The camp fell silent, as though someone had pressed pause. The tips of the wizards' wands still glimmered with magic, but no spells shot out.
His work done, Su Er quickly withdrew his hand, avoiding the searching looks the wizards cast his way once they recovered.
The whole Transfiguration routine had seemed lengthy, but it had actually taken only a minute or two. One moment, the Welsh Green had been beating its wings, about to fly to freedom; the next, it was lying on the ground.
If the sparks and black smoke spurting from its nostrils had not proved it was still alive, someone might have thought that the justice delivered from above had sent the green dragon off to serve as Merlin's mount.
The wizards' astonishment could only last a few seconds. The roars of the other three dragons and the flames rushing toward their faces forced them to put their questions aside and return to the fray.
It took only a second for the scene to go from silent to lively again.
Five wizards surrounded the green dragon and hit it with several more Stunning Spells before binding it with chains again. Then they rushed straight back to join the others dealing with the remaining three dragons.
With one less dragon to contend with, the other three presumably would not cause any greater trouble, especially with a Half-blood giant helping whose magical abilities and physical capabilities were both impressive.
You say I forgot Hagrid?
Don't worry, I hadn't forgotten. Look, wasn't that burly man cheerfully pulling on a chain Hagrid himself? His magic could not do much here, but he was quite good at helping with physical labor. It had long been said that giants were strong enough to wrestle dragons. One look at Hagrid was proof enough.