Come Running

By the side of the tracks where the train goes by
The wind and the rain will catch you, you will sigh
Deep in your heart
Then you’ll come a-running to me
You’ll come a-running to me

Ginny stretched out her taut muscles, enjoying the feel of the light breeze through her hair. It was almost dusk and the air was just starting to cool from the hot, hectic day. The sun was about to set. All in all, it was the perfect time to go for a run.

She set out on the path beside the lake, starting at a light jog but soon settling into an easy lope. Running belonged to her in a way that was difficult to achieve in a family such as hers; none of her brothers enjoyed the sport as she did, and it allowed her to have some time to herself. She felt she could run forever without tiring.

Lost in thought, it took Ginny a moment to realise when someone fell into step beside her. She glanced to the side and almost stopped dead. Draco Malfoy was running with her. He wasn’t looking at her though. In fact, he hardly seemed to know she was there. Ginny shrugged. As long as he wasn’t saying nasty things about her family or friends, she didn’t mind a companion. She regained her stride and the two ran in silence for several minutes.

Running with someone was very different from running alone, Ginny found. Rather than letting her mind wander and simply revelling in the joy of exercise, she found her thoughts returning to Malfoy again and again. His behaviour was strange, to say the least, and it aroused her curiosity. Finally, Ginny broke the silence.

“You run.” It wasn’t a question; Draco had the gait of a natural runner.

“Yeah, well. You don’t get muscle tone from sitting on a broomstick.”

“No? I always thought. . . I mean, I’ve never seen Harry exercise except for Quidditch practice.”

Draco snorted. “Potter’s just scrawny. But you don’t get a build like this,” he nodded to himself, “without a bit of work.”

“Hmm.”

“So why didn’t you jump to your boyfriend’s defense there?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Ginny replied automatically. “And why should I care anyway?”

Draco shrugged. “He’d come to yours, I’m sure. And isn’t that what you Gryffindors do best? All for one and all that?”

“He’d just as easily come to Neville’s defense, or Dennis Creevey for that matter. It isn’t as if I mean anything to him.” Ginny was surprised at the bitter tone in her voice. She hadn’t meant to be quite so fervent.

Draco nodded and let the silence resume.

Well you watch the train go ’round the bend
Play in the dust and dream that it will never end
Deep in your heart
You’ll come a-running to me
You’ll come a-running to me

“Why do you run, then?” Draco asked eventually.

Ginny lifted her eyebrows and thought for a moment. “I suppose to get away from it all.” She laughed shortly. “The common room is. . . noisy. It’s nice to have a bit of time to yourself.”

“Ah.”

“It just gets frustrating after a while, you know?” Ginny continued. “Seeing them all together, all the time. And you just need to get away. . .” she trailed off.

“I know,” Draco answered, so softly Ginny almost didn’t hear. They lapsed into silence for another few minutes until the redhead flashed her companion a sudden smile.

“Hey, race you to that oak there?” Ginny nodded to an old tree about a hundred metres away. Draco only grinned in answer. The two were shortly flying down the path, almost neck and neck. Draco reached the tree an instant before Ginny and leaned against it, panting heavily. Ginny laughed. “You might have let me win!”

Draco shook his head, grinning. “Slytherins don’t do chivalrous. And I don’t lie.” Ginny found, as odd as it seemed, that she believed him.

With your hound dog by your side
And your arms stretched open wide
I wanna keep you satisfied in the morning sun
By my side, come on, come on run


Draco straightened and nodded towards the path. “Let’s go. It isn’t getting any lighter out here.” They had circled around half the lake already, and had another fifteen minutes or so before they would reach the castle. They ran in silence; a thought had occurred to Ginny, but she wasn’t sure she had the courage to voice it. She remembered Draco’s assertion of Slytherin qualities and Gryffindor’s vaunted bravery. She spoke.

“Is that why you run, too?” Draco looked at her. “I mean, besides the exercise. To get away from your housemates.”

Draco made a noncommittal noise and Ginny gathered that she had stepped beyond the boundaries of acceptable topics of conversation. A moment later, though, the Slytherin spoke.

“I suppose. They’re really not that interesting, especially after six years.”

“Oh.” Ginny was a bit surprised at this. Slytherin males had that je-ne-sais-quoi, a sort of bad boy mystique that made them very popular with the other houses -- particularly Hufflepuff. As Draco was one of the most popular, his feud with Harry adding to his charisma, it was rather astonishing to hear him denounce his housemates as uninteresting. On the other hand, perhaps he was referring to Crabbe and Goyle. Not even the most naive of Hufflepuffs believed those two to be good company.

Ginny shook her hair back and dismissed her speculations. It didn’t matter why Draco thought his housemates were uninteresting. People did become predictable when you lived with them. And there were better things they could be talking about.

And you kick the sand up with your heels
You think to yourself how good it feels
Put away all your walking shoes
Then you come running to me
Now you come running to me


“Were you referring to the Slytherin girls as well as the boys?” Ginny asked.

Draco raised an eyebrow and Ginny smiled innocently. “They can be a bit. . . clingy,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh. . . curiosity. Wondering how different you really are from us.” Ginny shrugged. “So you’re single, then?”

At this, Draco laughed. “Not so different as you might expect, I think. And yes. Are you?”

Ginny gave him a sideways look. “If I weren’t, would I be running here with you?”

“That depends who you were dating,” Draco grinned wolfishly.

I said, hey, come a-running to me
Oh, come a-running to me
Hey, yeah, come a-running to me

“Are you suggesting anything?” Ginny asked, laughing. Draco came to a stop and she followed suit. The blond boy titled his head to the side and regarded Ginny a moment, thinking.

“No,” he answered finally, “but if you ever need anything. . . you know where to run.” He nodded to himself, then turned and started back to the castle.

Ginny stood on the path some moments before following. When she reached Gryffindor Tower, she was smiling and humming softly to herself.

You gotta rainbow if you run to me.