Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (The M. Clifford MOD)

Act 1: Scene 10

AMOS frowns, confused.

AMOS: A memorial? I am not interested in a memorial — not anymore. I am an old man — an old dying man — and I am here to ask you — beg you — to help me get him back.

HARRY grows rigid. He gradually separates them by a few feet. His head tips downward in a posture of regret. His words, however, are unmistakably sharp.

HARRY (repeating himself, more clearly): I am sorry, but you are misinformed. Whatever you've heard, the Theodore Nott story is a fiction, Amos, I'm sorry. There is no Time-Turner.

AMOS DIGGORY's expression hardens. He looks at HARRY, trying to figure him out. AMOS lowers himself to meet HARRY's gaze. A long moment of grief and realization passes.

AMOS (his voice twitching with devastation): You lie. Which means you will not help me. And... all is lost.

HARRY moves forward to console him, to rectify the situation, to say something. Anything that could offset the man's ageless suffering. HARRY lifts a comforting hand, but AMOS is done. He turns his back to HARRY and exits, discarding his cap absentmindedly. HARRY approaches the ivy cap and bends to retrieve it. Standing, he looks off. The guilt he feels is conveyed in each movement and expression until DELPHI approaches.

DELPHI: How awful.

HARRY turns and collects himself.

HARRY: Heard that, did you?

DELPHI: His son was Cedric Diggory, the one who died alongside you during the Triwizard Tournament. We learned about him in History of Magic. Such a tragedy.

The two of them progress very slowly down the hall.

But a Time-Turner? That's ludicrous. They were obliterated at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, everyone knows that.

HARRY: That was true until someone fashioned another from the debris.

HARRY taps his jacket pocket. DELPHI's mouth hangs open in shock. HARRY nods, still overcome by the truth of it all.

DELPHI: You can't be serious. What will you do with it?

HARRY: Give it to the Minister, assuming it will be destroyed.

DELPHI: Destroyed? Seems an awful waste.

HARRY (in his best, Lockhartian voice): No, it's time that time-turning became a thing of the past.

DELPHI (embarrassed for him): You're quite proud of that phrase, aren't you?

HARRY: Been working on it all day.

DELPHI (shaking her head): I don't know how you're able to joke at a time like this. (beat) So, the device came from the man you interrogated?

HARRY: Yes, he's a strange one. Former Death Eater, works in the Department of Mysteries.

DELPHI: What did he have to say?

HARRY: Nothing. Nothing important, that is. He has clearly lost his mind. That's what fiddling with time can do to a person. But I will say this — I've been through hundreds of interrogations. That was the first time I felt like I was sitting in the wrong chair.

DELPHI: Acquiring such a device... Are we sending him to Azkaban?

HARRY: Theodore Nott? He's harmless. And I'm up to my neck as it is in paperwork. (HARRY wheezes humorously) If I'm being totally honest, I want to keep my eye on him. He told me some things that, well... let's just say, it could be helpful to keep in touch with someone who may or may not know what's coming. (beat) Are the Aurors tracking Finch-Fletchley?