A/N: I know you all have been patiently waiting for me to update this, so here it is. I managed to get through my writer's block on this fic. I'm becoming quite adept at typing while holding a baby too.

April


Chapter 2 – Part Two

"Albus, is it just me or is this place a wee bit creepy?" asked Minerva, as they made their way through the different exhibits. All around them lifelike wax statues of real people stared unnervingly into space.

"I agree. They look so...alive," answered Albus. "I feel a little out of touch, too. I don't know who half of these people are."

Minerva chuckled. "I'm afraid neither do I." They moved into a different room. "Now I know who George Burns and Elizabeth Taylor are, but who is Brad Pitt?"

Albus shrugged his shoulders, not finding a young attractive man all that fascinating. His attention was soon elsewhere. "Oh, look, Lucille Ball!"

Minerva vaguely noticed his departure. Whoever this Brad Pitt was, he certainly was a fine specimen. She heard another person move next to her.

"Now that's one fine looking man," came a woman's voice. "You know the wax museum in London has him with a squeezable bottom."

Minerva didn't quite know what to say to that. "Really?" The other woman moved away. Perhaps a visit to London was in order when they returned home, she thought. She rejoined Albus and they finished out the tour.


When they entered their room back at the Excalibur, they noticed that the rollaway bed had been brought up. Albus sat down and it squeaked loudly. The springs also dug rather uncomfortably into his backside. He hoped Minerva didn't notice his grimace.

"Are you alright, Albus?" She did notice his discomfort. "If you'd like, you can have the bed and I'll take this one."

"No, no, no, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Let's see, it's about three 'o clock. Shall we explore the hotel?"

Minerva sat down on the bed. "I think I'd like to rest for a bit, but don't let me stop you from going out."

Inwardly, Albus was a bit saddened that he would be without her company, but he understood. "Why don't we meet downstairs in an hour or so? At the costume shop?"

"That sounds fine. Don't get into any trouble, Albus, we're supposed to be muggles, remember?" she told him. "Oh, and don't spend all of the money. You only have three thousand to spend, remember?

He managed to look shocked. "Me? Get into trouble? I would never. You don't think I could spend all of it in an hour, do you?"

She arched an eyebrow. "In this town? Yes."


Chapter 3

Downstairs, Albus headed straight for the casino. He became lost in a sea of slot machines and blinking lights. Bleeps and chimes were sounding all around him. He couldn't wait to try one. He changed his one hundred dollar bills into twenties and planted himself in front of a machine that read, "Little Green Men." It had what looked like a television screen instead of the traditional reels. Cartoon pictures were arranged five across and five down. Albus casually observed the woman next to him play in order to learn how. He inserted one of the twenties into a slot and touched a button on screen that said "Bet Max." The pictures began to spin. Albus was excited when several rows flashed and chimes went off.

He played for about a half hour, stopping after he had lost nearly a hundred dollars. Minerva was right, he thought, you could spend that much money that quick. He checked his pocket watch and saw that he should head over to the shopping area. Albus started to explore the different shops. One was devoted entirely to magic tricks, which he found quite fascinating. He also looked around the costume shop where he was to meet Minerva.

One of the costumes was a set of robes they labeled "Merlin" which Albus immediately took a liking to. It was dark blue and adorned with gold stars of various sizes. He noticed they had fitting rooms and decided to try it on. Five minutes later, he stepped out and admired himself in the mirror. Very nice, he thought. Albus put on the pointed hat that matched as the finishing touch. He knew Minerva would probably laugh at him, but he intended to purchase it. Just as he was going back into the fitting room, he heard a young child's voice. "Look, it's Merlin!"

Albus looked in the direction of the voice just out of curiosity and saw a group of children and their parents coming towards him. Oh, dear!


Minerva smiled and shook her head as she watched Albus, dressed in the most gaudy set of robes she'd seen since Gilderoy Lockhart, entertaining a group of children with simple slight of hand, though she knew they were no mere parlor tricks. He pulled everything from coins to flowers from behind their ears. But she knew it was time to pull him away when he produced a live frog from the youngest boy's pocket.

She cleared her throat to get Albus' attention. He nodded quickly and addressed the children. "I'm afraid I have to leave boys and girls."

One of the girls turned to look at Minerva. "Are you Mrs. Merlin?"

That was when Minerva realized that she had forgotten to transfigure the wizarding clothes she had on into muggle ones. The robe she had on did somewhat resembled a medieval style dress. Why does everyone insist we're married, she thought with amusement. "Yes, I am and if my husband doesn't hurry along he's going to be late for his meeting with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table." She smiled broadly at Albus, who was trying desperately to keep a straight face.

The littlest boy, who couldn't have been older than five, tugged on Albus' robe and the old wizard bent down to his level. "Can you tell King Arthur that I want to be a knight?" he whispered.

Albus smiled. "I'll put in a good word, my boy."

"Can we get one more picture?" asked the father. "With Mrs. Merlin?"

"Certainly!" Albus practically dragged Minerva into the shot and put his arm around her waist. The children gathered around them. Minerva enjoyed the feeling of being so close to him. Little did she know, so did Albus.

The family left and Minerva turned to look at Albus. "What are you wearing?" she asked, giggling slightly.

"According to the tag, Merlin's robes. I'm thinking about buying them," he answered. He admired himself in the mirror and turned in a circle so that she could see the full effect.

"You're not serious, are you?"

He went back into the dressing room to change. "Yes, I am!" Minerva looked around to make sure no one was watching and entered the changing room next to Albus' to transfigure her robe into muggle clothing. Mrs. Merlin!

Ten minutes later, Albus went against Minerva's advice and bought the robe and matching hat. He had them send it to their room, as they were off to see the complimentary show that the hotel had given them tickets for.

Much to Minerva's surprise, she actually enjoyed the show. The joust was exciting, but some of the actors playing the different kings weren't very convincing. Albus and Minerva were seated in the Russian section of the stands and were instructed to cheer on their king. At least he could act, thought Minerva. The food was tolerable, though she found the lack of eating utensils quite disconcerting. Authentic as that may have been for the time period, Minerva found that eating a Cornish hen and potatoes with nothing but her bare hands was not to her liking. Of course, Albus thoroughly enjoyed himself. She got enough pleasure out of watching him to make up for it.

It was just after seven in the evening when they got out. "Shall we walk the strip or pop into the casino?" asked Albus.

"You know I abhor gambling. It's a waste of time and money," she answered.

He laughed. "But it's so much fun, though! The strip it is then. Madam?" He offered her his arm, which she gratefully took and they headed out of the hotel. They started heading up the strip and Minerva was grateful when Albus discreetly cast a cooling spell on them. Even though the sun had set, it was still hot.

Minerva was awed by all the lights from the casinos. It was actually quite spectacular. They passed the New York, New York Hotel and stopped to check out the scaled down Statue of Liberty and New York city skyline. After a lot of walking, they finally reached their destination, the Bellagio. They found a magnificant spot overlooking the center of the lake.

"Albus, it's beautiful," Minerva whispered. The lake provided a gorgeous foreground to the grand hotel. It all struck her as terribly romantic.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you," Albus said softly.

Minerva blushed hard and wondered at his observation. What does he mean by that? Is this more than just a vacation among friends? Her thoughts were interrupted as music suddenly came from all around the lake and giant fountains sprayed hundreds of feet into the air. They moved gracefully in time to the music, which was a lovely opera piece sung in a wonderful tenor. When it was over, Albus and Minerva applauded along with everyone else.

"Isn't it amazing what muggles have managed to do without magic?" said Albus, thinking out loud. "Shall we walk back or catch a taxi?"

As much as Minerva dispised the cabrides, her aching feet won over her trepidation. "Let's find a taxi, though I'm only agreeing to get inside one of those deathtraps because my feet convinced me to." After another harrowing ride back down to Excalibur, Albus and Minerva treked back to their room, tired, but satisfied with their first day in Las Vegas. Albus' Merlin costume was wrapped neatly in a box on the bed. "I think I'm going to take a shower and go to bed, it's been a long day."

Albus reclined on Minerva's bed, refusing to lay down on his roll-away until absolutely the last moment. He turned on the television and watched the various advertisements for different shows and attractions around the city. One caught his attention; a backstage tour of the show, Jubilee. You see everything from the stage mechanics to the costumes to the showgirls' dressing rooms and you actually meet one of them. I must remember this for tomorrow.

By the time Minerva got out of the shower, dried off, and made herself ready for bed, Albus had fallen asleep. He looked so peaceful and she didn't want to disturb him. Even though they were told to limit their use of magic, Minerva used her wand to take off his shoes, transfigure his clothes into the dressing gown she had seen him in on a few occaisons, and got him tucked under the covers. She sat down on Albus' cot and immediately stood back up. Merlin, that's uncomfortable! Minerva eyed the queen sized bed and decided there was enough room for the both of them. Careful, so as not to wake Albus, she climbed into bed and was soon fast asleep.


A/N: Hope you liked it! I'm not sure if Excalibur has the Little Green Men video slots. I used that one because my mother plays those at the Indian casinos all the time. I also made up the costume and magic shops. I don't know if they really have those at the hotel. Just for the record, the song being played at the Bellagio is "Con Te Partiro" sung by Andrea Bocelli.