LAS VEGAS -

"You're out of your bloody minds!"

They're sitting outside, on a bright and sunny Nevada day, with the remnants of breakfast on the patio table before them. They arrived earlier and were – surprisingly – asked to stay for breakfast. It was just after the coffee had been poured that they broached the subject of their visit with their somewhat gracious host.

Ron was having a hard time not laughing. At some point, Snape had given into the American 70s look that everyone over 50 sported in Nevada. Aviator sunglasses, leisure suit, and his standard slicked back hair. He couldn't even compare the man before him to the prick of a Potions professor he'd been fifteen years earlier. It was as though Severus Snape had died and come back as a disco pimp.

"You're listening to me, aren't you? Both of you are close to a one-way St. Mungo's visit. I know more about casino security than any other wizard and I can honestly tell you that those three have the best in the world. We're talking cameras, watchers, locks, timers. They've got vaults that not even the greatest spells can penetrate. They've got enough armed men to occupy Paris." He frowns, waves his hand absently. "Okay, bad example."

Harry takes a sip of coffee and leans back in his chair. "It's never been tried," he says pointedly and it takes a minute for Ron to remember what Harry was like before prison.

Snape scoffs, a look of disbelief shining through the oversized Aviators. "Oh, it's been tried. A few guys even came close. You know the three most successful robberies in Las Vegas?"

They do, mostly because they've done their homework and have read the histories, but they don't want to ruin it for Snape so they shake their heads in unison.

Snape holds up one finger. "Number three, 1965. The bronze medal winner. Some paper-pusher with a serious gambling addiction decides to steal a lockbox from the floor of the Sands. He made it three steps closer to the door than anyone before him had. Poor guy was a wizard. The authorities didn't even offer to keep him in the states, they sent him to Azkaban." He frowns. "Fun, I'm sure."

He holds up another finger. "Second most successful robber. The Flamingo in '71. This wanker actually smelled fresh air before they got him. Course, he was breathing out of a tube for the next three weeks, goddamn hippie."

Ron tries really hard not to smile but to hear Snape say 'wanker' and 'hippie' in the same sentence is almost too hilarious for words.

Snape holds up one more finger. "And the closest any man has gotten to robbing a Las Vegas casino is outside of Caesar's in '81, the year you boys were born. He grabbed the box, ran off, and they shot him dead in the parking lot, right next to the valet attendant's station. He came, he grabbed, he got conquered."

Neither Ron nor Harry says anything and Snape stares at them, hard, before shrugging. "But what am I saying. You guys are pros, the best. I'm sure you can make it out of the casino. Never mind the fact that once you get out the front door you're still in the fucking desert!"

They do their best to appear chastised. "You're right," Ron says to Snape, and then turns to Harry. "He's right."

"Snape," Harry says, taking his napkin from his lap and laying it on the table, "you're right. Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs."

Ron follows his lead and places his own napkin on the table. "That's exactly it. Pure ego."

They stand at the same time and smile down at Snape. "Sorry we bothered you," Harry says and holds out his hand.

Snape takes it and shakes it, does the same with Ron's. "Look boys, we go way back. I owe you from that thing with the guy in the place and I'll never forget it."

"It was our pleasure," Harry says.

"I'd never been to Belize," Ron adds.

He waves them off, goes back to his breakfast. "Give Dominic your addresses. I've got some remaindered furniture I want to send you."

They nod and head off towards the house. They're just around the pool when Snape's voice calls out to them. "Just out of curiosity, which casinos did you geniuses pick to rob?"

Ron looks at Harry and nods. Harry looks back across the patio at Snape. "The Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand."

Snape stands up so quickly his chair tips over. "Those are Draco Malfoy's places."

Ron again looks at Harry. "Uh-huh."

Snape crosses the patio and comes to stand a few feet away from them, his nostrils flared and anger bright even through the shade of his sunglasses. "You guys, what've you got against Draco Malfoy?"

Harry smiles slightly. "The question is, what have you got against him?"

Snape sneers a characteristically Snape sneer. "He torpedoed my casino - the one I bought after the war. He muscled me out, and now he's gonna blow it up to make way for some gaudy monstrosity. Don't think I don't see what you're doing."

"What are we doing, Snape?" Harry asks.

"If you're gonna steal from Draco Malfoy, you better goddamn know. It used to be this kind of thing was civilized. You'd hit a guy, he'd whack you, done. But Malfoy…" He whistles low. "The kid's my nephew by circumstances beyond my control so trust me when I tell you this. At the end of it he better not know you were involved, not know your names or think you're dead because he'll kill you and then he'll go to work on you."

Harry nods, as does Ron. "That's why we have to be careful. We have to be precise. We have to be well funded, especially by someone who knows the target."

Snape snorts, an unpleasant sound. "Yeah, plus you've gotta be nuts. And you're gonna need a crew that's as nuts as you are."

Neither Harry nor Ron disputes this fact and Snape takes a moment to think it over. When he looks at them once more, it's apparent by the small smirk on his face that he's in for the take.

"Who you got in mind?"

Thanks so much to my reviewers! I'm moving along and I'm determined to watch the movie again this weekend to make sure I'm on point with everything. Keep reading and reviewing - it makes me happy!!!