: Sons need their fathers.

PARENT 03: No, if the mother had been in the picture...

PARENT 04: What did he expect, leaving a Time-Turner lying about?

PARENT 02: Merlin knows...

PARENT 01: Poor boy.

PARENT 04: Lost his marbles in there, that one did. Broke out of prison thinking he was bloody Voldemort.

PARENT 01: Dementors drive the young ones mad, I hear.

PARENT 03: That, or he'd taken a Confundus Charm to the head.

PARENT 02: Merlin knows...

PARENT 04: The Tempest twisted his mind, made him kidnap his own family.

PARENT 01: His mother dies, his father imprisons him, and his uncle sentences him to death.

PARENT 04: Must've done something dreadful in the past to wind up in Azkaban.

PARENT 02: Merlin knows...

PARENT 01 (indicating HARRY): Look at him. Tragic.

PARENT 05: It's a conspiracy, if you ask me. Potter knew it was his son.

PARENT 02: I doubt that.

PARENT 05: Makes sense, doesn't it? Why do you think Pariah Prince went free all those years? Potter tried to stop Minister Clearwater during the sentencing.

PARENT 03 (introspectively): Why would anyone jump into a swarm of dementors?

PARENT 01: No one would.

PARENT 04: Unless they had a death wish.

HARRY drags his feet as he passes them. PARENT 06, who had been listening in judgment, genuflects. The other PARENTS distract themselves by covering their faces with the newest edition of the Daily Prophet.

PARENT 03 (not hiding the volume of their voice): Have you seen this headline?

PARENT 04 (reading): "How many people have to die for the Boy Who Lived?"

PARENT 01 (in a whisper): But the pictures! Was that necessary? Especially with Albus and Harry standing beside the train.

PARENT 04: It's quite some picture.

PARENT 02: I remember that day. They both looked so happy.

PARENT 03: It's quite some sight.

PARENT 02: I could've done without the X's over the eyes.

PARENT 05: It's quite some tragedy.

PARENT 03: It's what he gets for not giving an exclusive to the Daily Prophet.

PARENT 01: But what of the living children? Must they be exposed to this? There's a list.

PARENT 03: A long list.

PARENT 02: Was he even responsible for the house elf?

PARENT 04: Mmm... Foppy.

PARENT 01: It was Dobby.

PARENT 04: No, I'm quite certain it was Foppy.

PARENT 5 steps in front of HARRY as the train pulls into the station.

PARENT 05 (to HARRY): Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter? Which family member is next?

HARRY doesn't answer. PARENT 05 shoves the newspaper into his face. HARRY staggers away from the photograph of his son with X's over the eyes, as if it were a dementor.

Did Albus need to be killed?

HARRY: Please, I... Please, leave me alone.

PARENT 05: Just what I expected.

PARENT 06 (to PARENT 05): Shame on you!

PARENT 05: Sorry, should I be bowing?

PARENT 06: You should be holding your tongue. Harry is the most powerful wizard in existence.

PARENT 05: Hardly. When Rita Skeeter's book is released, we shall all come to understand what a sham this man is... and has always been.

PARENT 06: LIES!

A small fight breaks out, wands are drawn but no spells are cast. PARENT 05 and PARENT 06 are separated. HARRY stands and watches this in bewilderment.

HARRY (to PARENT 06): Thank you... for coming to my defense... but I don't deserve it.

PARENT 06: Yes, Harry. You do.

PARENT 06 genuflects a second time. HARRY walks off and PARENT 05 laughs to himself.

PARENT 05: See? Coward. The Boy Who Lived can't fight his own battles. No wonder he's lived this long.

PARENT 01 (eyes on the graffiti): If we can't count on Potter to deal with Blitzfanger, who can we count on?

PARENT 02: Merlin knows...

PARENT 05: You have nothing to fear. Lord Blitzfanger is a hoax.

The REPORTERS slip through the crowd to reach HARRY.

REPORTER 01 (to PARENT 05): No, he isn't.

REPORTER 02: Harry... Harry, a word?