A Stroll in Your Shoes

Disclaimer: I did not create any of the Harry Potter characters, etc.

A/n: I’m so excited!! I finally got over 100 reviews!! To some people that might seem so small, but to me it is a great achievement! Thank you everyone who reviewed!!! *hugs*

Food for Thought

True to her word, Hermione did corner Ginny the next day in the hopes of getting some insight on whom it was her spirited friend liked. For Ginny herself, she was completely unaware of the plots being made against her, and felt only understandable irritation that Hermione should question her on her feelings for Blaise.

“Hermione, I don’t see why you’re asking me this. I already told you I like him.”

Was it possible Hermione had found out about the episode in the changing rooms? Ginny shuddered at the thought and stared at her bushy-haired friend with doubled intensity.

“I know you said you like him, but Ginny, can you honestly tell me that you would have accepted him had he not written that poem?”

Ginny’s brow creased into a frown. “But he did write the poem.”

Now Hermione was in a sticky situation and found herself at a loss what to do. She knew very well that she could not tell Ginny that Draco had written the poem- he not wanting her to being the main reason. In fact he didn’t even want her to let on that he really liked Ginny.

“Well… let’s say he didn’t. Would you still like him?”

Sighing in resignation, Ginny settled herself more comfortably on the chair and propped her chin on her hands. “Okay, he didn’t write the poem then. What’s left? Um, he’s funny, handsome, is a good kisser…” She broke off and gave Hermione a shrug. “Sounds good enough to me.”

“Ginny, you’re not taking this very seriously.”

Ginny rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. She didn’t want to be having this conversation right now. She’d already had her feelings thrown into doubt, and having Hermione prod her emotions like a scientist prodding her experiments was not helping.

“Fine, fine. In all honesty I don’t really know. Blaise is wonderful, and I do like him, but if he hadn’t written that poem I probably would not have said yes. Satisfied?”

Hermione said nothing, and Ginny sat up to stare at her friend with a suspicious glance. It was odd that Hermione should ask her things, for she never did ask her about boys unless there was a certain reason to it.

“Why are you so interested anyway?”

“I’m just worried for you.”

Ginny didn’t believe her. Something fishy was going on.

Hermione paused for a moment and then needlessly smoothed her school skirt, a sure sign that she was getting nervous.

“What do you think of Draco?”

Ginny’s jaw dropped. Whatever she had been expecting to come out of her friend’s mouth was not that. Even with all her concerns that Hermione might have known what happened in the changing room, she still did not really expect her friend to ask her about him of all people.

The initial shock of having Draco’s name mentioned started to wear off, and Ginny narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her friend. “Why?” she asked sharply, wondering darkly why Hermione would ask her that.

“Well, don’t you think he’s good-looking?”

Ginny felt her cheeks heating in spite of herself and looked away in embarrassment. “I suppose.”

It was not in her to lie about such matters, and she knew it would be pointless to anyway. Her blush had already given her away after all.

Hermione took courage from this confession and decided to plough on in her interrogation. “He’s not really so bad once you get to know him either, don’t you think?”

“No, he’s not so bad…” When he’s not trying to seduce innocent females.

Her eyes narrowing once more, Ginny stared at her friend with a sharpness that rarely presented itself in her face. “Where is all this leading Hermione? I’ve had you interrogate me about a boy before and came to the conclusion you liked him. Please don’t tell me you have a thing for Malfoy of all people?”

For some reason that idea disturbed her even more than the thought that Hermione had liked Blaise, and Ginny was sure it was not because she wanted Hermione with Harry.

“No, I don’t like Malfoy,” Hermione retorted with a barely repressed shudder. “I was just curious as to what you thought of him.”

Ginny sighed and flomped back against the couch. “I don’t know why you’re asking me this. Why Malfoy?”

“Maybe because you seem fond of him.” Hermione leaned forward and looked into Ginny’s face with not a trace of humour in her expression. “Ginny, haven’t you noticed how different your relationship with him is?”

“It’s because we’re friends!” Ginny insisted, but even to her own ears it sounded like she was grasping at straws. She was very aware of how different she and Draco treated each other, and more than once had recognised the telltale signs of flirting on her part, but he was Draco and she was Ginny; the two just did not go together! He was arrogant, rude, and made her so angry. She was caring, friendly, and made him so angry!

“Do you tell yourself that because you don’t want to believe there could be something more, or do you tell yourself that because you really believe it?”

Ginny’s lips fell into a frown, and her eyes suddenly locked on Hermione’s. “Did he set you up to this?”

“W-what?” Hermione shifted uncomfortably and her eyes flicked around nervously. She never had been a good liar.

“I said did he set you up to this? I know him, I know what he’s like, and I know that he would take immense enjoyment in getting you to think he liked me, or for me to think I like him, and then in the end he would just laugh at my face and tell me that he would never dream of dating me in a million years- or some such stuff.”

Hermione’s expression became a lot more scrutinising, and her eyes gazed at Ginny with frank amusement. “Sounds to me like you’re speaking from experience.”

“That’s ‘cause I am.” Ginny muttered darkly, and then proceeded to tell Hermione about what had happened in the changing room, realising that to hold it in any longer would be nigh impossible.

By the end of the embarrassing tale, Hermione had a secretive smile on her face that Ginny did not like. On demanding to know what was so funny, Ginny felt even more irritated when Hermione said that it was impossible not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“Yeah, well I don’t particularly find it very amusing. He was a complete jerk.”

“But that proves my point don’t you think?” Hermione pointed out reasonably.

“And what’s that?” Ginny snapped, folding her arms crossly against her friend’s scrutiny.

“That you’re not so against him as you think.”

Ginny opened and closed her mouth, completely at a loss on what to say. That was just not possible. So maybe she thought the smarmy git was sexy, and maybe she did like his arrogant ways and annoying smirk that wasn’t really so annoying after all….

“Oh no,” Ginny exclaimed dramatically as she realised what her treacherous thoughts were saying to her. “I really do like him.”

Hermione gave a triumphant smile, but Ginny was too caught up in her own horrible findings to do anything else but stare in shock at the ground. This was not supposed to happen. She liked Blaise! She liked her boyfriend! She was not supposed to like Draco!!!

“I gotta go,” Ginny mumbled quickly, and hurriedly left the room. Her thoughts were jumbling chaotically in her brain, and her eyebrows were drawn so alarmingly close together in her confusion that they were almost one straight line. Feverish mutterings issued from her mouth, but no one hearing them would be able to make any sense of it. The only thing they would gather was the word “Draco” and occasionally “git”- not a particularly fond adjective for the boy she liked.

Ginny sighed and leant her face against the wall, her mouth drooping down into a dispirited frown. It was just her luck to like someone like him. Why did she have to be confused about her feelings and feel attracted to Draco? Why did she have to think his eyes wonderfully amazing to look at? And why did she have to feel such a warm sense of comfort whenever he was around?

Even when he had been trying to tease her by being seductive she had only felt exhilaration for what might happen. That was the sure sign that she at least felt something for him, but she wasn’t kidding herself in thinking it was just lust. There was so much more to it than that.

“Why do I have to like him?” she moaned to no one in particular, feeling all the helplessness of her situation hitting her hard. He was her friend; he was her boyfriend’s best friend, and she liked him… This could not possibly end out good, and the fact was that she had no idea who she liked more.

Sliding down the wall to hug her knees, Ginny blew the strands of hair away from her face and searched her muddled feelings. Blaise was sweet, charming, handsome, and always had time for her. Draco on the other hand was often rude to the point of being annoying, spoilt, arrogant, pessimistic and complaining….

She shook her head and laughed to herself. What could she possibly see in him? He was a horrible person really… and yet… and yet there was gentleness in him that she caught glimpses of; tenderness that showed itself in the smallest of his smiles. Warmth would creep into his eyes making them seem like swirling grey clouds filled with soft emotion; his touch would be reassuring and comforting, and his words would lose their sharp, hurtful quality. There was beauty to be found in him if one were willing to search it out, and she realised that in the end even his faults were loveable in their own way.

Her eyes softened as she hugged her knees. “I really do like him…”

“Like who?”

Ginny’s heart jumped painfully in her chest, and she quickly turned her face to see Pansy standing in front of her, one dark eyebrow raised and a smile lurking on her lips.

“Jittery are we?”

Blushing slightly, Ginny shook her head and stood up quickly off the ground. “You just gave me a fright, that’s all.”

Pansy laughed and pushed the strands of her black hair away from her face. “Sorry. So what were you muttering to yourself anyway? You seemed pretty deep in thought.”

Ginny twisted the bottom of her shirt around in her fingers and her eyes darted nervously about. It wouldn’t be very wise of her to say she had just been having romantic thoughts about Pansy’s boyfriend. No…. that would not be wise at all…

“I was just thinking.” Ginny shrugged. “You know how it is...”

Pansy’s eyebrow rose slightly, but then her face broke into a sunny smile as she waved at someone behind them. Ginny frowned and turned to see whom Pansy was waving at, her stomach dropping in unease when Draco walked towards them. He looked particularly handsome today, but maybe that was just her revealed feelings adding a better light to him.

“Hey Pansy,” He murmured softly, leaning down to give the dark-haired Slytherin a surprisingly sweet kiss on the lips. Ginny wanted desperately to look away, but her eyes couldn’t help but watch in unconscious envy as the boy she liked wrapped an arm around the tall girl’s waist, pulling his lips away from the kiss to smile softly down at her.

“Hi,” Pansy said just as softly, leaning her face against his chest. It was obvious to Ginny that the two had resolved their past issues and were now happy together. She felt horrible to know that in a way she wished they hadn’t. After all, it was not like she was ready to throw away Blaise to be with Draco… but she did selfishly wish that he didn’t have anyone anyway.

Draco turned to look at Ginny, his grey eyes locking on hers in faint amusement. “Still angry with me, Weasley?”

Pansy looked at Ginny in confusion, who blushed lightly under their scrutiny. Pansy’s eyes flickered back to her boyfriend with a sharp look. “Why would she be angry at you? What did you do to her?”

“It was nothing,” Ginny said hurriedly, knowing that it was very possible Draco might tell the sharp-eyed Slytherin what had happened. He always was so unpredictable, and she didn’t need any more embarrassment today.

A slow smile curled his lips that made Ginny feel oddly mushy inside. Merlin he was going to be the end of her at this rate. Now that she knew she liked him it was impossible to be around him. It didn’t help her jealous nature to see him with his arms all over Pansy Parkinson either.

“Didn’t seem like nothing yesterday. I’ve still got the bruise to show for it.”

That soon snapped her out of her mushy feelings, and Ginny gave him a warning glare. He was taking far too much amusement at her expense. “Shutup Malfoy.”

Pansy’s eyes flashed in irritation. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”

“No.” They both said in unison, their eyes locked on each other with alarming intensity. Ginny’s glare would have rivalled a basilisk right now, but it was hard for her to tell which was making her angrier; the fact that Draco was teasing her again, or the fact that he was holding onto Pansy.

“Tut, tut, Weasley. What have I told you about that temper?”

Ginny’s hands clenched into fists, and she would have loved nothing more than to rip into him with every insult she could think of. It didn’t matter if she liked him or not. Right now he was being a real pain in the butt, and he knew it too!

He seemed to understand her feelings and laughed softly, tightening his hold on Pansy’s waist. “Weasley’s obviously still trying to determine whether to hate me or not.” He smirked at Ginny and then his face relaxed into a smile when he gazed down at Pansy. “Let’s just leave her to it.”

“Well okay,” Pansy agreed, her eyes still darting from one to the other in confusion. “See you round Weasley.”

Ginny watched that handsome, mocking face smirk at her one more time, before he led Pansy off down the hallway. Once they were out of sight, Ginny let out a strangled curse and stomped off the other way. He was so annoying! So very annoying, and sexy, and damn-well going to drive her insane…

OOOO

Hermione found Draco later that day sitting with Crabbe and Goyle in the quad. As usual, she was struck by the vast difference in size and intelligence between the boys. Draco, naturally, was working on homework, but Crabbe and Goyle we’re trying to see who would be knocked out first if they kept smacking their heads together.

Shaking her head in slight exasperation at the sheer stupidity of the Slytherin oafs, she decided it would be best to remove the trollish duo from this conversation, and so made up summons from Blaise Zabini to get rid of them. Once they had left Hermione sat down next to Draco and gave him a small smile.

“Well I talked with her.”

Draco, who had watched the whole episode with an amused smile, placed down his quill and looked at her with sudden intensity. “And?”

Hermione made a show of smoothing down her skirt and getting rid of a speck of imaginary dust on her blouse. Draco’s irritation grew, as he knew that she was doing it on purpose just to keep him in suspense.

Finally when he was just about to say something cutting she looked back up at him with a much more broader grin on her face.

“I think that you can safely say she likes you.”

At first Draco was unsure if he had heard correctly, but then Hermione’s words finally registered in his brain and he felt a great balloon of joy bubble up inside him and settle very pleasantly in his stomach. Of course this didn’t mean everything was perfect between he and Ginny, but he did not doubt his ability to smooth things over… he hoped. He could take comfort in knowing she liked him though, and after seeing the way she had reacted to Pansy, he was sure she was feeling just as jealous as he did when he saw her with Blaise.

“You’re sure?”

Hermione nodded her head, her eyes twinkling in a way that horribly reminded him of Dumbledore. “Positive. She’s never been good at hiding her emotions. All I had to do was bring up your name and she was blushing like one thing.” Her lips twitched slightly into a smile. “By the way, what you did in the changing rooms was not very nice. Funny… but not nice.”

Draco shrugged. He knew it had been a rather mercenary thing to do, but all was fair in love and war, even if it was Ginny herself he had to battle with. “It worked didn’t it?”

“I don’t question the result, but I admit the method was perhaps not as tasteful as what you could have done. She is very angry and hurt by it I hope you know. Yes, you may have forced her to think of you in a way she previously hadn’t, but you’ve also made her distrust you where perhaps she might have.”

A frown settled on his face as he remembered the anger and hurt that had shone through Ginny’s eyes when he had told her he would not have kissed her. Letting out a small sigh, he played with a blade of grass. “I know. It was the only way I could think of though. She was so caught up in Blaise that nothing would have snapped her out of her delusions.”

“You think they’re just delusions then? You think that she doesn’t like Blaise?”

He nodded his head. “She is in love with the poem, but deep down she only cares for Blaise as a friend.”

“How do you know?” Hermione asked curiously.

His eyes met hers with frank honesty, not a shade of deception in those grey depths. “Because I know what I feel for Ginny, and there is no room for thoughts of any other girl. If she truly loved Blaise she would not have stayed in that room with me. She would have left, and she would have thought nothing more on it.”

“So what do you plan to do now?”

Draco thought about all that he had learnt and all that he could do. He had already used Pansy to see whether Ginny would get jealous, and though he had planned to do more in that respect, it went against the grain to hurt his childhood friend anymore. It was time to let her go before she got too attached to him. Repercussions were in order, he was sure, but he hoped everything would not crumble underneath him yet. He still needed Ginny to accept him after all.

“I’m not sure. There are still obstacles that need to be removed.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. Slytherins were all the same. Everything was just obstacles and plots.

“Have you thought of just telling Ginny the truth?”

“What, and have her get angry at me for plotting against her?”

She shook her head. “You don’t need to tell her about that. Just tell her that you like her.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can. It’s just a matter of walking up to her and telling her how you feel.”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “You’re one to talk. How long has it been since you’ve had feelings for Potter?”

Hermione blushed and scratched her face nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Granger, I’m a Slytherin. I notice everything if it is something I can exploit. Of course I never got a chance to actually use that ammo against you, but I was very much aware of your supposedly secret feelings for golden boy.”

Ginny may have thought she was a genius for thinking the two should go together, but Draco had known for a long time which way the wind was blowing for Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.

“That’s different.” Hermione argued weakly. “Harry and I are best friends.”

“Right, and Ginny and I have always had a soft spot for each other.” He gave a derisive snort. “Don’t kid yourself, Granger, you know just as well as I do that my going with Ginny would cause far more raised eyebrows than you going with Potter. And as for that dolt, if he’s too blind to catch on to your very obvious feelings than maybe you should take your own advice and tell him. I have a feeling you’re going to want to anyway,” he added as an after thought. “After what Blaise told me, it seems like Ginny is wanting to play match-maker with you two, and knowing her she’d ruin it all for both of you.”

Hermione frowned and stared at her shoes, a troubled expression in her eyes. “I don’t know if I can. He’s never shown any sign of returning my feelings.”

Draco rolled his eyes. Really the two of them were as stupid as each other.

“Potter is a short-sighted idiot in more than one way.” He saw the defensive flash of her eyes, and ploughed on ahead before she could argue against him. “Look, the guy is head over heels for you- though I have no idea why- he’s just too thick to realise what those feelings mean.”

“You think so?”

“Yes!” Draco almost shouted. For someone who was supposedly so intelligent, she sure was dense when it came to emotions.

“But what if you’re wrong? What if he doesn’t like me at all? He was just with Ginny before after all.”

Looking up to the sky for patience, Draco wondered how it was he had managed to play cupid for two people so undeserving and annoying. “Think what you want. If you can’t see that Potter likes you than you’re not as smart as I thought you were.”

Hermione fell into silence, obviously debating over the plausibility of Draco’s words, while he himself wondered what he could do now. Telling Ginny was out of the question. She was still angry with him for one thing, and still dating Blaise for another.

He picked up his belongings and stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“To break up with Pansy.”

“Oh…. Well good luck.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Draco muttered, before walking off to confine himself to a lot of tears and tantrums.