Summary
Young Harry and his Aunt Petunia are staring at a gravestone covered with flowers. She tells him to drop the flowers he brought so they can leave Godric’s Hallow. Harry asked her if his parents had any other friends or relatives, she said that she was their only living relative, and his parents were too obnoxious to have friends. Harry then asks her why their grave filled with flowers; she is moved but says that the wind blew flowers to their grave. Then the voice of Voldemort talks to Harry; Aunt Petunia pulls Harry away from the graveyard. The hand of Voldemort rises from the graveyard, revealing his own body. Petunia begins leaving Godric Hallows, Harry turns around to see Albus standing next to Voldemort trying to reach him. Harry’s dream begins to fade when the hissing voice of Voldemort calls his name.
Harry wakes up. Ginny tells him that he was screaming, he tells her that his dream hasn’t stopped. He tells her that he never went to Godric’s Hallow with his Aunt Petunia. He also tells her that he saw Voldemort with Albus.
Scorpius wakes up Albus in his bed in the Slytherin Dormitory. He tells him that Rose kicked him in the shin when he tried to hug her, but he wasn't too upset about it. Scorpius then tells him how glad he is to be back in this version of the world then explains that Cedric was causing fear in the alternate world. Albus admits that everything they did was stupid, and if it weren’t for Scorpius the entire wizarding world would be filled with evil. Scorpius tells him that he also helped, because Snape told him to think about Albus to summon a patronus when the dementors attacked, so it was if they were fighting together. They both agree that they should never travel through time again, then Scorpius asks him to help him destroy something: out of his pocket he reveals the Time-Turner. He didn’t trust the Ministry to destroy it since they kept it once, and they might keep it again.
Harry and Ginny enter the Slytherin dormitory looking for Albus, but Craig Bowker Jr. stops them. He told them that they need special permission from the Headmistress to enter the dormitory. Suddenly, McGonagall appears and tells him to step aside. Harry and Ginny check the Albus' and Scorpius' beds, finding them empty. McGonagall starts to look for the boys when Harry tells his wife that he talked earlier to his son. She asked him what they talked about and then tells him that the more mistakes he makes it becomes harder to forgive him.
Albus and Scorpius are in the Owlery of Hogwarts, thinking of what spell they could use to destroy the Time-Turner. Suddenly, Delphi appears; she says an owl sent by Albus had told her to come join them. He tells her that they were going to destroy the Time-Turner, because saving Cedric only means that the Dark Lord will rise once again. Delphi says that Cedric would have understood, suggesting they should destroy the Time-Turner together and that she was going to explain to her Uncle why they couldn’t save his son. After Albus hands her the Time-Turner, he notices a black tattoo of a bird on her back. She explains that it is an Augury: a sinister-looking black bird that cries when rain is coming and that wizards used to believe could predict death. When she was growing up, her guardian, Euphemia Rowle, used to keep one in a cage and told her that the bird was crying because she was going to die. Her guardian didn’t love her, she only wanted her for the money. Albus asks her why she tattooed herself with a bird and she explains that it reminds her that the future is hers to make. Scorpius remembers that the Rowle family were Death Eaters and, suddenly not trusting her, tells her to give him back the Time-Turner. He tells Albus that in the other world they referred to some dark force as the Augury, and quickly she takes out her wand and bounds Scorpius. He tells Albus to run, but she stops him. They ask her why she's been manipulating them, and she tells them she's going to remake the future as she snaps their wands in half.
Ron and Hermione discuss the alternative worlds; he's shocked to find out that he and Hermione weren’t married after so many years together. He tells her that he wants to remarry her again in front of his children (and this time, sober). Harry, Ginny, and Draco enter the scene and tell them that Harry had another dream and Albus and Scorpius are missing again. Hermione tells him that she will send the Aurors to find them, but Ron tells her that he saw them out the night before. He was having a drink with Professor Neville Longbottom and he saw Albus near the Owlery with Scorpius and an older girlfriend. Harry asks him what color her hair was; he tells him that it was silver and blue. Harry recognized that he is referring to Delphi Diggory, the niece of Amos Diggory.
Harry and Draco walk into St. Oswald’s with their wands pointed at Amos Diggory and demand to know where their sons were. Harry accuses him of using his son, but Amos retorts that Harry used his son. Draco asked him where Albus and Scorpius are; Amos doesn’t know. They don’t believe him because he's been sending owls to them, but he denies doing so. Harry told him that they were last seen on the Hogwarts tower with his niece. Amos stopped him, he tells him that he doesn’t have a niece because he and his wife don't have any brothers or sisters. They realize what's occurring.
Delphi takes Albus and Scorpius to the Quidditch pitch, where the third task of the Tri-wizard Tournament was held. She plans to take them both back in time to save Cedric again and resurrect the world Scorpius lived in. Since the first two tasks are unstable, she plans to take them to the third task where Cedric meets his end. Albus tells her that Cedric has to win the tournament, and she replies that he will be humiliated and lose—even if it takes him flying out of the maze naked on a broomstick covered with purple feathers—since it’s what made him become a Death Eater. Albus tells her that the only way he is going to do it is if she casts him the Imperius Curse, the spell to control another person. She tells him that it has to be him, not a puppet of his, so she takes out her wand and points it at Albus. He’s ready to die, but she points it at Scorpius instead and begins torturing him. Delphi tells him that she will stop when he agrees to help her humiliate Cedric. Craig Bowker Jr. runs to Albus and Scorpius and tells them that everybody has been looking for them. Albus tells him to run and get some help, but Delphi uses the Killing Curse on him. She tells them that she isn’t playing games anymore; she knows that Albus’s weakness, similar to his father’s, is friendship. If he doesn’t do what she tells him, Scorpius will die just like Cedric and Craig. Voldemort will return and the Augury will stand beside him just like the prophecy said. “When spares are spared, when time is turned, when unseen children murder their fathers: then will the Dark Lord return.” The spare refers to Cedric and the unseen child is Albus killing his father by changing the past. The Time-Turner begins spinning and transports them back in time.
They arrive at the last Tri-wizard Tournament task. Without wands, Scorpius and Albus are helpless. Scorpius tells Albus that he is ready to die if it will stop Voldemort from returning. But Albus reminds him that the Time-Turner has a five-minute time limit; all they have to do is delay her before she can succeed. Albus and Scorpius began running inside of the moving hedge maze; they can’t find Delphi. Then she enters by flying without a broom, demonstrating her power. She tells them they only have two minutes. They resist her orders and she tells them that the prophecy must be fulfilled. Scorpius tells her that prophecies can be broken or prevented. Delphi starts torturing him to prove to Albus she means business, until she is struck from behind by Cedric Diggory, who thought the scene was a challenge as part of the Tri-wizard task. He frees the boys before returning to the challenge. Realizing that this is the only way, before he leaves Albus tells him that his father loves him very much. As he runs towards victory, Delphi takes out the Time-Turner and begins spinning it, but Albus and Scorpius managed to grab the device. They arrive at an unknown time. Delphi tells them that she agrees with Scorpius that prophecies can be broken or prevented, so she destroys the Time-Turner and flies away, trapping them in the past.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco and Ginny explore Delphi’s room. Harry tells them that Delphi has been using the Confundus Charm on Amos, so she could confuse him and act as his niece. Hermione reports that the Ministry has no record of her existence. They begin searching her room when Ginny unscrews an oil lamp which reveals a chimney. They hear hissing words, spoken in Parseltounge. Ginny asks Harry what it means. He reminds them that after Voldemort’s death, he can’t speak Parseltounge. Hermione reminds him that his scar didn’t hurt either, but now it does. Harry tries again; he now understands that it means “Welcome, Augury.” Harry closes his eyes and begins speaking. The room transforms, revealing the prophecy Delphi recited written with fluorescent paint the walls. The wall then reveals “I will rebirth the Dark. I will bring my father back.” They are all terrified now that they know that Voldemort had a daughter named Delphi.
Analysis
Once again we see this importance of dreams in this play as Harry receives crucial plot information through his dream in Godric's Hollow (Albus is in trouble, Voldemort is on the rise) but we also learn the importance of Aunt Petunia through her repeated appearance in the dream motif. As Harry's primary guardian, the way Petunia treats him has a significant impact on his own parenting. By trying to be different than her, he fulfills the needs he had as a child rather than the specific needs of his son. We also see glimmers from Petunia that she really did care for her sister, as witnessed by the emotion she feels at seeing the flowers and tributes from the visitors. Though we learn this dream was not based on an actual occurrence, it helps reveal character.
The second half of act three really ratchets up the rising action leading to the climax in Act Four. The major twist of the play is revealed in the latter half of the act. Voldemort does not have a son, as the audience has been led to expect; he has a daughter. Delphi's deception has been shrewd, combining unsure footing and chumminess with the boys to hide her true intentions. Her cunning manipulation reveals her as more dangerous than her father. She sees and exploits the boy's weaknesses and need to be loved.
We see history repeat itself here with the unnecessary death of Craig Bowker Jr. at the hands of Delphi. The parallelism between an innocent at the hands of Voldemort with Cedric and Craig's demise highlight that the generations are not all that different: Harry and Albus (as we are learning) and Voldemort and his daughter. The desire to know and be close with their parents is a trait that binds both Albus and Delphi, and it allows her to take advantage of him.
Scorpius and Albus learn in the maze that Cedric actually encountered a challenge unbeknownst to anyone else; the act of saving the life of a boy being tortured. Not understanding the context of what was really going on, this act reveals the character of Cedric. Even thinking that it was a challenge in the maze, he still acted admirably. Showing the growth of the boys, they understand that they have to let him go meet his fate by winning the tournament, but give the past a humane change: letting him know that his father loves him before he dies.
Interestingly in the adult's world, we see Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny working in tandem with Draco Malfoy in a way they never have before. This surprising coming together of forces builds on Draco's statement that he was always jealous of what Harry, Ron, Hermione had. Ginny agrees, making it all the more important to their development as the subplot in the story: as adults they are finally getting what they always wanted as kids.
