Harry took a step forward, bringing his hands up to Draco's chest and shoving the blonde backwards. Draco stumbled, caught himself on the wall and franticly grasped for his wand under the layers of his robe. As his fingers finally reached the wooden wand he was thrust backwards again, hitting his back against the cold stone wall outside the Gryffindor Common room. He looked up into the fiery eyes of the Potter boy and felt the tip of Harry's wand pressed firmly into his throat.

"Don't mess with me, Malfoy. I've had more than enough this year." He snarled through clenched teeth as he jabbed the wand harder against his windpipe. Draco started shaking with rage. How dare that incompetent fool do this to him! Draco let out an almost animalistic growl from the base of his throat as he lunged forward, knocking the boy and himself to the ground. Harry's eyes slammed shut with the forceful impact and grunted as the weight of Draco crushed against his ribcage. Draco stumbled to his feet, finally drawing his wand in the process and held it out at the boy-who-lived.

"It seems like you've finally bitten off more than you can chew, Potter" he growled as he took a step closer. He was now looming over the Gryffindor, sneering down upon him. "What's the matter, can't take a little blow?" Harry groaned again as he brought a hand up to touch a spot on his chest. Draco smirked. Perhaps he had managed to break a few bones after all. Draco raised his eyes to locate Weasley, it wouldn't do to have that idiot come up behind him and attempt some half-assed spell on him. Ron stood trembling with his back against the portrait, wand raised at a poor angle, almost as if he couldn't afford the strength to raise it all the way. His face matched his hair and utter contempt seeped out of his gaze. "Problem, Weas, err" Draco groaned as he fell to his knees. While he had been searching for the other Gryffindor he had lost his attention on the one beneath him, the one who had just effectively kicked him in the balls. Draco clutched at his groin as he cursed every foul word he had ever heard and even a few of his own creating. He heard Ron briefly congratulate Harry as Draco felt a few loose tears stream down his face. Great, just great, today can't get any better, not only have I been humiliated but now I'm crying, Potter will never let me live this one down.

"Problem, Malfoy?" Harry smirked, still clutching his ribs.

"Bastard." Draco grounded out through teeth clenched so hard it was a wonder they didn't all break off. With one hand he grabbed for his wand and thrust it hard into the stomach of the Gryffindor whom still laid upon the floor nearby.
"God damn it you faggot!" Harry cursed as he clasped his ribs with white knuckles. Draco let a self-satisfactory smile play upon his lips; two could play at this game all right. Two, yes, but not three as he soon found out. Ron brought the length of his wand down upon Draco's cranium.

"Fuck you, Weasley!" Draco croaked as he brought his other free hand around and grabbed Ron's ankle. With a strong thrust he knocked the boy's feet out from under him and Ron crashed into the ground.

The three teenage students carried out the rest of their fight on the floor of the castle. "Malfoy, you bloody Slytherin!" Ron cried out as he desperately tried to kick Draco away. He missed his target however and ended up only injuring Harry further. "Damn it all! Harry, I'm so sorry!"

"Eh, it's alright, Ron, aim for the ferret next time, Ron, look out!" Harry screamed as Draco came up beside Weasley and bit into his forearm. Draco pulled back as hard as he could, taking with him a nice size piece of flesh which he so kindly spat onto the floor.

"You taste like shit, Weasley, just how you fight too."

"Why I ought to…" Ron ground out as he whipped his arm around and backhanded Draco. Ron lunged after him and in the process ended up kicking poor Harry again.

"God damn it, Ron!" Harry growled as he tried to bring his wand up. Unfortunately for him that was the precise moment both Ron and Draco rolled over on top of him, throwing punches and kicks the whole time. "OOOWWW" Harry howled as both boys crushed what remained of his ribs.

"What in Merlin's name is going on out here!" McGonagall exclaimed as she rounded the corner. "Boys! BOYS!" she yelled out to get their attention. Draco and Harry stopped to stare wide eyed at the teacher while Ron tried his best to get a punch in on Draco. "Mr. Weasley, that will be enough!" McGonagall yelled out, red in the face. "The three of you need to follow me, NOW!"

Hermione's POV

Hermione rushed through the doors of the infirmary, slamming them back into the wall in her hurry. Madame Pomfrey gave her a scolding look as she flew past her desk and over to the three occupied beds. Dumbledore had come to her room just a few seconds earlier to inform her that the three boys were under the care of the nurse. Without a second thought she had been running down the corridors, fearing the worst. She dropped down onto Draco's bed next to him as he was sitting up. She ran a critical eye over him, assessing the bandage wrapped tightly around his head. She brought a tentative hand up and brushed against it as Draco flinched but let her touch the wound.

"Oh, Draco, what happened, are you alright, who did this to you?" She spoke all in one breath, her questions running over each other. He gave a disdainful frown as he waved his hand toward the bed in which Ron was currently sitting on. Hermione's eyes narrowed as she then took in both Ron and Harry. Ron had his hand bandaged and what appeared to be a black eye was forming. Harry on the other hand was laying down, bandages wrapped tightly around his chest and appeared to be asleep. "Someone had best be explaining this all to me right now."

Draco groaned before speaking, "Well, I went down to the Gryffindor Commonroom expecting to have a civil conversation with those two idiots and what was meant to be a discussion obviously didn't remain as one." His lips drew together tightly as he glared un-amused at Ron.

"Uh, huh," Hermione said slowly, "So would you care to explain what did end up happening then or shall I be forced to wake up Harry over there and see what he has to say?"

"You may not want to do that, he's bound to be rather unpleasant with the amount of pain he was in." Draco smirked. "He never should have tried to mess with me."

Hermione sighed loudly, "Draco, please, tell me what happened already."

"Well, there was a bit of a fight."

Hermione just gave him a blank stare. "A bit of a fight? A bit of a fight does not result in being bandaged up like a mummy. Spill it, Draco, I'm not in the mood for this."

"He hit me so I hit him back and ended up landing on top of him, breaking a few ribs, and then he kicked me in a rather not so nice place," he winced, "and then Weasel over there decided to get involved and I ended up dragging him down and we wrestled a bit and he kicked me in the head so I bit his hand and then we both rolled over and crushed what was left of dear Potter over there." He smirked as he finished. "I never realized just how loud Potter can scream."

Hermione stood up from the bed and turned to face him, rage clearly expressed on her face. She shook her head before turning to face Ron whom had been watching the whole display with mild interest. "How could you, all of you. All I ask is that you not kill each other but obviously you can't even do that simple little task for me can you?" She threw her hands up before crossing them under her breasts. "As my friends I thought you would at least care enough to do this for me, I thought, you know, that maybe you could all be there for me. I guess I thought wrong."

Ron lowered his head and quietly said, "I'm sorry, Mione. I don't know what got in to me and Harry. I guess, we didn't realized it was affecting you this much."

Harry opened his eyes and let a low groan out. "For once he's right, Mione. I'm sorry too. I guess we could try harder, forgive us?" he asked through eyes squinted.

Hermione's eyes softened as she looked at her two friends. "Thank you guys, this really means a lot to me. I'm sure you and Draco can be friends if you try."

"I wouldn't push it, Herm. Frankly, I want nothing to do with either of them." Came Draco's disdainful voice. "I've given them as many chances as I can. We've tried, and it's failed, no use beating a dead horse."

She turned to face him, surprise mounting on her face. "Draco…" her voice trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Herm. But I can only take so much of Golden Boy and his posse member over there. They didn't want to give me a chance before, then I'm not going to now."

"But, Draco."

"No buts, this is asking too much of me right now, I love you and I hope you know that, but I can't do what you ask this time. Nothing in this world or the next could make me give those two another chance that they don't deserve. I'm sorry."

AN-------- hey there! sorry for the late update but here it is! Kinda short, I know, I know. And it may not seem very signifigant, but I assure it is, hehe. Please tell me what you think and give me some ideas, I'm trying to keep it going but I'm running out of things to do with it. I'd like it to be quite a few chaps longer but I may just have to go ahead and do the ending if I don't get some ideas soon! Normally I would answer reviews now but I'm running quickly out of time so all i can say is, I know Harry and Ron seem out of character, I'm sorry for that but it had to be done for the way i need my story to go, I'm sorry if that upset anyone, they will be more in character from now on, don't worry! I greatly appriciate any reviews! THANKS!

moseysdragon