Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Okay, as I promised, here is the next chater and I hope you all will like it. There was a little confusion, that's why it's so late, even though it was finished even before I posted the pervious chapter.

I changed the title to Memories, not forgotten. It was the original title, but I messed up, because it was my very first post to and now I decided to change it back.

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my two best friends, who stay by my side even though most of the time they are on the receiving end of my anger, even though they are not the ones who caused it. Thank you. Yout two are the best!

Oh, and special thanks to my beta, x-Xant-x for her wonderful work.

So, I've got nothing more to say, but to enjoy reading and leave me a review!

Truths and feelings in the open

"I guess if I told you I was looking for some of my books that it wouldn't be believable, right?" said Hermione the older, while covering herself up a bit.

"Definitely not," answered Harry, as the younger child was still too shocked to say anything at all.

"Yeah, I thought so." Nodded Hermione, and turned to her younger self. "Not that I don't understand your shock or anything, but I'd be really glad if you said something. Anything." She added, when there was still no answer, not counting the constant opening and closing of the 13-year-old's mouth.

If Harry wasn't so angry with himself right then and wasn't too preoccupied with scolding himself for his own thoughtlessness, he would have burst out laughing, as it was not an everyday sight to see Hermione Granger left speechless.

Sighing, the 24-year-old Hermione set down on the couch next to her younger self and put a hand on her knee, trying to soothe her and started to talk as patiently and calmly as she could in the situation.

"I know this must be quite the shock to you, and I never intended you to find out this way. Hell, I didn't even want you to know this until you were old enough. Look, I'm not going to tell you some rubbish about this not being what it seems, because this is exactly what it seems. If you calm enough to talk, you may ask questions and we'll try to answer as truthfully as possible is this situation, but I can't promise you anything more." She said softly, not really looking forward to the upcoming conversation.

After a few minutes of a very uncomfortable silence, the still slightly shocked Hermione started to speak:

"How long…? I mean…Are you…? Oh, damn it! I don't even know what I mean. How could you…? I mean just friends…We've always been just friends, nothing more, and then you come and I find you…half naked…bedroom…out of wedlock…with Harry…black underwear…!" at the last two words the older Hermione couldn't help but laugh out loud. Her younger self didn't make much sense and that added with the views she had at 13 was just way too much for her. At her younger self's shocked expression she only said:

"Sorry, but I've just remembered how I was when I was your age, and I couldn't help it. So much has happened since then and everyone changed so much, you know?" She said and glanced at Harry, who was looking back at her with the slight sign of amusement in his eyes, which has been missing for quite some times now.

"I guess we owe you any explanation and seeing that you're not capable of coherent sentences right now, I'll tell you what I deem necessary in this situation and then you can ask questions, if you want to, but I hope you understand that I can't tell you everything in this current situation." Seeing her younger self's nod, she started the story of Harry and Hermione Potter.

She left things out of the story. The horrible things that led to their relationship, or the things that caused most of their rare arguments, or things that a 13-year-old doesn't need to know. After she finished the story, everyone in the room sat (or stood in Harry's case) in silence, until Harry broke it:

"I'm going to the Room of Requirement and don't come after me." And with that, he left, and the older Hermione knew instantly, that while listening to the story he was reminded of the things she left out and thanks to those things Harry was back to his grumpy, commander mood and most likely would stay like that for days. If they were fortunate enough.

"He'll come along. He had to suffer through too many things. It'll be all right in no time." She told more to herself than to the young girl sitting in front of her. "I have to ask you to keep the things I've told you today a secret and not to tell anyone, not even to Ron or Harry. Ron has feelings for you and Harry thinks of you just as a friend, nothing else, right now. They don't need to know about all these things. Do you have any questions? Because of you don't, then I'll go an talk to Harry…" she continued.

"Just one. Why did you marry him?" asked the young one.

"What?" stared the older Hermione dumbstruck. Of all the possible questions she definitely wasn't expecting this one.

"You heard me. Why? He is all irritable and jumpy. He acts as if he has no feeling at all and sometimes I highly doubt he does. He was nice to me this morning after the whole Firebolt ordeal, but other than this occasion he never acted nice." Explained the young Gryffindor.

"I see. You have to know, that a lot of things happened, or will happen, that changed him from the innocent boy you know to the man he is today. These changes are not necessarily good. Or bad, for that matter. I'll admit that he likes to act like he has no feelings and doesn't care. But he has feeling, buried deep down, and he cares. More than most of the people will ever know. He only tries to hide these thing from everyone. It never worked on me. When you'll have a full understanding of the things that made him be the one he is now, you'll understand what I mean.

As for your question I married him because he needed me. He still does."

"So you married him because you pity him? You don't love him at all?" asked the younger one with surprise and anger in her voice.

"No. That's not what I meant. Yes, I do love him, like a woman could love a man and even more. But he needed me above all. We lived through rough times and the only way to keep our sanity is to have friends a family around us, who help us through those times and care enough to stand by us not only in happy times, but in the sad ones, too. And unfortunately we had more of the later, than of the former. You can't really understand it now. But you will. Unfortunately you will. Now go. Please. I have to find him."

"Wait!" half shouted her younger self and jumped up from the couch she was currently sitting on. When she saw the 24-year-old turning back to her with a questioning look, she said: "I've got one more question."

"Then ask it quickly, 'cause I really got to go."

"Do you have children? You were talking about family like you have a big one." When she heard the question, the older Hermione's hands wondered onto her belly and she had a faraway, almost wishful look in her eyes, then she lost her balance for a moment and had to grab onto to desk standing next to her for support, but when he looked at her younger self her face showed nothing out of the ordinary.

"Family isn't about blood, but about feelings. No, we don't have any children, but in a sense, we have a very big family, who help us. It's not safe or fair to any child to be brought into a world of cruelty and war."

With that the 24-year left the room with her younger self by her side, whom she accompanied back to the library, as she didn't want to face Ron and Harry yet, and left her there, while she went up to the Room of Requirement and prepared herself for the argument that was sure to come.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

When she entered the room, she found destroyed dummies everywhere, 'executed' in different manners. Some of them were missing their heads, others were burnt and she even saw one that seemed to have exploded from the inside. It wasn't a pretty sight and in the middle of all the dummies there was Harry panting and sweating, but only a little bit.

Hermione tried to approach him slowly, this was alerting him of her presence, as she knew how dangerous he could be when surprised, but he seemed too distracted with destroying another dummy to notice her presence, so when she was close enough and the dummy was destroyed, he suddenly became very alert of her presence, and she had to dodge a few quite dangerous kicks and punches, till he realised that it was Hermione and not an enemy.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave me alone." He said, his voice void of any feelings.

" And I thought you know me better than assume that I'll leave you alone in the state of mind you must be in." she replied, but deep inside she knew that that night she most definitely will sleep in her own bed, without Harry.

"I'm perfectly all right. Now that you've seen it with your own eyes, you can go and do whatever you want." He replied and was about to turn his back to her, when she grabbed his arm and with strength she didn't know she was capable of, turned him back to her and made him look at her.

"Don't you dare turn your back to me, Harry Potter." She whispered with so much venom in her voice, that it would have scared even Harry any other day, but not that day. He was beyond that after remembering the horrors of the past seven years, beginning with the old headmaster's death.

"And just what are you going to do if I do? You're not my mother, Hermione. So stop acting like that." He said, even though he knew that his mood and the bad happening of the past was not Hermione's fault, she was the one there, and consequently he took his anger out on her.

"I'm very aware that I'm not your mother, 'cause your own mother wouldn't be able to live with your constant mood swings. You know it's bloody irritating! All you've been doing for the past seven years was pitying yourself or taking out your anger on me. Have you even thought of me!? Marriage is about understanding, loving and listening to each other! Sometimes I feel I'm the only one loving, understanding and listening to the other! Have you ever asked me in our years of marriage what I wanted!? Whether I wanted to have children someday? Or have a nice house with a big garden, a cat and four children running around, giggling with their father!? Have you, Harry Potter!? No, I don't think you did!" that was it. She was shouting and telling him things she knew weren't true.

He did care, and he did listen to her. And love her. And he understood her better than anyone else. But some things were true. She understood that their future wasn't certain and they could die any day, but that was true for everyone. Of course they had a bigger chance at dying because of the war than other people who weren't involved in the war. But she really wanted children, and that only hit her when her younger self asked her about it half an hour ago, along with the realisation that there was a possibility of her being pregnant.

Most of the symptoms fit, but she never considered the possibility of her being pregnant before, because she was sure they always used protection, but now she remembered one time, one and a half months ago, when they lost themselves in each other and all caution was thrown out of the window.

Of course she noticed that she was missing her period, but never thought about it twice, as it had happened before this, due to immense stress. But now, thinking about it, she was almost sure, that this time, it wasn't because of that reason. She had to find it out for sure later on. Until then, she didn't want to think about telling Harry, or about what would they do once they went back to their time. There was no use in panicking until she was sure.

"Than you shouldn't have married me in the first place. You knew what my situation was. I may be dead by the end of the war. And if I'm such a burden for you, then go on and leave. I won't stop you. Go, find someone who can give you your house with the children without fearing that those children would be killed only because he is their father! Find someone who cares enough!"

Smack!

The whole room echoed from the sound of the slap Hermione gave Harry after he finished his little speech.

She stared into his eyes for a few moments, then she turned on her heels, and stormed out of the room, not able to stop the flow of her tears, as she ran back to her rooms and slammed the door shut behind herself, as she threw herself onto her bed and cried herself to sleep.

So this was it and I hope you all liked it.

I can't promise a quick update this time, even though I've already started the next chapter. I've got several reasons for this. First of all, I'm leaving for a camp in two weeks and then I'll be busy reading HD, as will most likely everyone else. And after it, I'll try to digest the book, and then I'll be discussing the last HP book with anyone who is willing to listen to me.

So, please, leave me a review and tell me your opinion.

And if anyone of you want to discuss the upcoming book with me, feel free to send me a PM.