Chapter 8: Aestimatio

At eight in the morning, most of the people at 12, Grimmauld Place were still asleep, with the exception of Lupin and Molly, who were both in the kitchen. Therefore, Severus had no trouble entering the house inconspicuously. He went up the stairs and soon found Granger's room, thanks to Point Me.

After casting Muffliato around the door, he knocked.

"Go away," was the response he got.

She sounded decently awake, so he simply entered anyway.

The girl, seated on the bed with her back leaning against the wall, and holding a book, looked up, annoyed, "What did I— Oh."

"Good morning, miss Granger."

She looked rather fearful and surprised. Not caring about her feelings, he just got straight to the point.

"Tell me: how, exactly, did you escape from a highly trained Death Eater without even having a wand?"

She frowned, "Like I already—"

He interrupted her, "I am not interested in whatever foolish tales you told your friends. Tell me the truth."

After a short moment's deliberation, she answered, "The wards were down."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"They were!" she insisted.

"Forgive me if I find that hard to believe. Was she perhaps distracted in some way?"

"N—No, not that I know of," Hermione stuttered.

He didn't believe her. At all. But apparently Leta had taught the girl some Occlumency: he wasn't able to get in her mind without her noticing, as her guard was up right now – and intruding without her consent would ruin the potential of her trusting him in the future. Hopefully he would find a later time at which she would be distracted enough that he would be able to take a quick glimpse at the girl's memories. Her behaviour was odd, to say the least; she didn't seem to have a logical reason for her escape, and she didn't seem to want to divulge any information she had gained.

"Has she turned you?" he questioned.

"Excuse me?" Now the girl definitely looked fearful.

"Have you changed sides?"

"Of course not!" she seemed to have recovered from the unexpected question, and appeared truthful and honest. Severus still wasn't convinced.

After her meeting with the Dark Lord, and after having taken some pain-relief potion, Leta had gone to the Lestrange's home, from where she had taken Bellatrix with her on a night out. She had told the woman of her failure, and her anger about the foolish mistake. Bellatrix had rationalized by saying that she would not have to pretend with the mudblood anymore, and that the two of them could finally continue their earlier arrangement. Shortly after that statement, the two women had ended up in Leta's bed again.

Leta was woken up by her wards signalling her someone was at the door. She stumbled out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown.

Bellatrix woke too at her movements. "Stay here," she groaned.

"Someone's at the door," Leta replied.

Bellatrix huffed, "So?"

Leta laughed, shaking her head, and left the room.

Still with a smile on her face, she opened the door. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Severus? What are you doing here? Come on in."

He entered and, as she closed the door and took his cloak, explained, "I've spoken to both the Dark Lord and miss Granger."

"Oh! Right. You do know I was going to call upon you, right?" She directed him to the kitchen as they spoke, where he sat down and she started to make coffee.

"Indeed, but after my talk with her this morning, I cannot help but question what exactly you did to the girl."

"Oh, nothing she didn't want, I'm sure," Bellatrix' voice sounded from the doorway.

Severus looked up at the woman. If he was surprised at her presence, he didn't show it, ever his stoic self.

Bellatrix plopped down on a chair at the kitchen table. From her hair and make-up, not yet cleaned up, it was clear she had spent the night, though she had unwrinkled her dress.

"Coffee?" Leta asked.

"Yes, please, love," Bellatrix replied.

Soon, Leta sat with them at the table, each of them a cup before them. For a moment, they drank their coffee in silence.

"This is a private matter, so if you don't mind?" Severus spoke after a while, raising his eyebrows as he pointedly looked at Bellatrix.

"Ooh, 'private'?" she smiled wickedly at Leta.

"Yes. It's about a mission the Dark Lord gave us."

"Ah, yes, about the mudblood I suppose."

Leta nodded, "Yes."

"Oh well, I should get going anyway."

The woman downed what remained in her cup, stood, and after quickly kissing Leta, she left the kitchen. They heard her rummaging in Leta's bedroom, and soon she was back in the doorway, hair and makeup properly done, now. "Till later!"

"Bye, Bellatrix."

Severus merely nodded.

As soon as she was gone, Leta asked, "So what did she tell you?"

Severus fixed his dark eyes on her, clearly wanting to try and read her reaction as best as he could, "That she could escape because your wards were down." To his annoyance, she displayed no outward reaction.

"That is true."

"Really?" His tone was disbelieving.

"Yes. But on to more important matters: I thought it might be best if you convinced the Order that you want to give Hermione Occlumency classes, to deal with what she went through here, supposedly. This way, you'd have a reason for giving her classes one-on-one."

"Right. Are you certain there is nothing you should tell me about what happened here, so I am entirely up to date?"

"Well, I gave her books to read, ranging from light to dark magic, I taught her some Occlumency to evade future curious Order members, and I also practiced some dueling with her. Other than that I was very lenient: no punishments, only rewards. This helped to convince her that I wasn't 'evil', and made her realize our side isn't as bad as it is always being portrayed."

"Rewards? Such as?"

"I took her out to muggle London, to do some cultural visits, to go shopping for clothing, and to go eat and drink – it made her think I trusted her."

"Anything else?"

"Not especially, no. Ah! Except: She killed someone in her first duel since being here."

Severus looked up with a frown, "When?"

"Yesterday. I'm guessing that she was shocked by her own actions, and that's why she left."

"So she for the first time experienced the rush that comes along with making a kill."

"Yes, of course," Leta played dumb.

"And she didn't react in a… specific way?" he prodded.

"What are you talking about? She was high on the power, as was to be expected, that's it."

"Hm."

Leta narrowed her eyes at him, knowing what he was getting at, but not willing to tell the entire truth – he didn't need to know.

"Right. So you'll get her to participate in Occlumency lessons, and if you see she still leans somewhat to our side, I'd like for you to give her this."

Leta took a scrap piece of parchment from the counter top behind her, and quickly wrote a message on it. She handed it to him after having folded it and having cast a spell on it, ensuring it would only be readable to Hermione.

"Last I checked, she seemed to be grey, balancing right in between light and dark."

Severus nodded understandingly and got up from his chair, "I'll give it to her, and I'll report back as soon as I have news. If you need to contact me, I'll be staying at Hogwarts starting tomorrow."

"Alright. Until soon."

He nodded in goodbye, grabbed his cloak, and left the apartment.

After returning Hermione to the Order, Kingsley had gotten word from Tonks that a mission in Switzerland that some British Aurors, who were affiliated with the Order, had been put on, on Minerva McGonagall's orders, had ended badly: the three bodies had been found after they hadn't reported back.

He went there to assist. One of the things he did, was check magical traces: perhaps a known Death Eater had been involved, which signature they would then be able to recognize. What he found was unexpected, to say the least. As soon as he could, he returned to 12, Grimmauld Place, to report back to Minerva.

"That isn't possible," the professor denied, shaking her head.

They were in the Black Library, having silenced and warded the room before Kingsley began relaying the news.

"And yet it is true. No mistake possible."

Minerva frowned. "Could she have been under the Imperius?"

Kingsley shrugged, "I suppose so, but the intensity of the spell seems to suggest otherwise: one under the Imperious, ordered to kill someone who they wouldn't kill without being influenced by that spell, tends to not put as much magic in the Killing Curse as was found here."

She sighed deeply. "Alright. I'll put Severus on it; with Legilimency he'll find out whether she has truly been turned."

"I'm sorry to have to bring this news, Minerva."

"I am too," she replied.