This is for the October challenge on the lovely Rowangreenleaf's DG forum. Thanks to Farielle for looking over it quickly, and hope you enjoy!

I disclaim

Draco Malfoy absolutely, positively despised the month of October. He grudgingly admitted that the leaves could be considered pretty, but the pouring rain definitely wasn't. And so Draco Malfoy was definitely irked at being outside in said rain. Stupid Sprout. It was all her fault.

He swore colorfully, cursing himself for forgetting his wand in his dormitory, and ran at top speed towards the school, his head down and eyes shut tightly against the storm. Obviously, he wasn't going to run into anyone out here. What kind of psychopath would-

His thought was abruptly cut off as he ran into someone.

"I'm so sorry!" exclaimed a very feminine voice. A hand shot out to help him up, and he brushed it away irritatedly. "I didn't think anyone was out here, I wasn't looking where I was going. Gods, you're wet. Here..." A warmth encased Draco as the girl extended her drying charm to encompass him. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Detention." The girl nodded solemnly, and as lightning flashed across the sky, he suddenly got a good look at her face. Well, her hair, actually. "Weasley?"

"Ginny, actually. I don't like being called- Oh. It's you." She had lit her wand midway through the sentence.

"I should have guessed it was you. Who else would be insane enough to go outside in this?" Draco smirked at her.

"You wouldn't understand even if I wanted to tell you," Ginny sniffed haughtily, and started off in the direction she had been going before running into him. Draco started after her. It was one thing for her to be insane, but to imply that he, a Malfoy, was unable to comprehend what was going on in her empty little blood traitor head was another entirely. Probably she was going to make some pagan sacrifice as a last-ditch attempt to make the Pothead like her.

"What makes you think I can't understand, Weasley?" He scowled at her, and she returned it with a glare to rival Snape's most frightening.

"Oh, you could understand Malfoy, I'm sure of it, but you won't." She'd turned away from him again, and was refusing to look at her. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and spun her around.

"Try me."

"The rain… it's so powerful. It's uncontrollable, and it's unstoppable, and unpredictable. It can turn huge boulders into pebbles and wipe out entire towns in great deluges." She laughed. "The reason I love it so much is probably the reason that you hate it. Because it's so uncontrollable. You always need to be in charge, don't you, Malfoy?" She took a step towards him, energy radiating from her, and Draco resisted the urge to step back. No, that would be construed as weakness. "You can't ever let go and relish in the presence of a force far more powerful than you. It's why you're going to make a lousy Death Eater. You're too neurotic to ever follow anyone, much less blindly." He made an indignant sound. He was a Malfoy, he was not neurotic. She laughed.

"See what I mean? You can't even let that go."

"You're wrong, Weasley." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't like the rain because it makes me soaking wet, and I don't relish in the feeling of physical discomfort."

"Really? So you're enjoying the rain right now?"

"Of course not, I-"

"Hah! You're dry right now! So I am right!"

Draco glared at her, and she laughed delightedly.

"You need to let go, Malfoy. Just feel something for once, instead of trying to own it. Like…" She hesitated for a moment, before boldly flinging her arms around him and kissing him.

It wasn't Draco's first kiss, and it wasn't going to be his last. But Ginny Weasley didn't taste like the other girls, or smell like them. She tasted like cinnamon and mulled cider, smelled of smoke and the pouring rain- everything about the fall that Draco disliked was combined in this petite redhead, a girl he had scorned and belittled all his life, and yet he found himself enjoying it immensely. She didn't act like the other girls either. They had all stood and submitted to him, but she fought for dominance, tugging on his hair, biting his lip viciously. He tasted blood.

"Fuck!" He pulled away from her, and she giggled.

"What's wrong, Malfoy? Can't take a little bitty love bite?" She grinned foolishly, and Draco had to stop himself from thinking the word 'endearing'. Instead he scowled at her and turned on his heel, stalking away and back towards the castle, where he wouldn't have to deal with Ginny Weasley and her exceptional kisses.

"Same time tomorrow night, Malfoy!" she called from behind him.

Draco smirked to himself. Perhaps October wasn't so bad after all.

You really really want to review right now. I can see it in your eyes. So go ahead! Even if it's just to tell me I'm a horrible writer, or you don't get how this fulfills the challenge.

Prompt: October (fall or spring)
Challenge: Find the beauty or the ugliness in the season.
Pairing: Any, as long as your fic features HP character(s).
Word Count: 800 words (limit).