A/N – Welcome to my new story – Serendipity. It has 22 chapters plus an epilogue. Updates will be Tuesdays and Thursdays.

For those wondering about the Darkness trilogy, I just want to reassure you that it will be completed. As I've explained, I made a mistake last year in starting to publish it before I'd finished the entire story, and as a result I put myself under pressure to complete it and found myself totally stuck with the writing. But I have no wrote a couple of chapters and once again know where I'm going with it. Although it will still be a while before it's ready to be published, but I can promise you that it will happen. I haven't abandoned a story yet, and I don't plan on ever doing so.

But for now, I hope you all enjoy Serendipity. Thanks for reading.

"Vegas!" Molly Weasley screeched loudly, glaring at her daughter, Ginny, and her soon to be son-in-law, Harry Potter, across the kitchen table.

It was Sunday lunchtime at The Burrow and the soon to be married couple had just announced their plans for a joint stag and hen celebration. Only instead of just going somewhere to celebrate in wizarding Britain for one night, they'd decided to spend the whole weekend in Wizarding Las Vegas. The wizarding world had just recently developed a presence in the Nevada city, but there'd been a lot of press reports regarding the new resorts that were popping up.

"Why would you want to travel all that way for a weekend?" Arthur Weasley asked in bemusement.

"It's supposed to be an amazing experience," Ginny replied with a shrug. "Besides, we want to do something wild before we settle down."

"It sounds awfully pricey to me," Percy sniffed haughtily. It was no surprise to anyone that straight-laced Percy didn't see the appeal of Vegas.

"We're footing the entire bill," Harry said. Between the inheritance from his parents, the money he'd received from the Ministry after defeating Voldemort, his wages as an Auror and Ginny's as a professional quidditch player, paying for all their friends and family to spend the weekend in Vegas was easily doable.

"That is not the point," Molly tutted. "I was reading an article about Las Vegas in Witch Weekly just last month. It reckons the wizarding resorts are based on what you can find in the muggle world in Las Vegas."

"That's right, they are," Ginny confirmed with a nod. "The basics are the same, but with a few magical improvements."

"And do you know what those basics are?" Molly demanded. "Well, I'll tell you. Vegas is all about gambling, drinking and sex."

"Sounds fun to me," George chuckled with a grin. "When do we leave?"

"We're going at the end of the month," Harry told George. "That way we'll still have a few weeks before the wedding when we get back."

"I think this is a bad idea," Molly insisted. "As well as all the debauchery, do you know they have tacky wedding chapels? Can you believe people can get married in Vegas at the drop of a hat?"

"Relax Mum, no-one's going to Vegas to get married," Ginny said with a chuckle.

"They better not be," Molly warned. "And that goes for everyone. If anyone comes back married, there'll be hell to pay."

Turning her gaze away from Harry and Ginny, she made sure to shoot a warning look at her sons that weren't yet married, which was basically Ron and George. Both Ron and George had serious girlfriends, in the form of Lavender Brown and Angelina Johnson respectively. The only other member of the Weasley clan who was single was Charlie, but he was living in Romania, although he'd no doubt be tagging along for the stag weekend.

"Don't look at us," Ron snorted. "We'd never get married in Vegas. Talk about tacky."

"Yeah," Lavender agreed. "When we get married, it'll be a proper celebration."

"When you get married?" George raised an eyebrow at his brother's girlfriend. "Is there something the pair of you aren't telling us?"

"Of course not," Ron said with a shake of his head. "Lav just means in the future. Right now, we're happy as we are."

"As are George and I," Angelina said. "We have no intention of getting married in Vegas. Although the other elements all sounds like fun."

"It all sounds like a recipe for disaster to me," Molly muttered. "There was none of this in our day."

"Times have moved on Mother," Bill said gently.

"That doesn't make it right," Molly argued. "I see no appeal in travelling half way around the world to get stinking drunk, gamble half your money away and indulge in suspect sexual activity."

"Who's to say the sexual activity will be suspect?" George asked with a smirk.

"I read there's a lot of working girls in Vegas," Molly confided in an appalled tone.

"I think that's more in the muggle world," Harry put in helpfully. "I'm not sure how much of the sex side has transferred into wizarding Vegas."

"I read there's several strip bars in the wizarding resort," Molly huffed.

"This place is getting better all the time," George said with a grin. At his side Angelina rolled her eyes, but she didn't bother reprimanding her boyfriend as she knew he was only having a bit of a laugh. "You'll have to show us this article Mum, it sounds very informative."

"As if I've kept such filth, I threw it away," Molly tutted.

"After clearly memorising the article," George muttered under his breath.

Molly shot her son a murderous glare, but before she had a chance to scold him, Ginny butted in and reassured her mother she had nothing to worry about. They were just going to go to Vegas with their friends and family for the weekend and have a good time. It wouldn't affect the wedding at all, since it wasn't happening until three weeks after their return from America.

"Nothing will derail this wedding," Ginny announced firmly. "It's going to be the wedding of the century."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up there," Lavender said. "I was talking to Parvati yesterday and according to her, Astoria Greengrass was in her shop trying on wedding dresses."

Parvati owned a wedding boutique in the new and improved Diagon Alley, and she was still Lavender's best friend, despite Lavender now working as a gossip columnist for The Daily Prophet. In fact, Parvati's boutique was where Ginny had gotten her wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses.

"And?" Ginny questioned, trying to remain blasé at the information. "As if her wedding will upstage the wedding of Harry Potter."

"She's marrying Draco Malfoy, Gin," Lavender pointed out, although her attention drifted across the table to where Hermione Granger was sitting quietly. When Hermione visibly winced at the mention of Draco, she inwardly smirked knowing she'd hurt the brunette witch she didn't like. "We all know the Malfoys will throw an extravagant wedding. It could well outshine yours."

"Of course, it won't," Molly tutted. "Who would be more interested in the wedding of a former Death Eater than the wedding of a war hero?"

"I'm sure some people would," Lavender remarked, still watching Hermione. "Some people seem rather fond of him."

"Yes, idiots," Ron snorted. "No-one who matters is at all bothered by Draco bloody Malfoy and whatever tart he happens to marry."

From her seat at the end of the table, Hermione felt the tears starting to sting her eyes. Making an excuse about not feeling well, she thanked Molly for the lunch and hurriedly grabbed her bag. After promising Ginny they could have lunch later in the week to discuss Vegas further, Hermione excused herself and exited the Weasley house. Although everyone knew she hadn't left because she wasn't feeling well, she'd left because Lavender had brought up a painful part of her history.

Arriving back at her small flat, Hermione kicked off her shoes and dropped her bag onto her favourite chair. Wandering into the kitchen, she refilled Crookshanks's bowl, before turning and heading into her bedroom. As expected she found her cat curled up on her bed, but she didn't disturb him as she walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a wooden box from the top shelf. Cradling the box in her arms, she returned to the living room and settled down on the sofa with it.

For a long time, Hermione just looked at the box, unsure if she wanted to look inside even though she knew every single thing that was inside the box. Contained in the box were physical reminders from one of the most memorable years of her life - the year she'd fallen in love with Draco Malfoy. Slowly opening the box, Hermione was confronted by a pile of pictures and mementoes, and the memories, which had never gone away, danced in front of her eyes as though they'd only happened yesterday.

It all went back to just after the war when Hermione had decided to go back to school and take her exams. Her parents had been found in Australia, but the memory charms were irreversible, and she'd lost them for good. Going back to school had been her way of dealing with things and getting her life back on track. She'd never once thought about leaving the wizarding world, but it had shaken her to have her only real connection to the muggle world eliminated, and she'd needed time to re-evaluate her life and decide what she wanted to do with her future.

Initially Hermione had thought she was the only person from her year returning to school, but then she'd found out Draco was returning. After the war he'd been arrested with every other Death Eater and stood trial. However, unlike all the other trials, his had been conducted in private as he'd been underage when he'd taken the mark. Because of their role in defeating Voldemort, Hermione and her friends knew bits and pieces about the trial and they knew enough to know that the Ministry were satisfied that Draco had been forced into doing what he did. Even Ron, who was the least rational when it came to Draco, accepted the decision and he even said he was pleased that Draco had a second chance to prove what sort of man he really was. Returning to school was part of Draco's attempt to turn over a new leaf.

Another part of his reform was to issue apologies to everyone he thought he'd wronged. Harry, Hermione and Ron had all been on that list, and they'd all accepted his apologies as it was clear to them all that they'd been genuine. However, while Harry and Ron then headed off to go into Auror training they didn't see Draco again, Hermione did, and she witnessed everyday how much he struggled to prove he'd changed. Because his trial had been conducted in private and only the result announced publicly, there was a lot of people unsure why he'd been let off without some sort of punishment, and as such a lot of people refused to believe he was genuine in his attempt to change.

As the only two people from their year to return to Hogwarts, Hermione and Draco had gravitated towards one another, and without the animosity that had been present since their first year, they'd found they could get along really well. Friendship quickly blossomed between them, and friendship led into romance. By the time they graduated, they were very much in love and had very firm plans for their future together. However, leaving school and telling everyone about their relationship had proved harder than even they'd anticipated.

Given Harry and Ron's understanding at Draco's position during the war, Hermione had expected them to accept her relationship with him with the minimal of fuss. However, they totally surprised her and wholeheartedly disapproved. They made it clear it wasn't about Draco personally, they just didn't think it was good for Hermione to be involved with a former Death Eater. Apart from George, who told Hermione to follow her heart, all the other Weasleys agreed with Harry and Ron and they believed Hermione was making a huge mistake in being publicly involved with Draco.

Draco's friends were only slightly better than Hermione's, with only Blaise Zabini really accepting Hermione. Pansy Parkinson was openly hostile towards Hermione, and she made it clear she didn't think the relationship would last. Gregory Goyle pretty much ignored her, and never went out of his way to be welcoming or nasty towards her. Theo Nott and Daphne Greengrass weren't exactly hostile towards Hermione, but they weren't exactly welcoming either. It was clear they were both uncomfortable with Draco being involved with her, although Hermione was never sure if they objected to her personally or the fact she was a muggleborn.

While friends were difficult to handle, Draco's parents were worse. After the war, Lucius had forged some sort of deal with the Ministry and he'd avoided a prison sentence in exchange for valuable information in tracking down the remaining Death Eaters. However, he hadn't changed his opinions like his son and he still believed pure-bloods were superior to everyone else in the wizarding world. The fact his only son was involved with a muggleborn, and a famous war heroine at that, hadn't gone down well, and he'd been determined to ensure the pair never married. Narcissa didn't seem to hold Hermione's blood status against her, but Hermione was always left with the feeling that Draco's mother didn't approve of her. Narcissa always left her feeling as though she thought she wasn't good enough to be involved with her only son.

Then of course there was the press intrusion in their lives, and their opinions on their relationship to contend with. Even though she'd refused to speak to the press, Hermione was still a regular in the papers as they'd loved nothing better than to write about the 'golden trio', which she was a part of alongside Harry and Ron. Draco was also a popular character for the papers to write about. Not only was he a Malfoy, not to mention rich and good-looking, he was also a former Death Eater, and the youngest ever one at that. The fact he'd escaped Azkaban also helped with his allure, and there were always fresh stories circulating over how he managed to avoid going to jail.

All the negativity coming from their friends, family and even the press, meant that their first few months out of Hogwarts were hard ones. Despite all this, Draco and Hermione had remained very much in love and they'd been determined to weather the storm and defy the odds to get their happy ending. Unfortunately for them, fate had other plans and less than six months after leaving school they'd been torn apart.

The pair had been out one evening when they'd been jumped from behind. Their attackers had been drunk, and they'd been ranting about Draco being a Death Eater and deserving to be punished. In the ensuing fight, Draco had ended up with a head injury, and while he was lying motionless on the floor, Hermione had tried to stop the attack on the man she loved. Sadly, she'd ended up getting blasted against a wall and suffering head injuries of her own. Luckily, they were found by another couple soon after the attackers scarpered, and they were both rushed to St Mungo's. Fortunately, neither of them suffered any permanent damage, but it turned out Hermione had been a few weeks pregnant and she'd lost the baby.

Almost everyone expressed the opinion that Hermione losing the baby was for the best, even Draco's parents seemed to share that opinion rather than grieving for a grandchild they'd never see. It was also suggested, by both Hermione's friends and Draco's father, that Hermione wasn't safe if she was with Draco.

Of course, Draco already felt guilty and was blaming himself for the attack, and hearing everyone else voice his fears only made things worse. Between the pressures everyone put on the couple following their attack, and the grief they were experiencing as they mourned for a child they'd never known they were expecting, their relationship began to crack. Amid all the drama, the couple had decided that even though they loved each other, a relationship would never work out between then, and with heavy hearts they said their goodbyes.

That had been six years ago, and Hermione now knew it had been the stupidest decision she'd ever made. Looking back, she could see it was grief and shock talking, and if they'd just hung on a few more months, they could have worked things out. However, they'd bottled it and they'd let themselves be torn apart by everyone else, something they'd sworn would never happen. Now it was too late to change anything, Draco was getting married and Hermione was left all alone with only her cat for company.