MINISTRY OF MAGIC, INTERROGATION CHAMBER

A large door opens. Stage lights come up as HARRY and DRACO enter the dungeon-like interrogation chamber. DRACO squints as they are overwhelmed by the concentrated light of four long fluorescent bulbs overhead. HARRY gestures for DRACO to sit at the polished wood table.

DRACO: Must we, Potter? Isn't this Muggle gimmick a little... tacky? Hardly a conversation starter, is it?

HARRY waves his wand. The lights dim as the torch brackets flicker to life. DRACO sits, adjusting his single black glove.

Thank you. We can be civil. After all, I'm here willingly.

HARRY (in a cool voice): The door is unlocked, Draco. You may leave whenever you choose. Just know... if you don't explain the situation to my liking, your son will be brought in for questioning.

DRACO: He's my sole heir... He's my — only family.

HARRY: And he ruined my son's life.

DRACO: Scorpius is a follower, not a leader, despite everything I've tried to instill in him. So, it was undoubtedly Albus who...

The door opens. DELPHI enters with two glasses of firewhiskey. She sets them down carefully, one for HARRY, one for DRACO.

DELPHI: You two have more in common than you'd like to admit. Your sons were best friends. Find a way to work through this.

HARRY nods reluctantly. DELPHI exits. DRACO takes his glass and lifts it to his lips but does not drink. The moment is intensified knowing his firewhiskey is spiked with magical truth serum.

DRACO (with heavy condescension): Friend to friend, you've let yourself go, Harry. When was the last time you were outside?

DRACO swirls his glass, stares at the moving liquid, and sets it down. HARRY takes a drink.

I know you've suffered. So, I'm willing to overlook what happened on the platform today. I come here in peace, not war.

HARRY withholds comment, hopeful that DRACO will drink. He doesn't. Unbeknownst to them, a listening device is lowered from the ceiling. It hangs over HARRY and DRACO, hidden between the row of darkened light fixtures.

This is what I know. After Hagrid told them you possessed a Time-Turner and could use it to save your wife, it became something of an obsession with our boys. Albus believed the Augurey was ultimately responsible for the reappearance of Voldemort and the rise of The Tempest. Likewise, for Ginny's death.

DRACO pauses out of respect.

Your son believed that, were he and Scorpius to travel back in time to stop the Augurey before his rise to power... the damage caused by The Tempest would be undone. I suggested he speak to you about this, but Albus said he didn't trust you to handle the job properly. Or, more specifically, that you would choose not to use the Time-Turner for some pathetic, noble reason. (beat) His words.

HARRY drinks. He licks his lips slowly, in annoyance.

HARRY: I wouldn't have used it. Because you cannot change the past.

DRACO: I'm aware of this theory.

HARRY: It's not a theory. If you're foolish enough to go back, the past will only use you to fulfill the present. Every attempt to alter history will fail.

DRACO: What happened to your son is more than enough validation for me.

HARRY: Question is, how would they even know where to begin? Unless... Scorpius must have possessed at least some knowledge on the identity of the Augurey?

Draco goes back to the glass. He runs his fingers around the rim, absently.

DRACO: Maybe he's a really good guesser?

HARRY (a smile forming): Hang on. You can identify the Augurey, can't you, Draco? I mean, you were the first to know about that mask he wears. In fact, you told me about it years ago — of your own free will — before you knew I would be opposed to Al's relationship with your son. It's almost as if you wanted to warn me. (beat) How curious. What else do you know?

Draco looks ready to take a drink. He lifts the glass and stops halfway. He sets it back down.

DRACO: According to Scorpius, they traveled twenty years into the past and succeeded in tracking down the Augurey's younger counterpart. They dueled and were caught. A bystander was killed. The Augurey escaped by means of Apparation. Since the boys had yet to learn how to Apparate themselves, they were taken to Azkaban. It was on this journey that Scorpius managed to flee with the Time-Turner.

HARRY: So, he abandoned my son in the past. What a friend.

DRACO: True, it was your son who was the better friend. He told Scorpius to return home and was imprisoned under the name Pariah Prince. But by doing so he turned himself into a different person entirely. Albus lost his mind in Azkaban and carved a lightning bolt into his forehead. That's everything I know.

HARRY (laughing to himself): Really? And I'm meant to believe that story?

DRACO: It's the truth.

HARRY drinks the last of his firewhiskey and slams the glass down. He stands and paces the room.

HARRY: Do you... know anything about this Lord Blitzfanger character?

DRACO (hesitating): Nothing I'd care to share.

HARRY: So, you do know.

DRACO: I know some.

DRACO adjusts his position and clears his throat. He takes hold of the glass.

HARRY: You seem nervous all of a sudden

DRACO: I have nothing to be nervous about.

HARRY: Come clean, Draco. You don't want to cross me.

DRACO: Or what? You'll steal more of my stuff.

He laughs, but uncomfortably.

There is much more to fear in this world than the pitiful threats of Harry Potter. By the way, when can I expect my belongings to be returned?

DRACO drinks. A smile spreads unhurriedly across HARRY's unshaven face.

HARRY: The moment we find the Time-Turner. Scorpius used it to get back, and it's not in the black lake. So, where is it?

DRACO: Malfoy Manor. I transfigured it to resemble a Golden Snitch. It's on a shelf with the last of... Astoria's... things...

Slow at first, DRACO pulls away. He looks scathingly down at his glass. He snarls, stands, and throws it across the room where it shatters against the thick stone wall.

HARRY (enjoying this): Problem, Draco?

DRACO: Veritaserum — you slipped it into my drink! Bloody hell, you're really not yourself, are you?!

HARRY charges DRACO, eyes ablaze, his expression instantly furious. He grabs DRACO and pulls him close.

HARRY: What happened to my son? What magic did they use on him — transforming him into — into Voldemort? Where are The Tempest headquartered? What's the identity of the Augurey?

DRACO: Get off me, Potter!

DRACO tears himself away.

HARRY: You're connected to this, Malfoy...! I know you are...! Tell me...!

They both pull their wands. And that's when they notice the listening device escaping into the ceiling. DRACO leaps onto the table and yanks it free. He jumps down.

DRACO: An ear? What — is this?

HARRY takes it from him.

HARRY: One of Fred and George's old tricks. An extendable ear. Percy heard everything.

DRACO shakes his head. He reaches into his pocket and drinks down a glowing vial of potion. He tosses it to HARRY.

DRACO: A lesson from Snape I always kept to heart. Never leave the house without a few antidotes.

HARRY blocks the door. DRACO isn't having it.

Excuse me, I suddenly have somewhere else to be.

HARRY: You're not telling me everything! It can't be that simple!

DRACO reaches past HARRY to turn the doorknob. HARRY shuffles to stand in the open doorway. DELPHI looks on, concerned.

It's too late, Malfoy. They're already en route.

DRACO: Proud of yourself, aren't you?

HARRY: I had nothing to do with that. (beat) But I will unravel this mystery, I promise you. Even if it means delivering your son to Azkaban.

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

DRACO pushes past HARRY and exits the interrogation chamber. DELPHI looks distressed.

DELPHI: What happened? Did you get anything?

HARRY: The Time-Turner — that's about it. The rest was lies. And Percy was using this...

HARRY hands DELPHI the extendable ear. It wiggles in her hand.

DELPHI: What... in Merlin's...?

HARRY: It's a listening device. Our glorious Minister bugged my interrogation chamber.

DELPHI: What now?

HARRY: What do you think? Percy's going for the Time-Turner. Draco will try to head them off, but it's pointless. Who knows, part of Malfoy Manor might still be standing by the time he gets there.