Potter's Eleven

By Natasha Shaitanova

Chapter 2: Poker

Disclaimer: No, no, no….I don't own Brad Pitt and I don't own Daniel Radcliffe and I don't own Harry Potter or any of that good stuff.

Quick A/N: if you know Ocean's Eleven, you know that there is a scene where Rusty is teaching movie stars to place cards. Ok, the thing is, these characters are so trivial that I don't think it is really necessary to give them different names, yes? So, I'm just going to go with the same as in the original movie since this has no inflection on the plot whatsoever.

Having parted ways with Dean around the corner, Harry walked to the nearest phone booth and took out a business card, quickly dialing a number.

"Hello, Officer Bones?"

He paused as he listened to the voice on the other line.

"Yes, I was told to contact you within twenty four hours."

Pause.

"No, I haven't been drinking," Harry finished off the rest of his bourbon as he spoke.

"No, I haven't been getting into any trouble."

Harry smiled at what must have been the last question. "No, ma'am, I wouldn't even think of fleeing the country."

Draco Malfoy was decidedly bored. Leaning against his red Ferrari, he stared at the cloudy night sky, as though considering matter removed from his earthly existence when—

"Hey, hey Dray!"

He turned his head with a decidedly annoyed frown marring his pale face. No one dared call him that. Especially not that little punk. "Are you stoned?"

"What…no!"

"Don't call me that, Topher." Draco stood up and away from his car as the two walked toward the nightclub.

"Well, yeah, ok," Topher looked around blearily before turning back to Draco with his rapid-fire speech. "Ok, so, listen, I was talking to my business manager, right? Yeah, the other Bernie, and he said that what we're doing could be considered, like, research, for like, a future gig, so I could like write this off as a business expense or something…So basically the deal is…I have to pay you in check."

Draco stopped as they entered the back corridor and crossed his arms. Mutely, he stared down at the blabbering movie "star" and raised his eyebrows.

"Or…or I could just pay you in cash," Topher stumbled over his words and cringed back from the stare. "Yeah, yeah, let's just keep it cash…"

Draco smirked at his cowering client and proceeded down the hall. In a matter of minutes, they entered a dimly lit room, complete with a large poker table, cage dancers in the background, and of course the other players.

Draco shot a look at each of his clients and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

"Well…let's play some cards."

One hour later and Draco was looking decidedly worse for wear. Rubbing his cheek and stifling a yawn, he leaned to whisper to Topher. "Why you bet is your business. But you have to make them think you're betting for a reason. Understand?"

"Uh…yeah, yeah, I understand," Topher nodded frantically and looked back at his hand, mumbling, "Hundred to call, hundred to call…Ah, what the hell, pocket change. Call!"

Draco watched blearily as the game went on, searching for a mistake too outlandish to leave ignored (he had left most of the minor blunders unchecked).

"Seth, you know your hand by now. Staring at it isn't gonna change it, so just leave it and place your bet."

The player in question fumbled with his cards a moment before reluctantly throwing the chips forward.

"God dammit, Josh, you're showing," Draco resisted rolling his eyes as he glared at the man across from him, "Yeah, I know she's your girlfriend but…thank you."

"Alright, check out this hand!" Seth lays down his cards and high-fives Topher. Pair of twos and pair of fours.

Sighing, Draco throws down his cards and stands up, "Alright, let's take a break."

Full house.

Amber swirled around inside his glass and two black-clothed figures writhed in front of him in the red light. He almost wanted to get smashed just to make it through the next round.

"How's the game goin'?" The bartender grinned at him from behind the counter.

"Longest hour of my life."

"Huh?" apparently, yelling over the crowd did not help much.

"I'm running away with your wife," Draco did not even bother smirking as he downed the rest of his drink.

"Great!"

Ignoring the clueless bartender, Draco got up (albeit a touch unsteadily from his chugging attempt) and made his way back to the poker room. As soon as he opened the door, however, he froze.

"Hey, Draco!" Topher greeted him with his usual slurred enthusiasm, "We got a new player, you mind?"

"A bartender told me there was a game in process," Harry leaned his elbows on the table, smiling up at Draco from under his black bangs. "I hope I'm not intruding."

Draco's lips twitched as he pulled a frown, "Which bartender?"

"I don't remember."

Draco threw another glare at Harry as he sat down. "A player with amnesia? This should be a fun game."

"So, uh…" Topher seemed to notice the tension in the room and shot a glance at the other players before turning back to Harry. "What do you do for a living?"

"Two cards please…" it looked like Harry was going to ignore him before he spoke up, "Just got out of prison."

If the tension was present before, the room was now positively abuzz with it. Twitching slightly, Topher asked with some reluctance, "Why were you in prison."

Harry shot a glance at Draco and seemed to speak to him as he replied, "I stole things."

"Stole things, like…"

"Diamonds? Jewels? Cash?" Seth tried to join the conversation.

Meeting Harry's look, Draco replied, "Celtic ceremonial weaponry."

"Ah-uh…" Topher seemed to gape for a bit, "Any money in that, uh, Celtic ceremonial…"

"Weaponry, there's some." Harry leaned back and placed his cards face down on the table.

"Don't let him fool you, there's loads. If you can move it…" Draco finished dealing and drummed his fingers against his tumbler, "But you can't."

"My assistant seemed confident enough."

"If you're dealing with cash, you don't need an assistant."

The movie stars watched with wide eyes as the sharp conversation bounced back between Harry and Draco, further electrifying the air in the room with the stinging words.

"Some people just lack vision," Harry looked back to his cards, as though convinced he had gotten the final word, and took out his wallet, "I raise you five hundred bucks."

The players whistled softly as Draco threw down his cards and crossed his arms, "Guys, day one: what was the lesson?"

"Um, uh…never bet on the…"

"Oh, leave emotion at the door!" Topher barely resisted raising his hand as he answered.

"That's right," Draco glared back at Harry. "Now, our friend here just raised me out of pique. So, today's lesson? How to draw out the bluff. I say he's holding nothing more than a pair of face-cards. Seth—raise him!"

The man looked a bit unsure before pushing in his chips, "Seven hundred."

"Topher?"

"Seven. Plus three…what the hell."

"Careful," Draco looked smug, "Don't push him too high too fast. You wanna keep him on a leash…I call."

"Call."

Harry watched as Josh seemed to hesitate, chewing on his lip. He smiled slightly, "What, your girlfriend holding your purse?" That did it.

"Contrary to what Draco here may say, I always check my cards before I bet," Harry again took out his wallet as he stared at Draco across the table. "Five-hundred to call. And two grand more."

The movie stars looked decidedly pale. One grand each on the table—a lot to lose, but sure as hell tempting to back down.

"That's a lot of money, ladies and gentlemen," Draco looked at the other players, as though challenging them to back down. "Feel free to do what you want. But I'm staying in—he's trying to buy his way out of his bluff."

Topher wrung his hands and sneaked a glace at the other players. Finally, the pressure to impress got too much. He paid up and the others followed.

Draco, still smug, spoke up, "We call."

Wordlessly, Harry set down his hand and the others were soon thrown down. Four nines. The other players moaned as Harry drew in his winnings.

Avoiding the glares of his soon to be former customers, Draco shook his head and raked a hand through his hair.

A/N: ok, ok, I hope you don't find poker too boring to read about…but hey, the drama between the characters! Trust me, all those movie stars are only present in this scene. From now on—Harry Potter characters only. Ya? Ya! Cool.

So, please REVIEW!! Reviews feed inspiration and every author needs that. Merci tres bien!

-NS