Drop in the Ocean [Harmione]

18. If I Ain't Got You

If I Ain't Got You

Some people live for the fortune
Some people live just for the fame
Some people live for the power, yeah
Some people live just to play the game
Some people think that the physical things
Define what's within
And I've been there before
But that life's a bore
So full of the superficial

Some people want it all
But I don't want nothing at all
If it ain't you baby
If I ain't got you baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain't got you..."

(Alicia Keys, If I Ain't Got You)

It must have all been a dream, Hermione thought to herself as she woke up the next morning. There was no other explanation for it. But, it had all seemed so real. She could still feel his kiss on her lips. She could still feel his gentle touch on her skin. She could see the look in his eyes when he'd made love to her. She could even still hear him whisper how much he loved her and how he'd never leave her again right before they'd drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

Dreams were always so much better than reality, she thought grumpily as she turned over on her side. She wasn't quite ready to greet another lonely day.

"Ow!"

Hermione froze.

"You just elbowed me in the chest when you turned over, Miss Granger," a familiar voice said behind her. "I don't remember you being a combative sleeper before. But then again you are in your natural habitat here, aren't you?"

Slowly, Hermione turned around and saw...it was him. He was here. It hadn't been a dream after all.

"Are you just going to stare at me like that or are you going to apologize?" Harry asked teasingly.

Hermione couldn't speak. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she had no idea why. She wasn't sad—far from it.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?" she asked her voice still scratchy from sleep.

"Everything alright?"

She nodded. "Everything's fine. You're here. You are really here, aren't you?"

Harry reached over and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Yes, I'm really here."

"But how?" she asked. There had been a million questions that she had last night, but there had been more pressing issues to take care of, so to speak.

"Portkeyed in yesterday morning actually," Harry replied, as Hermione cuddled up closer to him.

"Yesterday morning?"

"Aye," Harry said. "I had some things to take care of before I came to see you."

Her first thought was that he'd gone to see Ron. Perhaps, to get his blessing or at least to break the news to him that he'd been dating Ron's ex-girlfriend.

"I didn't go see Ron," Harry said. "I wanted to, but I just couldn't. Not yet. I actually went to see a bloke about a job."

Hermione sighed impatiently. "It's like pulling teeth, Harry! Tell me."

"I'm sure you've heard about all the job offers that were thrown at me right after Voldemort," he began. "Anything you could imagine, Hermione. I was offered professional Quidditch, auror training. Ministry departments sent representatives to my bedside while I was in hospital throwing every job imaginable my way. It was crazy. To tell you the truth is one of the reasons why I went away in the first place. They didn't want me working for them, Hermione. They wanted 'The Boy Who Lived'. It didn't seem to matter if I was qualified or not."