Someone Else’s Shoes

By Darkfire75

It seemed like an average day at Hogwarts. The sun was bright, classes weren’t until Monday, and a normal fight between rivals had just broken out. Draco Malfoy and his two thugs, Crabbe and Goyle, were taunting Harry Potter and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

"Say that again, Malfoy, I dare you," spat Ron, who was being held back by his friends. He was trying to make a go at Draco.

The Slytherin simply smirked at them. "Let him go, Potter," he drawled. "I want to see if Weasley can fight."

"Oh, I can fight all right!" shouted Ron angrily. He tried to break free from his friends’ grip on him.

"Ron, stop this now!" cried Hermione.

"Not this time, Hermione!" he replied. Harry stepped between them.

"Ron, c’mon, he’s not worth it," he said sternly.

"Of course he is, Harry! He’s taunted us since the first day of school, remember? Now’s our chance to pay him back!"

Draco folded his arms across his chest in amusement. He loved to watch people bicker. He let out a deep yawn. He was getting a feeling that this was going to take awhile.

***

Frodo began to lag behind again and Sam had to help him. Gandalf turned around and nodded to Aragorn. The man walked towards the hobbit. "Frodo, are you all right?" he asked.

"I feel weak," he replied. "Is there not something to eat here?"

"Actually, I have some lembas from Mirkwood," Legolas offered taking out a piece. "It is supposed to fill your stomach."

Frodo gladly took it and smiled at the Elf. Since their journey to Mordor had begun, the hobbit had become closer to a lot of his companions. Legolas, being one of them. He had always been fascinated by Elves and standing in the presence of someone like Legolas was a dream come true.

Merry and Pippin were very close to the man called Boromir, who had spoken his words at the Council of Elrond. There was something that Frodo did not like about him, but he just didn’t know what. He looked up to where Gandalf stood and thought to himself, He is a great wizard. We will find our way to Mordor with his help and dispose of this stupid Ring.

He carefully fumbled with the Ring around his neck. Every time he felt it, he knew it was draining his strength. His breathing became deeper and heavier as they walked. Finally, they decided to make camp and rest. Frodo could finally rest his feet and close his eyes.

***

The fight carried on as Draco had expected, but not with Ron, Harry, and Hermione just yelling at each other. They had started advancing on the three Slytherins just standing there looking quite amused. Crabbe and Goyle were too stupid to do anything smart, so Draco was the one to take out his wand. Harry copied his example, but lowered it.

"This is stupid, Malfoy," he said.

"No, you know what’s stupid, Potter? You are!" replied Draco. He raised his wand and at the same time, he and Harry both shouted the same curse. It touched both of them and they were immediately bathed in white light. Something was happening and not one of them knew what it was.

***

Frodo was enjoying a peaceful nap about being home in the Shire with Bilbo, but was suddenly awakened by something. He looked around wildly to see if anyone was trying to bother him. Legolas seemed to be having a similar problem. His eyes were wide open and his hands were upon his breast. He just stared at the stars and never blinked.

There was a strange feeling in the air and the Elf could feel it. He saw Frodo stand up in confusion and they both looked at each other uncertainly. Suddenly, they were engulfed in white light. The Elf and hobbit screamed for the others, but it seemed that they couldn’t hear them.

And then as suddenly as it had happened, it ended. Frodo and Legolas lay sprawled out on the grass with closed eyes.

When Harry woke up, he reached to feel his head, but encountered curly hair instead of messy hair. He reached up to feel his scar, but realized that he didn’t have one anymore. He didn’t even have glasses! This was odd. Then he finally realized that he wasn’t in Hogwarts anymore, or at least on the school grounds. He stood up slowly and noticed that he was extremely short. His feet were the strangest thing of all. They were huge and hairy.

Harry looked around and saw a number of other people sleeping on the ground. He saw a particularly interesting looking being lying on the ground like he had been. It looked feminine but it was wearing men’s, or what he thought was men’s, clothing. It had long blonde hair and pointy ears. Then a thought struck him. Him and Draco Malfoy in white light.

"Oh no," he whispered and noticed that his voice was soft and calm instead of its usual tone. He knelt down beside the figure and began nudging it hard.

Its eyes flew open and for a second, nobody moved. Then, and to Harry’s horror, the being screamed loudly. He had to block his ears. "MALFOY, SHUT UP!" Harry cried above the screaming person.

The being stopped abruptly and stared at him curiously. "Potter?" he asked in a soft voice that sounded almost musical. "W-what happened to me—I mean, us?"

"I dunno, but it had nasty side affects. Look at you and me! I’m a little person with curly hair and you’re a blonde boy that’s really, really tall," Harry replied looking up as Draco stood on his feet.

"Hey, but I’m still good-looking," he said with a grin that didn’t fit his new body. "And I feel older too. Why do I have a pack of arrows on my back?"

"How should I know? I don’t even know what we’re doing here."

"Frodo, Legolas!" called someone on their left. Both Harry and Draco looked around to see who they were addressing. Then they realized that it was them.

"What is it?" Harry said almost irritably.

"We’re leaving now," said the man. "Legolas," he nodded to Draco, "we are counting on you to keep a sharp lookout."

"Legolas?" repeated Draco. "What kind of name is that?"

"Well what kind of name is Draco?" sneered Harry.

"Hmmp," was all Draco could say in response. He walked up to the man that had spoken to him and asked, "What am I?"

"Legolas, are you ill?"

"N-no. I’d just like to know what I am."

"You are Prince Legolas Greenleaf of Mirkwood sent by your father King Thranduil to accompany Frodo Baggins on his quest to Mordor," answered the man.

"Hmm, I see. And what exactly am I?"

"Why, you are an Elf."

"An Elf? C’mon, I’ve seen plenty of Elves and I am certainly no—" his sentence was cut short due to the fact that Harry had leapt up onto his back to cover his mouth.

"He’s just a little tired that’s all, uh…um…what’s your name again?" he said smiling.

"Frodo, is there something wrong with you? My name is Aragorn, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I just forgot. You know, it kinda slipped my mind."

Aragorn raised his eyebrows. "I’m sure it did," he said confused and walked away.

"Why’d you stop me from talking?" Draco growled.

"It’s plain that these people that he thinks we are don’t act like this. We are gonna have to start acting like they would. I can guess that by looking at Legolas’s body, that he is an excellent marksman and is very quiet. I don’t know why, it just seems like it’s his personality. Now, what do you see when you look at me?"

"A really short, annoying person," answered the Elf.

"Malfoy, I mean it."

"Okay, okay. Um…you look like a quiet little person that’s hiding something special. Your personality is that you’re scared you might not make it to this Mordor place. Whoa, where did that come from?"

"See, we can’t say words like that. We obviously went back in time or something. This is like the Middle Ages with King Arthur and those guys."

"Who?"

"I dunno. Hermione told me about it once. Anyway, we’re gonna have to act like these two guys. We are no longer Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. We are Frodo Baggins and Legolas Greenleaf."

"Why does your name have to go first?"

"Huh?"

"How come my name is never first? How come it’s always Harry and Draco, not Draco and Harry?"

"Why are you getting upset over that?"

"Because I think we should start announcing our titles differently. They always say your name before mine and I find that annoying. Besides, I’m a prince so you gotta treat me with respect."

"Oh brother, I knew you’d let that bloody royalty thing go to your head. I can’t believe I’m stuck out here with you, of all people."

"Don’t act like I’m all cheery about it either, Potter. I say we keep our distances and leave it at that."

"I agree."

***

When Frodo opened his eyes, the first thing he saw, was two glass mirrors on his face. He tried to remove them, but realized that he couldn’t see without them. He sat up in bed and felt his face. He paused as his fingers reached up to his forehead where there was a strange scar and up to where his messy jet-black hair surrounded his face.

"W-where am I?" he said out loud. He noticed that his voice was barely a whisper when he spoke. He looked to the side of him and saw a silvery-blonde boy on the bed across from him. Frodo thought a moment and then realized that the boy looked a lot like Legolas. "Um…excuse me," he said softly trying to wake up the other boy.

His eyes flew open to reveal two gray eyes. Frodo almost recoiled from him. "What happened?" asked the silvery-blonde boy. "Why does my voice sound different?"

"Legolas?" Frodo said uncertainly.

He stared at Frodo. "Frodo? How did we end up like this?"

"How should I know? I don’t like this body at all."

All of a sudden, two children came bursting into the room: A girl with bushy brown hair and a tall boy with red hair and freckles. "Harry, oh Harry!" cried the girl flinging herself onto Frodo. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly and sobbed into his clothing.

Frodo felt awkward. What was he to do? He gently patted her back. The redheaded boy rolled his eyes at the girl. "Hermione, c’mon, let him breathe," he said.

The girl called Hermione let go of Frodo, much to his relief. "What about me?" Legolas inclined from the other bed. "Do I not get a hug as well?"

The girl and boy looked at him as though he had just sprouted five heads. "Get a life, Malfoy. As if we would go near you. For all we know, you’re probably the one that caused this anyway," growled the redhead.

Legolas was taken aback and it showed on his face. "What did I do?" he asked.

"You cast some curse thing and the next thing we knew, you and Harry were lying on the floor unconscious," he explained.

"Oh Ron, don’t go explaining things to Draco Malfoy," spat Hermione. "He won’t understand."

The girl was right. Legolas didn’t know what the heck the boy called Ron was talking about. Neither, apparently, did Frodo. They exchanged looks of bewilderment. "Harry, are you alright?" Ron asked Frodo.

"S-sure," he answered. "I just need some rest."

"Okay. When Madam Pomfrey lets you go, you’ll have to practice some Quidditch. As the new assistant captain for Wood, you’ll need all the training you can get." (FYI: I decided to make Oliver Wood come back as a temporary captain for the Gryffindor team. Harry’s his assistant, in case you haven’t figured that out yet.) With that, he and Hermione left Frodo and Legolas alone.

"What is Quidditch?" Frodo asked after they had gone.

"I have never heard of such a word," replied Legolas. His face was screwed up in a strange way.

"Ah, you’re both awake then," said a female voice. A plump woman came striding into their area. "Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, you’ll be let go soon. Just eat some chocolate and you’ll be fit as a fiddle."

"Chocolate?" repeated Frodo. He stared at the strange brown bar that she was holding out to him.

"Yes, Mr. Potter. Just eat some. It’ll fill you right up," urged the woman.

Frodo reluctantly took some. He smiled. It tasted very good. He motioned for Legolas to do the same. The chocolate was very good indeed. At around 3:00, they were allowed to leave the infirmary. The only thing was that they had no idea on where to go from there. They appeared to be in some sort of castle.

All of a sudden, a tall woman with green robes and a green hat walked up to them. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, you both have places you are supposed to be, correct?" she said.

"Um…" Frodo said, quite unsure of what to say. Luckily for him, the red-haired boy named Ron came striding over to them.

"Harry, c’mon! Wood’s getting impatient!" Ron cried. He then noticed the woman and cringed back. "Hello, Professor McGonagall," he said weakly.

Professor McGonagall nodded faintly. "Mr. Potter, I believe you have Quidditch practice. Mr. Malfoy, go back to your common room." She walked away as did Frodo and Ron.

Legolas just stared after her and bit his lip. He had no idea where to go. It was as if by some miracle that two big boys came rushing over to him. "Draco, what happened?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, did Potter hit you or somethin’?" asked the other.

"I…I’m not sure exactly. What are your names again?" Legolas replied trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"Holy cricket! Potter’s given you amnesia!" cried the first boy. "I’m Crabbe, remember?"

"And I’m Goyle," added the other. "Draco, man, are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, I feel fine. Anyway, let’s go back to our common room."

Crabbe and Goyle exchanged glances with each other but showed Legolas to the Slytherin common room. Meanwhile, at Quidditch practice…

"Harry, what are you doing?!" Oliver Wood cried, watching Frodo up in the air on his broomstick. The broom kept going up and down and Frodo could seriously feel his stomach lurch each time.

"I can’t help it!" he called back. "It—won’t—stop!" he said as the broom went up and down.

"Maybe somebody jinxed his broom," Ron said thoughtfully.

"That’s not possible," replied Hermione who was also watching Harry nervously. "Harry never leaves his broom hanging around. Besides, how many Gryffindors would want to jinx Harry’s Firebolt?"

"I dunno. It was just a suggestion, Hermione."

Frodo continued to fly up and down until his broom went into a dive right towards Ron and Hermione. "Look out!" he cried. Ron pushed Hermione out of the way as Frodo tried to pull up the broom. Instead, he crashed right into the wall and landed on the ground in a heap.

The whole team came rushing over. Frodo opened his eyes and saw nine faces looking down on him. "Harry, are you all right?" Ron asked.

"I think so," he answered. He then noticed that his glasses were broken. Frodo bit his lip and pointed at them. "I think my glasses are broken," he said.

"No problem, Harry," Hermione said taking out her wand. "Reparo!" she said and in an instant, his glasses were good as new.

"Thank you," Frodo mumbled.

"I think that incident with Malfoy has caused you to forget how to fly," Ron said seriously. "I don’t know how you’re going to play Quidditch against Slytherin next week."

Oliver Wood looked at Frodo with pleading eyes. "Can you promise to win that match next week?" he said. "I will ask no more, but please win us that game."

"Jeez Oliver, give Harry a break," said George Weasley.

"Yeah, he’s only fifteen," agreed Fred, his twin.

Frodo looked around at them all. "I swear I will try my best," he said and they all smiled.

For some strange reason, Harry kept getting the dire need to eat something every few hours. He realized that because he was a Hobbit or whatever, that he had developed their appetites. He had looked over his new body for a while now. There was a sword by his side and also some type of ring around his neck.

Over near a large tree, was Draco. He was practicing his archery. Since his body was some type of war-elf, he figured he would need to learn how to shoot an arrow. Harry was watching him intently. Draco had his bow fixed with an arrow. He focused on the target and let it fly.

The only problem was, was that the arrow fell to the ground. Harry was doubled over with laughter as he saw Draco glance down at the arrow in disbelief. He then glared at Harry.

"Shut up!" he shouted angrily.

"You—can’t—even—shoot—an—arrow!" cried Harry holding his stomach. Tears were falling from his eyes and he could barely breathe.

"Oh yeah? I’d like to see you do it!" Draco challenged.

Harry quieted down and munched on an apple. "I can’t. Legolas is the archer of the group, from what I’m told. And I’m not in his body, you are."

"Well it’s not my fault that these stupid arrows don’t wanna hit the target!"

"How many have you tried to shoot?"

Draco sighed and counted in his head silently. "About…26 arrows," he said sheepishly. Harry laughed again.

"And you’ve been shooting for how many hours now? Six?" he crowed.

"3 hours," corrected the elf through gritted teeth. Draco gripped the bow tightly. "You know, who needs to know how to shoot an arrow?"

"You do," retorted the Hobbit. "What will the others say when their magnificent Elf archer can’t shoot an arrow? I’ll bet you five Galleons that Legolas is the best fighter in a battle. It’ll be kinda funny watching you make a fool out of yourself, Malfoy."

"I really hate you, Potter. Words cannot describe how much I detest you right now."

"Oh, I think I can figure it out. Hey, I just thought of something."

"That’s a first."

"Ha, ha. No, I’m serious this time. If we switched into these bodies, then where did the guys who own these bodies go? Back to Hogwarts?"

Draco’s _expression faded into panic. "What if those guys ruin my reputation?" he said.

"Your reputation? What about mine? Last time I checked, Hobbits didn’t know how to fly." Harry then gasped, dropping his apple. "We have an upcoming Quidditch match next Friday!"

"Yeah, the Slytherins are going to beat your arse," Draco sneered.

"I wouldn’t count on it. I don’t think Legolas knows how to fly either. He’s obviously in your body because you’re in his. So that means…"

"That one of the teams will forfeit," Draco said. "This is not good. I cannot walk around in these panty hoes all day, shooting arrows when some weird guy is messing up my life."

"Who said you were actually shooting arrows?" sneered Harry. "You’ve haven’t shot one all day, last I checked. And whadda mean, your life? That Frodo guy is probably doing the same thing to my life. What if he runs into Voldemort?"

"That wouldn’t be such a tragedy," smirked Draco.

"Okay, let me rephrase that. What if both of them run into Voldemort?"

Draco paled. "I’m supposed to get my mark next week!" he muttered. He gasped and covered his mouth.

Harry glared at him, crossing his arms over his chest. "I never thought I’d say it but, why would you want to serve Voldemort? What is he going to offer you?"

"He offers power," answered the Elf. "My father wants me to be a Death Eater like him."

"But why would you want some ugly mark with a skull and snake on your arm?"

Draco bit his lip uncertainly. "That’s none of your business, Potter," he snapped. "Just stay out of my personal life. I just hope we can get back to our world before it’s too late."

"Yeah," agreed Harry. He avoided his archenemy’s gaze. Something about Draco Malfoy made him feel uncomfortable (remember, there is no slash in his fic, so don’t get any ideas).

***

Back in the Slytherin common room…

Legolas was finding it extremely hard to fit in with the Slytherins. They all thought he was this Draco Malfoy, which of course, he wasn’t. He didn’t like the Slytherins at all. He had also found a large portrait of the wizard that had founded Slytherin House, whose name was Salazar Slytherin.

The more time he spent in the common room, the more Legolas began to feel homesick. He wondered how Frodo was doing. Probably better than he was. All of a sudden, a girl with a face like a pug came strutting over.

"Draco, darling, how are you feeling?" she asked batting her eyes, which made her look ten times uglier than she really was.

Legolas wanted to ignore her, but realized that he wouldn’t be able to. "I feel fine," he grunted without looking at her.

"Do you wanna make out?"

That got his attention. The blonde turned to glare at her. "No, I do not and refuse to do such a thing to someone I do not even know!" he barked. The girl’s eyes filled with tears and she ran away from him.

"Wow Draco," said a new voice. Legolas turned and saw a tall boy with light brown hair and blue eyes staring at him. "I never saw ya tell Pansy off like that before. You’ve got guts to do that."

"Do I know you?" Legolas said narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, that’s right. I’m Blaise Zabini. We never really used to talk."

"Then why are you talking to me now?"

"I guess because…I just realized that you’re an okay guy. So whadda say, friends?" Blaise said holding out his hand.

Legolas stared at it and then smiled. "Friends," he answered shaking Blaise’s hand.

***

"Harry, are you all right?" Ron asked. "You look kinda pale."

Frodo looked up from where he was sitting in the Gryffindor common room. "I-I’m fine, Ron," he replied. The two suddenly looked up and saw Hermione and another girl walking down the steps from the girls’ dormitories.

"Hello Harry, Ron," Hermione greeted while sitting at a table. Frodo stared at the girl with red hair. She looked a lot like Ron. She was also blushing.

"Ginny, would you stop goggling at Harry?" Ron snarled. The girl called Ginny flushed an even deeper red while looking away from Frodo.

All of a sudden, there was a tap, tap on the window outside. The four looked up. "It’s Hedwig!" cried Ron running to the window to let the owl in. Frodo stared at Hedwig as she landed on his shoulder.

"Um…" he said, unsure of what to say.

"Look, she’s got a reply from…" Ron trailed off as Hermione gave him a pointed look. "Oh, right. Ginny, could you, uh, give us a few moments?"

Ginny sighed and nodded, leaving the three alone. "Open the letter, Harry!" Hermione urged.

Frodo tore open the letter and stared at it oddly. "Who is this from?" he asked.

"Harry, it’s from Sirius, remember?" Ron said.

"Oh, right. Who is that?"

"Blimey, that incident with Malfoy really ruined your memory. Sirius is your godfather, remember? You sent him a letter two days ago asking how he was doing at Lupin’s and how differently Snape’s been acting."

"I did? Oh yes, I guess I did." He read the letter out loud:

"Who’s he to tell us what to do?" snarled Ron.

"He’s only looking out for us, Ron," Hermione retorted.

"I know, but he’s not my mum and dad. He’s Harry’s godfather."

Frodo still stared at the letter in his hand. Ron and Hermione stared at him uncertainly. "Harry, are you okay?" Ron asked. "You look odd."

"I-I feel fine," Frodo answered slowly.

"You don’t look fine," Hermione lectured. "Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey."

"No, I feel fine!" Frodo shouted angrily and stomped up to the boys’ dormitories.

Hermione and Ron stared after him and then at each other. "Something’s gotten into him and I want to know what it is," Ron said suspiciously. Hermione nodded in response.

End of Part 1!