Look at that, I don't even know the content of my own chapters. Wow... I'm an idiot. Sorry for the mishap, I assure you, it won't happen again. Actually, it probably will... bite me.
Back in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ron paced the floor while Harry sat staring into the fire.
Not even Malfoy deserved that! Harry thought. It was just cruel... and—
"What in the bloody hell just happened?" Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Ron's vulgarity.
"I don't know," Harry replied, "but I always thought that there was something wrong with that family..."
"Huh?" Ron said, confused. "I wasn't talking about Malfoy and his dad... I was talking about you!"
"Now Ron," said Hermione, who had been sitting in a chair near the fire also, "don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same if you were Harry."
"If I were Harry, maybe," he said. "But I'm not."
Hermione looked at him.
"No, you're not," she said. "But you saw what happened. Even I can't bring myself to hate Malfoy after that!"
"HELLO!" Ron said. "Have you two completely forgotten who we're talking about? This is Malfoy! As in, 'I'm better than all of you because I come from hundreds of generations of pure-bred witches and wizards'! Aren't you forgetting what he's called Hermione for three years? I believe it's that same thing he called her this morning! Or need I remind you? 'Filthy Mudblood'."
"I'm well aware of what he called me!" Hermione snapped back. "But did you ever stop to think, 'Hmm… maybe there's a reason Malfoy's so cruel.'. He's cruel because his father's cruel. Don't you see? This obviously isn't the first time his father's hit him."
"What makes you think that?" Ron persisted, refusing to give up.
"Didn't you see the way he cringed when he said no? He knew what was coming. I'd be willing to bet every extra credit assignment I get this year that Malfoy's father beats him."
They all sat there for a few minutes, not saying a word.
"But it doesn't make any sense," Harry said finally. "Malfoy always talks about his father with a sense of pride. I don't know how many times I've heard the words 'If my father ever knew about this!', or 'Wait 'till my father hears about this!', or 'My father always said!...' come out of his mouth."
"Hmm…" Hermione said.
They sat for a few minutes longer.
"Maybe it's a cover-up," Hermione suggested. "Maybe he only says those things so that no one will know he's being abused."
"Maybe," Harry said.
"Or maybe he thinks that that's the way it's supposed to be," she said again. "I mean... he was probably raised that way."
"Or maybe Malfoy's a brainless git and we shouldn't care what happens either way!" Ron said sarcastically.
"Ron Weasley!" Hermione yelled. "Don't you dare try and tell me that you don't care!"
"Well, I don't," Ron replied.
"Yes you do!" said Hermione.
"Oh no I don't," Ron said. "I could care less what happens to him… or any other member of his family, for that matter. In fact, the whole lot of them can just disappear! Now that would make me happy…"
He smiled, lost in his own little fantasy of everyone in the Malfoy family dying in some freak accident.
"Well," Hermione said, "like it or not, Malfoy is a human being—"
Ron snorted. "Human being my eye!" he muttered.
"—And like it or not, Ron," Hermione continued, "he does have feelings. He's not a robot. He may be heartless sometimes, but he's not soulless."
"A bowrot?…" Ron asked confused. "What?"
"It's something Muggles—" Harry began, but Hermione cut him off.
"Oh, don't even bother," she said. "He's too dense to figure it out."
"I am not!" Ron shouted.
"Stop it! Both of you!" Harry said. "Look… maybe we should just get some sleep. We'll talk about it in the morning. Let's have an early breakfast again tomorrow."
They nodded in agreement, and slowly made their way up the stairs and into their dormitories.