HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

Fan screenplay by Wui-Ming Gan, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling

Chapter 23: The Prince's Tale

                 INT. HOGSWART - NIGHT

                 The battle is still going on in full swing. We see LUPIN
                 and TONKS in the thick of it, fighting side by side. RON
                 and HERMIONE come into view. A few moments later, both
                 LUPIN and TONKS are killed.

                                         RON
                           No!

                                         HERMIONE
                           Lupin! Tonks!

                 Brandishing their wands, RON and HERMIONE run towards the
                 Death Eaters that had killed LUPIN and TONKS. The Death
                 Eaters turn their wands onto RON and HERMIONE. At that
                 moment, VOLDEMORT's cold voice reverberates from the
                 walls.

                                         VOLDEMORT (O.S.)
                           Cease fighting! I command my
                           forces to retreat immediately. You
                           have fought valiantly. Yet you
                           have sustained heavy losses. Every
                           drop of magical blood spilled is a
                           waste.



                 INT. SHRIEKING SHACK - NIGHT

                 The barricaded opening to the tunnel is shattered, and
                 HARRY enters the Shrieking Shack, removing the Cloak. As
                 he bends over SNAPE, VOLDEMORT's voice echoes in the
                 small room.

                                         VOLDEMORT (O.S.)
                           I speak now, Harry Potter,
                           directly to you. I shall wait for
                           one hour in the Forbidden Forest.
                           If, at the end of that hour, you
                           have not come to me, I shall enter
                           the castle myself, and punish
                           every last man, woman and child
                           who has tried to help you. One
                           hour.

                                         SNAPE
                           Harry Potter, look at me. You must
                           know the truth.

                 SNAPE takes HARRY's hand, and their eyes meet. There is a
                 flash as SNAPE projects a memory into HARRY's mind...



                 INT. HEADMASTER'S OFFICE, HOGWARTS - LAST YEAR

                 DUMBLEDORE sags sideways in the throne-like chair behind
                 the desk, his right hand dangling over the side,
                 blackened and burned. SNAPE is tipping a goblet full of
                 thick golden potion down DUMBLEDORE's throat. A moment
                 later, DUMBLEDORE's eyelids flutter open.

                                         SNAPE
                           I have trapped the curse in one
                           hand, but it will spread
                           eventually.

                                         DUMBLEDORE
                           How long do you think I have?

                                         SNAPE
                           Maybe a year. It is the sort of
                           curse that strengthens over time.

                                         DUMBLEDORE
                           Well, this makes matters much more
                           straightforward. I refer, of
                           course, to Voldemort's plan to
                           have the poor Malfoy boy murder
                           me.

                                         SNAPE
                           The Dark Lord does not expect
                           Draco to succeed.

                                         DUMBLEDORE
                           In short, the boy has had a death
                           sentence pronounced upon him as
                           surely as I have. There is only
                           one thing to be done if we are to
                           save him from Voldemort's wrath.

                                         SNAPE
                           Are you intending to let him kill
                           you?

                                         DUMBLEDORE
                           Certainly not. You must kill me.
                           Now listen closely, Severus. There
                           will come a time when Voldemort
                           will seem to fear for the life of
                           his snake. Then, I think, it will
                           be safe to tell Harry.

                                         SNAPE
                           Tell him what?

                                         DUMBLEDORE
                           That on the night Voldemort tried
                           to kill him, when the Killing
                           Curse rebounded upon him, a
                           fragment of Voldemort's soul
                           latched itself onto the only
                           living soul left in that building.
                           And while that fragment of soul
                           lives inside Harry, Lord Voldemort
                           cannot die.

                                         SNAPE
                           So the boy must die?

                                         DUMBLEDORE
                           And Voldemort himself must do it.