A Stroll in Your Shoes

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter world, or 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 Ella Mae and anonymous reviewer for reviewing. *smiles*

Tricks Of The Trade

Ginny opened her eyes and yawned as she sat up in the bed. Last nights talk with Blaise had helped her feel a little more charitable towards Draco, but that didn’t change the fact that he was still unbelievably cocky and acted like a complete jerk to her most of the time.

Blaise glanced at Ginny while pulling on a shirt, his black hair more tousled than ever. “You should think about getting up soon. We’ve got a Quidditch game today.”

Ginny shot up in the bed, her eyes going wide. “What?”

“Even you should know that,” Blaise replied with a grin, now pulling on his robe. “It is against Gryffindor after all.”

Ginny’s mouth dropped open as she realised the full implications of what this meant. Not only would she be playing against her own house but her boyfriend and her brother. Things could not possibly get worse…

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Ginny muttered in horror, still sitting frozen in the bed.

Blaise stared in the mirror, giving the last few touches to his robe and turned to her, a mocking smile on his face. “Let’s go Captain, unless you plan to sit in bed all day?”

Ginny held a hand to her head, burying her face in frustration. “I forgot Draco is captain of the Slytherin team! What am I going to do, Blaise?”

“My advice,” Blaise said with a laugh. “Start thinking up a plan for us players.”

Ginny glared at him. She knew Blaise was enjoying every minute of her discomfort, and she doubted he was going to help her with this. She only hoped Draco was having the same problems.

OOOOOOOO

Draco looked in the mirror with disgust as he tied up the long red hair. He was going to have to play Slytherin in the Quidditch finals, and it was killing him just thinking about it. Not only that but Ginny was going to be captaining his team and probably make him lose. Granted she was an average seeker but she was no match for him or Potter, and he was going to have to be a chaser to make things worse...

Draco sighed, “This day is just getting better and better.”

He trudged down to the common room and almost shuddered with horror as he saw the whole Gryffindor team standing around waiting for the last few people to come in. Never had he felt so out of place as he did there standing surrounded by the crimson and gold players.

Harry smiled briefly at Draco and turned back to the team, a cheery expression on his face. It sickened Draco how they were so confident.

“Alright,” Harry said loudly to stop the constant chatter of the players. “Slytherin have got no chance in beating us this year. You all know the drills, so lets just get changed and have a good game!”

The Gryffindors cheered and began to make their way down to the Quidditch Pitch, still chatting excitedly about how many points they would beat Slytherin with this time. Draco could feel his hands clenching in frustration, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. It was just his luck to be stuck in the body of a silly Gryffindor during the final match of the Quidditch Cup.

On the way to the pitch he saw Ginny and Blaise walking side-by-side talking happily about something. Ginny had his broom slung over her shoulder, laughing slightly at something Blaise had said. She caught Draco’s eye and smiled reassuringly, giving him a small boost of confidence. Feeling a little more relieved, Draco made his way into the changing room to get changed.

“Hey Ginny, you gonna show us some of those moves you were practising?” Katie Bell asked with a grin while pulling on her Quidditch robes.

Draco really had no idea what she was talking about but he nodded all the same. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

OOOOOOOOO

“Blaise,” Ginny whispered urgently.

“What?” Blaise replied, glancing at her curiously as he opened his locker.

“Is there anywhere I can get changed?” Ginny asked quickly, trying not to blush but feeling her cheeks heating slightly.

“Why?” Blaise asked with a sly smirk, giving her his full attention now.

“Because I'm not used to seeing so many practically naked guys everywhere you idiot, what else?” Ginny hissed in frustration, annoyed that he was taking so much amusement from her situation. He obviously had no idea how very uncomfortable she was already feeling just seeing the boys stripping down to their pants, for there were no girls on the Slytherin team, and therefore no reason for there to be split sections.

“Wait till it’s shower time then.” Blaise said with a grin and pulled off his own robes.

Ginny rolled her eyes and opened Draco’s locker, “You’re lucky I’m in Draco’s body Blaise, or you’ll be regretting those words.”

Blaise merely smirked and pulled out his Quidditch Uniform. Ginny glared at him but followed suit.

“Hurry up and get changed, Draco. The match is about to start.” Crabbe grunted from near them, wearing nothing but green underwear that said ‘Snake Pride.’ Ginny’s eyes widened as she saw him, and without thinking she quickly raced towards the toilet to escape the damaging sight, Blaise’s laughter following her all the way. She really was not enjoying being a guy today…

OOOOOOOOO

“And the Match begins” Luna declared dreamily from the stands, her voice magically echoing all around them. Instantly red and green clashed together as the players struggled to get to the quaffle first. Katie Bell grabbed the quaffle and raced of towards the Slytherin goalposts, which were being guarded by a rather brutal looking Slytherin called Romulus Castrande. She lifted her hand to score but Blaise Zabini, the star chaser of the Slytherin team, knocked the quaffle out of her hands, giving her a cheeky smirk as he passed the quaffle to Theodore Nott.

Draco couldn't help grinning a little as he watched his team flying effortlessly past the Gryffindors towards the goal post on the other side, but he wasn’t going to just let this go. He may be competitive and want Slytherin to win, but to purposely lose a Quidditch game was not part of his code.

Quickly he sped of towards Nott, doing a tricky loop as he swept under the Slytherin Chaser’s broom and took the Quaffle. Everyone watched as Draco sped off towards the Slytherin goalpost with determination. He ducked and swerved the bludgers with ease and threw the quaffle hard into the ring behind Castrande. The Gryffindors erupted with cheers as the first goal was awarded, and Luna’s dreamy voice resounded around the pitch awarding Gryffindor ten points.

Ginny watched in shock, her mouth going oddly slack. She had no idea Draco was such a good flyer; he would have made a decent chaser. Even stranger was the fact that he had actually scored a goal against Slytherin- his team!

“Malfoy, what are you doing?” Nott yelled as he sped past her. “You’re meant to be looking for the snitch!”

Ginny jumped slightly and looked around, sighing with relief as she saw Harry still searching frantically for that elusive glint of gold. Everything would be over if he managed to catch the snitch before her.

Just then she heard a scream that sounded oddly familiar and turned her head in fright to see a bludger crash into Draco, sending him plummeting towards the ground, red hair and legs flailing in the wind.

“My body!” Ginny cried hysterically, losing her head completely at the sight of her body falling sickeningly fast towards the ground. She sped frantically towards Draco, just catching him in her arms before any damage was made. He leaned against her, his breathing heavy, and as their eyes met Luna’s magically magnified voice echoed around the pitch:

“Looks like Draco Malfoy has caught the damsel in distress. I wonder if he will give her a kiss.”

Ginny and Draco’s expressions both twisted in disgust as they stared at each other, each horrified at the thought of kissing the other.

“Bring me by the broom,” Draco demanded, looking a little uncomfortable and embarrassed at being held in her arms. Ginny nodded, knowing there was no point in arguing with him right now, and brought him next to the hovering broom. He quickly clambered back on and sped off towards the Gryffindors, the game resuming once more.

Blaise came up by Ginny, his eyes dancing slightly. “You okay?” he asked quickly.

“Yeah,” Ginny answered, still trying to catch her breath. “Damn that idiot Malfoy though. He should be taking better care of my body! I could have got killed!!”

Blaise didn’t have a chance to get his head around what she had said before Nott came soaring towards them.

“We’re ready for the plan, Malfoy. Do you want us to do it now?”

Ginny nodded and gave the signal to the other Slytherins. Blaise gave her a quick grin before soaring off to play his own part in the plan. Crabbe and Goyle grunted in acknowledgement and raised their clubs to the bludgers so they could aim at the Gryffindor chaser Dean Thomas, who currently had the quaffle. Blaise, Nott and Warrington made a sort of V formation as they swooped towards Dean, each of their eyes fixed determinedly on the dark boy in front of them. Crabbe and Goyle hit the bludgers towards Dean, causing the quaffle to drop from his surprised hands as he swerved to dodge the vicious attack. Blaise easily grabbed the ball from under him, and as a flawless sequence the Slytherin chasers passed the quaffle to each other to avoid bludgers and opponents, all three heading speedily towards the Gryffindor goal post.

Blaise caught the ball again and flied up close towards Ron, who was watching their moves in a hawk-like fashion. He raised his hand as if to score but suddenly threw it diagonally. Ginny who had been hovering by the goal hit the quaffle with the back of her broom, sending it flying back to Blaise who managed to score before Ron even had a chance to gather what had happened.

Ron let out an annoyed grunt as Luna’s dreamy voice awarded Slytherin ten points.

“Oh come on that has to be a foul!” Katie shouted as she looked at Draco, her expression blazing with annoyance. “They used their seeker to help score a goal!”

Draco grinned, amused and slightly impressed by what had just happened. “I don't remember reading anywhere that a seeker couldn't accidentally hit the quaffle.”

Katie huffed irritably and flew off to continue playing.

The rain started to fall in large droplets, the blue skies smothered by the looming grey. People were becoming no more than a blurred mess in the air, but Ginny could still make out Harry’s narrowed gaze as he flew around the pitch. She could see Draco speeding after Blaise as the cheeky Slytherin once more made his way towards the Gryffindor goalposts to score, while the beaters were now trying to hit each other rather then helping their own team-mates.

“Malfoy, you’d better catch that snitch soon! We're winning on seventy to fifty, and if Gryffindor get any more points they've won the cup anyway!” Warrington shouted as he came to hover by Ginny.

Ginny nodded to show she understood. “I know.”

She stared around the pitch, catching Blaise’s amber eyes. He was staring at her with misgiving, as if wondering if she really would help Slytherin win; it was up to her now after all…

Nodding her head to him slightly, Ginny turned away from him and looked around, smiling in triumph as she saw a golden blur fly past her face. She wheeled around on her broom and saw Harry do the same. The commentary sounded muffled to her ears as she speed through the air, but she thought she could hear Luna saying something about the snitch being seen.

Harry looked at her through narrowed eyes as he tried to outfly her towards the snitch. Ginny inwardly sighed. She knew she was no match for Harry but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try; she still had her end of the plan to uphold after all.

Looking at Harry squarely in the eyes, Ginny winked and blew him a kiss. As expected Harry was shocked and, much to Ginny’s delight, distracted enough for him to pause in flight. This gave her just enough time to reach out her hand and snatch the snitch from right under his nose. She caught his disbelieving gaze and allowed a broad grin to form on her lips before the Slytherins erupted with cheers as the game finished. Ginny barely had time to realise they had won before Blaise came speeding over and grabbed her in a bone-crunching hug. Soon all the Slytherins were swarming around her, trying to slap her on the back or just shouting “We Won! We Won!”

Draco sat on his broom watching his team-mates practically jumping for joy as they slowly descended to the ground. He couldn’t help but smile to himself as he saw Ginny emerge from the swarm of green, congratulating the Slytherins on their flying, a broad smile on her face.

“We lost. We actually lost.” Harry said in disbelief from next to him.

“It’s only a game.” Draco replied bluntly.

Harry still looked dejected, as did the other team members. Draco sighed to himself. He was glad Slytherin had won, but now he had to put up with a bunch of mopey Gryffindors. Really, it felt like he had lost anyway; he wouldn’t even get to celebrate with his team.

“C’mon team,” Harry said to the bedraggled and miserable Gryffindors. “Showers.”

Draco slowly made his way to the ground and started following the Gryffindors to the changing room, when he noticed Ginny and Blaise waiting for him.

“Good game.” Draco commented with a small smile.

Ginny nodded cheerfully, still caught up in the tide of emotion from winning. “You could make a decent chaser you know.”

Draco scratched his head slightly, not really sure how to react to a compliment from a Weasley. “Well, you weren’t so bad yourself,” he said finally, “Mind you, I wouldn’t normally use that tactic on Potter; he’s going to think I’m a poof or something.”

Ginny grinned cheekily. “I wouldn’t worry. He already thinks that anyway.”

Blaise laughed at that and slapped an arm around Ginny’s back, leading her off towards the changing rooms. Draco watched them angrily, feeling just a little left out and annoyed that Blaise and Ginny were getting along so well.

“Stupid gits.” Draco mumbled as he walked into the Gryffindor changing room to have a shower.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

One Week Later…

Hermione walked slowly down the hallway and looked behind her as she heard footsteps running towards her. She frowned as she saw Blaise Zabini’s familiar dark hair and smiling face.

“Granger,” Blaise said amiably as he stopped in front of her.

“Zabini.” Hermione replied stiffly, her eyes watching him cautiously.

“I thought we might try to find some info in the library now. If you’re okay with that?” Blaise asked, smiling slightly at her protective stance. Honestly, did she think he was going to pounce on her or something?

“I guess,” Hermione answered, relaxing slightly, though her eyes still watched him intently.

“Good.” Blaise said quickly and grabbed her by the arm, steering her off towards the library.

“W-wait, can I just-” Hermione stuttered as she was pulled irresistibly forward.

“-I’m sure you can do whatever you need to do later.” Blaise said cheerfully as he dragged her into the library, only letting her go once they were at a secluded table.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down at the table, realising she had no choice in the matter. “Alright.” She muttered in a defeated voice.

“That’s the spirit,” Blaise encouraged with an annoying grin.

Hermione sighed and shook her head slightly, watching as he took a seat opposite her. He really was a strange one, but she guessed she had no choice but to work with him if she wanted to help Ginny. “Let’s get this done quickly then.”

Blaise suddenly laughed, causing Hermione to look up at him in surprise. “You really need to loosen up Granger. Not all Slytherins are evil Death Eaters.”

Hermione jumped slightly, her eyes searching the library frantically in case anyone was listening. “I never said that.” 

Blaise shrugged and played with a book. “I know that’s what everyone thinks.”

Hermione watched him curiously, slightly surprised by his words. “You don’t seem to mind giving off that image.”

Blaise smiled slightly, amused by her view on him. “When have I given off the impression that I am a Death Eater?”

Hermione frowned and tried to think of a time when she had seen Blaise Zabini acting strangely or in a horrible manner. She couldn’t think of anything, and finally she had to admit that it was just her own perception of Slytherins that made her think all of them were evil Death Eaters. “Okay, so maybe you don’t, but you can’t tell me that Malfoy doesn’t.”

Blaise laughed at that, his eyes filling with amusement. It was true that Draco often gave Slytherins a bad name, though Draco would be quick to state otherwise. “You could be right there, but don’t judge us all from him. We’re not so bad,” he said with a warm smile.

Hermione smiled dryly, “I’m sure.”

“So, where should we start researching?” Blaise asked after a few seconds of silence.

Hermione summoned a few books from the shelves towards her. “How about these?”

Blaise picked up one of the books and shrugged slightly, immediately beginning to flick through the pages, his amber eyes scanning the words for any sign of how Draco and Ginny switched bodies, and any ways to make them switch back… As he read, he began to feel a strange gloominess settling over him. It was odd that as much as he wanted to help Ginny and Draco get back to their own bodies, he felt sad at the thought of saying goodbye to Ginny. She was always good for a laugh, and being stuck with her nearly every minute of the day made him realise how much he truly enjoyed her company. It would be strange to go back to how they used to be- him not talking to her at all, and she just ignoring him except to make a few smart comments here and there. He liked her for all her oddities, and he just knew that Draco would not appreciate him continuing the friendship if they ever did get their own bodies back…

“What’s wrong?” Hermione suddenly asked. Blaise looked up and noticed she was staring at him intently. He shook his head, as if to say it was nothing, and tried to go back to reading the book, but he could feel her eyes still watching him.

“Yes, Granger?” he said in a voice a lot less carefree than it normally was. He and Draco did have some things in common- not appreciating people snooping into his business being one of them.

“Something is troubling you. Is it about Malfoy and Ginny’s situation?”

Blaise shook his head, a sigh escaping from his lips. “It’s nothing, Granger. Let’s just keep researching this so that we don’t have Draco breathing down our necks again.”

Hermione smiled slightly, “I’ll agree with you there.”

They went back to reading the books, and Blaise inwardly sighed, wondering what would happen to them all once things went back to normal. Would he and Ginny remain such good friends, or would it be too weird? He guessed only time would tell, but one thing he did know for sure was that he was beginning to feel a lot fonder of Ginny Weasley than he used to...

He raised his eyes and stared at Hermione, a frown on his lips. She knew Ginny well, and they were obviously good friends…

“Granger?” Blaise began hesitantly, unsure of how to put his thoughts into words, and still trying to figure out just what those thoughts were anyway.

“Yes?” Hermione replied, not looking up from the book.

“Does Weasley ever talk about me?”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, looking up at him with a frown on her face.

Blaise shifted uncomfortably, noticing that she was a little too perceptive for his likings. Still, he’d come this far- might as well go the rest of the way… “Well, I mean, has she mentioned me before to you?”

Hermione stared at him blankly. “She’s mentioned you, yes, but what’s it to you?”

Blaise sighed realising Hermione Granger’s dislike of Slytherins would probably mean he’d get nothing interesting from her. He had to try though, for he was curious to know how Ginny felt about him.

“Well what did she say?” He persisted.

Hermione frowned and stared at him through sharp eyes. He had the feeling she was seeing right through him, but she suddenly sighed and placed the book down on the table, giving him her full attention.

“She talks about you a lot if you really want to know; always telling me how funny you are, and how much she enjoys talking to you…”

Blaise smiled slightly, pleased that he at least was not the only one enjoying the other’s company.

“She says you look out for her, which she’s grateful for, and she also tells me that you can be very annoying when you want to be, but she doesn’t mind because she sees you as a good friend now.”

“Is that all?” Blaise asked curiously.

Hermione raised her eyebrow slightly, a frown coming to her lips. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

Blaise shook his head, a serious expression on his face. “Don’t be stupid. She’s in Draco’s body; there is no way I am asking her anything like that when she looks like him.”

Hermione laughed slightly, a knowing look settling on her face. “I see… so it’s like that is it?”

Blaise frowned to himself. Was it like that? He really didn’t know, but he did know he enjoyed talking to her. She was witty, spunky, and she knew how to put people in their place. He admired her a lot, and the fact that he felt attracted to her even when she wasn’t in her own body said a lot- after all, he was no more attracted to Draco Malfoy than he was the giant squid…

“Let’s just get back to researching this, okay?” Hermione said firmly.

Blaise nodded his head and returned to the books, his mind now more troubled than ever with thoughts of Ginny Weasley and the confusing feelings he felt for her…