Harry Potter One-shots

Running buddies (Crabbe)

Requested by GalaxyOctopus. Hope you like it!

***

Running had always been something you loved. It seemed refreshing and it could keep your mind off of things. It was just what you needed with everything happening at home, all of these things beyond your control.

The Tremblay family was a family of pure-bloods and like most pure-blood families you had heard of, your family too had problems. With all the rumours of your father cheating on your mother and your mother turning to drinks for support, it was truly not the best time your family had ever lived.

While running, you managed to stop thinking of everything and it was just you and the nature around you. And, since last year, a Slytherin boy that also ran around the same time as you did.

You had been running since your first year but during third year you'd found another person running at the same time as you did, at the crack of dawn. He was a pure-blood by the surname of Crabbe as far as you knew. He had been sorted in Slytherin and so, as you were a Ravenclaw, you hadn't had the chance to actually get to know him. The few things you knew about him indicated he wasn't really intelligent but then again, his appearance indicated he wasn't running, but he was.

Whenever you met him while running, you would nod and send him a smile and he would nod in return in passing. You had nener once spoken, though. There had been no further interaction.

Today you hadn't seen him anywhere, though. You couldn't afford to keep running, of course, as you had already covered the distance you usually covered and you were tired. You also had a long way to go to the Ravenclaw Tower and take a shower. It was best if you stopped now.

So that's what you did. You slowed down and after some time finally stopped. You stayed there for a moment to catch your breath. Not long later, you heard footsteps and looked up only to see Crabbe. A tired smile formed on your lips and finally, you decided to speak up.

"You're late today."

He slowed down and turned to face you, a smirk forming on his lips. "Maybe you just came early."

You were taken aback by how soft his voice actually sounded but you got over it soon enough as you shook your head with a smile. "No, I came at the usual time. You were the one who got here late."

"No, I wasn't."

"You were."

"I wasn't."

"You were, Crabbe," you folded your arms in front of your chest with a raised eyebrow.

"Check your watch, Tremblay," he smirked as he started jogging away. You watched him until he had left before slowly making your way up to the castle and from there, up to the Ravenclaw Tower.

Maybe you and Crabbe hadn't had much of a conversation, but you had talked for a while. And in your mind, that definitely was progress.

***

This went on for quite some time. You would see Crabbe as you ran and you would exchange a few words before you both went on your separate ways during the day. But after a while, you just couldn't keep this information from everyone any longer. In need to share what has been happening and to talk about it, you asked from your best friend, Padma, to sacrifice just one afternoon you would have been drawing something to talk about all that has been bothering you.

As you had expected from your best friend, Padma had been quite reluctant at first, especially after hearing exactly who that person was that accompanied you during your running. You had persuaded her though to sacrifice her drawing time for the afternoon with the promise that one day you'd do something similar for her. The way you saw it, with the Triwizard Tournament happening this year, you were certain she was going to ask you to talk to a boy or introduce you to anyone. After all, between the two of you, you were more social.