"Uhh!" Draco Malfoy grunted, as a shod foot hit him in the belly. Another one hit just above his kidney, and he held back a scream at the sound of fracturing bone.

"What's that sound?" Harry Potter asked his two sidekicks, two floors above where three doughty (and significantly heavier) boys had cornered Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy wanted them dead. No, he wanted them gone. Any place that wasn't listening to his (involuntary!) cries of pain. The beatings hadn't stopped. They were getting worse. Humiliation wasn't on the menu, Draco thought inanely, just pain. Endless, endless pain.

"Bloody Malfoy," Ron said, and Draco was unwillingly impressed with the boy's ability to eavesdrop.

"He after a first year again?" Harry Potter said, his voice hard and unamused.

Laughter rang out, Hufflepuffs having fun making him pay, or at least that'd be how they'd term it. He'd certainly heard the term often enough, these past two weeks.

Hermione said, softly, "No, that's not it."

Ron chuckled, in a cruel, cold fashion that was utterly unlike his normal cheer, "Someone's just using Malfoy as a punching bag again."

Harry Potter, undoubtedly looking gormless again, "But... why?"

Hermione, affecting that childlike air of righteousness, said, "You think you're the only one who can add? Someone saw Malfoy blond after all..."

Harry's voice lost all manner of sympathy, as he grinned a cold grin at Ron, "Want to help those blokes out?"

Draco gulped, it would somehow be worse if Hero Boy Potter decided to take out his frustration on him. Somehow. Maybe because then Hermione would have to see him spit blood. It was getting hard to breathe - always did when a rib cracked. He was getting a speedy tour through Healer Training. Developing skills a butcher would be proud of.

Hermione blocked their way, her voice soft but carrying, "I can't take it anymore." To Draco's rapidly increasing horror, he heard a ragged sob.

"If he's done it," Hermione said firmly, "Let's send him to Azkaban and have done with it. Mob Justice is sickening - it turns my stomach." Draco felt his settle at Hermione's comment. It was the exact sort of thing she'd say.

Ron sounded unsure, "Well, erm... doesn't he..."

Harry Potter sounded grim, "Lucius Malfoy controls a lot of government, Hermione..." He didn't wait for her to say anything, "But, if you want, I'll have a talk with Dumbledore about it."

Draco's head exploded into sparks of pain, and he heard no more.

[a/n: Hermione doesn't have the stomach to glory in anyone's pain. Leave a review?]