So this chapter has a lot more movie dialogue in it than the last few did...I wrote it while on lunch break at work so I had the script in front of me and I kind of borrowed from it. Those words belong to Ted Griffin, who did a phenomenal job turning the original Rat Pack movie into the Clooney - Pitt - Damon bonanza.

Thanks for reading!

LOS ANGELES -

"You look bored," Harry says as they drive out onto Sunset Strip and away from the club.

"I am bored," he replies. "Did you get the cookies I sent you in the clink?"

Harry looks at him. "Why do you think I came to see you first?"

They make their way to an all-night diner and Ron orders the largest slice of cherry pie that Harry has ever seen. Even the waitress seems to be straining under the weight of it. Harry has coffee. He's never quite gotten used to apparating such far distances and it unsettles his stomach. He'll eat later, after he's slept and had a chance to regroup.

"So what are we talking?" Ron asks around a mouthful of pie.

"It's tricky. No one's ever done it before. Needs planning and a large crew." Harry says.

"Wands?"

Harry shrugs. "Only for show."

Ron takes another bite. "So what's the target?" Harry doesn't answer him immediately so he asks again. "What's the target, Harry?"

"How do you feel about Las Vegas?" Harry asks.

Ron stops chewing, swallows hard, and frowns. "What, you want to knock over a casino?" he asks.

Harry holds up his hand and raises three fingers.

"Three casinos?" Ron asks and when Harry nods he looks away for a moment. When he looks at Harry once again, there's disbelief on his face. "Please tell me you have a plan."

They go across town to an architecture firm that Harry has done business with before, long ago when his record was clean, and the security guard recognizes him, allows him access to the vault design offices. They locate the blueprints that they're looking for and Harry rolls them out on the table.

"The vault at the Bellagio."

Ron studies them for a minute.

"If I'm reading this right, and I'd like to think that I was, this has to be the least accessible vault ever built."

"Yep."

Ron frowns, looks up at him. "You said three casinos…"

Harry lifts up the first page of blueprints and points at the page underneath it. "These feed into the cages at the MGM Grand and the Mirage but every single dime ends up here."

Ron's brow furrows as he thinks about everything Harry has just said. "The Bellagio, the Mirage, the MGM Grand…these are Draco Malfoy's places."

"Yes, they are. Do you think he'll mind?"

Ron shrugs. "More than somewhat."

Harry tells him the plan, tells him that Hermione is on-board for whatever they conjure up, and explains to him that the take is 8 figures, easily. When he's finished, he asks Ron what he thinks they'll need to get the job done.

"You're looking at a dozen guys doing a combination of cons," he says as Harry rolls up the blueprints and secures them in the hard plastic tube they originally came in.

"Like what?"

"Well, off the top of my head, I'd say you're looking at a Boesky, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros, and a Leon Spinks. Oh, and not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald – ever." Harry's expression of calm never waivers. "Where do you think you're going to get the Galleons to back this?"

Harry smiles slightly. "As long as we're hitting these three casinos, we'll get our bankroll. Malfoy's got a long list of enemies."

"Yes, but any enemies with a lot of loose cash and nothing to lose?" Harry's smile widens and Ron realizes where this is going. "Aha," he says with a smile.

"Aha," Harry says.

"Snape."

The night watchman finds them at this point and Harry, having known Oscar for quite awhile, asks him if they can borrow the blueprints for just a little while so they can make copies. Oscar owes him a favor or two – three to be exact – and he lets them take the plastic tube and its contents with them as they leave the firm.

Outside in the hallway, while they're waiting for the elevator, Ron turns to look at him and the expression on his face is weary. "I need a reason," he says, "and don't say money. Why do this?"

Harry shrugs. "Why not do it?"

Ron's expression becomes the "look of doom" and Harry sighs.

"Because yesterday I walked out of Azkaban wearing my entire wardrobe and you're cold decking Teen Beat cover boys." Ron's expression slips a little and Harry presses on. "Because the house always wins. You play long enough, never changing stakes, the house takes you. Unless, when that special hand comes around, you bet big. And then you take the house."

They stare at each other and, slowly, Ron's look of doom turns into an ear-to-ear grin. "You've been practicing that speech, haven't you?"

Harry's tense demeanor leaves him and he turns back to the elevator just as the doors open. "A little. Did I rush it? It felt like I rushed it…"

"No. It was good."

They step onto the elevator and as the doors close, Ron looks at Harry.

"I wonder what Snape will say."