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In the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban book/movie, Draco took revenge on Buckbeak after it injured him in Hagrid's class by getting Buckbeak sentenced to death by the Ministry of Magic.

Later, Hermione punched him in the face. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to retaliate immediately (as he was dealing with the brightest student in Hogwarts who could smash him badly), but why didn't he do anything to her afterwards?

Some fan theories on Internet suggest that Draco actually raped Hermione after that, but I know we don't have enough canon info to prove it. So, I would choose to believe that he didn't do anything to Hermione.

Why exactly did Draco ignore such a punch which didn't come during a fight but came because of his actions against Buckbeak?

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    For the "raped" part, see this excellent question – Gallifreyan May 2 '17 at 18:32
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    Because he is a coward who will only act when he can hide behind his father's power? In this case his parents couldn't do much so he could only have retaliated himself which he is far too cowardly to do. – Bellerophon May 2 '17 at 18:33
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    Because JKR wanted a moment of pure "this is what you do to a bully who has finally pushed you too far, especially if it's a girl on a boy and it involves cruelty to animals." Draco getting his own back would have screwed that right up! – ThruGog May 2 '17 at 18:35
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    Hermione was a mudblood, and a girl. Getting punched by her was much more shameful than getting mauled by a large dangerous animal, and it happened with less witnesses. It's easier to just forget that it happened, rather than letting word spread that he's a wuss. – DaaaahWhoosh May 2 '17 at 18:38
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    Downvoted for unnecessary prurience. – Valorum May 2 '17 at 18:48
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Not based on HP canon, but on comparative logic:

In the muggle world, if a Rottweiler bites someone, in front of witnesses, it's going to be considered a dangerous animal, and in most cases I would expect the default to be for it to be killed ("destroyed", if you prefer).

If a person (especially someone your own age and size, or somewhat smaller than you) hit you, in front of relatively few sympathetic and credible witnesses, getting them sent to juvenile hall isn't a foregone conclusion, much less suing them or something like that.

Mind you, during the events of ...Order of the Phoenix, things might have been different. But, at the point mentioned, former Death-Eaters are still having to mind their Ps and Qs. Note the lack of any direct revenge for Harry's trick on Lucius with Dobby.

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    Well, in the books there was no revenge, at least. Lucius was mid "Avada Kedavra" in the movie before Dobby blasted him down a hallway :P – DisturbedNeo May 3 '17 at 10:56
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    @DisturbedNeo If Lucius had succeed that day, it'd be awesome.. – Lobo May 4 '17 at 12:05

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