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 Elle, Ella Mae, Potterchick 958, and van twitch for the reviews!

Never Kiss and Tell

It had been three days since the Gryffindor boys had confronted Ginny and Draco outside the unused classroom. Hermione and Blaise had still not been able to find a solution for the strange body switching, and Draco knew that Ginny was feeling the frustration in not having her body back just as much as he did.

He turned the corner of the Hallway, a disgruntled expression on his face, when he heard Harry calling out to him.

“Hey Ginny, wait up!” Harry hollered, as he jogged towards him. Draco sighed and reluctantly waited for Harry to catch up.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Harry asked when he finally caught up, an anxious expression on his face. Draco frowned to himself, not really sure what to say. He couldn’t very well tell Harry that he was not Ginny Weasley but instead Draco Malfoy and therefore had no feelings for him. He had to think of some kind of excuse to explain the distance he had put between himself and Harry…

“I’ve been busy,” Draco answered finally in a dismissive voice, inwardly hoping that Harry would just leave it there. He started to walk away again when Harry suddenly grabbed his arm, moving closer to him as he stared straight into Draco’s eyes.

“Ginny, what’s wrong with you?” Harry asked in a low voice, his eyes locked on Draco’s.

“N-nothing.” Draco replied, startled at Harry’s sudden closeness.

Harry moved even closer and Draco was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. He squirmed awkwardly in Harry’s hold, wondering what he could do to get himself out of this sticky situation.

“Look, Ginny,” Harry began in a tired voice. “I don’t want us to fall apart. I know I haven’t been very attentive, but I promise things will get better.”

Draco gazed at him in horror, sickened by Harry’s sudden sentimental behaviour. If Harry had any idea that it was Draco he was talking to he doubted that Harry would be looking at him with such a soppy expression on his face, or holding him so closely for that matter. Either way, Draco did not want to be caught in this…

“I’m sorry Harry but-”

“-Please Ginny, just give me another chance!” Harry pleaded, his hands grasping Draco’s face and, much to Draco’s horror, kissed him firmly on the lips.

Draco was so stunned that it took him a full three seconds to realise what was happening. Suddenly a look of revulsion flashed across his face, his hands instinctively thrusting Harry forcefully away him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Draco yelled in a disgusted voice, wiping his lips with his hand and trying hard not to vomit. All he could think in his brain was that Harry had kissed him. That bespectacled idiot with his stupid scar had kissed him… Oh Merlin was he tainted now… 

Harry looked confused and a little hurt at Draco’s sudden outburst, but right now Draco didn’t care. He was tired of pretending to be Ginny, and even more tired of escaping Harry’s advances. The kiss had been the final straw…

“What’s wrong with you!?” Harry shouted back, his pain turning to rage as he realised that Draco was not going to apologise.

“Don’t you get it?” Draco retorted angrily, too furious to even consider the implications of what his behaviour could mean later. “I don’t like you!”

Harry just stared at him blankly, his green eyes twitching slightly, as if he really wanted to keep yelling but was trying to hold himself back. “Fine,” he spat furiously, “I’ve had enough. We’re through!”

“Good!” Draco yelled back, his face going red with angry, red splotches.

“Fine,” Harry repeated in a huffy voice. “Because I don’t care. You were always hanging around that ferret Draco Malfoy anyway. Well now you’re free to go off and snog him to your heart’s content.”

Draco laughed suddenly. “I might do just that,” he said with a grin, knowing that it would rile Harry up even more. Harry glared at him wordlessly for a moment and then stalked off down the corridor, his angry footsteps echoing through the hallway as he passed from sight. Draco walked back in the opposite direction, his hands clenching as he thought of all that had happened. He was still fuming at the thought that Harry had kissed him.

He suddenly laughed to himself as he wondered how Ginny was going to take the news that Harry had dumped her because of him… 

OOOOOOOOOO

“YOU WHAT!” Ginny screamed when Draco told her what had happened. He shrugged and tried to look unaffected by Ginny’s obvious seething anger, but he could tell that she was beyond angry; he should know, for it was his face he was looking at.

“I can’t believe you made Harry dump me for your own selfishness!” Ginny shouted hysterically, her cheeks angrily flushed.

“Look, it seemed like it was going to happen anyway,” Draco replied nonchalantly, mentally forcing himself to appear indifferent. “I don’t know what you’re so angry about.”

Draco watched as Ginny’s face contorted with fury, and he actually back away slightly, when she suddenly leapt on him sending them sprawling to the ground, their arms and legs flailing in a tangled mess.

“YOU-STUPID-ANNOYING-IDIOT!!!” Ginny screeched in absolute fury, attempting to hit every inch of him she could reach with her hands, not even caring if it was her own body she was attacking.

“Weasley, get off!” Draco yelled, while squirming underneath her. “You’re killing me!”

Ginny ignored him, still shouting furiously as she held him pinned to the ground.

“I’m serious, GET OFF!” Draco bellowed, desperately trying to push her off him.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!!?” A loud voice shouted from above them angrily.

Draco and Ginny both looked up apprehensively to see Professor McGonagall looking down at them, an expression of complete shock and fury on her face. Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed to make her look positively hawk-like.

“This sort of behaviour is not tolerated in the school; I would have thought that you two would know better than to start a muggle brawl in the middle of the hallway.” McGonagall admonished harshly. “Fifty points will be taken from both Slytherin and Gryffindor, and both of you will receive a detention. You will be serving it tonight in the Great Hall, and I do not want to see anymore of this disgusting behaviour again.”

Ginny quickly scrambled up off Draco and nodded her head, her face red from embarrassment. Draco stood up slowly off the ground, wincing slightly from Ginny’s attack, and quickly nodded his head. 

“Good, now both of you out of my sight,” she snapped coldly and swept off down the hallway.

Draco gave Ginny an annoyed glance once McGonagall had passed from their view, rubbing his stomach grumpily where she had winded him. “Thanks a lot Weasley,” he said bitterly. “You just got us a detention because you can’t control your temper.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have made Harry dump me then,” Ginny retorted angrily, clearly still furious that he had done this to her. “I just can’t believe you would do this! This is my life you’re ruining!” Ginny shouted in frustration, running her hands through her hair as she wondered how she could possibly salvage what he had done.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her, his expression sceptical. “Come on Weasley, you can’t be serious in thinking that Potter was the perfect boyfriend? I’ve had to put up with him for almost three weeks now and I don’t know how you did it.”

Ginny was silent, for once not having an angry retort. Draco was right of course. Harry was hardly ever around since he was always running off with Ron and Hermione to do crazy adventures, and she was always the one left behind. Sure they kissed and went on dates but Harry always seemed preoccupied. It was almost as if he was using her as a distraction to his life and the problems in it…

“Just leave me alone Malfoy.” Ginny said quietly and started to walk away.

Draco looked at her sad expression and felt something tug at his heart. Was it pity?

“Weasley I-”

“-You've already done enough,” Ginny said firmly, her eyes now dead, the anger that had previously lit them lost. “Please just leave me alone…” 

Draco sighed as he watched her walk away. For some reason he felt worse then when Harry kissed him. Was it possible he actually cared about the little Weasley’s feelings? That couldn’t be right; he hated her. Maybe it was just the effects of being in her body for so long? Yes, that must be it; Malfoys did not care about Weasleys after all…right?

OOOOOOOOOO

Ginny sat brooding by the Slytherin common room fire later, grey eyes staring into the smouldering flames. She didn’t know whether to be sad or angry, but she was still upset all the same. 

The stone wall to the common room opened and Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle all walked in with smug expressions on their faces. She glanced up briefly and then turned her gaze back to the fire, not really wanting to hear what escapade they had gotten up to.

“What’s up with you?” Blaise asked, the smug expression vanishing to one of concern as he noticed her expression. He sat down next to her on the seat, watching her with a worried frown. Crabbe and Goyle walked off to go look at the new toy they had ‘borrowed’.

Ginny gave a hollow laugh, her gaze falling to her lap. “Malfoy made Harry dump me.”

Blaise frowned slightly. “He did what?”

Ginny nodded and looked to at Crabbe and Goyle, who appeared to have broken the toy. Sighing to herself, she let her gaze fall back to her lap.

“For some reason I don’t feel as angry as I should.”

“What do you mean?” Blaise asked curiously, his eyes watching her intently.

Ginny shrugged, not really sure how to explain it. “I realise now he doesn’t love me, and I know that I don’t love him, but I guess I felt almost obligated to date him.” She sighed again and leaned back against the couch, her eyes flicking to him in a sideways glance. “I’ve had a crush on him since I was ten, but now I see that’s all it ever was- just a crush...”

“So it was a good thing he dumped you then.” Blaise said slowly, watching keenly for her reaction.

Ginny shrugged again. “I guess. I’m still angry that Malfoy made him dump me though. I should’ve been the one to tell him.”

Blaise leaned back with her on the couch, watching her through his own sideways glance, a small smile on his lips. “That's understandable, but hey, look on the bright side of things; you just got Draco to do your dirty work, and now you don’t have to put up with the sulking and erratic outbursts from Potter.”

Ginny laughed in appreciation, wondering how it was he always seemed to make her laugh even when she had no reason to. Before she could even say anything though, Crabbe’s voice suddenly interrupted their covert conversation.

“Hey Draco, looks like your owls got a letter for you.”

“Oh,” Ginny said surprised, looking up to see Crabbe opening the window to let the eagle owl in. She wondered who it was from, not having received any letters from anyone the whole two and half weeks she had been Draco Malfoy.

Standing up from the chair, Ginny walked over towards Crabbe and took the letter from the owl. The envelope was a dark-green parchment and felt heavy in her hands- it was certainly nothing her family could afford.

Ginny sat back down next to Blaise, giving him a sly look as she held the green envelope. “Should we open it?”

Blaise shrugged, his own sly grin forming. “I guess he deserves it. Sure let’s open it.”

Ginny nodded and opened the letter, revealing another thick piece of parchment that had a faintly floral scent.

“What does it say?” Blaise asked curiously, as he leaned towards her to read the letter. Ginny peered down at the parchment to read the flowing, and very feminine writing:

My darling Draco,

Why have you not been writing to me? I have been worried sick that something has happened to you. You know that I like you to write to me at least once every week, for I do miss you terribly when you are away from home. Your father thinks I am silly for getting so worried, but what would I do if my precious baby was hurt? You know how much I love you, dear, so please ease my mind and don’t leave me in such long periods of silence again.

Now, before you get all worked up, just know that I didn’t write to you just to scold you for not writing to your poor mother. I wanted to tell you that we are having Christmas at home this year, so I’ll come to pick you up from the station. I simply cannot wait to see you again. You’ve probably grown so much since the last time I saw you, and I’m sure all the girls must love you, for who could resist my handsome, little dragon?

Well, your father is fussing at me to hurry up and send the letter; we’re about to go visit the Parkinsons for lunch. Send my love to Pansy and Blaise, and take good care of yourself. I’ll see you tomorrow, darling.

Love Narcissa.

“It’s from his mother,” Ginny said with a small smile, unable to repress her amusement at Narcissa’s obvious fondness for her son. She had almost snorted out loud when she had read, ‘my handsome, little dragon,’ and realised this one letter had given her a lot of good ammunition- that was, if she was brave enough to tell Draco she had read his letter….

“Oh, she mentioned me,” Blaise said with a small smile. “Funny, Draco told me Narcissa didn’t like me…. Or maybe she just didn’t like my mother….”

Ginny shook her head slightly, not really having anything to say to that. She glanced at the clock and suddenly felt her stomach plummet.

“Oh shoot!” Ginny shouted and quickly stood up.

“What?” Blaise said, startled by her sudden exclamation.

“I forgot my detention!” Ginny cried agitatedly and all but ran out of the common room.

OOO

Ginny walked into the Great Hall to see Draco looking very bored and Professor McGonagall looking very stern. Both of them looked up as she walked in, identical expressions of impatience crossing their faces.

“You’re late Mr Malfoy,” McGonagall said crossly, her eyes narrowing.

“Sorry Professor,” Ginny apologised quickly.

McGonagall sniffed and looked at them both unsympathetically. “For your detention you are going to work together in polishing the floors of the Great Hall with no magic. I will know if you use a spell, so don’t even try it.”

Draco and Ginny exchanged horrified glances.

“I only hope this will teach you not to behave in such a disgusting way again.” She continued coldly and caused two cloths and bottles of polish to appear. “I suggest you start now, or else you will be here all night. I’ll be checking to see what you have done later.”

Draco and Ginny watched as Professor McGonagall walked out of the Great Hall and immediately turned on each other.

“This is all your fault!” They cried in unison.

“My fault?” They both exclaimed incredulously.

“Oh, blaming each other isn’t going to work,” Ginny said tiredly, realising that both of them were far too stubborn to admit who was right or wrong. “Let’s just do this.”

Draco scowled to himself and picked up one of the cloths and polish, plonking himself down on the ground as he started polishing the floor, a rather venomous expression on his face. Ginny doubted he had ever had to polish anything by hand before, let alone clean at all, for he was putting far too much polish on at one spot.

“You need to use less polish if you want to do it properly,” Ginny advised, watching him leaving large streaky marks on the floor.  Draco lifted up his face, his expression looking almost as if he had just swallowed bubotuber pus.

“Well I’m sorry,” Draco muttered in a long-suffering voice. “It’s not every day I have to polish floors.”

Ginny sighed, grabbing the remaining bottle of polish and cloth and sat down next to him. “Look,” she said as nicely as possible, given the situation they were in. “All you do is put a small amount on the cloth, like this-” she explained, showing him what to do- “and then gently rub it into the wood. A small part will go a long way, and you don’t need to pour it all over the floor.”

Draco scowled at her. “I don’t need your help, Weasley.”

Ginny shook her head in exasperation and started polishing her own part of the floor. She looked up when he wasn’t watching and saw him covertly put a little bit of the polish on the cloth and start rubbing it into the floor, giving a small scowl when he realised Ginny had been right. He suddenly looked up and caught her gaze, glaring at her slightly. Ginny looked down and continued to polish the floor, a small smile on her lips…

Two Hours Later…

“Okay…. What’s your favourite Quidditch Team?” Ginny asked as she looked up at the starry sky above her. She and Draco were both lying side by side on the floor of the Great Hall, their cloths and bottles abandoned for the mean time while they had a rest.

Draco turned his head at Ginny’s question to look at her with a smirk playing on his mouth. “Easy. The Silver Tails of course.”

Ginny laughed, her eyes still staring at the sky. “Same.”

“I would have thought you’d be a Chudley Canons fan,” Draco replied mockingly, a small smile on his lips.

“No way. They’re terrible!” Ginny declared bluntly, sitting up on her elbows to look at him better.

Draco smiled to himself and stared up at the starry ceiling above them. It was strange how much he and Ginny had in common really. They liked the same Quidditch team, the same music, though thankfully not the same books, for Draco could never bring himself to stomach those trashy romance novels she seemed to love to read…

“I wonder how they did that,” Draco mused out loud as he stared at the stars twinkling above him.

“Did what?” Ginny asked curiously, her chin leaning on her hand as she gazed at him.

“How they made the night sky reflect itself on the ceiling.”

Ginny shrugged, her gaze following his to watch the swirling black sky. “I dunno. It’s pretty cool though...”

“Yeah.” Draco agreed absently.

Ginny frowned slightly as they both fell into their own thoughts. She sighed to herself and looked at Draco, suddenly remembering Narcissa’s letter. If they didn’t get their bodies back before tomorrow, Narcissa wouldn’t even get to see her son. Instead she’d be seeing Ginny pretending to be him…

“Do you think we’ll ever get our bodies back, Malfoy?” Ginny asked dejectedly, thinking of not being able to see her own family for Christmas. “I mean the Christmas holidays are tomorrow, and if we’re still stuck like this then we won’t be able to go home to our families...”

Draco sighed and ran a hand tiredly over his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about that too, but what can we do? Hopefully things will just work out...”

Ginny nodded, knowing that there really was nothing they could do except hope for the best. She glanced up at the clock and sighed slightly, realising how late it was getting.  “Well, I guess we better finish polishing these floors.”

“I suppose.” Draco agreed as he sat up off the ground. “McGonagall might come back again anyway.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Ginny said quickly and immediately began polishing the floor.

Draco picked up his cloth and also started polishing beside Ginny, the boredom of polishing floors settling in once again. They only had a little bit left to go, but that little bit was going to prove a mammoth task.

“You know, Malfoy,” Ginny began in a thoughtful voice, her eyes glancing at him.

“Yeah?” Draco said absently as he polished the floor.

“When we get our bodies back, will you- I mean- we can still be friends, right?” Ginny asked quickly.

Draco stopped polishing and looked at her curiously, slightly taken aback by her question. She had never tried to approach him in this way before, and he had never really given it a thought either.

“You call me your friend?” he asked in surprise, not really knowing what else to say to that.

Ginny shrugged, her cheeks flushing slightly. “Well, Blaise and I have gotten quite close, and I wouldn’t want me and you to go back to mindlessly baiting each other…”

Draco stared at her disbelievingly, realising that she was actually being serious. She wanted to be his friend, and actually already considered him to be one. Him: the boy who had always taunted her and always mocked her family...

“So you want to be friends with me?” he repeated a little incredulously.

Ginny nodded, her posture becoming a little defensive at his constant questioning. “Yeah, is that so hard to believe?”

Draco shook his head, knowing himself that it would be impossible for them to go back to how they used to be, and somewhere deep down under all his pride, he realised that for quite a while now he had been considering her a friend- admittedly an annoying one, but a friend all the same…

“No,” Draco answered finally. “I don’t think it is possible for us to go back to how we were. I know too much about you; I have been pretending to be you for almost three weeks after all.”

“So I guess we’re friends then?” Ginny asked, holding out her hand with a small smile.

Draco nodded and took her hand, his own small smile coming to his lips. “I guess we are.”

They looked at each other and suddenly laughed, both amused at the fact that a Weasley and a Malfoy were friends.

The odd friends soon went back to polishing the floors with a much more companionable atmosphere surrounding them, neither of them noticing the teary-eyed Professor McGonagall watching from the doors.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Draco walked into the Gryffindor common room later that night and sat down next to Hermione, a small groan escaping his lips as he flexed his aching hands. They had spent hours polishing that stupid floor…

“How’d your detention go?” Hermione asked in an almost friendly manner, her wand methodically knitting elf hats beside her.

“It was alright,” Draco replied absently. He was still thinking of how funny it was when Ginny slipped over after they had finished polishing the floor…

“Hey Ginny, have you got your stuff packed?” Ron asked as he plonked himself down on the chair next to her.

“Packed for what?” Draco asked slowly, not having any idea what Ron was talking about.

“We’re going home tomorrow. Didn’t I already tell you that?” Ron asked, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his hair.

“No.” Draco said bluntly.

“Oh, well we are. Better get packing then,” Ron said with a careless grin and started talking to Hermione about bats.

Draco shook his head and stared at the floor with a growing sensation of foreboding. He was going to have to spend Christmas with the Weasleys. This was going to be awful….