A/N Thanks again for all your encouragement in every possible way. It's very much appreciated.

A/N two: Words spoken in Dutch are in italics.

Disclaimer in chapter one

On to the next chapter

Enjoy..

CHAPTER FOUR

The moment Fleur sat foot in the house, the interrogation began. Her mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner and Gabrielle was watching TV, but when she noticed Fleur coming in, she turned it off.

"She seems a very lovely girl, don't you agree?" Fleur's mom said, subtly trying to make conversation.

"She's very pretty,"Gabrielle added. She may be a young girl but she knew beauty when she saw it.

"Yes, she seems very nice," Fleur answered her mother, ignoring Gabrielle's comment. Yes, she thought Hermionewas very beautiful, she was gorgeous, but she wasn't about to tell them that.

"So do you know why she's here? Does she live here?" Even though Hermione wasn't here, nothing stood in her way of getting the answers she wanted.

"Yes, mom. I do know why she's here and no, she doesn't live here." Exasperation was already making itself known in Fleur's voice. She had hoped her mother would leave it alone, at least for the moment, but apparently she was in no such luck.

"Oh." Her mother seemed to be rendered speechless, which didn't happen quite often. "Well, you never know." Fleur thought there was more to come, there always was, but this time seemed different.

"So have you known each other for a long time? Where did you meet?" Apolline asked, not one for silence. She was still preparing dinner, cutting vegetables, her movements not stilling when she spoke.

"We met earlier today at the center. We bumped into each other and started talking. We went to her hotel and we're on for tomorrow," Fleur explained.

"Wait," her mom asked as she turned her head in shock, nearly giving herself a whiplash. "You went with her to her hotel?" she said, putting emphasis on the word 'hotel'.

"Yes, mom," she answered annoyed. "And before you start imagining things, nothing happened and nothing will. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going upstairs." Without waiting for a reply, she walked out of the living room, up the stairs and into her bedoom where she stayed until dinner was ready, thinking over the things she'd said to her mother.

She hadn't been mean, not really. She'd answered the questions, well, most of them, and she hadn't lied about anything. She had left some things out, but that's because they weren't worth mentioning. But she couldn't help but feel bad about it. Her mother had welcomed Hermione with open arms, she'd made tea and talked to her. She's been nothing but polite and caring, even though Hermione had been the reason Fleur was late. And she hadn't recognized her, even when Hermione told her who she was, which was a good thing. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that her mother would've acted the same way around Hermione if she had known who she was, it wasn't about that. Her mother wasn't interested in status or money, it was the heart that counted. But it was nice to know she wouldn't have to answer any questions about Hermione's fame or hear her mother's worries about possible rumours. She'd thought about those things, though not thoroughly, and she thought she knew what she was doing. If not, then it would become clear soon enough. She decided then and there, she woud be more friendly and more open to her mother.

There were multiple ways this could go. She could either help Hermione tomorrow and that would be it or they would keep seeing each other after tomorrow. If that was the case, there were, again, multiple ways that could go, but she wouldn't dare think about that. She did know that her mother didn't deserve to be left out. They were a close family, which she valued very much, and she wouldn't be the reason for them drifting apart by keeping them in the dark.

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"Fleur? Dinner's ready," Fleur heard her mother yell.

Time to face the music.

She took a deep breath, waited a few seconds and then slowly exhaled. She stood, walked to the door and descended the stairs. When she walked into the hallway, the wonderful smells already filled her nostrils, but it was nothing compared to the wall of smells she met when she set foot in the living room and sat down at the dinner table. Gabrielle was already seated, waiting impatiently for dinner to be served, her long, blonde hair tied in a ponytail and her pants clad legs bouncing up and down under the table. She took a seat next to her so she could look at her mom when the inevitable confrontation began.

Once seated, her mom gave her a friendly smile which said more than a thousand words ever could. It was filled with love and understanding, reassuring Fleur she didn't have to tell her anything she didn't want. But Fleur had already made up her mind and nothing would make her change it.

'Bon appetit' was all her mother said before she tucked in, followed shortly after by Gabrielle who muttered the same words under her breath. Fleur did the same and took a few bites before she filled them in. She figured once she'd start talking, she wouldn't get to eating much anymore.

"She's here for a wedding," Fleur blurted out. The best way to get people's attention is by throwing unexpected information at them and it seemed to do the trick as usual. Her mother looked up, surprised. She'd honestly thought Fleur wouldn't bring it up again, but she was pleased to find she'd thought wrong. Gabrielle's ears perked up when she heard the word wedding.

"Who's wedding it it?" her mom asked patiently, acting as if they were having small talk.

"A friend's. She's known her since her childhood and her fiance is Dutch. They live here now." The young French woman hoped she hadn't told them more than Hermione would've liked, even though the information seemed trivial.

"That's nice. I hope they'll have nice weather. You never know in this country. Do you know when the wedding will take place?" Apolline asked.

Fleur opened her mouth to answer but immediately closed it again. She didn't have a clue. They hadn't talked about any dates or places. She only knew it would take place at a beach.

"I-I have no idea, she didn't say. It's at a beach, though."

"Oh." It seemed to be her mom's first reaction to a lot of Fleur's answers today. "Well," her mom hesitated, but decided to ask the question anyway. Fleur had an inkling what that question might be. "Does she have a date?"

Before she could reply, she heard the door bell ring.

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Before she could reply, she heard the door bell ring. All three of them looked up at each other, the same look of confusion and wonder in their eyes. Apolline, being the mother of the two and therefore considering herself responsible for them, slid her chair back and made to stand up when Fleur stopped her.

"It's fine, I'll get it."

"But your food will get cold. And it could be a –" She was, again, stopped by Fleur who shook her head and interrupted her.

"It could be anyone. Yes," she said as she held up her hands when her mother opened her mouth to interrupt her. "I will only open the door a few inches and keep my foot behind the door so nobody can come barging in." With that, she got up and walked to the hallway, closing the door so the cold couldn't get in. Reaching the door, she placed her foot a few inches from the door and put a firm hold on the door handle, carefully but confidently opening the door.

She opened it, as she'd promised her mom, only a few inches to take a look at who was standing on the other side of the door. She took one last deep breath, squared her shoulders and lowered the door handle, pulling the door towards her. Whatever or whoever she thought it would be, the person standing there was not it.

Hermione Granger. A completely and utterly soaken wet Hermione Granger. She watched the mascara running down her cheeks and the smudges she'd tried to wipe away. Her hair stuck to her face and it was dripping on her shirt, every now and again a rain drop finding its way down between her breasts. Her shorts and shirt clung to her body, showing all her curves, and her arms had goosebumps all over them and it was then that she realized she was still standing outside, getting, if possible, wetter with every passing second. She removed her foot from behind the door and opened it further, inviting her in.

"Ehm, come in," Fleur said, still stocked. "You must be freezing. What happened? Wait here, okay? I'll go get you some towels," she said once Hermione was standing on the door mat in the hallway. When Hermione gave her a shaky nod, she turned around and walked to the living room. "It's Hermione, everything is fine. She's just wet from the rain, so I'm going to go get her some towels." With that, she stormed up the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

Once she'd stepped into her room, she went looking for towels as she had said, concentrating on the towels, instead on the fact that Hermione Granger was standing in her house completely soaked. She grabbed a stack of towels, ran out of her room and sprinted down the stairs. Halfway down, she suddenly stopped, pretending to get a better hold of the towels, but secretly throwing a few glances at Hermione, who was peeling her clothes off her body, then releasing them so they clung to her body again. 'Unbelievable how someone can make something to simple and so ordinary look so sexy', she thought. Hermione looked up and saw Fleur staring at her. Not wanting her to feel embarrassed, she threw her a wide grin and pointed at the towels she was holding in her hands.

"What did you think? Better safe than sorry?" She joked. She couldn't get the grin off her face, Fleur was quite the sight to behold. Her blonde hair was tousled and her face was slightly red. Whether this was from exhaustion of embarrassment, she couldn't tell. Her upper body was hidden behind the dozen of towels and wrapped around them, to prevent them from hitting the floor, were her long arms. She hadn't noticed before that Fleur's arms were fairly toned, but it was something she was pleased to find out. It was when she dropped her gaze to her long legs and saw them moving down the stairs, that it hit her Fleur had continued her descend and was walking towards her.

"We don't want you getting sick now, do we?" Fleur repeated Hermione's words, a big grin of her own plastered on her face as well.

Hermione playfully rolled her eyes, she grabbed the towel on top and swung it around her lower body, then tucked one end in so it looked like a skirt and didn't drop down. She repeated the process with another towel for her upper body.

The whole time, Fleur paid close attention and watched every move Hermione made. She was fascinated with the way the brunette moved. Despite being cold and shivering slightly, she still managed to move with a certain grace, like she was dancing for an audition to get into a fancy dance school.

After wrapping the towels around her body, Hermione lifted her hair with her hands, getting it from underneath the towel she'd wrapped around her upper body. When Fleur saw she didn't get another towel for her hair, she made to grab one herself, nearly letting the towels slip.

"Sorry, I'm not usually this clumsy," she said, smiling embarrassedly at Hermione.

"It's fine," the still wet brunette said while she carefully took the towel from Fleur's hand. "It's actually kind of cute." She looked at her through lidded eyes to gauge her reaction. When she saw a blush creep onto Fleur's cheeks, she tried very hard to keep the satisfied smile off her face.

"It'd probably be better if you took those off," Fleur said, moving her hand up and down, aiming at the clothes, subtly trying to change the subject. Realizing how that may have sounded, she quickly continued. "You won't get dry if you keep wearing those wet clothes. The towels won't do any good."

"As lovely as these towels are, I can't walk around wearing them with nothing underneath it now, can I?" she countered, the corners of her mouth turning into a smirk.

The still present blush on Fleur's cheeks turned a few shades darker.

"I have some clothes in my closet you can borrow, it's not a problem," the blonde answered as seriously as she could. If she turned any redder, she'd be the equal of a tomato.

Seeing the expression on Fleur's face, she took on a serious stance as well. "Are you sure? I wouln't want-"

"Yes, it's fine. I have way too many clothes as it is. I won't even miss them," Fleur interrupted her. Before Hermione could say anything, she had turned around and was walking up the stairs. She quickly followed after her, checking out her behind unashamedly as she did.

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Fleur had not been kidding when she said she had plenty of clothes. Her closet took up an entire wall, from bottom to ceiling and from left to right, without an empty space that wasn't filled with clothes. There were colours everywhere and all sorts of styles, from jeans to skirts and from pants to dresses, from tank tops to sweaters and from blouses to hoodies, vests and jackets.

"You can pick anything you like," Fleur said, bringing Hermione out of her daze. "If you need anything, give a yell. I'll be downstairs."

"Ehm, yes. Thank you." She took a step forward and started looking through the first pile of clothing. "I promise I'll be quick," was her last reply before all her attention went to the clothes in front of her.

Fleur stood in the doorway for a few seconds, taking notice of the way Hermione's eyebrows furrowed when she was concentrating or deep in throught and how she lifted her head lightly and nodded when she found something to her liking. She turned around and left the room when she started feeling like an intruder. She silently closed the door and went downstairs.

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Hermione turned around when she heard a knock on the door, quickly putting the shirt over her head and down her body. The door opened and Fleur walked in, holding two cups of what Hermione assumed was hot tea, seeing the smoke coming from it.

"I didn't know if you were ready yet, but you said you'd be quick," Fleur started. "I've got you some tea. I thought it would help getting you warm," she said as she passed her one of the mugs.

"Is it.." Hermione asked vaguely.

"It is. The one and only," the blonde said with a smile.

"Thank you, that's very sweet of you." She took a sip of her drink and immediately tasted the familiar flavour of the hot liquid. "I hope I didn't choose anything that's of much value to you," the brunette said, waving her hand across her body.

She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants that looked a bit too long on her, but she managed to look great nonetheless. She'd taken her flip flops off and was barefoot.

"You look great. Even without socks," she replied cheekily. She walked to a drawer ad grabbed a pair of socks out of it, then threw them at Hermione who caught them with ease. "I see your hair has dried significantly," Fleur said.

Yea," Hermione said as she ran her hands through her hair. "Thank you for the towels, the clothes and the tea, of course," she said, holding the mug up. "But I actually need to ask you for another favour," she said apprehensively.

"What's that?"

"I need a ride home. Well, a ride to the hotel."

"Oh," Fleur deadpanned. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that. It's not like Hermione had decided to stand outside in the rain, waiting until she was soaked to the skin to then ring Fleur's door bell to get warm and dry again. "Of course, no problem. We'll take my mom's car. I'm sure she won't mind. So what happened, anyway?" the blonde asked.

"My car broke down," Hermione started explaining. "It seemed fine this morning, even this afternoon when we went to the hotel and later today when I drove you home. Everything seemed to be working properly. Then when I left your house and turned the first corner, the car started to make weird noises but I thought it was because of the rain, so I didn't do anything about it and kept driving. Nothing happened for a few minutes but a few blocks from your home the car suddenly stopped. I tried to get it to work again, but nothing happened. All I got was complete silence," she finished with a long sigh of defeat.

"That's odd," the young French woman replied thoughtfully. She tried to think of anything that could be the reason. It couldn't possibly have been the rain, it's a Dutch car and it constantly rains in the Netherlands. Even if it didn't, rain couldn't cause the engine to stall and eventually to stop the car from working altogether. "Maybe it's got something to do with that thunder we heard when we were in your hotel room," she joked when she couldn't think of anything.

The thunder. It had been floating through her head all day, but for some reason she hadn't made the connection. It couldn't possibly have something to do with the thunder, because that would mean.. But it would explain so much. It would explain why Fleur had bumped into her and had recognized her. She had thought of everything, or at least she thought she had, but apparently she'd forgotten a very small, but very important part.

It would also explain why the woman outside of the hotel hadn't recognized her, she never would've been able to. She had been recognized before and she had made sure it wouldn't happen again, but along came Fleur and it wasn't until now that she wasn't reminded of that small part. But Fleur's mother.. She's Fleur's family, they share the same blood and genes, she should've been able to find out who she was, but she didn't. Maybe she really didn't know who she was.

The car started acting off when she left the house and it got worse, the further she got away. The distance.. If the car really had something to do with the thunder, it would make perfect sense.

If those two things were connected, that could only mean one thing. One thing that she had thought impossible, one thing that she had never truly believed. It seemed so obvious, now that she thought about it. There isn't any other way. But if it's true, that would mean.. That would mean Fleur was her-"

"Are you okay?" Fleur asked concerned, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay? You seemed to be somewhere else for a while," she repeated, a frown crossing her features.

"What? Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Everything is..fine." Hermione answered absentmindedly, still shocked by what she had just found out.

"Okay," Fleur said. She didn't quite believe her, but she left it for what it was. "Let's get you home then, shall we?" she asked as she placed her hand on Hermione's lower back, sending a chill down both their spines. She quickly dropped her hand, startled by the feeling making its way down her body.

"Yes, I need to get home," was Hermione's answer, who didn't seem fazed by the chill. In fact, she hadn't even felt it, she was still so lost in thought, trying to puzzle it all together.

When they had made their way downstairs, Fleur explained to her mother what had happened and asked if she could borrow her car to take Hermione to the hotel. Her mother didn't mind, as she had expected, and the moment she got the keys, she walked out without an umbrella, for it was only drizzling now.

The ride to the hotel was spent in silence, Hermione looking out of the window, but not looking at anything. She was somewhere else again.

"Would you like me to walk you back to your door?" Fleur asked as she turned the car off, still concerned about Hermione's sudden change of behaviour.

"No, it's fine. Thank you for the ride, but I need to go now. Bye," she answered in a hurry, her words coming out in a rush.

"Ehm, okay, that's..fine. I'll see you tomorrow." Fleur hoped they would still meet up tomorrow, despite Hermione's demeanor. Actually, it was especially because of Hermione's demeanor, she'd like to check up on her tomorrow to see if she really was feeling fine as she was saying.

"Tomorrow," Hermione said as her way of saying goodbye, indirectly giving Fleur the answer she wanted to hear.

Fleur started up the car and drove back home again, the whole ride paying close attention to all noises the car made, hoping she wouldn't suffer the same fate.

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If the part about the thunder confused you, no need to worry. It's supposed to be confusing, I can't tell you what's happening yet, 'cause where's the fun in that?

Let me know what you think and I'll see you next time ;)