A Stroll in Your Shoes

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter world, characters, etc…

Warning: There are quite a few lewd references, but it’s not really enough to make this story R. If you’re offended by it, I guess you shouldn’t read it. *shrugs*

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews!! They really made my day!! I also have to apologise for another long wait. I had half the chapter written ages ago, but with one thing or another I didn’t end up finishing it until today.

Coming Clean

Draco squinted as the sun attacked his sleepy eyelids and forced them open, making him blink blearily as the ceiling slowly came into focus. He blinked, once, twice and then finally sat up only to fall back again with a yelp as he saw Hermione staring straight at him, her face very close.

“What the hell were you doing?” He demanded, clutching the blankets to his chin, even though he was in Ginny’s body.

Hermione laughed and stood up straight, stretching slightly so that her pyjama top rode up to show an expanse of bare flesh on her stomach. Draco swallowed as his eyes glanced at the smooth skin before quickly pulling his eyes away to look back at her face. How he hated being in this situation, especially with her…

“I was about to wake you up.”

Draco frowned, giving her an odd look. “You couldn’t have just called out to me?”

“You didn’t wake up when I did that,” Hermione replied somewhat tartly.

“Well I’m awake now, as you can see.” He pushed the covers off his body and stepped on the floor, giving her another odd look before moving to Ginny’s drawers. He noticed Hermione take a seat on the bed he had just left out of the corner of his eye, feeling her eyes watching him as he opened the drawers and started pulling out clothes. What the hell was her problem?

“Is there something you wanted to ask me?” he asked, turning back to look at her.

“Not particularly,” Hermione said with a shrug, though Draco could tell there was something on her mind. In truth he wasn’t really sure he wanted to know what was bothering her. She was acting weird….

“Well do you mind, I want to get dressed…”

Hermione just snorted slightly. “Okay, I get the point, I’ll leave you to it.”

“Good,” Draco said in a rather rude voice and watched her leave. Heaving out a sigh, he tossed the clothes in his hand on the bed and started pulling off his pyjamas, smothering a yawn as he finished getting undressed.

As he was just about to put on the ever-annoying bra, a loud tapping started on the window. Literally jumping from fright, Draco turned and stopped dead when he saw a familiar owl.

“Is that Blaise’s owl?” He mumbled to himself, moving forward and opening the window to let the owl in. It deposited a letter into his hands and ruffling its feathers a moment took back off out the window. Frowning to himself, Draco unfolded the letter and stared at the words, his eyes narrowing slightly as he wondered what had happened for Blaise to demand a meeting with him. The letter read:

Draco,

Meet me in the wood near the Weasleys’ house at Noon. We have to talk.

Blaise

The door opened and for the third time that day Draco was jumping out of his skin. Turning wildly at the noise, he just stood there in yellow knickers, mouth dropping open in surprise and slight exasperation as he stared once more at Hermione.

“Merlin, Granger, don’t you ever knock?”

Hermione just huffed. “You take forever to get dressed, and you should really try to be more considerate of Ginny’s feelings here and not prance around nearly naked in her body.”

“Well I have to get dressed somehow don’t I? And have showers, and do everything else which involves me taking off clothes from her body….”

His cheeks were rather pink by the end of his speech. He didn’t like the look Hermione was giving him, almost as if she was accusing him of purposely trying to perve on Ginny’s body, which was not at all the case. Okay, maybe the first day it had been the case, but he really didn’t have much choice in the matter once it turned out they were going to be stuck in each other’s bodies. Besides, Ginny would also have seen him naked plenty of times being in his body... It was something they both wisely did not mention when they saw each other….

“You could at least try to cover up,” Hermione said with an exasperated sigh, since Draco was still just standing there not doing anything to hide his lack of clothing.

“Well forgive me for being a little surprised to have you barge back on here uninvited,” he snapped, and chucked the letter on his bed as he resumed getting dressed, not bothering to tell her to go away this time. There really was no point, and she’d probably think he was just trying to cop a sneaky feel of Ginny’s body if he did anyway, which would only lead to more problems….

“Who was that from?” Hermione asked, watching him pull on some faded blue jeans. Draco did up the buttons and glanced at her, knowing she was meaning the letter.

“Blaise,” he answered shortly, still feeling worried as to why Blaise had sent him a letter. They had agreed not to do it in order to stop people from getting suspicious, so obviously it was important whatever Blaise wanted to talk to him about….

“What for? Did something happen to Ginny?” Hermione asked anxiously.

Draco shrugged, pulling a black jumper over his head. “I don’t know; he didn’t say anything other than we needed to talk and that I should meet him at noon in the wood near here.”

“Do you want me to come?”

Draco looked at her appraisingly for a moment. “He didn’t say to invite you, so no…”

“Alright…” Hermione replied, though he could tell she wanted to come; he just doubted she would push matters with him since thankfully he was not one of her idiotic friends like Harry and Ron….

Grabbing the hairbrush and walking over to the mirror, Draco started to brush Ginny’s long red hair, ignoring Hermione now as he fell into his own thoughts. Something was making him feel uncomfortable, and it was all because of that stupid letter….

OOO

The morning was spent relatively normal for a day at the Weasleys. Draco was practically force fed breakfast by Mrs Weasley until he was sick, Hermione took great amusement in making him play on Ron’s team for the game of Quidditch they played while she played with Harry, and in the end Draco’s nerves were so stretched from being in such close proximity with everyone that by the time the sun was signalling noon he couldn’t wait to get away from the Burrow and meet Blaise.

At least he has sense and isn’t irritating like those twits…

Hermione was the only one he could tolerate, but even then he still found her annoying. He did appreciate her efforts in helping him to have a smoother time in Ginny’s body, but he just couldn’t get over the fact that she was in the end a know-it-all mudblood.

Grumbling still to himself, Draco walked into the small wood, passing giant leafy trees that sheltered the wild flowers, and followed a small path until he saw Blaise leaning against a tree, his expression rather agitated.

“Good. You came.” Blaise said in relief, pushing himself away from the tree and taking a step forward.

“Yeah…” Draco said warily. “What’s this about, Blaise? I thought we agreed it would be better we didn’t meet or write letters?”

Blaise sighed and ran an agitated hand through his dark hair. “I kissed Ginny.”

At first Draco thought he hadn’t heard him right. There was no possible way that Blaise Zabini, his best friend, had kissed Ginny Weasley- a girl who was so ridiculous and so irritating, and well she was in his damn body for goodness sakes!!

“YOU WHAT?”

Blaise cringed and gave him a sheepish expression. “Look, I know this seems weird but-”

“Weird?!” Draco repeated with a snarl. “You freaking kissed Ginny Weasley who is currently occupying my body! I’d say that’s more insane than weird!”

Blaise had the grace to blush and looked down. “I didn’t mean to. It just sort of happened.”

“Sort of happened?” Draco echoed, looking furious. “No, Blaise, having a door opened on your face just sort of happens, kissing the girl that is in my body does not! You knew what you were doing, and don’t try to pretend otherwise.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I don’t want to hear your freaking sorries!” Draco yelled, his anger now uncontrollable. He felt so betrayed…

“Well what do you want me to do?” Blaise retorted, getting frustrated himself now. “I can’t help the way I feel about her, and dammit Draco, yeah maybe it was a mistake to kiss her while she was in your body, but I couldn’t damn well help myself, alright? I like her!”

“You like her?” Draco asked, feeling strangely disturbed by the idea, though he couldn’t imagine why. It was just Ginny after all- then again, maybe it was because she was in his body… Yes that must be it….

“Yes, I like her,” Blaise croaked, looking suddenly very tired and defeated. “Merlin, Draco, you don’t know her like I do. She’s amazing, talented, funny, cute-”

“-Looks like me.” Draco interrupted with a scowl. “What the hell is wrong with you? How could you kiss someone who looks like me, let alone like them? Even if it is really Weasley under the skin?”

Blaise sighed and ran another hand through his hair. “I-I don’t know… You’re not around her as much as I am. I just can’t help it. No matter how much I try to ignore my feelings for her they just won’t go away. She’s completely captivated me, even if she is in your body.”

“She’s a Weasley!” Draco retorted. He felt like he was grasping at straws, and it shouldn’t feel that way. He wasn’t even sure why he was so intent on making Blaise not like Ginny, but what he did know was that he would have no more snogging between them while she was still in his body. “And I forbid you to kiss her again while she is in my body. Do you have any idea how much this is grossing me out right now?”

Blaise nodded. “Yeah…. It was kind of weird kissing her…”

“I bet,” Draco said with a snort. “Straight people don’t kiss guys, even if they are girls deep down.”

And he still couldn’t believe that Blaise had done it. Even if he and Ginny did agree to become friends, and so maybe he did kind of enjoy being around her, that didn’t change the fact that she was still Ginny Weasley and also happened to look like him.

“You don’t need to rub it in okay….”

Draco just raised an eyebrow. “You defiled my body with your lips. I can say and do whatever I like to you now.”

A reluctant smile came on Blaise’s face, but then he went serious. “Look, Draco, I really am sorry. It won’t happen again….”

“I should hope not,” Draco said with disgust. “The last thing I want is to go back to a body that has had you touching and kissing all over it…”

It truly was off-putting to know that Blaise had kissed a person that looked like him. He knew his friend wasn’t gay, but still….

“You don’t have to worry…. I won’t be doing it anytime soon, and I don’t think she will want to either….” Blaise said slowly.

Draco narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “There’s something you’re not telling me. Spill!”

Blaise shifted uncomfortably and mumbled something unintelligible. Draco glared at him, placing his hands on his hips. “What was that?” he demanded, looking suddenly fierce, even if he was in Ginny’s petite body.

“I said your parents think you’re gay….” Draco went to butt in rudely with another shout of fury, but Blaise just ploughed on ahead. “Narcissa caught us kissing on your bed….”

“YOU WERE KISSING ON MY BED?” Draco shouted in a sudden frenzy, his anger coming back. A horrible jolt also travelled through his body when Blaise said ‘kissing,’ for that meant Blaise had not simply just kissed Ginny; it meant that Blaise and Ginny had both been kissing, and it wasn’t just a cute peck on the lips either….

“I’m sorry, Draco-”

“Oh just shutup!” Draco snapped, turning from Blaise in exasperation. This was just perfect. His parents thought he was gay with his best friend. Said best friend had been making out with a girl who was trapped in his body, and to top it all off, they were making out on his bed.

“I’ll just go then…” Blaise said with a sigh and disapparated with a small pop. Draco turned and glared at the empty space where Blaise had been occupying before letting out a furious yell and kicking at a tree stump. Pain shot through his foot and up his leg, and cursing loudly, Draco hobbled around in circles as he clutched his foot that was now stinging terribly.

“URGH!” he growled and hobbled back towards the burrow with a less than pleased expression on his face. He wanted to kill Blaise, but more than that he wanted to go yell at that twit of a girl who had let Blaise kiss her in the first place.

He was half way towards the house when he decided that he would do just that. Bringing out his wand, he turned on the spot and disapparated with a loud crack, speeding through the compression of time and space towards his room at Malfoy Manor where he knew he would find Ginny Weasley….

OOOOO

Meanwhile, at Malfoy Manor, Ginny was currently fretting over what to do about Blaise. He had kissed her, and she had kissed him back, but now she was feeling very confused. She had never thought about Blaise as anything more than a friend. He was just Blaise, but after having him kiss her and remembering the way Draco’s body had reacted to his kiss, (she had gotten a little too ‘excited’) she was unsure what to think now. There was also the problem of Hermione liking Blaise...

“Why did you have to go and complicate things, Blaise?” Ginny asked the empty room. She sighed and flopped back against the bed, playing idly with the soft fabric of the blankets as she stared at the roof. This was so horribly confusing, but what could she do? Hermione was her friend, and taking Blaise from her would only make her feel guilty, even if Blaise didn’t like Hermione back... She didn’t even know if she liked Blaise anyway. It was just one kiss, and sure he was good looking, funny and nice, but he was also Draco’s best friend...

She swallowed suddenly, knowing that eventually she would have to face Draco. What was she supposed to say to him? How could she even explain what she had done…and why did she care so much what he thought anyway?

Just in that moment a loud crack resounded around the room, and jumping in fright, Ginny looked up from the bed to see Draco himself glaring at her furiously. She gulped and sat up straighter, watching him apprehensively. He knew….

“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Draco said in a low, angry voice, his eyes blazing hard with raw anger and betrayal.

“Blaise told you then?” Ginny asked, rather pointlessly hoping that maybe he was angry with her for something else.

“Oh yes, he told me all about how you and he kissed in this very room on that very bed, and how now my parents think I’m gay.”

Ginny shifted uncomfortably. When he put it like that, it did sound rather bad….

“Care to explain what brain tumour stopped your brain from functioning and realising that your stupid hormones might actually affect me too?”

“I never asked him to kiss me!” Ginny retorted, standing up so she could look down at him. It made her feel better somehow, but Draco’s anger was so intense that even her new height didn’t make her feel any more dominant over the situation. His anger seemed to fill the walls and make them all crowd around her so she just felt trapped.

“But you still kissed him back?” Draco said rather nastily. “It takes two to tango, Weasley.”

Ginny glared at him. How dare he use that tone of voice with her? She may be in his body, and she may have kissed his friend, but that didn’t mean he got to treat her like dirt!

“What’s it to you if I kissed him back?” She snapped, getting increasingly annoyed.

“Because you’re in my body! Because you’re not supposed to like him!” Draco yelled back heatedly.

Ginny just frowned. Okay, she could understand the body part, but why wasn’t she allowed to like Blaise? Was she banned because he was Draco’s friend?

“I can like him if I want, and you can’t stop me!”

“A-ha, so you do like him!” Draco stated with a triumphant gleam in his eyes, but he looked a little put off by the knowledge too.

“I never said that,” Ginny said quickly, feeling a sudden urge to make it known that she didn’t like Blaise, or at least she didn’t know if she did or not. “I just… Urgh, why do you care so much anyway?” Ginny said with a suspicious look.

“What? I don’t,” Draco said suddenly, looking rather defensive.

She just frowned, and then sighed, too annoyed to really think about his odd behaviour anyway. “Whatever,” she said tiredly. “If you came here to yell at me you can just bugger off. I don’t want to hear your ranting, and don’t you think it was a bit dangerous coming here? Your dad is a Death Eater and would probably kill you on sight if he saw you….”

Draco looked like he had just been winded when she mentioned Lucius being a Death Eater. Obviously he had not been expecting that, and going a little pale, he just swallowed slightly. “He’s not home right now is he?”

Ginny shook her head. “I doubt it. It’s probably just your mum here….”

“Good,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah well, if she catches you she’ll have something to say about it as well, so go before you get us both in trouble. I don’t want my body being harmed in any way thank you.”

He glared at her for a moment, but obviously realising she was going to be stubborn just disapparated with a loud crack. Ginny sighed and flopped back against the bed. That had been rather annoying, and now she was even more confused, and it had nothing to do with Blaise’s kiss and everything to do with Draco’s odd reaction to it.