She was only nine when she first met him. He was almost twelve and had just survived his first year at Hogwarts. Of course, his father and Mr. Potter had assured him many times that the later years of Hogwarts were definitely much more difficult, young Scorpius Malfoy had yet to be convinced. He was fairly certain the first year was the hardest. He didn't know what was wrong with his father and Albus', but they were totally wrong.

Though Scorpius had made friends throughout the year, it wasn't quite everything he'd imagined. The Slytherin dungeons were not cold and lifeless, or at least that was what he'd been told by Slytherins in his year. Defying logic, as it would seem, Scorpius Malfoy had been placed in Ravenclaw, and was to date the only Malfoy not to be in Slytherin. Of course, he'd lost any respect from his peers in Slytherin who had written him off as a Greengrass, but Scorpius couldn't really pinpoint the problem in taking after his mother's heritage. Sure, his father might've been up in arms the first month, but eventually he got over it. It seemed not many others had, though.

Albus, who eventually became Scorpius' closest friend, was promptly placed in Gryffindor, and had tried to explain the pride of being a Potter in Gryffindor to Scorpius. The blonde was not grasping the idea, and eventually Albus gave up. Scorpius was simply not the type to put much stock in the decision of a charmed hat. Perhaps he was his mother's son after all.

After the pair had escaped the clutches of their professors, Albus quickly ran from the red train to greet his waiting parents. Lily had wanted to hug her favorite brother, but Albus paid her no attention as he called Scorpius over. At first, little Lily had resented Scorpius as she glared up at the blonde boy with narrowed blue eyes. Before Hogwarts, Albus had fawned over her, and now she'd been replaced. And by a boy, no less.

Though Ginny and Harry had heard a lot about the young Malfoy, but they had never met him in person. Both were pleasantly surprised by the boy's genuine smile and shy nature. He resembled his father so closely that it was almost odd for the couple to see his face contorted into an actual smile instead of some smirk. And his father had never been so calm and collected either.

After some insisting, Albus convinced his parents to let Scorpius spend a part of the summer at the Potter house and after Albus would venture into the Malfoy world with Scorpius. Of course, they had to get permission from Scorpius' parents as well, which wasn't too difficult a task to complete. If their son was going to spend time anywhere other than home and Hogwarts, the Potter house was as safe as it was going to get.

When Scorpius first arrived, Lily hadn't been very fond of him, and James enjoyed having a second person around to pick on and irritate. Lily was actually bored with Scorpius around the house, because instead of having Albus to play and interact with, she was left alone. And she'd already entertained herself as much as she could with her parents during the school year. The summer was supposed to be for her and Albus, but Scorpius had effectively ruined that.

Ginny and Harry were not oblivious to their young daughter's outlook on Albus' social life, but it was fairly harmless. With four children to care for, they didn't really want to intervene and risk creating more problems than those that currently existed. So they simply stood by watching Lily master the glare as she was forced to sit beside Scorpius. He, too, noticed her behavior, but as the polite well-mannered boy he was, he simply ignored it. He didn't ignore her, just the way she ignored him.

Eventually, the day came when Albus and James would have to go see their grandparents after being away for all of the school year. Ginny had decided to take the boys so that Scorpius could spend time with Harry learning how to master some basic flying techniques. She felt it was probably easier on her family as well as on Scorpius if he didn't accompany them to the Weasley house. Lily had also opted to stay home. She saw her numerous aunts, uncles, young cousins, and grandparents frequently during the school year and wasn't up for another trip. Besides, everyone was too busy fawning over recently returned cousins from Hogwarts to notice her.

Though she was young, her father was teaching her how to fly as well, so long as she promised to keep it a secret from her mother. Neither wanted to repeat the mistake of teaching James to fly at an early age. Well, actually, Harry had taught Albus to fly before Hogwarts also, but he'd learned from mistakes and by the third child, he'd perfected the art. He wasn't sure how well it was going to work, but he decided to have Scorpius and Lily practice their flying together, Scorpius on Albus' broom and Lily on an old spare one he'd shrunk to fit her small size.

Scorpius took to flying very well, and Harry noticed the pair actually matched up decently. Lily did take after her mother in many ways, only one of which was her natural talent of flying. As the pair zoomed through the air over the empty space near the Potter house, Harry only watched to make sure nobody fell off of their broom. He was glad they were just school children, because the way Lily glared at Scorpius made him nervous of what could happen if she carried her own wand. After all, she was her mother's daughter.

Eventually, Scorpius flew down to the ground and landed with more grace than Harry had expected. It had taken Albus quite a while to stop slowly, and the first few times he'd actually managed to throw himself from the broom. Following behind him, Lily hovered just over the ground, as she stared at him.

"Everything ok?" Harry asked as he neared the pair and Lily turned to him.

"I'm just tired." Scorpius answered.

"He's just slow." Lily commented and Harry drew in a breath as he turned to Lily. He couldn't recall if Ginny had that sharp of a tongue, but she'd been so shy around him as a child that she was almost nonexistent until years later.

"Lily, that's not a nice thing to say." Harry said and Lily's face contorted as she turned away and stared up at the sky like the stubborn child she was.

"I can beat him in a race." Lily declared confidently as she turned to Scorpius and he turned back to her. In the short time Harry had been around Scorpius, he had never seen him get so angry. So far, he'd been more than accepting of Lily's behavior, but Lily had finally pushed him too far.

"No you couldn't!" Scorpius argued back, and Harry had no intention of intervening. Perhaps he shouldn't let children argue, but he already raised two boys through their younger more troublesome years. If he'd learned anything at all, it was that a single argument rarely changed anything.

"Then prove it!"

"Well," Harry said and the two turned to him. "Why don't you face out to the tree?" He purposed as he pointed to the large tree in the distance. It wasn't too far, but far enough to where their childish arguing would be out of earshot. He'd had his share of arguments, but he could not remember ever arguing about such trivial things that his children had argued about on what seemed like a daily basis. Ginny only said it was part of having a big family, and Harry was inclined to agree.

"Ok." Scorpius agreed as he climbed onto his broom and kicked off of the ground. He wobbled slightly as he hovered, but Harry knew a little wobbling wasn't any indicator of slow flying. Lily, who had much less experience with flying, pointed her broom towards the tree confidently. After Harry counted to three, the two zoomed off.

Scorpius had quickly pulled ahead of Lily. His form was simply better than Lily's, even though she weighed significantly less than the older boy. Scorpius' hands were together on the broom stick and further up than Lily's. Lily was only nine, and Harry hadn't yet taught her proper form for speed flying. As they neared the halfway mark, Harry noticed Lily had begun to catch up to Scorpius, but as he turned to the boy, he saw Scorpius starting to straighten his back slowly. As he moved to a more upright position, his hands moved closer to his body, and he slowed down enough for Lily to catch him. For the majority of the way left to the tree, Scorpius kept Lily's pace easily until the very end when he slowed again.

"I told you I'd win!" Lily declared as she turned around and stared at Scorpius. Harry stared at Scorpius with narrowed eyes, but Scorpius didn't turn to Harry. He only shrugged his shoulders as he touched down to the ground.

"You're a really fast flyer, Lily. You should play Quidditch when you go to Hogwarts." Scorpius commented and Harry did his best not to let a dry laugh pass his lips. He knew Scorpius' father had been manipulative and conniving, and it seemed Scorpius had inherited those traits. The glaring difference, however, was how Scorpius put them to use. Harry had never been in favor of letting people win for the sake of ending an argument, but when a nine year old little girl competing for her brother's attention was involved, he was sure exception could be made. Or perhaps it was simply because she was his daughter and Scorpius had still been nice to her when she hadn't deserved it.

"I want to be in Gryffindor." Lily declared as she touched to the ground as well and sat on the grass in the shade of the tree. Scorpius sat in front of her as he smiled and nodded.

"Like your brothers?"

"Like everyone!"

"It's not bad to be in another House, though." Scorpius commented, his voice carrying something Lily was too young and naive to understand.

"I'll go get us some drinks," Harry told them and they both nodded and smiled at him before he started to fly back to the house. Peering over his shoulder, he watched the pair talking and smiling, and it seemed that their arguing had finally ended. He took his time getting drinks for the two children, but it seemed they hadn't noticed at all.