Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter world, they all belong to JK Rowling, Warner Bros and company.

Okay. This is a new one-shot. I aimed for it to be an adorable little fic that tells of Albus Severus' and Scorpius Malfoy's first meeting when they are four years old, on Halloween night, so I'm hoping I reached that. They are both Trick or Treating, or Guising, whatever you want to call it, with hints of Albus/Scorpius if you squint.

This fic is based on a drawing of the Potters and strangers all dressed up as Harry on Halloween, and the picture of Albus in his costume in the photo next to the summary of this fic is what inspired me to write this. The drawing was just too cute. Enjoy!

Their First Meeting

The Potters were all ready to go out. Every single one of them were dressed up, including the parents. It was Halloween night, and Harry and Ginny were taking their children Trick or Treating. It was only the fourth year after Voldemort's defeat, but people were still celebrating. Mainly by going out at night because they can, and dressing up as different versions of Harry Potter. Especially on Halloween. Only last year, Harry had spotted siblings, both boys, Trick or Treating. One was dressed as a seventeen year old Harry Potter, and the other dressed as Voldemort. They were pretending to have a battle right there in the street, only stopping to stare in awe at the real Harry Potter when he passed with Ginny and the kids. He had smiled at them and nodded before continuing on. He figured this year will most likely be the same.

James had insisted on dressing up as his latest idol; a drummer in a Muggle rock band. Lily had insisted on being a princess for the night despite being treated as one every day, and Albus, though not the youngest but definitely the more quiet and shyest out of the three, wanted a costume that would cover the majority of himself. They eventually decided on a cute monster costume for him, similar to Sully from the Muggle movie, Monsters Inc. Ginny wore a costume similar to her daughter's, which made Lily declare that she could be the queen. Harry just stuck on a headband with small wings attached to it, and if anyone asked, he was the Greek God Hermes.

The night was cold, so Harry cast a Warming Charm on all of them that would allow them to go out into the evening without coats and jackets. Harry held Lily's hand while James held onto one of Ginny's hands, Albus holding the other. Though Harry had defeated Voldemort, there were a very small group of witches and wizards wanting revenge, and Harry and Ginny made sure their kids never wandered far from them, not while they couldn't defend themselves. Especially on Halloween, when it was the perfect time for someone to attack as it would be easy to dress up and blend in with the Trick or Treaters. Harry also made sure that each of his children knew what to do if an attack were to come if they were in public; they were to find some place to hide, somewhere small enough that would be overlooked, and not to come out until Harry or Ginny got them. They knew that their children would be the ones on top of the list the witches and wizards wanting revenge would have, including Ron and Hermione's kids.

The night started off as fun, James ending up meeting up with some of his friends with whom he had play dates with. All the adults cooed over Lily and her innocent smile and laughed at James being boisterous, but the majority seemed to look over the middle child, only commenting on how he had his father's eyes. Albus just stayed close to his parents, watching everyone else. He was only ever loud when he was playing with James, but James was preoccupied with his friends. They passed a group of kids dressed as Harry in his school days, all with fake round glasses and lightning bolt shaped scars painted onto their foreheads. They even saw a zombie-Harry walk past, dressed in tattered school robes with a holey Gryffindor scarf. Albus shrunk away from him.

"Don't be such a baby, Al. It's only Malcolm." James said, prodding and laughing at his brother. Sometimes, you would forget Albus was the middle child and not the youngest.

"Daddy, why are they all dressed like you?" Lily asked, tugging on her father's hand.

Harry flushed and grinned sheepishly, scratching at the back of his neck in an awkward manner. "Er... You see... Daddy did something that was really, really good, and some people are still celebrating." He still got embarrassed whenever an admirer made themselves known.

It was on the way back to the house after a couple of hours Trick or Treating that it happened. Black smoke filled the streets as people in black robes with pointed hoods and silver masks Apparated into the street, immediately throwing destructive spells around at the houses. The few witches and wizards who were still out protected the houses they could, and the kids ran as they screamed in fear. Harry, his reflexes as fast as ever, whipped out his wand and cast protective shields around his family. Him and Ginny began shooting spells at the leftover Death Eaters, or ones pretending to be them, as Harry shouted for his children to run and hide. Duels broke out all over the street.

James, Albus and Lily ran in fear, just like the other kids. In the chaos that followed the appearance of the masked people, Albus tripped over his costume's tail and fell, letting out a cry as he tumbled to the ground, scraping his knees. Tears sprang into his eyes as he tried to look for his brother and sister, but they were gone. The four year old let out a sob as he stood, trying to look for a hiding spot. His knees were throbbing and his hands were scraped.

"Psst!" The middle Potter turned his head as he heard the hiss, blinking back tears. "Over here!" Albus turned again, seeing a small pale hand poking out from under a large bush and waving at him.

Albus tentatively walked over to the waving hand and crouched down in front of the bush. "Who are you?" He whispered. He could still hear shouts and screaming from the fighting.

"I'm Scorpius. You can hide with me. I saw you fall."

Albus hesitated before crawling under the bush. His costume largely protected him from getting even more scratched, but crawling meant the throbbing in his knees hurt more. He managed to see the other boy when he was fully under. Scorpius had a pale face with slate grey eyes and white blonde hair. But he had a friendly smile that made Albus give a small smile back.

"I'm Albus." He said quietly.

"Are you scared?" Scorpius asked.

Albus nodded despite being afraid that the other boy will laugh at him, but he just smiled wider, and Albus was surprised to feel a small, warm hand sliding into his and squeezing.

"Me too." Scorpius whispered.

Albus just shyly squeezed his hand back, trying to give the other boy some comfort.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Scorpius spoke up again after a while of listening to the noises coming from the fight.

Albus shook his head before whispering, "Do you want me to?"

"No, I like it."

They laid there under the bush in more silence. It felt like they had been there for hours. Albus wondered if Daddy and Mummy will be coming back. What if they found James and Lily, but never found him? He sniffled at the thought, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. What if the bad people found him first?

"Are you okay, Al?"

Albus wiped his eyes with the hem of his sleeve before giving a small nod.

"But you're crying."

"Am not." Albus mumbled.

"I can hear you."

Albus slipped his hand out of Scorpius' and made to crawl out from under the bush, but a hand grabbed at the back of his costume that was surely dirty by now. He didn't like it when other people saw him cry because James said boys don't cry, and if they do then they were still babies. Albus wasn't a baby, he was four!

"No, wait!" Scorpius protested. "I'm sorry. Come back, please?"

Albus bit his lip before laying back down next to the blonde.

"Can I call you Scorp? Only because you called me Al..." Albus trailed off.

"Of course! We're friends, and friends give each other nicknames."

Albus' eyes widened. He had always shared James and Lily's friends, and his friends were their friends too. He had never had one to himself before.

"Best friends?" He whispered, scared of the answer.

"Best friends." Scorpius promised, pulling his new friend closer and hugging him.

Despite being four himself, Scorpius could tell that his new friend was of the quiet sort, and also extremely shy. He continued to hug him, getting the feeling that his friend was more scared than himself.

They stayed like that, Scorpius hugging Albus and Albus clinging to him, until they could hear the fighting in the streets dying down and then parents calling for their children. They listened hard for their own names, but they couldn't hear anybody shouting for them yet.

"Scorp? What if no one finds us?" Albus asked.

"They will. And if they don't, we can go looking ourselves."

"But my Daddy told me I wasn't to come out of hiding until him or Mummy comes to get me."

"Well, I can go looking and you stay here until I come back with someone."

"Okay." Albus quickly agreed. He didn't want to argue with his new friend who seemed to like him even if he was quiet.

"Scorpius!" They heard someone shout.

Scorpius and Albus shared a look.

"Daddy!" Scorpius finally shouted back. "Daddy, I'm here!"

"Scorpius?!"

Scorpius tugged on Albus' hand as he crawled out from under the bush, pulling Albus along with him despite Albus having said he wasn't to come out until his parents came looking.

"Scorpius?" The voice was closer to them now, and they both turned to find a tall male standing a few feet away from the bush they had been hiding in. He was the identical image of his son.

Scorpius ran towards his father who knelt and held out his arms for his son to run into. He hugged his father tightly, not feeling scared anymore. It had been terrifying hiding in the bush to wait for Daddy, even if Al did come along a few minutes after he had gotten under the bush. Oh!

"Daddy! Look, I made a new friend! We hid under the bush together!" The small blonde jumped around excitedly, pulling Daddy along to where Al was still standing.

Now they were out of the darkness of the bush and into the brightness of the street, Albus could see that his new friend was dressed like some kind of bear, with a furry brown hat on his head, complete with small round ears. He watched as the two blondes walked towards him, and he shrank back. The tall blonde, Scorpius' father, knelt down in front of the scared child.

"Hello. I'm Draco Malfoy. I hear you are Scorpius' new friend?"

Albus nodded, not daring to speak. Scorpius let go of his father's hand only to latch onto Albus' tightly.

"He's scared that his Mummy and Daddy won't come looking for him, Daddy. Can we keep him, please?"

Draco chuckled at his son's antics, but shook his head.

"He's not a pet, Scorpius." He turned to the other child. "I'm sure your Mummy and Daddy are worried about you just as much as you were worrying about them. What's your name?"

"Albus." The middle Potter child whispered, looking at his feet.

Draco raised his brows in recognition, despite not expecting a Potter child to be quiet and shy. Though come to think of it, whenever there were photos of the family in the newspapers, there was always one child hiding behind his father's or mother's legs, only peeking out when his parents encouraged him to. His eyes glanced at the children's hands, Scorpius holding tightly onto Albus, who was the slightly smaller of the two though they were of the same age. He smiled at them. Scorpius was always protective and possessive of the things he thought belonged to him, though perhaps it was time he had a lesson in how people aren't things to possess. Draco's eyes swept over the Potter, noting how he allowed Scorpius to hold onto him tightly. In fact, he looked as if he didn't care about Scorpius' possessiveness at all.

"Come. We'll help you look for your parents." Draco stood, brushing himself off.

"Daddy, can you fix Al's knees and hands? He fell when he was running and hurt them. He's just too shy to ask."

"Of course." Draco took out his wand and cast a quick healing spell on Potter's child.

"Does it hurt anymore, Al?" Scorpius asked, fussing over the shorter boy.

"No." He answered, turning to his friend's daddy. "Thank you, Mr Draco."

Draco smiled. He had to admit, this Potter child was adorable, especially dressed in a cute monster costume. He took Scorpius' hand, who in turn wouldn't let go of Albus, and they all walked into the main street where the fighting and duelling had started. Draco quickly spotted the other Potters, Mrs Potter née Weasley saying something frantically to the bespectacled Potter. Draco guessed it was about not being able to find Albus, considering she had the eldest and the youngest Potter child in each hand. Draco walked over to them, Scorpius and Albus following.

"I found someone who may belong to you, Potter." Draco said.

"Albus!" Ginny Potter exclaimed, immediately moving to hug her middle child.

Albus shyly hugged her back. "I'm sorry Mummy, I waited just like you and Daddy told us to, but it was ages, and Scorpius' Daddy found us. They helped me look for you."

"It's alright, honey. I'm just glad you are safe." She kissed his forehead before straightening.

"Thank you, Malfoy." Harry was saying.

Draco shrugged, somewhat uncomfortably. "It was no problem, really."

"Still. Albus is the most quietest one out of the three, he's hard to find if he's hiding."

"I noticed." Draco answered.

They both turned their attention to Albus and Scorpius, the latter bouncing around excitedly.

"You're a Potter! Why didn't you say?" The young Malfoy was exclaiming.

Albus only smiled at his new best friend shyly, his eyes wide at Scorpius' excitement.

"I see they have made friends." Harry commented, chuckling quietly.

"Indeed they have." Draco smiled fondly at his son. "Scorpius can make friends with most anyone."

"That's good. I'm afraid I can't say the same for Albus. He's painfully shy. Ginny and I... We actually worry about him sometimes. We worry about when it's time for him to go to Hogwarts. If he stays shy, we don't know if he'll be able to make friends."

"I'm sure he'll be out of his shell by then." Draco said.

"They seem to have gotten really close in the short amount of time they had together."

Draco nodded. "Maybe... Well, Scorpius can be boisterous when he wants to be. Perhaps we can arrange play dates with him and Albus. He might be able to draw Albus out of his shell."

"That will be great." Harry agreed. "I'll owl you later about future dates?"

It was Harry this time who, almost two decades after their first proper meeting, held out his hand first to Draco. Draco looked at it before extending out his own and shaking it.

"Come along, Scorpius. It's time to go home. I'm sure Mummy is worried."

"What about Al, Daddy? Can't we keep him?" Scorpius looked up at his father, his bottom lip jutting out and trembling. He continued to keep a tight hold of Albus.

"If you're good, maybe Albus can come and play tomorrow, alright? But now it's almost your bedtime, and I'm sure Albus is getting tired too."

"Okay, Daddy." Scorpius said sadly.

The young blonde turned to Albus, hugging him tightly.

"I'll promise to be good so you can come and play, okay? You can meet all my other friends, and we can play princesses and dragons and princes." Spotting Albus' worried look, the blonde quickly added, "But you're my best friend, okay Al? You can be the princess when we play, and I'll be the prince that saves you. You're only mine, alright?"

Draco was about to correct his son-people weren't possessions, for Merlin's sake-but he held his tongue when he saw the middle Potter smile brightly.

"Yours." Albus said shyly, nodding in agreement.

Ginny cooed at the pair of them, secretly hoping they'll stay friends for years, and possibly something more when they've grown up.

"Dad, can you see them?"

A young blonde, though taller now than he was when he was four, was jumping up and down, trying to look over the sea of heads on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"Scorpius, calm down. I'm sure Al will be here soon."

Scorpius blushed lightly. "I was talking about all of the Potters." He muttered.

"Yes, but Al is your best friend, isn't he?"

"Of course!"

Squeals could suddenly be heard, and Draco sighed in sympathy. That must mean the Potters had made an appearance. All these years, and they were still being scrutinised by the public. Draco decided to help his son get his trunk into a carriage on the train, just so the Potter family could have time to do the same to their two children who would attend Hogwarts this year. Draco knew their eldest was already going into his third year, whereas their middle child and his own son was going into their first.

"Al!" Draco heard his son shout. He turned to find Scorpius running to the Potters, reaching his best friend and pulling him into a hug. Draco smiled, slowly making his way towards them, Astoria, his wife, following behind as she giggled behind her hand.

"Excited for our first year, Al?" Scorpius was saying.

"Nervous, actually." Albus answered. He was still quiet and shy when he talked, but he was more open than when he was younger.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Scorpius declared, eyes fierce. "I'll even ask if we can be in the same House, if you want."

"Thank you, Scorp." Albus whispered, squeezing his best friend's hand. He hoped they will be in the same House as he didn't really have any other friends he was close to and felt comfortable around.

"Any time, Al. I told you before, I'll be your prince and save you from anything. You're mine." Scorpius smiled at his shy friend.

Albus allowed himself to be pulled into another hug, whispering like he had seven years before.

"Yours."