MOODY’S BLUES
A very short play by Dean O’Carroll
Lights up on an endless dining hall, full of hearty VIKING WARRIORS, feasting on endless plates of food and downing enormous tankards of mead and other drink. A rowdy, raucous celebration.
MOODY enters. His face is healed, both his eyes are his own, as are both his legs.
MOODY
Oh, bloody hell! He got me! I’ll kill that little thief next time I see him!
DUMBLEDORE is there.
DUMBLEDORE
Do not be too angry at poor Mundungus, Alastor. He was not wholly responsible for his actions.
MOODY
Dumbledore! Well, blast it! If you’re here then I know I’m dead.
DUMBLEDORE
I am afraid so.
MOODY
And just where the hell is here?
DUMBLEDORE
Have a look around.
MOODY
Feasting Viking warriors? Spears, shields … carousing? Are we in bloody Valhalla?
DUMBLEDORE
The final resting place of heroic Norsemen. A suitable destination for a warrior fallen in battle. I have always thought you were more a Dane than an Antique Roman, to paraphrase a Muggle author of whom I’m rather fond.
MOODY
A lucky shot! That red-eyed berk got me right between the eyes, how did I not … Potter! Did Potter make it safely?
DUMBLEDORE
By now, Harry Potter is safely at the Burrow.
MOODY
And the others? Casualties?
DUMBLEDORE
Harry’s owl was killed; young George Weasley suffered a serious, but non-fatal injury; and Hagrid survived a nasty fall.
MOODY
Confound it! If I’d’ve been there, I could’ve … Dammit! Dumbledore, I can’t be dead yet! They need me! This battle is not over!
DUMBLEDORE
No, it is not, Alastor, but your role in it, alas, is.
MOODY
But You-Know-Who’s still out there! And Snape and Lestrange and the rest of ’em! Potter can’t take ’em all alone! He’s just a boy!
DUMBLEDORE
My concern for Harry knows no bounds. But there is nothing more we can do for him.
MOODY
So just what do you expect me to do, then?
DUMBLEDORE
I expect you to help yourself to some venison and mead, and enjoy the rest you have earned so many times over. I assure you, you have no need to fear anyone has poisoned the food or drink. One benefit you’ll find to being dead is that it is now very difficult for anyone to kill you.
MOODY
How can you be so calm? Can’t you see there’s a war on?
DUMBLEDORE
No for us. Our part in this conflict is done. Now we may partake in the feast before us.
MOODY
But I … I can’t …
DUMBLEDORE
Alastor, in your long life as an auror, you endured more punishments, more indignities, more suffering than almost anyone I have ever known. You accepted those with stoicism and fortitude. Why then is it so difficult for you to accept a reward, one you so heartily deserve?
MOODY
Because … because there are more battles to be fought!
DUMBLEDORE
And they will be fought by other brave souls, souls who will take your life and your sacrifice as inspiration, and be all the stronger for it. But you must let go, Alastor, and accept that you have discharged your duty.
MOODY
I … I don’t know if I can.
DUMBLEDORE
Try the mead, Alastor. It is as sweet as you could possibly wish.
DUMBLEDORE raises a glass and toasts MOODY.
DUMBLEDORE
To the heroes who have been, and the heroes yet to be.
They drink.
MOODY
That’s damn fine mead, Dumbledore.
A LOUD SOUND. Heads turn as a FROST GIANT bursts into the room. VIKINGS attack him.
MOODY
What the bloody hell is that?
DUMBLEDORE
That is a Frost Giant. This would hardly be a paradise for warriors if there were not new battles to be fought, and new glories to be won.
MOODY
Well why didn’t you say so?
MOODY grabs his wand and charges in.
MOODY
Stand aside, you horn headed Muggle fools! Let Moody handle this overgrown icicle!
MOODY and the VIKINGS charge off, battle the FROST GIANT. DUMBLEDORE smiles and sips again.
DUMBLEDORE
It truly is excellent mead.
Lights fade.
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