Chapter 14
Princes of the Universe
July 27, 2011
5:38 PM
The Signature at MGM Grand, Room 818
Hermione packed the final brick into her purse before snapping it closed. She and Remus had spent the time since leaving Minerva's room shaping the explosive concoction Remus and Sirius had created into small bricks. Left alone, these gel bricks were harmless. However, when combined with a second, liquid ingredient, a chemical reaction is triggered, allowing a few short minutes before detonation. When crafting the bricks, however, Remus and Hermione had found that they had more gel than anticipated, so they had made the decision to make a third brick, giving extra credibility to their distraction.
"So the trash cans then, right?" Hermione asked for clarification as she finished packing.
"Yeah," Remus confirmed, "but I was kinda thinking it would make sense to use one of the cans near where the others will be playing. That is, if they still plan on going through with that little high-roller ruse of theirs."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't doubt it. Can you imagine them giving up the fantasy of being James Bond? Trust me; they're still planning on it."
"That's what I thought," Remus said with a smile. "So why not give them a bit of a surprise?"
It took Hermione a brief moment to catch his meaning. "You sly dog!" she laughed. "That's perfect! Of course, they'll hate us for the rest of their lives…but it'll be worth it!"
"I just thought it had been too long since I had pulled a good prank on Sirius. You know, it's like they say: use it or lose it."
Just then, a knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Hermione went to answer it, only to find her mother in the hall outside.
"You two ready to go?" she asked, peering over her daughter's shoulder into the room. "The clock's ticking."
"I know mum," Hermione replied exasperatedly. "We were just finishing up. Give us another minute; we were just figuring out exactly where we wanted to put the things."
"Well, it better not be anywhere that'll hurt anyone. The last thing we need is to become the bad guys."
"Yeah, we thought of that. Anyway, we're almost done. Is everyone else ready?"
"I haven't checked on them yet. You two finish up and I'll be back in a minute after I see what trouble your father could possibly be up to. But you'd better get ready too." She turned and walked away, leaving Hermione to close the door again.
"I was just thinking," Remus began as soon as she turned back around, "we're gonna need two of us to set these things up. Think about it: it'd look mighty odd for one of us to stand around a trash can fiddling about."
"What if I went by and dropped off the bricks and you come along a bit later and add the final bit?" Hermione suggested. "That way it won't look quite as suspicious."
"That'd work. Remember, we've got exactly four minutes between putting the two parts together and the glorious explosion that follows."
"Glorious?" Hermione asked. "Sounds like you've spent a bit too much time with Sirius."
"Kiddo, I reached the point of having spent too much time with Sirius two decades ago. You're a bit late on that one."
"Touché. Ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's get going."
July 27, 2011
5:51 PM
The Signature at MGM Grand, Room 814
Harry Potter stood in front of the mirror in his and Hermione's room as he straightened his solid black tie for what seemed like the tenth time. The ebony tie stood out nicely against his pure white shirt set which, in turn, was set against his jet black sport jacket.
After straightening and tightening his tie for the eleventh time, Harry tugged at his sleeves just as he was interrupted by a loud banging at the bathroom door.
"Oi! Harry!" Sirius shouted through the door. "We don't have all day. Hermione'll think you look good no matter how long you spend making yourself look pretty!"
"What was that?" Richard asked, his voice muffled by the door. Harry craned his neck to try and hear the two men outside.
"Just some good-natured ribbing, that's all," Sirius explained.
"Uh huh," Richard replied, unconvinced.
Harry opened the door of the bathroom and stepped out to find that the other two had already changed into their suits, as they had previously agreed. Harry had to admit that he was a bit excited at the prospect of gambling while dressed so formally. Looking at the other two, he could see that, at the very least, Richard seemed to share his excitement. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed as though he was containing his excitement very well, if he was excited at all. Harry suspected that he was, but that he was indeed hiding it in order to maintain his dour attitude about the entire affair.
"Does it fit?" Sirius asked as Harry stepped out.
Once more, Harry tugged at his sleeve. "Yeah, but that doesn't make it any more comfortable," he replied. "But I already knew it fit. Hermione and Ellen just had to make sure of that when I bought it."
"You know, I still do pity you, Harry," Richard said honestly. "It takes a real man to survive going on a clothes shopping trip like that with two women. Many men have failed to return from lesser trips."
"I agree," Sirius added thoughtfully, rubbing his chin for effect. "In fact, if I recall, each of those round clothing racks is actually a tombstone dedicated to each man who has fallen in the line of duty."
"Wow, I never realized it was so serious," Harry replied with mock severity. "But yeah, it fits."
"Good. We don't want it shifting around when we apply the glamours," Sirius explained. "Then again, if all we're changing is your face, then it doesn't really matter. Oh well."
Harry tugged at his collar, trying to free up some space for his neck, only to find that the collar snapped back into place as soon as he let go.
"You know, if you keep picking at it, it'll never heal," Sirius said.
"Yet another pearl of wisdom from Sirius the wise." He glanced at the clock on the stove. "It's about time. Do you think everyone else is ready?"
"Well, Ellen stopped by while you were fiddling with your shirt in the bathroom," Richard said. "Seems like everyone else is ready to go; we were just waiting on you. Hermione and Remus said that they were just finishing packing everything up and that they had both already changed and were ready to go. So the question is: are you?"
Harry shrugged. "As ready as I'll ever be. Might as well get it over with."
"That's the spirit, Harry!" Sirius exclaimed. "Set your expectations low and you can't be disappointed!"
Harry stuck his tongue out at Sirius as they moved to the door. He opened it and stepped out into the hall to find the others already waiting. Harry's eyes swept across the other four, finding that Minerva and Ellen were clad similarly, with Ellen in a pair of casual black pants and a light purple blouse, and Minerva with identical pants but a maroon blouse. Remus, it seemed, had not bothered to change, and was instead dressed in a simple pair of dark jeans and a plain dark blue tee. However, Harry's eyes quickly darted to Hermione who looked to be dressed in a very familiar periwinkle dress.
"Is that the same dress…?" he trailed off as his eyes swept upwards, eventually landing on Hermione's face, which was blushing prettily.
"No," she replied with a light shake of her head. "But it's pretty much identical, just a different size."
"Yeah," Harry replied dumbly as he struggled to maintain eye contact.
Suddenly, an elbow in his side brought him back to reality. "Ow!" he exclaimed, his head jerking around to see Sirius to his side. "What was that for?"
"What was what for?" Sirius asked innocently. "I just had some weird muscle spasm, that's all."
"Right," Harry muttered.
Twenty minutes later found the group nearing the Merlin, having clearly splintered into a number of small factions. For their part, Harry and Hermione were walking together, Hermione consistently walking less than two inches away from Harry. Harry had noticed this, and while his eyes kept darting over to Hermione, he made no move to increase the distance between them.
"I do like that dress," Harry commented softly as they walked.
"Thanks, Harry," she replied with equal softness, though the happiness in her voice was evident. She moved slightly closer to him as they approached the casino, allowing her hand to brush his.
Passing it off as accidental, Harry ignored the incident, and instead opened one of the large glass doors for Hermione.
"Thanks, Harry," she repeated as she stepped inside, maintaining eye contact longer than was necessary as she did so. However, instead of following her inside, Harry paused for a moment, still holding the door open, as he watched her walk inside. With a small smile and a shake of his head, he let go of the door and followed her.
After a brief visit to the restrooms, which resulted in Harry and Hermione taking on the same appearance as when they had visited the resort for the first time a few days before, the group broke apart. Watches synchronized with the others, Ellen and Minerva, now wearing transfigured dealer uniforms, split off and moved to the side of the casino, intent on finding their way off of the casino floor. Remus went his own way to wait for Hermione to finish with her part of planting the explosives, which left Harry, Richard, and Sirius to their own devices.
"Well, gentlemen," Richard began, "shall we play?"
Harry nodded sagely. "Yes," he said with mock sophistication, "indeed we shall."
Sirius chuckled lightly as the trio made their way toward the cashier cage in a bid to exchange a large sum of Sirius's money for chips. A few minutes and thirty thousand dollars later, the three left the cashier and stood on the edge of the casino, surveying the sight before them.
"So, where should we go?" Sirius asked, deferring to Harry and Richard after he split the chips evenly among the three.
However, just as he finished speaking, Harry spotted something. "Come on!" he hissed, taking off toward the blackjack tables.
Richard and Sirius followed behind him, wondering what had set him off. They followed Harry to an empty blackjack table, the minimum bet at which was identified as one hundred dollars. But as soon as Sirius and Richard reached the table, it quickly became apparent that Harry was not at all interested in the minimum bet. He was more concerned with the elderly dealer sitting on the other side of the table.
"Ah, Harry, you came back," Al observed, looking up from the cards he had been idly shuffling.
"Oh, don't 'ah, Harry' me," Harry barked. "What were you thinking, giving me that kind of information and then vanishing completely?" He sat down on one of the stools opposite Al, as Richard and Sirius took up seats on either side of Harry.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about, Harry," Al replied innocently.
"Don't give me that," Harry growled as he looked around the casino to make sure that they were not being overheard. "You gave me a slip of paper that said 'horcrux' on it. You can't tell me that wasn't planned!"
Al shook his head sadly while his face still bore a sad smile. "I can assure you, Harry, that whatever preconceived notions you have about me are completely false. I am here to deal cards, and that's it. If you think I'm here for anything else, well, then that's pure fantasy."
"Then why doesn't anyone else on the floor know about you?" Harry challenged. "We talked to one of the pit bosses, and they said that there was no 'Al' working here. How do you explain that?"
Al shrugged. "I can't," he said simply, causing Harry to grin triumphantly. "I can't tell you every flaw about every person here; it's just not possible. I couldn't even begin to speculate about why a specific person doesn't know me, so I'm not even going to try. Now, I assume you're here to play cards, am I right? You kinda looked dressed to at least."
"Well yeah, but not if we can't trust you."
"Trust isn't an issue, Harry, trust me," Al added with a smile.
"'Trust...?'" Harry repeated in confusion. "What're you…gah! Whatever, just deal the cards and we'll go from there."
Al looked down at the table to see that it was still empty. "Remember, Harry, you must place a bet first," Al reminded him jovially.
"Too bloody happy," Harry grumbled as he tossed a few random chips onto the table. Richard and Sirius were more careful with their bets, but followed Harry's lead.
"So this is the chap you told us about?" Richard asked Harry as he watched Al carefully.
"Yeah, bit of an odd blighter if you ask me," Harry replied.
"I'm just gonna assume, based on how you said that that was an insult, Harry," Al said as he began to deal. "You know full well that I can't keep up with your English slang."
"You still haven't answered my question though," Harry accused. "How is it that you're here when nobody knows you even exist?"
Al looked up from the deck just as he finished dealing. "This is neither the time nor the place for that conversation, Harry. Someday in the future, you and I may have that conversation. But for now, just rest assured that nothing sinister is at play here. Now, I assume you're here to win some money at blackjack, am I right?" He did not wait for the others to respond. "Well then, I won't stand in the way of that. Your turn."
Harry looked down at his cards quickly, and carelessly called for another card, despite the fact that he was holding a total of seventeen. However, luck seemed to be on his side, as he was dealt the three of clubs, which brought his total to twenty.
"Bit of good luck there, eh Harry?" Richard observed as he waited for Harry to finish his turn.
"Maybe," Harry said contemplatively. He glanced up at Al, who was waiting for Harry expectantly, a small, placating smile upon his face.
"I'll stay," Harry said finally, despite the persistent itch at the back of his mind.
Richard and Sirius, each having bet five hundred dollars, received totals of nineteen and twenty, respectively, each after requesting additional cards.
When it came time for Al to play his own hand, he found the ten of hearts and the five of spades. Drawing one additional card, Al was treated to the eight of diamonds. "Dealer busts," he announced, paying Harry his bet of one thousand dollars, and Richard and Sirius their bets as well.
"Did I really bet that much?" Harry whispered to Sirius, who shrugged.
"Next time it might pay to pay attention," he suggested. "Otherwise, this'll be a really short game."
The next three hands continued in a similar fashion, with the exception of Harry being much more careful with what little money he had been allotted. However, despite this small change, the outcomes of the games remained the same, with all three players beating the dealer.
As the fifth hand finished with the same results as the previous four, Harry looked up from the table and glanced around the casino floor, his eyes searching for either Hermione or Remus. Initially, he did not spot either of them, but after nearly a minute of searching, Harry's eyes locked onto Hermione's periwinkle dress.
Hermione passed by Remus, who was seemingly engaged by the slot machine before him, for the second time, subtly indicating to him that she had planted two of the bricks so far. She had placed the first brick in a trash can near the cashier cages, after making a show of fishing through her purse for something. The second and most recent brick had found its home in the trash receptacle just below the ramp to the elevators on the far end of the casino. After passing Remus for the second time, Hermione made her way toward the center of the casino, specifically toward the blackjack table at which Harry, Richard, and Sirius were seated.
As per Remus's suggestion, Hermione was planning on dumping the final brick in the trash can directly behind the gambling trio, in an attempt to both startle them, as well as add credibility to their distraction.
Just as she approached the final can, she spotted one of the casino janitors pushing a cleaning cart around the floor. While normally she would not pay this any mind, Hermione watched as the short, elderly man emptied the trash out of one of the cans and replaced the liner. Instinctively, her eyes darted over to the two cans that she had used, and found that the first of those two was very close to the janitor.
Panicking, Hermione walked briskly over to that can, reaching it mere seconds before the janitor. Instantly, she reached her hand through the hole in the front of the can and began to rummage around in an attempt to find the brick she had planted there.
"Um…can I help you, miss?" the man asked kindly as he stopped next to Hermione.
She jerked her head up at his question, even though her arm remained buried in the can up to her shoulder.
"Erm…I think I threw away my wallet," she explained lamely.
"Your wallet?" the old man asked. "How'd you manage…" he trailed off as he scratched his head in puzzlement.
Thinking quickly, Hermione shrugged as well as she could with one arm deep in the trash can. "You don't even want to know," she said.
The janitor eyed her carefully as she continued to rummage around in the can in an attempt to keep up her rouse.
"Can't you just come back and empty this one later?" she pleaded. "I just need to find my wallet and everything'll be fine. If you came back in…" she looked at the watch on her free arm, "ten minutes or so, it should be fine for you to empty this one."
The janitor, Barty, continued to look at her oddly for a moment, before finally shrugging and moving back to his cleaning cart.
"Thanks," Hermione breathed exaggeratedly in relief. "Trust me, I won't be anywhere near this can in a few minutes, so don't worry about me."
Barty pushed his cart away, moving on to the next can and leaving Hermione to her own devices. As he walked away, Hermione withdrew her arm from the can and brushed it off, before heading back to her original destination of the receptacle near the blackjack table. As she walked, she kept looking back to make sure that Barty had not returned to the original can by the cashier cage. Luckily for her, that it appeared as though that was not the case.
After depositing the third brick in the can behind Harry, Richard and Sirius without them knowing, Hermione buckled her purse once more and slung it over her shoulder. Rather than walk past Remus for a third time, however, she peered over the slot machines and briefly made eye contact with him from across the casino to indicate that she was finished with her task.
Her job completed, Hermione moved to stand between Harry and Richard as she watched them play. While she did not recognize the elderly dealer on the other side of the table, she was far more interested in the young man who stood behind him, who appeared to be a pit boss in his mid twenties. He appeared to be closely watching the dealer as he continued to pass out cards to the three players.
Suddenly feeling devious, Hermione leaned down. "Good luck, Harry," she whispered in his ear. She then kissed him on the cheek, lingering slightly longer than she had in the common room at the end of term. Slowly, she stood back up and rested a hand on his shoulder, while refocusing her attention on the game. She did, however, glance over at her father, whose head was cocked toward Harry, a scowl plastered on his face. Harry, for his part, did not turn his head or acknowledge Richard in any way, with the exception of a light blush that crept up his neck and onto his face. Hermione smirked lightly at this.
"You've done well, Harry," Al said cryptically, causing Harry to wonder whether or not he was referring to the game.
"Erm…thanks," Harry replied tentatively, as he called for his fourth card only to find that it resulted in a bust for the first time.
"Oh, tough luck eh, Harry?" Al added with a mischievous grin.
"Yeah…" Harry responded. Up until that point, he had won every hand he had played, and as a result had been betting more and more with each hand. At that point, his original ten thousand dollar pot had grown to more than twenty-five thousand. He had been growing more and more suspicious that something odd was at play with the cards, but just as he was about to do something about it, the pit boss had come up to start watching Al deal.
In spite of Harry's recent loss, the pit boss, Sean, put a single hand on Al's shoulder to get his attention. The older man instantly looked up from the cards he had been shuffling after both Sirius and Richard had lost to his total of twenty.
At Al's inquisitive look, Sean placed a new, wrapped deck of cards on the table and confiscated the one that he had been dealing from. The entire transaction was handled with such aplomb that Harry did not question its occurrence, and instead assumed that it was normal.
After switching out the decks, Sean disappeared, leaving Al alone with the group once again.
Despite Harry's assumption that the switching of decks was normal, it appeared as though some others in the casino did not share that view. A handful of other patrons had gathered around the three, apparently following Hermione's lead of watching them play. The obvious switching of the decks only made the spectacle more interesting, as it indicated that the group was winning too much.
As Al began to deal once again, Harry glanced at the watch on his left arm. It was 7:11.
Draco Malfoy flew out of his father's office for the second time that day, a single hair tucked inside his pocket. He had been tasked with returning to the top floor of The Merlin to retrieve a sample of his father's hair for use in a polyjuice potion, as well as to snatch his father's key to the inner vault buried deep below the resort. However, when he had arrived in the office, Draco had found it empty. Despite this, he quickly found a hair on the back of his father's chair before rushing out the door once more. He had to find Lucius.
As soon as he stepped out of the door, one of the doors on the side of the hall swung open, and his father's co-chairman, Andrew Wallien strode out.
"He's not here," Wallien said simply upon seeing Draco.
"I saw that," Draco snapped. "Where'd he go?"
"Said he was going down to the vault. I was actually going down there to meet him now. Did you want me to let him know that you wanted to see him when he's done?"
Draco shook his head fervently. "That's alright," he said, masking the panic in his voice. "I'll just find him later."
Wallien shrugged. "You going down?" he asked as the pair approached the elevator.
Draco nodded as the older man pressed the button to open the door. Bugger, he thought.
Ellen closed the door of the ventilation room and stood against it, glancing at her watch to find that it was 7:12 as she crossed her arms. Flicking on the single overhead light, she continued to lean back heavily against the door as Minerva pulled a small vial from her pocket. The pair, after transfiguring their clothing into dealer uniforms, complete with nametags, had used the same method that Richard had used to get into the back of the house, minus the distraction involving a disgruntled guest. As Elle and Minerva were posing as middle-aged women named Becky and Gertrude, respectively, they had little trouble convincing an unsuspecting resort employee to let them through the door.
"Gertrude," Minerva grumbled as she removed the grille on the front of the ventilation unit. "Why did I think that would be a good name?"
"You're the one who didn't want to come up with a name on your own," Ellen pointed out. "If I recall, you said that, with your luck, you'd come up with something completely cliché and obvious. So you let Sirius name you. I still don't know what you were thinking with that one."
"Nor do I, dear. Nor do I."
"Um… okay," Ellen replied. "Not one of your better ideas, if I do say so myself. But no matter, what time is it?" she added in anticipation.
"Time," Minerva answered as she glanced at her watch.
"As odd of an answer as that was, it somehow made sense," Ellen remarked sarcastically.
"I truly hope you didn't expect otherwise."
"Not really…"
"Excellent," Minerva said as she placed the vial at the base of the ventilation unit and moved to uncork it.
"How long's it going to take?"
"Six minutes. Or so Remus said. But since I trust his guesses more than Sirius's, I'm sure that's about right. It's… 7:13 now, and Remus said he'll wait three minutes before he starts to make his final pass. Remember, this stuff has to fully vaporize and circulate through the system before anyone starts to notice. That's why it'll take so long."
"So Remus'll start the detonation process in a few minutes so that the explosions happen after this stuff is in the air?"
"Right. But he is operating on the assumption that everything will move faster through the system, since we're in the central ventilation room. If we were, say, just trying to use a regular vent, then we wouldn't get nearly the same level of penetration. And… now." Ellen glanced at her watch to find that it had reached 7:14, just as Minerva pulled the stopper from the vial.
"Now the waiting begins."
End of Chapter 14
A/N: Thank you all for your positive response to chapter 13, as well as for being patient in between chapter postings. I have decided to post this chapter despite the fact that it was not proofread by my editor, pathseekerme. She, understandably, has things going on right now, so I was not going to pester her to finish editing this chapter. The fact that it was a nice short chapter helped matters, so if there are errors, they will be changed in the future. At the same time, bear in mind that this chapter was not read by anyone else before posting. While that should not have any effect on the overall quality of the chapter, it is something to remember. At the very least, the fact that it was not beta read makes me a bit more nervous about posting it blindly, since I don't know how anyone else will take it or what plot holes I may have missed. But all that negativity aside, thank you for reading and waiting, and I hope to continue making this story fun more than anything else.
I want to congratulate the following reviewers for correctly identifying the name of this chapter in their reviews: osc630, inVale, acam, and luvsanime02. Remember, if you want to see your name up in lights… or at least in this spot of the authors note in the next chapter, all you have to do is guess the name of the next chapter! The title of this chapter was chosen to reflect the concept of Harry, Sirius, and Richard dressing up to visit the casino at The Merlin.
This chapter is also part of a short story arc that I have mentioned in several previous authors notes. As a result, it is short and covers a very short period of time. It also ends with a cliffhanger for that reason as well. There is at least one little hint in this chapter regarding what is going to happen as the story progresses, but I don't want to spoil it here. The next chapter will be even shorter than this one, and picks up immediately after this chapter. The reason I made it so short was to add an extra chapter, in part to reach a specific number of chapters that plays into the entire Vegas theme. On that note, I also want to mention that I finished writing this story about two weeks ago, so all that remains is the editing.
Chapter Title Hint: This song, off of the Hot Space album, was written by drummer Roger Taylor, and is one of six songs off of the album not to receive a music video. However, it was one of a handful of songs off of this album played in the famous 1982 concert at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England, and was actually the first song played off of Hot Space at this concert. The album version of this song is also heavy on synthesizers, even if the live version was not. The fact that this song ties into the events of the next chapter strongly means that I am trying not to give such obvious hints, but if you think about what you expect will happen in chapter 15, there can only be one song that fits the bill.
Anyway, thank you all again for reading and sticking with me! I really appreciate all of the positive reviews, and I hope you will leave me another one or just guess at the title of the next chapter! I'll see you again soon with chapter 15!