Hermione cringes with empathy, as she remembers starkly the assault she'd suffered in the cells – and tries very hard not to remember the brutality that Malfoy had inflicted on her himself, before he'd raped her. That wasn't quite the same, Hermione thinks reluctantly. He hadn't had a choice, she reminds herself. He'd tried to protect her at every point up until then, she reminds herself. Except, a small part of her can't help but feel there is some karmic justice in the fact that just four days later he has been beaten himself, again. Mostly, though, she just feels sorry for Malfoy. But her first focus is the rather worrying thing that Malfoy said at the end there. "What...what does that mean? About Voldemort...removing his protection?"