First there was silence. And then, a series of small pops. At least ten wands were pointing in her direction. She could see their faces. Some of them looked like wild animals, while others were neatly clothed members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with red ribbons on their arms. The Ministry in open cooperation with the Snatchers.
"Allrigh' girl! Don't give us any trouble and it'll all be ove..."
He never finished the sentence. After the first pop, the sharpshooters were already on target. She could hear in her earpiece the first metallic click that cleared the dart shooters. The eight humans collapsed down on the ground, while a soft voice whispered in her ear:
"Kill the werewolves. Fire at will."
The werewolves, still dazed from the initial dart hit, never had a chance. Hermione was in a few combats, but never like this. She knew that silver would not kill a werewolf, that was just a myth. But not even a werewolf can regrow both arms, a leg and a head at the same time. And the other one had a sizeable hole where his chest used to be. It was ruthless and efficient. She was still recovering from the shock of the scene when the Inquisition moved in. She could hear orders:
"Secure the prisoners. Clean up the werewolves. No trace left."
"Sir, two prisoners were overdosed. We are losing them."
"Medic! Try to stabilize them. Handheld oxygen and emergency procedure. Angel team, prepare IV drips and the antidote. Radio their weights to the teams!"
The team moved around, binding the prisoners. A small group was disassembling the tent. She could barely see two black body bags. As Radebe approached her, she remembered she still had her wand. And a silly silly plan to use it. How could she alone possibly attack after she saw this? They would all end up in three black bags, Merlin only knows where.
"Miss Granger! Are you okay?"
"Hm? Yes. Yes. I'm fine. It's just... The blood..."
"Come. It's all over now. Just stand up, we need to put the fire out and hide the remains.", he waved at two nearest soldiers, "Have you never seen a man die before?"
"I have. It's just that... The worst wizarding curse, the killing curse, tears the soul away from the flesh. Horrible, but much more peaceful than this. Of course there are spells that damage the body, the cutting curse and the exploding curse, but they are nothing compared to this."
"It's never easy to see this. The important thing to remember is that they were werewolves. They made their living causing harm to the innocent."
"Not all of them."
"What?"
"Not all werewolves are like that. The best teacher I ever had was a werewolf.", she probably should not be saying this, but she couldn't stop herself, "Every month he fought against his sickness. I learned more about defense from him in a year then I learned from all other defense teachers combined. And as a thank you, the wizarding world persecuted him."
This was the first thing she said that had caused an emotional response. She could see the brief flash of anger replaced by deep thought.
"Perhaps. Perhaps even such dark creatures can eventually redeem. The Almighty is all-loving. But many of us have lost families to werewolves, and I have seen many, and sent them all to meet Him. You should talk to Father Paul. He is learned, much more than I am. Come now, we need to go back home."
She followed him. There was no point in arguing, and the sooner they get home the better. There was something bothering her. Like she missed something really important in the past few minutes. Here thoughts were slid off track again when she heard the noise of a much bigger helicopter approaching. She was curious as to what was going on, but she didn't think Radebe would waste time answering her questions. As she was looking at it, the noise became much louder and a transport helicopter landed on the meadow. The soldiers began loading the prisoners and the body bags. The nagging feeling came back, and was telling her that whatever it was she missed, it had something to do with the prisoners. She was walking slowly towards the loading ramp. Nobody seemed to mind. When she reached the loading ramp, she could see the unconscious prisoners strapped on the seats, each surrounded by two guards. There were still a few empty seats and one of the men signaled to her that she should take the seat next to him. She picked up the helmet from the seat and sat down. As she was looking at the prisoners, she finally found what she was looking for.
"Why are these two wearing masks and have needles and the others don't?", she asked the guard next to her. He looked at her, and then simply put his finger on his lips. It was a noticeable improvement, last time they warned Ron to be silent he ended up with a gunshot wound. The question was still in her mind, as she was trying to think back. Her parents were dentists and they would give sedatives to people once in awhile. Usually they would only give anaesthetics, and they never mentioned any problems with those. But there was a memory, a story. She was too young to understand. Her mother was talking about a case where the patient was oversedated. It was really bad. Her mother said the poor man's heart stopped beating. Is this what was happening here? But these people were only knocked out for one or two minutes. If such a short exposure could almost kill them, than what would happen if someone was drugged for hours.
"Oh. Harry."