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HARRY nods. There's a slightly uncomfortable silence. Both are trying to reach each other here, both are failing.

HARRY: "Well, there's the fourth-year exams -- and then the fifth year -- big year -- in my fifth year I did --"

ALBUS: "Good to know."

ALBUS: "I got to watch them -- you know -- for a bit -- your mum and dad. They were -- you had fun together. Your dad used to love to do this smoke ring thing with you where you… well, you couldn't stop giggling."

HARRY smiles.

ALBUS: "For what?"

ALBUS: "I think you'd have liked them. And I think me, Lily, and James would have liked them too."

HARRY and ALBUS walk up a hill on a beautiful summer's day. They say nothing, enjoying the sun on their faces as they climb.

He looks at ALBUS. He smiles. He talks quickly.

HARRY: "You know, I thought I'd lost him -- Voldemort -- I thought I'd lost him -- and then my scar started hurting again and I had dreams of him and I could even speak Parseltongue again and I started to feel like I'd not changed at all -- that he'd never let me go --"

HARRY: "I did a lot of stuff. Some of it good. Some of it bad. A lot of it quite confusing."

HARRY: "Yes?"

HARRY: "So are you ready?"

ALBUS: "Harry Potter is afraid of the dark?"

HARRY: "That thing I said to you -- it was unforgivable, and I can't ask you to forget it but I can hope we move past it. I'm going to try to be a better dad for you, Albus. I am going to try and -- be honest with you and…"

HARRY: "You told me you don't think I'm scared of anything, and that -- I mean, I'm scared of everything. I mean, I'm afraid of the dark, did you know that?"

ALBUS: "And had he?"

ALBUS: "Dad, you don't need to --"

He looks at ALBUS.

HARRY: "I don't like small spaces and -- I've never told anyone this, but I don't much like -- (he hesitates before saying it) pigeons."

HARRY: "The part of me that was Voldemort died a long time ago, but it wasn't enough to be physically rid of him -- I had to be mentally rid of him. And that -- is a lot to learn for a forty-year-old man."

HARRY (he scrunches up his face): "Nasty, pecky, dirty things. They give me the creeps."

ALBUS: "You don't like pigeons?"

HARRY: "I know. But the thing that scares me most, Albus Severus Potter, is being a dad to you. Because I'm operating without wires here. Most people at least have a dad to base themselves on -- and either try to be or try not to be. I've got nothing -- or very little. So I'm learning, okay? And I'm going to try with everything I've got -- to be a good dad for you."

ALBUS: "But pigeons are harmless!"

ALBUS: "Isn't he?"

ALBUS: "I almost destroyed the world."

HARRY: "Everything comes easy for James. My childhood was a constant struggle."

HARRY smiles at ALBUS.

HARRY: "You'd watched her murder Craig, you were angry, Albus, and that's okay. And you wouldn't have done it."

ALBUS: "But shouldn't I have done better?"

HARRY: "Delphi wasn't going anywhere, Albus -- you brought her out into the light and you found a way for us to fight her. You may not see it now, but you saved us."

ALBUS (stomach sinking further, he knows this is not what his dad would do): "And then -- when we caught her -- I wanted to kill her."

ALBUS: "How do you know that? Maybe that's my Slytherin side. Maybe that's what the Sorting Hat saw in me."

HARRY: "You don't think I ask myself the same questions?"

HARRY: "James is nothing like me."

HARRY: "Actually you're more like your mum -- bold, fierce, funny -- which I like -- which I think makes you a pretty great son."

ALBUS: "And I'll try and be a better son. I know I'm not James, Dad, I'll never be like you two --"

ALBUS: "So was mine. So you're saying -- am I -- like you?"

ALBUS: "They were good men."

HARRY: "They were great men, with huge flaws, and you know what -- those flaws almost made them greater."

ALBUS: "Oh I'm not going to be a wizard, I'm going into pigeon racing. I'm quite excited about it."

ALBUS looks around himself.

HARRY: "Those names you have -- they shouldn't be a burden. Albus Dumbledore had his trials too, you know -- and Severus Snape, well, you know all about him --"

HARRY: "I don't understand your head, Albus -- actually, you know what, you're a teenager, I shouldn't be able to understand your head, but I do understand your heart. I didn't -- for a long time -- but thanks to this -- "escapade" -- I know what you got in there. Slytherin, Gryffindor, whatever label you've been given -- I know -- know -- that heart is a good one -- yeah, whether you like it or not, you're on your way to being some wizard."

ALBUS: "But this is a graveyard…"

ALBUS: "Dad? Why are we here?"

HARRY: "This is where I often come."

HARRY grins.

HARRY: "And here is Cedric's grave."

ALBUS: "Not well enough."

ALBUS: "Dad?"

ALBUS: "That's a -- good thing to do."

ALBUS joins his dad in front of CEDRIC's grave. HARRY smiles at his son and looks up at the sky.

HARRY: "I think it's going to be a nice day."

HARRY: "The boy who was killed -- Craig Bowker -- how well did you know him?"

HARRY: "I didn't know Cedric well enough either. He could have played Quidditch for England. Or been a brilliant Auror. He could have been anything. And Amos is right -- he was stolen. So I come here. Just to say sorry. When I can."

ALBUS (smiles): "So do I."

The End

He touches his son's shoulder. And the two of them -- just slightly -- melt together.