Disclaimer—The song "Forget December" belongs to Something Corporate. I really only borrowed the title and a few lines from the song for the summary, it loosely gave me the idea for this plot…It's really good song, by the way, I highly recommend the band. And I'll try not to make it too "Christmassy" since Christmas is long over. That's all.

Forget December

She had been watching him all day. Well, to be frank, she had been watching him all week. It had been nearing the end of Winter Break and Ginny Weasley was utterly bored. She had grown tired of being in Ron, Harry, and Hermione's company and had decided that she would spend the rest of the break apart from them. Unfortunately, they were the only people in Gryffindor save herself who had stayed behind at Hogwarts for the break. So spending her remaining time away from them basically meant spending her time alone.

And when she was alone, she grew bored. And when she was bored, she plotted. And when she plotted, well…things got interesting. So during one of her afternoons alone, Ginny had decided that she was going to take Dumbledore's advice and improve a relationship with a member from another house. He had made a big, fancy speech about it at the beginning of the term. Talked about how everyone needed to unify themselves and put aside these petty house differences. Well, if Dumbledore wanted it, then why not? Ginny grinned slowly, surely no one could object to her following the Headmaster's orders. She was nothing if not an obedient and loyal Hogwarts student. Or so she would tell her mother if Molly Weasley ever caught wind of her daughter's activities.

Ginny mulled over Dumbledore's suggestion for an hour or so and contemplated who she should make her new friend. If this was going to entertain her for the rest of break, she reasoned that this friendship should be difficult to obtain. A challenge, if you will. And Ginny did so love a challenge.

She decided that the person should be from Slytherin as the friendship of a Slytherin would surely be the hardest to gain and would therefore entertain her longer. After all, she was fairly sure that there was a Slytherin bylaw somewhere forbidding them from consorting with Gryffindors such as herself. This would most certainly explain that scrunched constipated look Malfoy got whenever they exchanged insults in the halls. Perhaps he really wanted to say "Your hair looks nice today, Ginny," but Slytherin evil magic bound him to tirelessly call her family poor. Or perhaps not. In any matter it would most definitely be a challenge. The only question remaining was who?

Most of the Slytherins had gone home for break, too. She thought of the ones remaining: Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini. She scrunched up her nose, not the most appealing bunch. Crabbe and Goyle were immediately crossed off; their friendship was not something she was sure she could handle. Parkinson…well, she was fairly sure that Pansy would challenge her to a duel before Ginny could say two words. She could take Pansy in a duel, of course, but dueling is not a basis for a friendly relationship. Plus, Ginny thought with a shrug, Pansy was a bitch and if she wanted to spend her holiday girl-fighting over petty things then she would have accepted Lavender's invitation to spend the break with most of the girls of Gryffindor at the Brown's residence.

So that left Malfoy and Zabini. Malfoy wasn't exactly a better pick than Parkinson. In fact, he was probably much worse. Although, he certainly would be a challenge…and it definitely would hack off Ron, something she had been meaning to for a few weeks now.

But befriending him meant that she would actually have to speak with him…in a pleasant tone. Was hacking off Ron worth that pain?

"Ginny!"

"Speak of the devil," Ginny mumbled as her brother came dangerously close to smashing into her face as he ran toward her.

"I have been looking everywhere for you! Do you have any idea how worried I was? Do you?"

Ginny grimaced. She could recall a time a few years ago when Ron couldn't care less where she was. However, she had developed and when other boys took notice, so did Ron. She had heard from Harry that a group of boys from Ron's year were discussing the best looking girls in the school—a conversation Ron was keen to participate in until his baby sister's name came up. Apparently, one brave soul mentioned her as one of the finest girls in Hogwarts and the rest agreed, save Ron. Ron was livid and had seen it as his new mission in life to protect her from boys and their raging hormones.

So far he'd been going strong at his role of protector for two solid months. He didn't show any sign of losing interest soon either, and she was getting damn tired of it. She wanted a date to Hogsmeade sometime this year and she wasn't likely to get it with Ron scaring off anyone with a Y chromosome who came within six feet of her.

"Where have you been?" Ron demanded.

"None of your bloody business," she rebutted.

"I'll owl Mum and then we'll see whose business it is!"

"Still not yours," Ginny said tersely. "Leave. Me. Alone, Ronald. Go find a life, please, and stay out of mine."

"Ginny," he sighed, "you don't understand how the male mind works. If I left you alone…" he shuddered dramatically, "well, who knows what could happen to you."

Ginny dropped her mouth in mock-horror. "I could…why, Ron, I could lose my virtue!"

He nodded wisely. "It is very possible. But I am here to protect you, so you needn't fear."

She rolled her eyes and resumed all the role of indignant sister. "Wait, it's just too bad that I already lost said virtue. It's a shame, really."

"You…you…what!"

Ginny sighed and nodded her head sadly, "Truly a shame. Well, if you'll excuse me I have some friends to make."

She ignored his cries of protest as she skipped back into the castle. Sadly, her virtue was still fully intact. As if she was ever given enough privacy to do anything virtue-losing worthy. But Ron didn't have to know that. And if Ron wanted to act like a bloody buffoon then she would give him reason to—even if that reason required her to play nice with the epitome of Slytherin evil.

The only flaw in her brilliant plan was that she wasn't entirely sure how to go about this befriending wickedness thing. It was unlikely to be very easy. Of course it would take time and effort, she was fully willing to give one hundred and ten percent to the cause, but where to begin? She somehow doubted that walking up to Malfoy and saying "Hey, do you want to be my new friend?" would work out very well.

She decided the best way to go about would probably just let things fall into place. Fred and George had always taught her if a prank were meant to happen then it would. Of course, they then added that if things didn't happen then you simply create circumstances forcing them to.

So she had ended up in the Great Hall watching Malfoy and contemplating how to begin her mission. Ginny glanced down at her watch yet again—how long did the boy fancy staying the Great Hall? She'd been watching and waiting for a good three hours now. He had to be the slowest eater to ever walk the earth.

However, Ginny soon realized that thanks to Malfoy's unbelievably slow eating habits they were now the only two people left in the Hall. Even Dumbledore had given up and retired to his office. This, she decided, was just the opportunity which she had been waiting for.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the Slytherin table and took a seat. She watched with peaked interest as Malfoy slowly looked up from his food to stare at her incredulously.

"You are the slowest eater I have ever seen," Ginny stated simply.

"Some of us believe in table manners, Weasley. Not everyone can wolf down food like so many pigs."

"This from the boy who spends the majority of his free time with Crabbe and Goyle…"

Seeing that he was now just looking angry, Ginny drummed her fingers along the table in a bored fashion. This was not working all that well.

"Do you mind?" he said finally.

"Mind what?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "You could wake the dead with that racket you are making, Weasley."

Ginny blushed good-naturedly as she steadied her hands. "Oh. Right."

"I believe there is food left at your table," he commented.

"There is," she agreed. "But I thought…well, you know, that I would check out your food situation."

"Pardon?"

"Well maybe your food is better than ours. This is potentially important, Malfoy." Seeing Malfoy reach for his wand, Ginny quickly commented, "I do hope you haven't forgotten my Bat Bogey Hex."

"Believe me, Weasley, I have not forgotten." He raised his wand, "And I have so been meaning to pay you back for that 'fun' experience."

"Hey! You had me locked in an office with Umbridge; I believe I am entitled to defend myself. That woman was—is—clinically insane. I feared for my life."

He stared on, unimpressed. "Nevertheless, you are still here and that presents a problem. Because, you see, I don't like you. The sight of you is making my physically ill and I would so like to finish my dinner but I am afraid I might become nauseous if forced to continue in conversation with you."

"Right…The thing is, Malfoy, I wondering if you would…be my friend."

"Your what?"

"My friend."

"I realize that trailing after Potter has to be unappealing, but honestly. Steal a cat for companionship or something—since I know you can't afford to buy one."

"Wow, commenting on my lack of money. That's a new one, truly. Fine, if you wish to go the insult route then I shall be forced to follow. Hmm…Malferrot?—no, it's been done. Let's see, an insult for Malfoy…Junior Death Eater? Your mother is so ugly next to her Snape would be attractive? Wait, I have it. Your chin is really pointy."

"That's your insult?"

"Yeah. I'm serious, you know. Your chin is abnormally pointy. If you fell into someone you would probably cut them with your chin."

He touched his chin self-consciously. "My chin is a strong Malfoy trait. I have a muscular jaw line, not a 'pointy' chin."

"If you say so. Well, now that that is done—what do you say to the friendship?"

"I say no with the fury of a thousand suns, Weasley."

"See, just from that, though, I think it would be in your best interest to say yes. 'Fury of a thousand suns'…you really need to get out more if you're coming up with things like that. You know who else talks like that—Hermione."

He cringed noticeably. "I do not speak in the same manner as the mudblood."

Ginny nodded condescendingly, "Right. Just keep repeating that to yourself. And after you do that you can go read Hogwarts: A History."

"That book is not that bad—" he cut himself off and let out a string of curses.

Ginny grinned triumphantly, "Case in point, Malfoy."

Draco angrily thrust himself up from the table. "I've lost my appetite," he said spitefully before stalking out of the Great Hall.

Ginny merely continued smiling as she poured herself a glass of Slytherin Pumpkin Juice. "Game on, Malfoy," she toasted to his retreating back.