DIAGON ALLEY, FLOURISH AND BLOTTS — YEAR 2
The curtain rises with sweeping celestial music. HARRY, RON, and HERMIONE walk along a winding lane of delightful shops, all crammed together, on a beautiful summer's day. They have time traveled to the past.
RON: Blimey! Summer before second year at Hogwarts.
HARRY (euphoric): It looks so...
HERMIONE: Does, doesn't it?
The three of them round a corner to be faced with a young boy leaving a shop for quills. He has bright red hair and his head in a book — it's YOUNG PERCY. RON looks mesmerized.
HARRY: Was that —?
RON: Percy.
RON watches YOUNG PERCY walk away.
He carried that book around with him all year — Prefects Who Gained Power.
HERMIONE: Be careful what you wish for.
They walk further down the lane, only to be confronted by a massive, unmoving crowd made up entirely of witches.
RON: What's going on? Have we already caused a problem?
HARRY: It's because of him. Don't you remember?
HARRY points to a banner above the windows of the nearest shop, Flourish and Blotts. The banner reads: GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today from 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.
HERMIONE: The Indian peacock feather. Gilderoy Lockhart arrived at every book signing with a dozen or so feather quills — all of them peacock.
RON: How in Merlin's...?
Beat, he turns to HARRY.
My wife. Custodian of the world's most insignificant information.
HERMIONE: Seems pretty significant in this instance.
HARRY: In Ron's defense...
HERMIONE: There was an entire chapter devoted to it in Magical Me, if you must know.
HERMIONE moves them through the crowd. She looks a bit too eager. RON notices.
RON: Should we pick you up a signed copy while we're here?
HERMIONE: I mean, it would be worth something in the future. It's not as if he's signing copies anymore.
RON: You're joking. I wasn't being serious.
HERMIONE: What? (beat) Neither was I.
The exterior walls of Diagon Alley separate as the trio look in the windows. We can see that there is a winding line of excited customers, mostly women, leading to the back of the bookstore. And there, seated at a table, was their former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, GILDEROY LOCKHART — 30s, in robes of forget-me-not blue, lush blonde hair covered partially by pointed wizard's hat.
HARRY: Unreal. Gilderoy Lockhart.
HERMIONE: He looks so much younger than I remember.
HERMIONE touches her cheek. She smiles faintly. RON is staring at her.
RON (aghast): You've got to be joking.
YOU ARE READING
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (The M. Clifford MOD)
Fanfiction"It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and the father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where...
