I’ve sorted high, I’ve sorted low,

I’ve done the job through thick and thin

So put me on and you will know

Which House you should be in . . .

Rose Granger-Weasley.

He puts his hat on ROSE’s head.

GRYFFINDOR!

There’s cheering from the Gryffindors as ROSE joins them.

ROSE: Thank Dumbledore.

SCORPIUS runs to take ROSE’s place under the SORTING HAT’s glare.

SORTING HAT: Scorpius Malfoy.

He puts his hat on SCORPIUS’s head.

SLYTHERIN!

SCORPIUS was expecting this, he nods and half smiles. There’s cheering from the Slytherins as he joins them.

POLLY CHAPMAN: Well, that makes sense.

ALBUS walks swiftly to the front of the stage.

SORTING HAT: Albus Potter.

He puts his hat on ALBUS’s head — and this time he seems to take longer — almost as if he too is confused.

SLYTHERIN!

There’s a silence.

A perfect, profound silence.

One that sits low, twists a bit, and has damage within it.

POLLY CHAPMAN: Slytherin?

CRAIG BOWKER JR.: Whoa! A Potter? In Slytherin.

ALBUS looks out, unsure. SCORPIUS smiles, delighted, as he shouts across to him.

SCORPIUS: You can stand next to me!

ALBUS (thoroughly discombobulated): Right. Yes.

YANN FREDERICKS: I suppose his hair isn’t that similar.

ROSE: Albus? But this is wrong, Albus. This is not how it’s supposed to be.

And suddenly a flying lesson is happening with MADAM HOOCH.

MADAM HOOCH: Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.

The kids all hurry into position beside their brooms.

Stick out your hands out over your broom, and say, “Up!”

EVERYONE: UP!

ROSE’s and YANN’s brooms sail into their hands.

ROSE and YANN: Yes!

MADAM HOOCH: Come on, now, I’ve no time for shirkers. Say “UP.” “UP” like you mean it.

EVERYONE (bar ROSE and YANN): UP!

Brooms sail up, including SCORPIUS’s. Only ALBUS is left with his broom on the floor.

EVERYONE (bar ROSE, YANN, and ALBUS): YES!

ALBUS: Up. UP. UP.

His broom doesn’t move. Not even a millimeter. He stares at it with disbelieving desperation. There’s giggling from the rest of the class.

POLLY CHAPMAN: Oh Merlin’s beard, how humiliating! He really isn’t like his father at all, is he?

KARL JENKINS: Albus Potter, the Slytherin Squib.

MADAM HOOCH: Okay. Children. Time to fly.

And suddenly HARRY appears from nowhere beside ALBUS as steam expands all over the stage.

We’re back on platform nine and three-quarters and time has ticked on mercilessly. ALBUS is now a year older (as is HARRY, but less noticeably).

ALBUS: I’m just asking you, Dad, if you’ll — if you’ll just stand a little away from me.

HARRY (amused): Second-years don’t like to be seen with their dads, is that it?

An OVER-ATTENTIVE WIZARD begins to circle them.

ALBUS: No. It’s just — you’re you and — and I’m me and —

HARRY: It’s just people looking, okay? People look. And they’re looking at me, not you.

The OVER-ATTENTIVE WIZARD proffers something for HARRY to sign — he signs it.

ALBUS: At Harry Potter and his disappointing son.

HARRY: What does that mean?

ALBUS: At Harry Potter and his Slytherin son.

JAMES rushes past them, carrying his bag.

JAMES: Slythering Slytherin, stop with your dithering, time to get onto the train.

HARRY: Unnecessary, James.

JAMES (long gone): See you at Christmas, Dad.

HARRY looks at ALBUS, concerned.

HARRY: Al —

ALBUS: My name is Albus, not Al.

HARRY: Are the other kids being unkind? Is that it? Maybe if you tried making a few more friends . . . without Hermione and Ron I wouldn’t have survived Hogwarts, I wouldn’t have survived at all.

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