A/N: I don't own the lyrics to 'Breakaway' (Kelly Clarkson) or Harry Potter (JK Rowling).
Title: First Sight
Rating: T
Summary: When Draco and Hermione get over their past and start a new future, they somehow run into each other again… Songfic to 'Breakaway' by Kelly Clarkson.
First Sight
Grew up in a small town, and when the rain would fall down, I'd just stare out my window... Dreaming of what could be, and if I'd end up happy, I would pray…
Hermione looked back at the house, which she was leaving, possibly forever. The house she had shared with Ron. The house where they had lived happily.
Until that day. Until the day he had ruined it all. Until the day she had found him kissing Lavender Brown under the oak tree. Their oak tree. The oak tree under which Ron had proposed to her. Until the day he had come home drunk, and hit her.
She was finished with him. The sky darkened and it began to rain. She let it rain. At least Mother Nature felt her sadness.
Draco sat up in his bed, and looked at the blonde girl next to him. He knew he had to stop. But he knew he couldn't. He knew that he couldn't cope with Astoria's death by himself. He needed someone. He needed something to hold onto. He needed that blissful fire when he drank.
Deep down, he knew he was becoming an alcoholic. But he couldn't care. He had lost the ability to care. He had never had the ability to care. It was always Astoria.
Trying hard to reach out, but when I tried to speak out, felt like no one could hear me… Wanted to belong here, but something felt so wrong here, so I'd pray, I could breakaway…
Hermione had tried a million things. She had tried talking. She had tried reasoning. She had told his family and asked them to help her. But it was all in vain. They couldn't stop him. They couldn't stop him hurting her.
She still went to the Weasley family meetings. Sunday brunch. Friday dinner. She tried to hide the scars. The bruises. Someone would always ask her what was wrong. She always replied, "Nothing, nothing at all."
She had loved him. She still loved him. But how could you love someone when they were hurting you inside?
Draco still remembered that day. Crouching beside the hospital bed. Being told his wife and his unborn son would not survive. Being comforted. Crying. Saying good-bye. The funeral.
He still remembered the day Blaise took him out for the first time since her death. To the nearest nightclub. Buying him a drink. Telling him it would help. He remembered refusing. Refusing to drink. But in the end, he had become so desperate that he needed it. The first sip. It had been the trigger. The trigger to keep going. To keep drinking.
He felt odd the first time. The second time. All the times. But the staff hadn't. They enjoyed his company, they said. But he knew all they enjoyed was the clinking in his pocket.
I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly, I'll do what it takes 'til I touch the sky, and I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway..
Out of the darkness and into the sun, but I won't forget all the ones that I loved, I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway…
Hermione kept dragging her suitcase, feeling oddly free. She was free. To do as she wished. Unbound. Careless. Joyously free.
She decided to follow what had been her calling since her days at Hogwarts. What she had even thought about doing before knowing she was a witch. What she had been forbidden to do by Ron because it would take time out of their relationship.
Teach. Teach children. Little, sweet children who needed to be taught the basics of life. Children who didn't have the same gifts as herself and would never hold a wand or know of the mysterious other world which existed within their own.
And that's exactly what she was going to do. Check into a hotel, and go through the schooling she needed to do her duty. Little did she know who else had the same thought.
Draco knew what he had to do. He threw the glass he held against the wall, and watched it shatter, just like he intended his habit to. He thought. What was he going to do now?
No one in their right mind would hire Draco Malfoy, known alcoholic and bar customer. He needed to go to the muggle world. He thought. He remembered always wanting to have the power that his teachers had, and use it in a way that would benefit the students. Benefit meaning, let them have all the fun they wanted, while still learning the subject.
A teacher. He almost laughed out loud at the thought. Draco Malfoy, teacher to muggle children. But that's what he was going to do. Get a proper degree, and teach those kids like they'd never been taught before.
Yes, he thought as he packed his suitcase with all of his worldly treasures. His clothes. A Malfoy seal. And last of all, he looked at Astoria's jade necklace. The one she had been wearing the night before it had all crashed around his ears.
He slipped it into the front pocket of the suitcase, determined not to look at it. Determined to put the past behind. Determined to move forward. Get a new girl. Give her the necklace. Pass on Astoria's last heirloom.
Wanna feel the warm breeze, sleep under a palm tree, feel the rush of the ocean…
Get onboard a fast train, travel on a jet plane, far away, and breakaway….
Hermione thought about where to go. She thought of just the place. One family vacation, that her parents had hated. She had loved it. The smell of the salt in the ocean breeze. See the swaying of the palm trees. Walk the boardwalk next to the beach. Feel the sand under her feet.
Florida. Full of flowers. The land where Ponce de León had once upon a time tried to find the Fountain of Youth. The state whose education had to be improved.
She would do it, she thought. She would be the one who brings Florida back. As a safe haven, as the best place for children to live. She booked a ticket, and departed later that evening for the city of lights, better known as Miami.
Draco remembered a game Astoria used to play. Where they would pick their next trip destination. Open the atlas book. Close their eyes. And move their fingers around on the page until they counted to 10.
He played that game now. Trying to pick a place to stay. Forever. Until he was dragged back by someone, he was going to stay there.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Open your eyes. Florida. Flowery land. That's where he was going to make his mark.
Buildings with a hundred floors, swinging 'round revolving doors, maybe I don't know where they'll take me but, gotta keep moving on, moving on, fly away, breakaway….
Hermione squinted up at the glass building in the blinding sunshine. This was her new workplace. The Florida Institution for the Education of Teachers. FIET. She was going to make her dream a reality. She was going to find someone new, and paint the portrait of her new life, throwing the old one away and starting with a fresh new canvas.
As she reached for the door, another hand reached it at the same time as she. She looked up, and opened her mouth to apologize.
"Sorry." The man in front of her spoke first. "Wait…" He took off his sunglasses. "Granger?"
Her eyes widened, suddenly recognizing the face in front of her. "Malfoy? What are you doing here?"
"Making a new life. How about you? What brings you to the sunshine state?"
"The same, I suppose. How about we meet up for coffee later? Just to catch up?"
"Sure. After sch- classes?" he smiled sheepishly.
"Okay. See you around Malfoy." She turned around and headed through the revolving doors, towards the right.
Draco stood dumbfounded, stunned by the beauty of his old school enemy. He had never believed in love at first sight, but maybe, now he did…