Summary and Analysis of Act Two, Scenes 10-20
Harry Potter gives McGonagall the Marauder’s Map, which shows the movements of everyone in Hogwarts, so she can make sure that Albus and Scorpius stay far apart. At first, she declines to use it because she knows that Albus doesn’t have a curse on him, but Harry told her what Dumbledore said. She reminded him that Dumbledore died many years ago and that the portrait that he speaks to is not Dumbledore himself. Harry tells her to use the Map or he will return to the school and add more rules by full force using the Ministry. She grudgingly agrees.
Albus enters his next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, where he finds his “Aunt” Hermione. She tells him that he must refer to her as Professor Granger. Hermione explains the Patronus Charm and Albus continues to express confusion. She begins to get annoyed and deduct house points from Gryffindor. Albus is incredulous at how mean she's being, so Hermione deducts twenty more points to assure that she is indeed mean.
Scorpius looks for Albus all around Hogwarts, but when they finally meet, Albus avoids him. Albus is clearly unhappy and conflicted as he refuses to acknowledge his friend.
At the Potters', Harry and Ginny are having a discussion when Draco knocks on the door; he enters and demands that Harry let Albus and Scorpius be friends again. Harry says that he is only protecting his son from what Bane described as a black cloud around him. Draco asks what was he implying and Harry asks Draco if Scorpius was truly his son. Draco takes offense and he and Harry start dueling, only to be stopped by Ginny reentering the kitchen.
Delphi arrives at the Hogwarts staircase and finds Scorpius; she is amazed to see all the wonders inside of Hogwarts. Scorpius asks her if she had been to Hogwarts, and she tells him no. As a child she was far too ill to go to school. She then tells him that after Cedric lost the first task it made him more motivated to win the second task, so they have to travel back again.
Draco apologizes to Ginny for destroying the kitchen, she quips that it isn’t her kitchen since Harry does most of the cooking. Then Draco tells Harry that he was always jealous of the friendship Harry had with Ron and Hermione; Ginny reveals that she felt the same thing. Harry tell Draco that he needs to protect his son and Draco counters that his father tried to protect him, but his ideas caused Draco to be a lonely child, like Tom Riddle (Voldemort). Draco insists that the black cloud Bane saw was Albus’ loneliness. Harry thinks and Ginny insists they travel to Hogwarts.
Scorpius confronts Albus, saying they changed things and now they have to fix them. He points out that Ron and Hermione never got married, meaning Rose and Hugo were never born. Originally, Hermione was supposed to go to the ball with Viktor Krum from Durmstrang which caused Ron to became jealous, and thus began their romance. However, in this alternative timeline, she refused to go to the ball with Viktor because of the two suspicious Durmstrang boys she saw at the Tri-wizard event (aka Scorpius and Albus).
In the library, Professor McGonagall sees the boys together on the Maurader's map and goes halfheartedly to tell them to separate. But Albus hides under his brother's Invisibility Cloak with Scorpius and she ceases her search. Later, Albus tells Scorpius that the Ministry is investigating rumors of his parentage, but he tells him that he's sure that Voldemort is not his father because Voldemort couldn't have a nice son like Scorpius. Albus tells Scorpius that they have to return to the second task and humiliate Cedric, so they go to the girls’ bathroom.
Ron is walking down the staircase when he bumps into Hermione. His son Panju got into trouble in Potions class mixing the wrong ingredients causing him to grow a large mustache. Ron changes the subject by telling her that Albus thought that they were both married and had children. They both agreed that it was strange since they are both friends. Just friends. There is clear tension between the two.
Professor McGonagall taps the Marauder’s Map with her wand and Harry and Ginny arrive through the fireplace. She tells Harry that she wants no part of using the map anymore, and he apologizes, telling her that he should never have threatened her. Then, Draco arrives, telling McGonagall that he needs to see his son. McGonagall activates the map and sees that they are both in the girls’ bathroom.
Albus explains his plan to Scorpius in the girls’ bathroom. They have to travel to the second task, where the competitors had to retrieve something from the lake. Cedric Diggory used a Bubble-Head Charm to swim through the lake, so all they have to do is engorge his bubble-head so he will float out of the water. A jet of water emerges from the sink and the ghost of Moaning Myrtle appears. She takes offense at being called Moaning Myrtle and reminds them that her name is Myrtle Elizabeth Warren. She tells them it’s been a long time since boys visited her bathroom, and flirts with them about how much she liked their parents and Cedric. They are not enthused by Myrtle Elizabeth Warren's flirtations, but nevertheless she persisted. Albus asks her if she knows a way out of the bathroom pipes that lead to the lake, and tells her that they plan to travel back in time, but that this was secret she had to keep. She points him to the sink which empties directly into the lake. Albus pulls out Gillyweed, a plant that allows its consumer to breathe underwater. Before taking the Gillyweed Albus reminds him that they only have five minutes before they travel back to the present. Albus and Scorpius take Gillyweed and disappear down the bathroom pipes just as Harry, Draco, Ginny, and McGonagall arrive at the bathroom. Draco asks Myrtle how their sons are disappearing off the map, she tells them that they were using a “thingy" and their sons were trying to save a boy named Cedric Diggory. McGonagall reminds her that he died years ago, but Harry tells her that Albus heard him talking to Amos Diggory and he also knows that the Ministry has a Time-Turner.
Albus and Scorpius travel back to the Second Task of the Tri-wizard Tournament. The competitors had to retrieve a hostage underwater in under an hour, so the competitors had to breathe underwater. Cedric Diggory used the Bubble-Head Charm so Scorpius and Albus use an Engorgement Charm, causing the Bubble to wrap over his body and float out of the lake, causing him to lose the task. He flies up in the sky just as fireworks that spell “Ron loves Hermione” boom over the crowd. Scorpius cheers and returns to the surface. Albus hasn’t resurfaced yet, and Scorpius looks for him. The voice of a woman tells him to get out of the lake: it’s Dolores Umbridge, the new Headmistress of Hogwarts. He tells her that he was looking for his friend Albus Potter; she replies that there hasn’t been a Potter at Hogwarts for years, since Harry Potter was defeated by Lord Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts twenty-two years ago. She tells him to get out of the Lake because he is upsetting the Dementors and ruining Voldemort Day.
Analysis
This is our first taste of an alternate future in the play, and though the alterations are slight, they are important. We see how the ripple effect of Scorpius and Albus posing as Durmstrang students ends up preventing the very marriage of Ron and Hermione, therefore deleting Rose and Hugo from history. From the marriage of Ron and Padma comes Panju, a mischievous cousin to Albus who bets him that he wouldn't be able to get in to Gryffindor, this changing Albus's entire trajectory as Slytherin and negatively affecting his relationship with Scorpius.
We learn further that the fact that Albus is now in Gryffindor does not repair relations with his father. In this reality, there is still just as much if not more friction between Harry and Albus. This serves as a lesson going forward that Albus cannot find a simple answer for his troubles with his father. It allows him to start to understand the complexities of the father-son relationship.
We also see that the future can change not only people's fates, but their personality. The version of Hermione in this future is tough, mean, and bitter. She is an unmarried Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts now since her suspicions with the "Durmstrang students" Albus and Scorpius lead to her mistrust Viktor Krum and opt to go to the ball with Ron instead. This leads to their relationship turning platonic. Although she is mean to Albus, she still melts when she meets Ron in the halls of Hogwarts. She mentions the reference Albus makes to them being married and there is a moment of undeniable tension, even in the different reality. Love, it seems, transcends time and space.
The use of the Marauder's map for the surveillance of the boys causes an ethical dilemma for McGongall and allows us to see some of the simmering nastiness in this version of Harry. He not only threatens her to try to force her to spy on his son against her will; he insults her. He claims that because she doesn't have any children, she could never understand what it feels like. This claim wounds McGonagall. As somewhat of a parental figure to Harry, she is surprised by his callousness. This results in her lukewarm execution of his orders; she feels the punishment of isolating Albus from his only friend does not quite fit the crime.
Even with the clear changes that are brought on by their attempt to change the First Task, the boys still plot with Moaning Myrtle Elizabeth Warren (Rowling, clearly, is a strong progressive) to undo the damage they've done and yet still continue to attempt to save Cedric. This example of naivety from the boys is charming, but the readers get a sense that continuing to meddle with the past will yield bad results. The first iteration of the world where Albus is in Gryffindor foreshadows the big changes yet to come, as we come to find at the end of the first play that they have inadvertently shifted the entire course of Wizarding History. Scorpius submerges himself in the lake, and when he reemerges he finds Albus gone, and a new holiday called Voldemort Day.
