Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

"Scorpius! Albus! Wait for me!" The little redheaded girl ran after her brother and his best friend. Albus and Scorpius had always been close throughout Hogwarts, and it was next year that Lily was to be joining them. The boys were going into their third year, and, being that they were thirteen and Lily eleven, Albus didn't have very much toleration for the redheaded pipsqueak that had decided to follow them around everywhere.

It was because of Albus and Lily's mother's suggestion that the three of them had been placed in this predicament today. Ginny thought that it would be a marvelous idea for Lily to become better acquainted with Scorpius because she had somehow gotten it in her head that her little Lily and Astoria's little Scorpius were destined for each other.

The two had gotten to be great friends over a bit of a fight, actually. They were both in the bookstore, and at the same time, in a very cliché way, had reached for the same exact book: What to Expect from Your Young Wizard. It was a small book that all of the new mothers in the wizarding world were going insane over, and it had been flying off the shelves for weeks.

They both decided that they'd read the book together, over tea, once a week. It didn't take long for both Harry and Draco to realize that their wives had become good friends, and unfortunately for them, they'd had to put their differences aside if they didn't want to be kicked out of bed and enjoy a few nights on the couch. The two men weren't friends per say, but they got along well enough to mutter pleasantries while mulling over a glass of liquor. They broke out the stronger stuff when they knew that they'd be forced to spend time together. It wasn't a bad system.

Needless to say, Lily had been following Scorpius, or Scorp, and Albus around for years. She quickly lost interest with James; he'd been adventurous when he was younger, but ever since he started hanging around with his new friend Estella, who was coincidently just as pretty as she was book smart, James had been spending all of his time trying to build his grades up in order to impress little miss Estella.

Her mother told her that she'd understand in a few years. Lily had just shrugged; her parents said that a lot.

Albus hated that Lily trailed him all day long; he'd try all day long to try and get rid of the pesky twerp. It wasn't that he disliked his sister, it was simply that he wanted to be able to hang out with his friend and not play babysitter. He'd exerted a great deal of effort trying to ward off the youngest Potter, but only had punishments and a few too many times being scolded to show for it; Lily still followed him like a lost puppy.

Today, however, Albus had devised a plan. He hadn't told Scorp about it, though that was mostly to spare his feelings. Scorpius was a mellow boy; he didn't like to bully children as his father had, and he didn't mind Lily's company, as he had told Albus repeatedly. He felt bad about constantly trying to ditch her, and though Albus didn't really care, he still respected the fact that Scorpius didn't want to stay up with him and try and figure out the best way to prank Lily, or to ditch her.

The plan was rather simple, actually. He was going to 'fall' into the river, and pretend to be carried away by the current. He knew that Scorpius would follow him into the water and attempt to 'save' him, leaving Lily to do go back home and find 'help.'

It was a perfect plan, if Albus did say so himself. He had been feeling quite smug all throughout breakfast, and now that the time for execution had finally come, he was practically giddy with the image of finally having a day away from his nosy sister.

There was one hitch in the plan, unbeknownst to Albus, his dear friend Scorpius couldn't swim.

Smiling a rosy cheeked, the thirteen year old Albus ran towards the river and faked a gasp. "Oh no!" He yelled unconvincingly.

His poor acting didn't matter; he received the kind of reaction he'd expected. "Albus! Don't move!" Came Scorp's yell.

But as the current began to take him further and further away from his friend and his sister, Albus was in a pure state of shock when his friend merely stood, staring at the water as if it were a foreign and terrifying thing; frozen in shock.

"I'm going -" Scorpius stuttered, "I'm going to get help!" He yelled after Albus, "J-just wait!"

He turned towards the little Lily Potter, who was wide-eyed and looked so innocent. "Come on, Lily!" He yelled, shaking the eleven year old. "We've got to get back to the house! Quickly, come on!"

But the redhead was still staring after her older brother, who was looking quite agitated as he bobbed down the river. "Is Albus going to be okay?" She asked simply. She was an intelligent young girl, and could tell by the look on her brother's face that this was another ploy to get rid of her.

"He won't be if we don't get your dad! Come on, Lily!"

The girl just shrugged and gave a light laugh. The blonde looked at her as if she'd grown another head. "What're you laughing at? Are you masochistic or something? Come on! We've got to go get help!"

Lily shook her head. "You aren't that easily fooled, are you, Scorp? He's just tricking you; couldn't you see his smug face all morning? He's just trying to get rid of me again."

Scorpius looked at her, bewildered. "You really think so?"

She snorted. "I know so. He constantly tries to get rid of me. You must be quite dense; haven't you noticed?"

Scorpius blushed slightly; he wasn't used to having feisty eleven year olds talk back to him, and her words sent a emotion that was far too heavily mingled with guilt for his liking towards his brain. "I'm sorry, Lily," he mumbled, embarrassed that he'd done nothing to stop Albus.

She waved him off. "Don't worry so much about it," she told him.

The pair were both quiet for a spell, neither one of them daring to break the awkward mood that had set in between them. Scorpius was first to cut in. "So what do we do now?"

A grin spread onto the younger's face. "What do we do now?" She laughed loudly. "Whatever we want, Scorpius! Whatever we want!"

They spent the next hours searching for the berries and wild fruits that Scorpius had been told about in Herbology over the last couple of years. They spent nearly an hour debating whether or not they would even find any plants with magical properties, but the debate was easily resolved when Lily picked up a glowing berry and proudly exclaimed that she had been right, and he wrong.

They ran through the babbling brook and Scorpius nearly ruined his clothes after slipping on a rock. They both had laughed and laughed about how much of a klutz the Malfoy was. They skipped rocks over the lake that was nearly hidden inside of the forest, and had spent the afternoon with Lily picking flowers to try and make bracelets out of, and Scorpius making fun of her for being such a girl. He'd eventually irked her enough where she gave up on her flowery jewelry and settled for chasing him around the meadow.

They were both collapsed there now, too tired and worn out to even think about moving. They had just fallen down from their tag game, both of them overcome with a bout of laughter. "My sides hurt, Scorpius!"

"It's your fault you went and decided to act all silly!"

"I'm silly?" She poked back, "you're the king of silly, Scorpius!"

"Am not," he said back. The two laid back, looking at the sky. The clouds seemed to swirl and intoxicate the air that surrounded them; the white, fluffy shapes were dancing in and out of the clear blue and managed to bring a smile to the two young kid's faces.

Lily pointed to the sky. "That's a rabbit," she exclaimed happily.

"A rabbit? It looks like a jaguar!"

"A Jaguar?" She asked inquisitively, "well, I've never seen an jaguar before," she told him.

"Never? Not even in pictures?"

"Well, of course in pictures!" Lily exclaimed, "but that's not the same! What did you think Hogwarts looked like before you really went? Was it the same as in all those pictures?"

Scorpius thought about what she said for a moment, before sleepily replying, "no. I guess you're right then. Pictures don't do anything justice. Make a note of it, Lily! You and I need to go and see a real jaguar one day."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Okay, Scorpius, whatever you say."

Scorpius smiled contentedly. "Hey Lily," he began.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what time it is? Our parents must be getting worried, and I want to go find out what happened to Albus-"

"Oh, who cares what time it is? I could live out here, I really could," she told him in a strong voice.

Scorpius propped himself up on his left arm, and looked at her, an amused look crossing his features. "Come on, you know you'd miss your mum. We better get going back, and you know it."

Lily nodded, and took Scorpius's hand when he offered to help her up. The two of them slowly made their way out of the brightly colored forest, and back to the red roofs and the yellow walls of the Potter family home. Albus was waiting for them there, his face very red, and his angry gaze pointed at none other than his little sister.

Albus was relieved when Scorpius did the good deed of not even bothering to askwhat had happened back there in the forest, and Albus decided to do the same. Dinner was served by Astoria and Ginny both, and after the drinks and been drunk, the plates cleaned, and the jokes told, it was time for the Malfoy's to bid the Potters ado.

Draco said goodbye with a tip of his chin, his wife with a hug. The children were gathered in a corner. "Goodbye, mate," Albus said, "you're coming over tomorrow, right?"

"'Course I am, Albus."

And with that, Albus ran off to go find James. Scorpius turned towards Lily. "Lily?" The blonde asked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

He offered a small smile. "How about tomorrow, we ditch Albus?"

It felt sort of funny ending it the way that I did, but If I ended it at the meadow like I wanted to, It would leave the possibility of Albus drowning to death in a river, and we can't have that, can we? No, sir.

Thank you for reading :)