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: I know it’s been a while, but I actually do have a good excuse. I was busy with exams, but now I am finished. I’ve also been spending a lot of time at my site in the RPG section.

 http://magicsanctum.proboards105.com/index.cgi <--- site link.

Meeting the Family

Draco’s morning had not been a pleasant one. He had missed his breakfast and didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to Blaise or talk to Ginny about what she should expect at his home. Now he was stuck in a car, on the way to the burrow and probably going to have the worst Christmas of his life…

“Isn’t this year going to be wonderful?” Molly Weasley was saying enthusiastically. “All the family is coming, even Percy.”

Draco scowled to himself; the more Weasleys coming to Christmas the worst it would be. This was just great….

“We’re going to have so much fun!” Mrs Weasley continued happily, giving him a broad smile, as Arthur Wesley continued to drive them to a house he had christened “the burrow”. Draco didn’t think his life could get any worse knowing that he was going to be staying in a place that was named after a rodent’s (or maybe a rabbit’s) living space. Then again, they were weasels….

The rest of the car ride was not thrilling. The Weasleys were all very loud and were so different to his own parents that it was making things incredibly awkward. Ron saying stupid comments to him wasn’t helping either, so it was with great relief that Draco felt the car slowing down as it pulled into a long dusty road. His expression changed, however, when he saw the house he was supposed to be staying in…

The burrow was not exactly what Draco had expected. The house, if you could call it a house, looked like it was originally one floor and then people had come and used magic to add on rooms and floors when necessary, until it resembled more of a lopsided tower than a comfortable home. He couldn’t believe anyone lived here, and no matter how much he had taunted the Weasleys, he had never expected them to be this poor….

“Well, we’re home kids.” Molly said cheerfully as she picked up the bags and walked off towards the teetering house. Ron got out of the car, Draco following with a scrunched up expression on his face. He walked apprehensively up to the house and was immediately jumped upon by Fred and George, who cracked identical evil grins.

“Ginny, you’re just in time for the fun!” George exclaimed happily.

“We left an early present for Percy.” Fred whispered with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

Draco looked at them warily and followed their gaze towards the pompous looking Percy, who was now opening a present with a smug smile.

“We said it was from Fudge,” they whispered in unison.

Percy shrieked rather girlishly as a gnome fell out of the parcel. Draco watched as the small potato looking creature ran on its stubby legs out of the house, his own face going rather pale. These people were insane, and they had gnomes in their garden….

Fred, George and Ron all started to laugh as Percy’s face went beet red. Draco watched with another scrunched up expression as Percy started yelling furiously, chasing after Ron (who always seemed to get the blame).

“That was classic.” Fred cried, as he wiped tears away from his eyes, watching Percy chase Ron around the house.

Draco stared at them blankly and turned to Molly glaring at everyone. “Boys, I want us all to get along this Christmas. There will be no mischief here!” She said in her dragon voice.

The boys nodded and dispersed of their separate ways. Draco found himself standing in the room, wondering where in Merlin’s name Ginny’s room was and who these people’s names all were. He could see someone with long red hair and a fang earring talking to another guy who was unbelievably freckled and tan- he new neither of them.

“Ginny, what are you doing just standing there?” The man with the long hair asked as he walked over and pulled Draco into a loose hug. “You should go put your stuff away.”

Draco looked up at the guy having no idea who he was, or where Ginny’s room even was. Not wanting to give anything away though, he simply nodded and walked up the stairs. He passed a few doors, unsure whether to enter, but then a sigh of relief escaped his lips when he saw a yellow sign saying `Ginevra's room'.

“Thank goodness she’s one of those girls.” Draco muttered and pushed open the door. He cast a critical eye about the room and was slightly surprised. Ginny’s room was decorated simply and reminded Draco of his mother’s morning room. It was bright, inviting and comfortable, though it was amazingly messy. She really needed to learn what ‘putting away’ meant.

Collapsing on the bed, his hand idly played with the blanket as he stared up at the roof. “Never did I think I would be in Ginny Weasley’s room, about to have Christmas with her family,” He muttered to himself…

OOOOOOOOO

Ginny stood nervously at Platform 9 and ¾, fidgeting with her hands as she stared at the families leaving for the Christmas holidays. Any minute now Mrs Malfoy was going to turn up….

“Don’t be so nervous, Weasley,” Blaise said softly, giving her a reassuring smile. “You’ll be fine.”

“But what if she realises I’m not her son. I have no idea how Draco acts around his mother.”

Blaise merely shrugged. “There’s not much else you can do though is there?”

“I guess,” she replied tiredly, and gripped his hand as she saw a pretty blonde woman that looked very familiar. “It’s her!” Ginny stage whispered quite unnecessarily, watching Narcissa Malfoy in all her regal glory coming towards her with an affectionate smile on her face.

“I know,” Blaise said with a laugh, gently prising Ginny’s hand off his. “And you had best go greet her.”

Ginny wrung her hands nervously and just stood there, until suddenly she felt herself being thrust forward. She swallowed hard, looking up to catch Narcissa’s beaming face before she was enfolded in a very flowery embrace, the sweet smell of Narcissa’s perfume tickling her nostrils.

“Darling, I have missed you so much,” Narcissa exclaimed in a long-suffering voice as she clutched Ginny to her. “That horrible school always steal you away from me for so long…”

Pulling herself away, she gave Ginny a critical look. “You’re looking rather thin, dear. Have they been feeding you right?”

“Yeah,” Ginny answered, trying to look happy to see Narcissa. “They’re feeding me fine…”

Ginny looked back at Blaise, a pleading expression on his face for him to save her, as Narcissa continued to ask questions about the school. He just gave her an amused smile before finally coming forward.

“Mrs Malfoy,” Blaise said with a charming smile. “You’re looking as radiant as always.”

Narcissa pulled herself away from Ginny and gave Blaise a small smile. “Blaise, how nice to see you. I suppose your mother will be picking you up?”

He nodded his head, and just in that moment a very beautiful woman walked over towards them, caramel skin revealed tastefully against her white sundress, her glossy black hair framing the most exotic and beautiful face Ginny had ever seen. Giving Blaise a careless kiss on his cheek, she turned and smiled at the both of them. Ginny noticed the faint curl of Narcissa’s lip. It was clear that she did not like this woman, who Ginny realised must be Mrs Zabini, the famously beautiful witch who had also gone through seven husbands...

“Narcissa,” Mrs Zabini said with a slow and rather fake smile on her ruby lips. “How charming to see you again. How are you?”

“Selina,” Narcissa replied, forcing one of her own fake smiles on her face. “I’m fine of course. Lucius always takes good care of me.”

Selina smirked slightly, “No doubt.”

She turned her dark eyes to Ginny, giving her a slightly seductive smile. “My how you’ve grown, Draco. How old are you now?”

“He’s sixteen. Younger than your son,” Narcissa replied quickly, her falsely polite expression slipping in her sudden anger.

“I was just asking,” Selina Zabini said with a smirk. “No need to go so defensive dear, you might give yourself wrinkles with that frown.”

Ginny felt Narcissa stiffen beside her and looked to Blaise for help. She had no idea what to do, and it was clear these two women were gearing up for a catfight.

“Mother, didn’t you say John was going to take us out when we got back?” Blaise said quickly.

Selina gasped. “Oh, you’re right. I completely forgot. Yes, he did. Thank you for reminding me, Blaise.”

“Well, don’t let me hold you up then,” Narcissa said falsely sweet, giving them an equally fake smile. Turning back to Ginny, she took her arm in hers, a smile on her face. “Come, Draco,” she commanded. “I have lots of things planned for you when we get home.”

Ginny, suddenly finding herself being steered away by Narcissa, looked back at Blaise with a helpless expression. He just waved, giving her a small smile, before his mother too steered him off…

Narcissa stopped walking once they were away from Blaise and Selina, letting out a small sigh, her eyes setting into a frown. “Blaise is a sweet boy, but he does have a dreadful mother. I can’t have people knowing I don’t like her though, so I’ll have to invite her over for lunch sometime. You’d like that wouldn’t you, Draco? You can spend some time with Blaise.”

“Uh… yeah, sure.”

Narcissa nodded decisively to herself, seemingly oblivious to Ginny’s less than eloquent answers. “Yes, I suppose I shall have to do that, though it is a bother…”

Ginny just grunted noncommittally and suddenly found herself locked in a tight grip. Turning to look at Draco’s mother in confusion, she only caught a glimpse of Narcissa’s expression of deep concentration before the world was closing in around them as they disapparated.

Blinking slightly as they reappeared, she stared up at the large mansion that was Malfoy Manor. It was beautiful, looking just like it had come out of a fairytale. She was surprised to find it was nothing at all like the dark, gothic mansion she had been imagining. It had beautiful rose gardens surrounding it and the house itself was warm and inviting. If she was to be Draco, however, she could not act impressed by any of this.

“Come on, darling,” Narcissa said happily, releasing Ginny from her grip.

Ginny just followed Narcissa across the lush grass, seeing the smiling flowers looking up at her in pretty colours as they both came to the small stone path that led to the front porch of the mansion. Narcissa opened the door, calling out for a house-elf named ‘Mitsy’. Ginny stepped inside the house, trying hard not to let her jaw drop at all elegant splendour that surrounded her. There was nothing tacky about the Malfoys’ home. You could tell they were rich, but it was not overbearing. The ornaments and portraits were tasteful, the colours welcoming and soothing; really, Ginny had to decide that this was the most beautiful home she had ever been in.

“Draco?” Narcissa said in a confused voice. Ginny turned and noticed Narcissa standing at an open door, looking at her with a perplexed expression. “Are you coming?”

“Oh, yeah…” Ginny said quickly, following Narcissa into another tastefully decorated room that had light streaming in through the large windows. Ginny took a seat at the table, her eyes widening slightly at all the food appearing before her. Was she really expected eat all this?

“It’s all your favourites. I know how hungry you are when you get home.”

Ginny forced a smile and stared at the food. Some of it looked alright, but most of it looked ridiculously sweet. Obviously Draco Malfoy had a very bad sweet tooth….

Slowly she started eating, steadily feeling sicker with each bite of rich food. She was just not used this kind of stuff, but with Narcissa right there chatting happily away to her there was no way out of it…

After what seemed hours, but in fact was not very long at all, Ginny finally stood up. “Um, mother, I’m feeling kind of tired. Can I go to my room?”

“Well of course you can, darling,” Narcissa said with a laugh.

Ginny thanked her and made her sickly progress towards the room, clutching her stomach that was twisting and turning uncomfortably. The food had made her feel horribly ill. It was then that she realised she had no idea where Draco’s room was.

Letting out a small groan, she started walking down the corridors, ignoring the paintings that were greeting her along the way. The mansion was rather large, and she soon found herself getting lost, much to her frustration.

“Now what?” Ginny muttered, stomach still turning unpleasantly.

She heard something scuffling around from behind a tapestry and pulled it back to see the same house-elf from earlier. “Hey, elf,” Ginny said quickly, seizing on an idea. “Take me to my room!”

Mitsy the elf nodded her bald head, clutching her shabby clothes to herself. “As you wish, young Master. Mitsy will take Master to Master’s room.

Ginny just nodded, inwardly congratulating herself on her brilliant thinking and followed the elf through the spiralling corridors, up a flight of stairs and down some more corridors, until the little elf stopped outside a large wooden door.

“Will that be all, Master?”

“Yes that will be all,” Ginny said quickly, dismissing the elf with a nod.

She sighed once the elf had walked off and opened the door, feeling strangely intrusive at the thought of going into Draco’s room. Even if she had been pretending to be him for nearly three weeks, his room was private, and she didn’t like to invade all of his personal space, but what choice did she have?

Pushing the door open and walking inside, she immediately thought in her head that there was no doubt this was Draco Malfoy’s room. There was not a single object out of place, and it was almost unnaturally clean and tidy. Looking up at the green walls, she saw a few posters of Quidditch teams and some rather questionable witches in little clothing, but much to her amusement the posters had been placed up with expert precision, being not in the slightest bit crooked or out of place.

Letting out a deep breath, she walked over to the ridiculously large bed and collapsed on it, feeling the soft fabric under her fingers. “I can’t believe I’m at the Malfoy’s home, lying on Draco’s bed,” she muttered, echoing Draco’s earlier words…

OOO

“DINNER!”

Draco jumped off the bed in fright, surprised by the shriek that had almost blasted his ears. He heard something clunking around in the roof and faintly heard someone muttering something about ghouls. Sighing tiredly, he hauled himself off Ginny’s bed and left the room, trudging down the staircase and stumbling back slightly when he collided with something. He looked up dazedly and felt his jaw drop when he saw Harry Potter staring at him.

“Harry, what are you waiting for?” Hermione called out, breaking the awkward silence that had settled over Harry and Draco.

“Nothing,” Harry said quickly and brushed past Draco as he moved up the stairs.

“What are you two doing here?” Draco asked Hermione, now that Harry had left.

Hermione shifted her bag in her hands and gave him a small smile. “Harry always has Christmas here, and I thought I’d better give you a hand so I made sure to excuse myself from my parents.”

Draco felt his jaw drop, a not very flattering expression of confusion settling on his face. “You did that for me?” he couldn’t help but ask incredulously. He had never given a reason for Hermione to be nice to him, but here she was actually missing Christmas with her family just so she could help him out?

Hermione smiled, tucking some of her bushy hair behind her ears, catching on to why he was so bewildered. “Think of it as a Christmas truce, Malfoy. Now if you don’t mind, I have to go take these up to Ginny’s room.”

“You’ll be sharing a room with me?” he asked with sudden awkwardness.

“Yes, but as you’ve been sharing a room with girls for the past three weeks, I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” she responded, her eyebrow rising slightly.

Draco just made a noncommittal sound and nodded his head. “Yeah, sure….”

Flashing him a smile again, Hermione clutched her bag more securely and moved past him to go to the room he had just left. He sighed and continued his trek down the stairs, wondering what his first dinner with the Weasleys was going to be like. For the first time in his life he was glad that Hermione Granger was going to be there too.

Draco walked into what he guessed was the dining room and saw the same long-haired man from earlier give him a wave. He couldn’t remember the guy’s name for the life of him and paused, wondering what to do.

“Over here, Ginny,” the man called, beckoning for Draco to take a seat next to him at the large table. Draco just sighed and walked over, taking a seat next to the older boy and staring glumly at his empty plate. Mrs Weasley was bustling from the kitchen to the dining room, bringing plates of delicious smelling food onto the table, and Draco vaguely wondered if it would actually taste as nice as it smelt, when he found his thoughts being broken by the man next to him.

“You look troubled, Ginny. What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing,” Draco said airily. “Just hungry.”

The man smiled appreciatively, giving him a small wink. “I’m sure Mum will soon sort that out.”

“Yeah…” Draco said with a forced smile.

“BOYS, COME GET YOUR DINNERS BEFORE IT GETS COLD!!!”

Draco clutched his ears as Molly Weasley screeched at the top of her lungs, his face screwed up in a wince. He spotted Hermione’s amused expression as she took a seat next to him and took his hands away from his ears.

“You get used to it,” Hermione whispered.

Draco just stared at Mrs Weasley with a rather petrified expression, thinking the woman was clearly a banshee….

The sound of many feet came stomping down the stairs, and soon the table was filled to the brim with red heads, the only two not with the trademark flaming red hair being Hermione and Harry.

“Let’s eat!” Arthur Weasley said loudly, and Draco watched in horror as everyone started stuffing their faces with food.

“How’s the Ministry going, Perce?” A tanned red head was saying to the very nerdy and pompous looking Percy.

Draco frowned and turned to Hermione as Percy answered just as pompously as he looked.

“Who’s that man?”

Hermione followed his gaze and smiled. “That’s Charlie, he works in Romania with dragons, and the one next to you is Bill. He’s a curse breaker for Gringotts.”

“Oh…” Draco said, relieved to know that he at least knew their names now. He looked up and scrunched his face up with disgust as he saw Ron talking with his mouth full of food, spraying bits of carrot all over the table in his enthusiasm.

These people have no manners….

This was going to be a very long evening….

OOO

Ginny frowned as she heard a bell ringing. What in Merlin’s name could the stupid bell mean?

Standing up off the bed she opened the door, spotting the house-elf going past. “Why is the bell ringing?”

Mitsy jumped at being addressed and immediately clutched its raggedy clothes. “It’s dinner time, Master Draco. Mistress always rings the bell to let you know.”

Ginny just nodded. “Right… I knew that.”

Twisting her lips in thought, she realised she had no idea where the Malfoys had dinner. “Um, I want you to take me to the her, okay?”

“Mitsy will take Master Draco to Mistress,” Mitsy said promptly and led Ginny off down the hallways. Once Ginny entered the room, the elf quickly scampered off before she could thank her, or him, she still wasn’t sure what it was…

“Darling,” Narcissa began in her usual over-fond voice and then paused. “You didn’t change?”

Ginny frowned, wondering what on earth Narcissa was talking about, when she realised that the woman was wearing a different dress to what she had been wearing earlier. Obviously the Malfoys followed the rule of getting dressed up for dinner…

“Oh, I forgot,” Ginny said with a shrug.

“Don’t shrug, Draco,” A cool voice said from the head of the table. “It doesn’t become you.”

Ginny’s head swivelled around to see Lucius Malfoy watching her through cool, grey eyes, his long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“Luci- I mean Father,” Ginny corrected quickly. She really didn’t like this man, knowing that he was the one that had given her that diary all those years ago, but then what could she do? She was in Draco’s body, and she had to act like she loved his parents, no matter how much it killed her to do it…

Lucius stared at her for a moment before beckoning her towards him. “Come here, Draco and stop gawking like an idiot.”

Ginny walked over and stood before him, feeling vaguely like she was standing before a wizarding firing squad about to be hit by ten Avada Kedavras. He frowned at her, gesturing for her to take a seat. Ginny quickly sat down, feeling sweat gathering on her forehead. This was surely going to kill her…

Narcissa, completely oblivious to Ginny’s nervousness just gave a tinkling laugh. “My poor, little Dragon. I’m sure he’s just tired from his school year, aren’t you darling?”

Ginny nodded, feeling somewhat grateful for Narcissa, even if her affections made Ginny rather uncomfortable.

Lucius just frowned and clicked his fingers. Instantly Mitsy the elf appeared, bowing ridiculously low so that its nose brushed the floor. “Serve us our dinner, Mitsy, and be quick about it.”

“Yes Master, of course Master,” Mitsy said in a grovelling voice, and in a few seconds later food was before Ginny’s wide eyes on her previously empty plate. The food looked delicious, and Ginny who had been feeling ravenously hungry, was already to dig into the food with all her usual enthusiasm, a large piece of meat on her fork, when she noticed Narcissa staring at her with a shocked expression.

“Draco, you aren’t going to eat that meat like that are you? You need to cut it first.”

Ginny stared at the meat dangling off her fork and blushed slightly. “Sorry, Mother,” she apologised and immediately started cutting the meat. She caught Lucius’ raised eyebrow and inwardly sighed. This family was so stiff that it was making her incredibly uncomfortable. She couldn’t even enjoy her food properly…

“I told you we shouldn’t of sent him to that school,” Narcissa was saying in an under-voice. “They’re teaching him bad manners.”

“Oh, hush, Narcissa,” Lucius admonished gently. “What was good enough for us is good enough for him. You refused to send him to Durmstrang after all...”

“I was not going to let my baby boy be any further from me than he already is,” Narcissa said firmly, looking rather steely for such a seemingly fickle woman. “Besides, that horrible Headmaster has a bad reputation. I don’t want Draco with people like that…”

Ginny coughed, knowing that Karkaroff had been accused of being a Death Eater, and was surprised to see Lucius also get a rather pink tinge on his cheeks. “My dear, you know that he was harmless.”

“Yes, well he’s also on the run from the Dark Lord, isn’t he?” Narcissa snapped, losing some of her flowery tones. “At least you have the sense not to get us caught up in those affairs, and it had better stay that way Lucius,” she said firmly. “I already told you I don’t want Draco being caught up with those meddling fools. They want to change the world and get rid of mudbloods, fine, but they can leave me and Draco out of it.”

“They’re not fools, and you’d be best to show a little more respect for them, Narcissa.” Lucius said coldly.

Ginny stared at them, looking much like someone at a tennis match, her head swivelling from one to the next.

“I don’t care about your silly Dark Lord or your Death Eaters,” Narcissa said in an equally chilly voice, “And Draco doesn’t either, do you Draco?”

Ginny felt both of their eyes turn to her, Lucius looking at her with a rather surprised and yet angry glare, while Narcissa stared at her expectantly, obviously expecting Ginny to agree with her.

Damn, now what do I do?

“I, um, feel sick,” Ginny lied and pushed back her chair, hurriedly leaving the table with as much dignity as she could keep. She vaguely heard Narcissa mutter, “Now look what you’ve done,” before she passed out of ear-shot, her heart beating uncomfortably as it fully hit her that she was in the home of a Death Eater.

All this time that she had pretended to be Draco, spending time with his friends and being in his house, it never really hit her that they were associated with her enemies. She had befriended the sons and daughters of Death Eaters, and now she was in Lucius Malfoy’s home, realising for the first time how dangerous this truly was…

A/N: Sorry if there are typos, etc. This chapter has not been read over by my Beta.