Chapter 4: Proximior
The next weeks Hermione spent a lot of time reading, and when she wasn't, she talked with Leta about her findings. Leta also taught her how to lie convincingly and how to use occlumency to keep people out of her head. Leta trained her enough that hardly anyone would be able to see her mind without Hermione feeling it. From then on, most people would have to either cast Occlumens, or have Hermione open her mind to that person's scrutiny, or they'd not be able to access more than the tip of the iceberg when it came to the girl's mind.
After the bug-incident, Leta had been very nice to her in all aspects – after all, she had not refused to read or discuss books, since – and after about two months, Hermione had already gotten almost used to living with Leta. Her mind was filled with wondrously fascinating things she had read, things she had never even heard or thought of before, and occasionally, since about six weeks of being in Leta's apartment, she was allowed to practise spells with her wand, which the Dark Lord had given to Leta at one of their meetings.
Hermione missed her friends, but even though she had been taken, this life wasn't that bad. She felt almost happy: she was learning so many things, unlimited by labels of 'Light' and 'Dark', and Leta herself was a very nice and even fun person to be around. The woman also loved reading and learning, and had an odd but entertaining sense of humour. Hermione had actually been thinking less about escaping with every day that went by, but the times she realised this, she felt guilty, and tried to forget about it: of course she wanted to see her friends again! But she also wanted to learn more here, and talk more to the interesting, not at all stereotypical Death Eater, who had turned more into a roommate and a study-partner in her eyes, instead of an enemy.
"You know, you're not what I expected," Hermione suddenly said.
They were both reading a book, each in a corner of the sofa.
Leta looked up, "Oh?"
"You're not like the other Death Eaters; you're not sadistic, or crazy, or some serial killer. And you're actually quite nice."
Leta smiled. Hermione thought it was an appreciative smile. It wasn't. Leta was pleased Hermione finally worded what Leta had been working towards; she had noticed the girl loosening up around her, but Hermione hadn't admitted how she felt yet. Now she finally had. This was a big step forward.
"Why, thank you. Though if you'd like I can still torture you, you know," Leta winked.
Hermione smiled widely, used to Leta's sense of humour. "No thank you, I'm good."
At first, Hermione had been taking every word out of Leta's mouth literally, but she had quickly learned Leta was often being sarcastic and had begun appreciating the humour.
Two nights later, Leta thought it was time for a nice reward: she decided to take Hermione out to a relatively high-end restaurant.
Hermione stood in Leta's bedroom's doorway. "But why?"
"Because I want to. You can stay here if you want, and I'll go with someone else," Leta shrugged as she was putting on her mascara.
"No! No, I'd love to go. I was just wondering…"
Leta looked at the girl through her mirror, "No secondary intentions. I merely think you deserve to get out for once."
The truth was, Leta did this to gain more trust, to act like she trusted Hermione enough to not run off. Every single one of her moves was calculated, as always.
Putting down the mascara and picking up her lipstick, she continued, "Go check your closet: I hung a dress in there you could wear tonight."
Hermione didn't look surprised; since her first day as Leta's charge, she had been provided with clothing and other essentials. The clothes she wore these days were quite similar to Leta's style: black, calf-length dresses. Today was different however: when she opened her closet, prepared to find yet another black dress, she instead saw a dark red A-line dress with a V-neck. Pleasantly surprised at the change of colour and style, she took it to the bathroom, to get ready. Once she had put it on, she noticed the dress' cut was different to the others too: it came to a bit above her knee, and the neckline was cut deeper than usual, though not uncomfortably so.
She was quite happy with it. She was standing before the mirror in her room when Leta knocked on her door, telling her they had to leave soon.
"I'm ready," she replied, turning away from the mirror and heading to the door.
The restaurant Leta had picked was nice: good food, nice personnel, and a pleasant atmosphere. Hermione had a great time, and even forgot who she was with – though she would never admit it.
Leta told her about her family: her father, a very kind man, and a smart and talented wizard too; and her mother, an abusive alcoholic, who left her when Leta had become a strong enough witch to defend herself.
"Is that why you joined Him?" Hermione asked, recalling who she was with exactly.
"It was part of the reason, certainly. I recall reading about him in the newspaper before he disappeared, and being in awe of his power. I wanted to be that powerful, so I could stop my mother and people like her. So, when he had returned, I went to inform myself. I talked to some people, and found out where he was. Then, I went to introduce myself."
"But you're a half-blood?"
"So are many of his followers, and many of us had a bad childhood because of that one muggle parent. If he has good reason to believe one would be beneficial to the cause, he accepts them."
"So why were you accepted?"
With a teasing smile, Leta asked, "Why, don't you think me powerful enough?"
"You know that's not what I meant," Hermione replied, smiling as well.
"He found out I'm good at negotiating, so that's the specific skill why he accepted me."
"So that's why you need to go on business trips?"
"Exactly," she nodded.
Their conversation went on, and at a certain point, turned to relationships.
"So tell me, is it true you are involved with one or both of you closest friends?"
Hermione almost choked on her drink. "What? No! Why would you think that?"
Leta shrugged, she was smirking. "Well, when people see how close you are, they start to wonder..."
"Let me guess, it's only the depraved minds of some Death Eaters who are wondering."
Leta laughed, "True. But seriously, between us girls, any feelings there?" She winked.
Hermione blushed, "Definitely not Harry, he's like a brother to me."
"But..."
"But I used to have feelings for Ron, I think."
"You think?" Leta prompted.
"Well, he was the first one to show a real interest, you know, and I was flattered, I suppose. But he's really immature, not at all interested in anything I'm interested in, and I could never have a really intellectual talk with him like—" she stopped for a second, seemingly coming to a realisation, "Well, like with you for instance."
Leta nodded understandingly and smiled.
On the way home, the two women were still animatedly talking. Leta was pleased with herself: this was the most relaxed Hermione had ever been in her presence. She was truly making a lot of progress, these days. The lessons in Dark Magic had been going well as soon as Hermione had gotten over the term 'Dark Magic', but her behaviour had still been quite apprehensive. Not anymore. The Dark Lord would be pleased.
Leta found herself enjoying the outing as well – it had actually felt an awful lot like a date. Every time these thoughts entered her conscious mind, however, she shook them off.
They sat down on the sofa in the living room, side by side. Leta summoned two glasses and a bottle of red wine. She filled both glasses halfway, and passed one to Hermione, who took it without a second thought.
Their conversation stopped for a bit as they both took a sip.
"I had a really nice time," Hermione then said.
Leta smiled and turned on the sofa, leaning her arm on the backrest to better see her. "Me too."
Suddenly, when the girl had looked up to see her sit sideways on the couch, Leta saw Hermione's eyes drop to her lips, stare for a moment, before apparently realising what she was doing and turning away, blinking confusedly. The girl turned red. Leta frowned. Maybe…
"You know," she then spoke, pretending to not have noticed Hermione's embarrassment, "I forgot to tell you how beautiful you look in that dress."
Hermione turned her head back to look at her for a second, before moving her eyes away and evading her gaze again. "Thank you," she whispered more than spoke.
Leta brushed a bit of hair away from Hermione's face, making the girl look up like a deer in headlights.
Slowly, so she could evade her if she changed her mind, Leta leaned in. Hermione didn't move. Softly, Leta pressed her lips to Hermione's. She didn't quite react, but she didn't pull back either. When Leta pulled back, she saw Hermione had closed her eyes and her face was still red. Her eyes fluttered open, but closed again when Leta leaned in to whisper by her ear, "Good night."
Soon, she was gone, leaving a flustered and confused Hermione in her wake.