Notes:
I was inspired to write this after writing an earlier missive on Draco in OOTP over at the Armchair. It made me full of righteous anger--this ficlet is the result.
Thank you very much to Clio for betaing. Muah.
By the time Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot had finished using a wide variety of the hexes and jinxes Harry had taught them, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle resembled nothing so much as three gigantic slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniform as Harry, Ernie and Justin hoisted them into the luggage rack and left them there to ooze.
`I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Malfoy's mother's face when he gets off the train,' said Ernie, with some satisfaction, as he watched Malfoy squirm above him.
~~~~~~~~
The train lurched and rattled and made it difficult for Draco to keep his feet, but he kept them anyway, because he was standing in front of Harry Potter, and he would never lose his footing in front of Harry Potter.
�Harry Potter, all alone on the train. You really have the nerve to go anywhere by yourself after what you did? How thick can you get?� Draco was sneering but his voice was a little shaky, and he was pretty sure that wasn�t from the train. �I�m surprised Weasel doesn�t offer to hold your dick while you piss.�
Harry Potter was standing with his hand propped up on the door of the nearest compartment. He looked utterly unconcerned. Fuck him, thought Draco. �What, the way these goons grab yours? I might have known you couldn�t even do that by yourself,� Potter said.
They were wasting time. Draco wanted to pound Harry Potter�s face into the floor of the train until he splintered the wood with it. �I should have done this a long time ago,� he said, drawing his wand. Beside him Crabbe and Goyle did likewise. Harry Potter�s eyebrows flickered up in what could have been vague alarm, but then his gaze veered to the right, behind Draco, and he smirked.
�Go ahead,� he said. �I�d love to see you try.�
Draco opened his mouth to make a response, but was stunned out of it as a force like a huge boulder collided into his back, just between his shoulder blades. He careened forward and nearly fell into Harry Potter, who dodged out of the way so that he hit the wooden floor with an unceremonious thump. He instantly scrabbled to his feet just as he heard a voice say, �Need a little help, Harry?� and then�
It was terrifying, dizzying�like being caught in a cyclone that was trying to hex you to death. Draco could feel hands on him, could feel his body turning inside out, his skin doing a dervish dance over his bones, his mouth opening and strange substances coming out of it. He couldn�t see or move, but all the time in the background he could hear Harry Potter�s laughter, could feel his hands (did he still have hands?) being grabbed and shoved inside his robes, against the sticky thing that was now his own body. They were killing him, he was dying; he�d never get to see his father or his mother again�
�and just when he felt as if his heart were going to hammer into pieces, he heard Potter say, �that�ll hold him for now.� And then he was being lifted and jammed tightly against something�a wall, a ceiling, another body? he couldn�t tell�and there were voices, laughing, self-congratulating, derisive.
�Bloody Slytherins,� said one.
�That�ll teach Malfoy to mess with you,� said another.
�In my dreams,� responded the acid Harry Potter voice he hated, and then Draco gave up listening because his entire body had exploded in boils, and he was going to die if he moved, oh, god�
The train rumbled on, and the others left, and Draco passed out.
~~~~~~~~
�Finite incancatem,� his mother said in a cold voice.
Draco opened his eyes to find the swelling all over instantly receding. He raised his head and nearly fell off the overhead luggage rack where he had been wedged. He was lying on top of something hideous that it took a moment for him to realise was Vincent Crabbe. He forced himself to sit up, ignoring the pain that lanced through him. When he did, Crabbe winced and moaned.
�Oh, Crabbe,� he said in sympathy, before realizing that he probably looked three times as bad. Especially because his mother was still calmly reciting Finite incantatems to end the number of hexes that had been cast on him. Her wand was out, and she looked very upset with him. Draco didn�t suppose he could blame her. He had promised to uphold the Malfoy name in his father�s stead. And now look.
At least my father isn�t here to see me like this, he thought�and then he was filled with rage, a deep surging undertow of it, rage greater than anything he�d ever known before�greater than any of the pain he was feeling, greater even than he�d felt the day he�d been transfigured into a ferret by Moody�s imposter.
His features automatically tried to align themselves in a scowl, but the effort alone nearly reduced him to a whimper of pain.
�Finite incantatem,� said his mother once more, and then, eyeing him in satisfaction, she put her wand away. Draco was not about to tell her he was still in so much pain he could barely move.
�Thank you, mother,� he said, and clambered painstakingly down from the bin.
�This is not what I meant when I said we must uphold the honour of the Malfoy name at all costs, Draco,� said his mother coolly. �I am very displeased by your behaviour.�
�Yes, mother.�
�I am not going to inquire as to who did this to you,� she continued, ignoring the moans from Goyle and Crabbe, who were both still lying prostrate in the luggage rack. Draco continued to meet her gaze and ignored them accordingly as well. �I trust that you know who the culprits are, and I will expect you to deal with them by yourself, as you see fit. You are old enough to handle such things on your own, Draco. Do you understand me?�
Draco nodded. �Yes, mother,� he said, and pictured Harry Potter�s face, directly under the wheel of this train, splattering in all directions.
The train suddenly lurched forward a few feet as a brake was released, jolting them and causing Goyle to flip off the rack onto the floor. He lay there, howling.
Draco kept his feet.