AN: This was originally intended to be crack. Then, after I'd finished writing it, I realized that it is actually rather realistic...(At least, that's my opinion.) Anyway, hopefully you enjoy this very light-hearted chapter!

Seamus climbed onto a table, somewhat shakily. He lifted his glass of Firewhiskey, and looked over the private room of the Leaky Cauldron, filled with the DA, before sending a small firecracker out of the end of his wand to catch their attention.

Everyone turned to face the (very drunk) Irishman.

'We've never gotten to have any fun, have we? We had to get rid of Voldeshorts...I mean, Voldeport...Voldemort...and then we've spent the last four years fixing everything up...When was the last time any of us had a holiday, eh?'

'6th Year!'

'Never!'

(Harry was very, very drunk, but there was certainly truth in that statement.)

'Last week!'

Alicia Spinnet elbowed Lee Jordan in the stomach, hard.

'We're not all Quidditch commentators, Jordan!'

Seamus shot another firecracker out of his wand.

'And that, ladies and gentleman and everyone else, that is why I propose we go to Vegas!'

Everyone, even those who didn't know what Vegas even was, burst into loud applause.

Standing in the quietest, least-crowded corner of the room, Hermione Granger, Terry Boot and Padma Patil (the only ones, apart from Hannah, who were not completely punch-drunk) turned to one another, concern etched on the women's faces.

Padma spoke first.

'Las Vegas? As in the city in the USA, the one that Muggles call Sin City? Is it wise to go there? I mean, I know we all deserve a holiday, but...'

Terry raised an eyebrow.

'I am not informed enough to know whether going to Las Vegas would be wise, but I am certain that it is not wise to plan any sort of holiday while drunk.'

Hermione looked over at the gaggle of very excited young witches and wizards.

'I don't think we're going to be able to stop them.'

The two Ravenclaws nodded in agreement.

Hermione looked down at her glass of elf-made wine.

'Bugger it. If you can't beat them, join them.'

And she downed the rest of her wine in one gulp, striding over to join the others.

Padma looked out of the window, at the dazzling bright lights that stretched out in front of her. In the distance, she could see the desert, yet there were elaborate fountains in this city. It was all very, very strange.

She turned around, looking around her and Terry's hotel room, muttering to herself.

'But not as strange as this whole Las Vegas trip even happening...'

Her partner laughed.

'We saw many strange things at Hogwarts, Pad, but this is certainly one of the ten strangest things that I've ever witnessed.'

He glanced at the clock on the bedside table.

'We'll be late for dinner if we don't leave now. And I'd hate to miss seeing a contender for my list of top ten strangest things.'

'But you don't even have a list of top ten strangest things!'

He raised an eyebrow, grinning.

'You don't know that for sure, Pad. Perhaps I've just never mentioned it.'

Padma shook her head, smiling, as they exited the room.

The DA was crowded around a very large table, all rather hungry for their dinner.

Two waitresses walked over, each bearing a huge plate with a comically large burger and fries. They proceeded to place them in front of Ernie and Ron.

A mildly exasperated Susan shook her head, smiling.

'When you're feeling very sick tonight, I am not staying up and looking after you...'

Ernie puffed out his chest, tucking a napkin into his shirt.

'Only ten people have ever conquered this burger, they say, but I am Ernest Macmillan. I mean to say, we Macmillans have always been able to rise to a challenge!'

A very exasperated and long-suffering Hermione put her head in her hands.

'Really, Ronald?'

Ron nodded enthusiastically, his mouth already full of food.

'I'm hungry, Hermione!'

Luna cocked her head to the left, absent-mindedly popping a couple of her fries dipped into chocolate sauce in her mouth.

'You know, Daddy used to tell me about how Blibbering Humdinger snot can make one very hungry indeed. Perhaps Ron and Ernie have been exposed.'

Padma smiled, delicately picking up some of the salad that accompanied her chicken burger (which was much, much smaller than Ron's or Ernie's) with a fork.

She glanced over at Terry, who was digging into his BBQ pork ribs with almost as much enthusiasm (but much better table manners) as Ron.

'As good as pork chops?'

He considered for a moment, then nodded.

'Yes.'

Anthony, sitting on the other side of Terry, shook his head in amazement.

'Wow...I never thought I'd hear that! Significant Muggle Cities was certainly accurate about the things that happen in Las Vegas!'

'Please, Terry? With Toothflossing Stringmints and Peppermint Toads and pork chops and Padma on top?'

Terry raised an eyebrow at his very drunk Auror friend.

'Mike, that does not even make any sense. Besides, generally, one places edible things on top of pleases, and I am not a cannibal. Furthermore, I do not think that pork chops go well with Peppermint Toads or Toothflossing Stringmints.'

Seamus slung an arm around Terry's shoulders, winking.

'Oh, come on, Terry, you know what he means! And you've got to play, at least one game!'

Dean grinned.

'You've got the best poker face of us all!'

Terry sighed, looking around at Ernie, Justin, Michael, Anthony, Ron, Harry, Lee, George and Neville. They were all in various states of inebriation, and keen to try their luck on Muggle gambling. (Even Anthony, who was usually his ally in attempts to escape from illogical, ridiculous, pointless and potentially harmful activities.)

'Fine. One game.'

He should have known those were famous last words.

When the men of the DA discovered his talent for the game (he did have an excellent poker face, and he had picked up quite a bit from watching Kevin teach half of Ravenclaw in Fifth Year), it all snowballed from there.

Safe to say, Padma was certainly very surprised when she entered the gaming area with the other DA females (Ginny and Alicia had insisted on a girls' night out) to find him playing on the so-called top table.

She had been even more surprised to learn exactly how much he had won.

And even he had been surprised when he was offered a seat in a prestigious championship to be played the following day.

(He had turned it down, much to the chagrin of much of the DA. But one always had to know how to stop in relation to gambling. Besides, if he hadn't already believed wholeheartedly in responsible gambling, after hearing Hermione admonishing Ron for losing far too much money, he would certainly be a convert.)

Hermione looked up from her chocolate ice-cream, worry clouding her eyes.

'Where are George and Angelina?'

Her boyfriend shrugged, taking the opportunity to steal some of her ice-cream.

'Ron! And this is serious! What if they got lost?'

He rolled his eyes, and wrapped an arm around her waist.

'Relax, Hermione. They're adults, they can look after themselves.'

Parvati, who was sitting on Dean's lap and eating mango sorbet, stopped telling Lavender how unusually adorable Padma and Terry were being (they were sharing a large cup of chocolate chip peppermint ice-cream at a little table in the corner), and turned to face Hermione.

'I think we lost them around the time we lost Neville and Hannah.'

(The Gryffindor had been very entranced by a particularly large arrangement of palm trees. Hannah had stayed behind to keep him out of trouble.)

Dean shook his head.

'Nah, I'm pretty sure they weren't with us when we left the Bellagio's jumping fountain.'

'They weren't there at the Luxor.'

'No, they were, remember?'

'No, they weren't!'

'Yes, they were!'

'No!'

'Yes!'

'No!'

Anthony and Michael were glaring daggers at each other.

Justin shook his head.

'Getting lost in Vegas. They should make a movie about it.'

Ernie thumped his ice-cream cup back down on the table.

'Well, we cannot allow the loss of two of our comrades to deter us, friends! Onwards!'

Susan sighed.

She knew it hadn't been a good idea for him to order whisky-flavoured ice-cream without checking if all the alcohol had been cooked off, particularly when he had already consumed quite a few drinks that night.

'Oi, Macmillan! I'm hurt! I thought you cared about us more than that!'

A familiar, stocky, one-eared red-head suddenly entered the ice-cream store, leading Angelina.

George beamed.

'May I introduce to you Mrs George Weasley?'

Katie, Alicia, Ginny, Lavender and Parvati all squealed with excitement, immediately crowding around Angelina to examine her ring.

Ron thumped his brother on the back.

'Congratulations! Mum's going to kill you, mate. Eloping in Vegas without her!'

George grinned.

'No, she won't. I'm the favourite, remember?'

Ron rolled his eyes.

'No, you're not.'

George just stuck his tongue out at his brother.

Angelina whacked him in the arm.

'George!'

'Sorry, Ange.'

Anthony whimpered and covered his eyes with his hands, face beet-red.

Michael sighed.

'And I thought he was getting better...'

'He only managed to start talking comfortably to all fully-clothed females four years ago, Mike. You could not expect him to behave any differently.'

Michael strode off in a huff, muttering about Terry's stupid logic.

(He was drunk. Again. In fact, he'd been near-permanently drunk since they arrived in Las Vegas.)

Ernie shook his head disapprovingly.

'We shouldn't even be at this...gentlemen's establishment. I mean to say, the vast majority of us are in committed, monogamous relationships!'

He was staring at the ceiling, flat-out refusing to look at any of the barely-clothed women who worked in the so-called gentlemen's establishment.

Seamus and Dean each slung an arm around his shoulders, a beer in both of their free hands.

'Come on, Ernie!'

'Let loose!'

'Besides, we got permission from Vati and Lav!'

The two Gryffindors turned to one another and grinned.

'You can look, but you can't touch!'

Ernie turned, trying to find Justin. Surely his loyal best friend would stand by him?

Only to find his (single) best friend, along with the other two unattached DA men, Lee and Michael, chatting up the dancers.

He glanced at Harry, who simply shrugged.

'Ginny just told me to behave.'

In desperation, he turned to George (he was married, for God's sake), only to find him discreetly taking photographs with a Muggle phone.

The red-head shrugged.

'Ange said I could come, as long as I took plenty of photos for her.'

Ron bit his lip.

'Actually, I think Ernie might have a point... I dunno if we should be here...Hermione would probably kill me if she found out...'

He looked rather terrified.

George clapped a hand on his shoulder.

'It was nice knowing you, brother.'

'Your condolences are rather premature, George. Ron, Hermione gave her permission for you to come, if, I quote, was there to keep an eye on you.'

Ron threw his hands in the air.

'So she trusts you, but not me?'

Terry placed a hand on Ron's shoulder.

'No, she trusts you very much indeed to give her permission for you to come to this establishment. She, however, also knows that I will likely be the only sober one of this group.'

He turned briefly to check on Michael, Lee and Justin, to find that Michael had reached into his pocket and was about to breach the International Statute of Secrecy.

Terry rushed off to stop him, pulling Michael away from the three young women surrounding him, all the while managing to look them solely in the face

Ernie caught himself staring at a young woman dancing on a podium, and tore his eyes away immediately, seeking something safer to look at. (Why in the world couldn't he be possessed with Terry's self-control? Or perhaps Michael had been right when he said, in a drunken stupor, that Terry was some kind of asexual alien from outer-space.)

He glanced back at his friends.

Neville stared, entranced, by something over Ron's left shoulder.

'Is that an...an amorphophallus voodoo lily?'

And he walked away to examine the plant.

Meanwhile, the females of the DA sat in a large spa, relaxing and enjoying glasses of champagne, or in the case of Padma, sparkling apple juice, or Luna, guava juice, rum and Tabasco sauce.

Padma took a sip of her apple juice.

'What do you think the men are up to?'

(Terry had told her what he thought they would be doing, and while she didn't understand why anyone would frequent such an establishment, she trusted him absolutely. But, she was certainly curious to find out more...and the other women always seemed to know more about this stuff than she did.)

The Gryffindor girls exchanged grins.

Lavender took a gulp of her champagne.

'Mischief, doubtlessly. But that doesn't mean we can't get up to a little mischief of our own...'

She and Parvati smirked.

'We're all for being strong, independent women...'

'But what kind of girl doesn't go on a shopping spree with her boyfriend's gold every now and then?'