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

Act 3: Scene 3

MINISTRY OF MAGIC, CORRIDOR

Dim lights come up on an empty corridor of dark, olive-green tiles. Splashed across the wall is graffiti of a sorrowful black bird with broad wings — the Dark Mark of the Augurey. Footsteps are heard from off. HARRY and DRACO enter, stage right. PERCIVAL CLEARWATER and ETHEL, stage left. Moments later, DELPHINI DRAKE enters with a few GUARDS. The separate groups meet at center stage, bookending the graffiti. PERCIVAL does not look pleased. HARRY shoves DRACO past them.

HARRY: The door. Down the hall. Wait there and don't move a muscle.

DRACO inhales loudly, smacks his lips, and complies. PERCIVAL waits until they are out of earshot before shaking his head at HARRY and narrowing the gap between them. DRACO takes his time exiting the stage in an effort to eavesdrop.

PERCIVAL (to HARRY): I am not happy.

HARRY: That makes two of us.

PERCIVAL: This is very unacceptable. As the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, you are both a mouthpiece for my regime and a symbol of the Ministry of Magic.

HARRY: Uh-huh.

PERCIVAL: Your conduct this morning on platform nine and three-quarters is most reprehensible. It is vital that we show a unified front — now, more than ever before. Yet here you are, once again... going off on your own... leaving me with the task of having to either side with your actions or come out against you.

PERCIVAL points to the graffiti.

Do you know why I left this here, Harry?

HARRY: Enlighten me.

PERCIVAL: As a reminder that we have underestimated The Tempest. Once assumed to be a rabble without a creed, they have become a force beyond reckoning, bent on bolstering anarchy throughout the greater wizarding world.

HARRY: Anarchy?

PERCIVAL: There are giants sabotaging Quidditch matches. Werewolves are obstructing commerce in villages across Europe. Gringotts shut its doors with a possible goblin rebellion on the horizon.

HARRY: How do you always know about these things and I don't?

PERCIVAL (continuing): There's been a strike in the Department of Magical Transportation ever since the Floo Network was decimated. And then there's Hogwarts...

HARRY: What's wrong with Hogwarts?

PERCIVAL: Parents are declining acceptance letters, Potter. They are refusing to send their students to Hogwarts under fear that their education is being controlled by the Ministry. The fact that Professor Shacklebolt was Minister of Magic temporarily doesn't help matters.

Beat, PERCIVAL takes a sobering breath.

Confidence in this governing body is waning and the Daily Prophet continues to pursue the narrative that a coup is imminent. All while I'm in the process of issuing a tax to aid in our protection and in upholding our sovereignty.

HARRY: Taxation can lead to an uprising.

PERCIVAL: I have no choice. There has been a war raging behind closed doors for the soul of Wizendom and the truth of the matter is that we've been infiltrated. The forces of the Tempest are everywhere and in everything. There's no telling how deep this goes, Harry.

HARRY: And you're still talking to me?

PERCIVAL (with a snarl): I'm out there — every day — hearing about it — while you...