Harry was the next to wake up. He jumped up from his bed so violently that the tube leading to his hand was ripped out. He let out a small curse when the pain darted from his hand. He started looking around for his wand and then noticed Ron in the bed next to him, sleeping.
"Oh thank god, you woke up Harry.", the voice behind him turning him into a spin. Hermione was lying on the bed next to his, looking worried, frightened and teary eyed.
"Hermione, are you alright? where are we? What's going on? What is this place?"
"Oh Harry, they got us."
"Who? The Death Eaters?", somehow he didn't imagine the Death Eaters in muggle hospitals.
"No Harry... The Inquisition. I know, I know it sounds strange. But there were at least three priests here a few minutes ago. They told me they were the Catholic Order of 12th Apostol, which hunters. The Inquisition! Harry, they used to BURN witches!"
Harry had to sit down on his bed. The Inquisition? But that was hundreds of years ago. And besides, they never actually caught any wizards. Real wizards were too powerful for muggles.
"But Hermione, they are muggles. They can't hurt us! We just have to get our things and leave this place, they can't follow us or stop us."
"Harry, they know. They know that we are wizards, that's why they took our wands. And I heard one of them talking, he was surprised we were not tied up and gagged. Harry, these muggles have dealt with wizards before. They killed the Snatchers that caught us!"
Harry had to think about that for a moment. Muggles fighting wizards. The thought seemed strange to him. In the past seven years, in the wizarding world, muggles were always treated... like they were part of the scenery. They were human and somewhat related, but they didn't really play a part in this world. The worst wizard was still much more powerful than any muggle.
As he was thinking, a loud grunt came from Ron's bed. He was starting to wake up.
As he did so, the door opened and more than a dozen men, all dressed in habits, stormed the room. They lined against the wall pointing deadly looking weapons at the three. Behind them walked three women, nuns. Without a word, they motioned Harry to lie back on his bed. As he opened his mouth to demand an explanation, the men immediately pointed their guns at him and one of the women hissed, " Be silent! Heretic! Speak and you all die. Move fast and you all die.". She then motioned again towards the bed. Harry stood there for a moment, frozen. He had no wand. He couldn't hex them, he couldn't apparate, nor could he fight them. Slowly he backed to the bed and sat down. The women walked to him, checking the pads which connected him to the hospital monitors. The woman that spoke, probably the most senior of the three, reattached the tube to his hand. He winced a little.
The women left the room, slowly followed by some of the guards. Six guards remained behind, still pointing their weapons. From the look on their faces, Harry knew that speaking would be a deadly mistake. As he was looking at them he heard a quiet call for Hermione from Ron's bed. He slowly turned to Ron, keeping his eye at the guard. The guard slowly nodded his head.
"Ron, it's important that you do not speak. Trust me, it's ok mate. Just don't speak!"
Slowly, Ron opened his eyes and got upright. He was starting at the guards in obvious confusion. They were dressed all in black, but in clothes he never saw before. They looked muggle, but more dangerous then he ever saw before. And they didn't have wands, but they were pointing black metallic boxes with sticks at them. This was not good.
After a few minutes, the doors opened and the three men, whom Hermione recognized as Father Paul and his two guards, entered the room.
"Well Miss Bell, would you like to confess your sin?"
Harry and Ron were looking at Hermione in complete confusion. What was this man talking about?
"Please, just let us go.", pleaded Hermione.
"Ah, no confession then. Well, this lie is still on your soul Miss Granger. Oh yes, we know who you are, we have listened to the conversation you had with your friend.", turning to Harry, he said: "Mister Potter. Good evening Mister Potter. And of course this is Mister Weasley. My name, is Father Paul Halloran."
"You listened to us? Ah... cameras, of course.", Hermione realized that being in the muggle world was going to require a change in thinking.
"Very good Miss Granger, your muggle experience is giving you an advantage. Most wizards never realize how we monitor them. Look at the confused face of your friend Weasley here if you wish to know more."
"Oy now, who the hell are you!", Ron shouted before the other two could stop him. As soon as his first shout left his mouth, the guard closest to him fired. The bullet pierced Ron's shoulder and he fell down to his bed. Father Paul raised his hand and everyone in the room froze. The guards were still aiming at Ron, and Harry and Hermione were too shocked to even move. In a slightly annoyed voice, Father Paul called for the nurse to come in quick. A group of six nurses ran into the room, swarming around Ron. They quickly rolled him out of the room. Harry was trembling with anger, and Hermione was crying.
"Please realize, your friend did a very stupid thing. We have been fighting wizards for 700 years now. Wizards shouting at us usually means a curse flying our way. So please, do not make the same mistake your friend did. Don't worry about him, our doctors are trained to heal gunshot wounds. He will be in surgery in minutes."
A sharp whisper came from Hermione: "Please, let me heal him."
"Give you your wand, Miss Granger? It seems that you were not listening to me."
"No, no wands. Just a potion, in my handbag."
"A potion? We have seen potions that turn light into dark, that explode holes in explosive proof walls and a potion that makes the person invisible. He will be fine with the surgery, he will recover in about three months. We do not aim to kill prisoners, I'm sure the bullet did minimal damage."
"Three... months. Please, we do not have that much time. Please just let me heal him. The potion can heal him in a few seconds."
"You see Miss Granger, there is a reason lying is a sin. How can I trust you, when you didn't even trust me with your name?", the old priest was watching her carefully, "Can both of you walk?"
Harry and Hermione, surprised by the sudden question, both nodded in agreement.
"Very well, sister, please remove the monitors and I.V.-s. Let's see if they can help their friend."
As the women removed the pads from their chest and needles from their hands, Harry and Hermione were slightly confused. They were very scared of the people who just shot Ron without warning or real provocation. And yet when compared to some of their usual opponents, they seemed almost reasonable. Perhaps too reasonable, perhaps calculated was a better word. At least the old man has said they will be allowed to help Ron.
When they were finally free, Harry and Hermione carefully stood up from their beds, looking nervously at the guards and the old man.
"You will not be harmed if you follow simple rules: no sudden actions, no shouting, no tricks. Try to trick us, and you die. Do exactly as we tell you, or you die. We are not playing games."
The old priest turned to the door. The guards moved like one, Hermione and Harry were both flanked by two guards, aiming at them from point-blank range. They were followed by guards, and there were guards moving in front of them, shielding the old priest. As they moved through the structure, they noticed that they were not in a normal hospital. The building was unlike anything they had seen before. It was incredibly sterile, with blank walls and doors with no markings on them. They turned a few corners and very soon Hermione was lost. There was nothing that would give you a sense of direction. Even the regularly spaced, very simple windows were all looking out into the same series of green trees.
After a short walk, they entered a room and she could see Ron lying on the table, with a team of nurses and doctors dressed in scrubs preparing to operate the wound on his shoulder. Between her and Ron was a glass wall with glass doors. Next to the door was a small metal table, and on top of it her handbag. It seems that these people at least do not lie, they really are going to let her heal Ron.
"Well Miss Granger, here we are. What does the potion look like?", the priest asked while picking up the handbag.
"It's a small bottle of brown liquid, but you should know that the bag is charmed. The insides are much bigger than the outside."
"I see. Very well, you will open it. But you will do so in the center of the room and leave it opened. Take the potion very slowly out of the handbag and step away. Trying to play a trick would be, inadvisable. Even if you survive, your friends will die."
"No tricks, I promise."
The priest nodded in agreement as Hermione slowly took the handbag from the table and started to look for Essence of Dittany. After a brief rummage she found the brown vial and slowly placed it next to her bag.
"Take the bag away, put it in quarantine storage but don't close it.", the father motioned towards two guards, "What should be done next, Miss Granger?"
"This is a very strong healing potion. A few drops directly to the wound should heal it. I could tell you more if I could see the wound."
The doors were opened and Hermione was let in, under heavy guard. She walked to Ron and slowly examined his shoulder. The wound was deep, going straight through the shoulder, but luckily no bones were hit. Slowly, making sure that every move was approved by the old priest, she poured a few drops of the brown potion in the wound. Instantly, the wound started to heal, and the scar forming over it looked a few days old. The doctors watching turned around to the priest and nodded in approval. They walked out of the door leaving the nurses to look after Ron.
In a few minutes, they were back in their room, sitting on their beds. The old priest was looking at them with great interest. Quietly, he motioned a large portion of the guards out of the room.
"Most wizards would have tried to trick us. You did something strange back there, you showed reason. I can understand why your own government is trying to track the three of you down."
Harry's eyes widened. "You know about the Ministry? You know that there is a price for us?"
"Of course we know. The wizarding world is really very bad at keeping secrets. The only reason it is a secret at all is because we also try to keep it such. For the past hundred years the advancements in the muggle world make the wizarding world seem much less powerful than before Mister Potter. But you know this, you were raised by muggles."
"You know about me?"
"You are a famous person in the wizarding world. We know all about your current status as the 'undesirable number one' of the Wizarding Britain. We also know that there were recent changes in the direction your Ministry is heading. Very disturbing changes that make it dangerous to harbour fugitives."
"If you know all this, why did you help us?", Harry asked.
"We helped you because we know all of this."
Hermione couldn't follow this. "How does that make sense? If you know who we are, you know that taking us will only draw attention to you.", as the expression on the priests face had a slight question on it, she decided to explain, "One of the Snatchers was Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf. He could have survived, and by this time he will have reported back to his master. Why didn't you just let us get taken? In fact, how did you know we were there?"
"As for the unwanted attention, we shall see. As for the other questions. God has a plan for us all, His will was for us to find you there, and we did."
As Harry was preparing to ask some more questions, the old wizard quickly raised his hand.
"Please, this was a long day. We have talked much, and there is still much left to discuss. If I ask you to keep calm and stay here for a few hours, we can share a meal afterwards where you can tell me more of your story. Please, do not attempt anything foolish. You already know we have cameras, we will most likely stop you, and the force will be deadly. Have a good day, and rest."