Royal Flush

Chapter Four

Texas was not your average millionaire playboy Vegas regular. For one thing, he was "new money." His wealth was recent, and most of it came from Vegas itself.

In 2003, Texas went to Iraq with his unit in the Army. After a year of pure hell, Texas considered himself lucky to return to the States with all his limbs and both his eyes still intact. He had also saved up close to $25,000 during his year over there. Single, with no close family, Texas found himself facing a full month of leave and nowhere to go. He decided to go to Vegas, the single soldier's paradise. He had heard rumors while in Iraq of one of those whorehouses giving out a free run to any Iraqi veteran, so he figured he might as well check it out.

He estimated that he could blow through his twenty-five grand in about a week, and spend the rest of his leave back at the barracks. He knew he was going to go career, so he wasn't worried about saving money. He would be back in Iraq or Afghanistan in a year or two anyways.

Then he started winning. After a week in Vegas, he took a look at his bank account, and was more than a little surprised to find close to three hundred thousand dollars. He realized he had slept maybe 12 hours in the last week, he still hadn't gone to check out that whorehouse, and he didn't really mind.

He was being invited to some high stakes poker games by some of the better players in the country. And he was winning. A forty-thousand buy in the other day netted him close to two hundred thousand. He cancelled his return ticket and set up another ticket for the end of his month.

He originally planned to take a week off gambling and see the sights of Vegas. What he hadn't counted on was meeting Harry Potter. Right outside the Bellagio, two hoodlums attacked a scrawny looking man who couldn't have been much older than he was. Being closer than the security that was running out of the casino, Texas helped out. With a few nasty maneuvers he had learned, he managed to break one of the attackers' arms. The other attacker gave the victim a black eye before the security managed to restrain him. Another security guard grabbed Texas and threw him to the ground, not sure of his role in the mugging, but the victim spoke up.

"Let him go, he helped me out." The security must have known the young man, because he immediately got off Texas.

"So," the man asked as he helped Texas up. "Who do I owe for saving my life, and how can I pay you back?"

"My platoon calls me Texas, unless they want a fight, 'cause I don't answer to my real name. And you don't owe me a damned thing. I've always enjoyed a good fight!"

"Well, Texas, my name is Harry, and the least you could let me do is buy you dinner. I was headed to eat anyways."

Texas let himself be talked into dinner ("only if you let me pick the restaurant") and found a kindred soul. His stories of Iraq were matched by Harry's tales of a crime lord who killed his parents when he was a baby, and then tried to kill him fifteen years later. Texas was shocked to find out that Harry had killed that crime lord before he turned eighteen.

Harry was sparse with the details, but admitted that he disappeared when the press started trying to portray him as a rival crime lord. Texas was a war vet himself, and knew not to push on some details.

Harry left Texas alone about some of his year in Iraq and the two struck up a close friendship. For the next three weeks, Harry showed Texas the expensive side of Vegas. He revealed that his parents were very wealthy before they were killed and with his bank account being left alone through his childhood, he now had more money than he knew what to do with.

Many of the Vegas regulars Harry introduced expressed their dismay at Texas for saving the man who took all their money every week, but they were joking. It seemed that all the regulars genuinely liked this Harry Potter and expressed their gratitude in subtle ways. He couldn't remember ever paying for a drink after the fight. He was also always admitted into any high roller lounge on the strip, where, more often than not, he found a spot on the poker table already bought in for him. No one at the table or in the lounge would admit to buying him in, and when Texas won any money, they suggested that he keep it until his benefactor admitted to it.

Harry swore he wasn't buying Texas in or spending all sorts of money, and he refused to take a dime that Texas had. For some reason, he found Harry believable and concluded that the other regulars were doing it, not that he could figure out why. Texas resigned to stop counting money and just enjoy the rest of his leave.

As a result, when his month was up, and he was ready to go home, he was shocked to find close to three million dollars in his bank account. Nobody in his company would believe his story. And they didn't, not until he proved it by showing his bank account.

Two days later, he was called into his Company Commander's office. When asked, he repeated his unlikely story. His CO then explained something called a "Change of Lifestyle" discharge. Evidently, if a soldier receives a certain amount of money, beyond a determined multiple of his yearly salary, he was discharged. After all, his CO explained, if you were in a bad mood and told your squad leader to fuck off; the Army couldn't exactly throw you into Leavenworth. The regular punishment, taking rank and money, was pretty much useless to someone with three million in the bank.

The problem was that this rule was mostly for soldiers who received an inheritance. His CO was concerned because Texas won all his money, and he wasn't expecting to have so much. Because he came from lower middle class, it was just as easy for Texas to lose all his money as he won it. The CO didn't want Texas leaving the army and finding himself broke a month or two later.

There was another option, however. Texas' ETS date was coming up in a little over a year, and Texas hadn't had the chance to re-enlist, yet. If Texas kept quiet about his money, the CO wouldn't report it. But he wanted to see Texas demonstrate the capability to manage his money responsibly. If, when Texas' time in service was up, he was able to convince the CO he could live off the money without losing it all, the CO would make sure he didn't get the Change of Lifestyle discharge, and instead get the Honorable discharge when it came time to leave the Army. The CO ended the meeting by giving Texas a few recommendations for financial advisors that would do a good job with the money.

Texas walked out of the office shocked. He had never realized he could be kicked out of the Army for being rich! He found himself dialing Harry's number, who was overjoyed to hear from him. He repeated everything the CO had told him. And Harry started laughing. He was unable to talk for a minute he was laughing so hard, but when he finally calmed down, Harry explained that Texas would never have anything to worry about money-wise. Anything he needed, Harry assured, he had only to ask. Harry seemed to understand when Texas protested that he didn't want to be a free-loader. Harry's second suggestion sounded much better. He made Texas promise to meet with a representative for his financial advisor.

So, the next weekend, Texas was talking to a lawyer to represented a firm called "Gringotts," a very old, very exclusive, very secret organization that would only take new clients by recommendation. The lawyer, though formal, was very friendly, answering any questions Texas had. He even agreed with the list the CO gave him, saying that Texas would do very well with any of the firms the CO recommended. He offered Texas an experiment. Put one million with one of those firms (and the lawyer circled the firm he thought best) and one million with Gringotts. Texas should be able to live of the other eight hundred thousand for a year. After the year, he could examine the earnings and decide if he wanted to stay with Gringotts.

Gringotts was, of course, a crushing success. During a slow economic period, Gringotts managed to earn nearly three hundred thousand more than the other firm. Long story short, Texas found himself back in Vegas a little over a year after he left, this time to stay.

Two years ago, Texas found out exactly why Harry was so reluctant to talk about his past. The Full Story. One night, they were talking on the phone when armed gunmen suddenly broke into Texas' apartment. There were three of them, and their Heckler & Koch MP5's meant business. Texas wasn't able to say a word, but Harry heard the noise from the break-in over the phone. The robbers had Texas covered and one of them went into his bedroom to search for his hidden safe when Harry was in the apartment.

Not counting the fact that it took under a minute for Harry to travel from his suite in the Bellagio to Texas' apartment, he also appeared out of thin air! Harry showed evidence of the work outs and martial arts training that Texas had introduced when he roundhouse-kicked the first robber in the head from behind, then punched the second robber in the throat when he turned around.

The third robber rushed out of the bedroom to find out what the commotion was. He was too far away for Harry to do anything, and Texas knew they were going to die. The next five seconds passed in slow motion. Texas saw the robber bring his machine gun up and start firing. Harry ducked and rolled, coming into a crouching position with a piece of wood in his hand. Harry yelled something that Texas couldn't understand with the gunfire in the background, and a beam of red light flew from the stick to the robber. The gun flew out of the robbers hands, and the robber was thrown back into the wall. He started to stand back up, and Harry yelled something that sounded like "stupid guy." Another beam of red light, this one a little brighter, flew from the stick and the robber slumped unconscious when it hit him.

Time sped back up and Harry stared at his hand, as if surprised to find a piece of wood there, instead of a real weapon.

"Shit." With the muttered curse, Harry turned to Texas, a look of panic in his eyes. "I promise, I'll tell you everything as soon as I can, but you can not mention this to the police." Texas could only nod; he didn't even mention that the cops would think he was crazy if he did mention what he saw.

"Alright," Harry continued. "Here's the story. I came by your place to work out. I was in the bathroom when these guys broke in. I called 911 on my cell phone, then tried to take them by surprise. I snuck up on the first two and hid by the bedroom wall for the third guy to come out. When he did, I grabbed him and knocked his head against the wall. He reflexively fired the gun and I kicked it out of his hand." It was a good story and Texas couldn't seem to find any inconsistencies for the cops to find.

The two friends tore up some bed sheets to turn into makeshift restraints. When the three robbers were tied up, Harry brought out his stick again and pointed it at the third robber. He muttered some nonsense words, "obliviate" and "enervate." The robber started waking up as Harry stored his stick out of sight. Then, they settled down to wait for the cops, ignoring the third robber's questions of "Where am I? What's happening?"

Two hours later, they finally left the police station, having apparently satisfied the cops with their story. Harry's lawyer, who was waiting at the station, certainly helped to keep the cops civil. A limousine was waiting for them as they left, and took them to Harry's suite in the Bellagio. Harry ordered up some Starbucks, promising Texas a long night of stories.

And so, Texas learned about magic. He never would have believed a word of Harry's story if not for what he saw back at the apartment. He found out that Harry was a child of prophecy, and the crime lord was actually an evil wizard, and that Harry was destined to be the final weapon against this wizard. He was shocked to find out that Harry had killed the wizard before he even turned eighteen.

Harry explained about going to school at Hogwarts, and about the anachronistic society that wizards lived in. Texas also learned about a blood prejudice that went back over a thousand years, one which made the racial tensions in the 1960's seem almost tame. The one thing Harry didn't talk about was details about his friends.

All Harry would say about them is that they would be looking for him.

Texas expected it every day for the next two years, but was still surprised when he saw Hedwig flying down to that woman without any promise of food. He knew all the other regulars who knew Harry and Hedwig, and she wasn't any of them. He was pretty sure she was a wizard. No, witch he corrected himself. It's not an insult in their society.

He could tell she was nervous. Harry had mentioned something about Las Vegas being extremely uncomfortable for wizards and witches because its electrical field was so strong it interfered with magic, and she definitely seemed uncomfortable. Hedwig was an excellent judge of character, however, so if the owl trusted this woman, Texas resolved to see what he could do to help.

He was unprepared for the naked hope he saw in her eyes, but all it did was convince him to help her. So, with a little hesitation, he agreed to take her to Harry.

When he saw the initial panic in Harry's eyes, he worried that he had let his friend down. The joy that replaced that look though, and the way they tried to squeeze each other in half left him convinced he had done the right thing. So, with a huge grin on his face, Texas walked over to join the reunion.

A/N: Went back and added the correct scene breaks within the chapter, nothing else is new.