Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Happy one-year anniversary, Becca! Everyone, Becca (Aebbe) is one of my friends from Next-Gen Fanatics and she's simply awesome and so much fun to talk to! Congrats on your fanfiction anniversary! Hope you like this! :D

She likes to blow bubbles in the flower garden, and maybe that's why he keeps thinking about her.

When he first lays eyes on Lucy Weasley, he's running away from home.

"Hello," she greets, a picture of seven-year-old innocence, blinking down at him with bright blue eyes when he trips into her backyard. "Who are you?"

Scorpius, all of eight and his face streaked with dirt, looks up and thinks maybe she's an angel. "Sc – Scorpius," he manages after catching his breath. "Who are you?"

"Lucy," she answers brightly. "Why are you here?"

He straightens up, flashing her a proud smile. "I ran away from home!"

Lucy tilts her head, frowning in confusion, her sunflower blond curls glimmering in the light. "Why would you do that?"

"Because Mum had a stupid new baby. And it's a boy. And he smells. And he's not even a dragon!"

She looks sympathetic. "Oh, I'm sorry. He smells and he's not a dragon? That must be awful!"

Scorpius tries to determine if she's joking or serious and finally decides to just go with it. "It is! And he has the silliest name – Orion."

At this, though, she seems unimpressed. "Your name is Scorpius."

"Yeah, well – " He flounders uselessly for an insult, then gives up. "Whatever. What are you doing?"

Lucy waves a tiny bottle and stick in his face that he hadn't even noticed until now. "I'm blowing bubbles, silly! Wanna try?"

"How do you do it?" Scorpius asks dubiously.

She thrusts the stick into the bottle, pulls it out, places her mouth next to the little hole in one end of the stick, and blows.

Scorpius watches, wonderstruck, as a big, translucent bubble pops out of the hole and goes floating into the air. "Whoa! That's so cool!"

Lucy beams. "I know! Here, you try!"

Carefully, he accepts the bottle of bubbles and the stick from her. "Okay, so I just put it in like this – ?"

"And then pull it out and blow into the hole!" Lucy finishes, clapping her hands in delight.

Scorpius blows. A bubble materializes in front of him and goes drifting away into the wind. "Wow."

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Lucy smiles. "Do you want to stay and play?"

He opens his mouth to respond when a different voice does so for him – "No."

Lucy glances up at the person who's suddenly appeared behind him, and her eyes widen. "Oh, um…"

Scorpius whirls around. "Dad!"

Draco looks down at his son, half furious, half amused. "Scorpius, what were you thinking, running away from home? You've driven your mother into one of her panic modes, and we've been scouring the countryside looking for you and – "

Cautiously, Lucy raises her hand.

Draco stops in his rant and looks at her curiously. "Yes, Miss…?"

"Lucy," she introduces. "And he was just playing with me."

"He ran away from home," Draco deadpans as Scorpius looks nervously from his father to his newfound playmate.

"So we could blow bubbles!" Lucy finishes cheerfully, completely disregarding Draco's annoyed expression. "Show him, Scorpius!"

Quickly, Scorpius blows another bubble. It glides straight under an unimpressed Draco's nose.

"I see," drawls his father. "It was nice meeting you, Lucy. But Scorpius has to go home now."

Lucy pouts. "But I like him!"

Scorpius isn't quite sure if she's putting on an act or not, but he plays along. "Yeah, Dad, can't I play for just a little longer?"

Draco sighs, running a hand over his face – he never could refuse his son anything. "Five minutes, Scorpius. Then I'll take you home to whatever punishment your mother has decided on, all right?"

"All right," Lucy squeals in delight, beaming and taking hold of Scorpius's hand. "C'mon – let's go blow bubbles over the flowers!"

They spend the rest of the afternoon (despite Draco's protests) blowing bubbles in the flower garden, and it's probably the best afternoon of his life.

Years later, when they're both older and smarter and have (supposedly) outgrown silly, childish things like blowing bubbles, he runs into her in a Hogwarts courtyard.

"Hey, there, Lucy," Scorpius greets, sauntering in with his hands shoved in his pockets and attempting to affect a cool, disinterested air. He can't, though, not really, because every time he sees her, he thinks of her dancing around bubbles in that flower garden all those years ago, and he always smiles at the memory – (but don't tell her that).

Lucy looks up from her book, seeming surprised to see him there. "Oh, hello, Scorpius. What are you doing here?"

"Absolutely nothing," he confides, snickering. "But don't tell Rose – she thinks I'm studying."

She laughs. "All right, then, Mr. Slacker," she teases. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Scorpius shrugs. "I just wanted to talk. We haven't really seen each other since we were kids."

Lucy's smile turns wistful. "Yeah, when you ran away from home and we spent the entire day blowing bubbles. That was fun."

"It was," he agrees. "So much has changed since then."

"Yeah," she giggles. "You're apparently the most popular bloke in school, if one listens to the girls in my dormitory."

"That's all Al's fault," Scorpius grumbles. "He's the one who persuaded me to ask out Genevieve Dazette. Next thing I know, a dozen girls are lining up for Hogsmeade dates. I can't even keep track anymore!"

"Well," Lucy smiles playfully, "Genevieve is a bit of a gossip, you know."

He rolls his eyes, then slants a sidelong glance at her. "And what about you? Rumor has it – "

"You shouldn't listen to rumors," she interrupts firmly. "Else, I would think that you were just sleeping with Elizabeth Davies."

Scorpius makes a face. "Charming. I was going to ask you about that rumor about you and Lorcan Scamander."

Lucy pauses, carefully bookmarking her page and closing the book. "Lorcan's just a friend."

"Just a friend?" he tests, brushing his vanilla-blond bangs out of his face.

"Yes," she says. "Plus, I'm pretty sure he's in love with Lily."

Scorpius snorts. "Well, then."

Lucy hesitates, then says – "Do you want to blow bubbles?"

He raises an eyebrow, startled. "What?"

She blushes, but plows on, "Well, I mean, I was just feeling nostalgic – and I always carry a bottle of bubbles in my bag; it's sort of my good luck charm – and since you seemed to like it, I was wondering if – "

"Yes," he says simply, cutting across her explanation.

Her blue eyes widen. "Really?"

"Of course." Scorpius flashes her a smile. "I love blowing bubbles with you."

She beams and pulls out her bottle of bubbles. "Do you want to do the honors?"

Grinning, he reaches over, his hand brushing hers, and opens the bottle before taking the stick and plunging it into the soap.

Lucy's smile is really pretty, he notes absently as he pulls the the stick out.

"Go on," she urges, blue eyes bright with excitement.

Scorpius blows the bubble, and it materializes in front of her face, a soapy, see-through sphere. Through it, he can see her smile, brighter than ever, and suddenly, all he wants to do is lean over and pop the bubble and –

So he does.

Lucy kisses him back after a moment, and she tastes like bubbles and sugar quills, her body warm and light against his, and his world is spinning, taking him back to that heavenly afternoon together – except he kinda thinks maybe this one is a bit better.

"We should blow bubbles more often," she whispers when they pull apart for air, her hands still on his shoulders and her breath still sweet on his face.

"We should," he agrees, laughing, and then reclaims her lips for another bubble-flavored kiss.

Author's Notes: Don't favorite without reviewing, please and thank you :) If you read it, please do drop me a review and tell me what you thought! Thank you!