Royal Flush
Chapter 1
Even though there wereabsolutely no similarities with her current situation, Hermione wassurprisingly reminded of standing outside the Great Hall of Hogwartsher very first day almost seventeen years ago. She had never felt socompletely out of her element as at that time, reciting spells shewasn't sure she believed in, waiting to be sorted, wondering howthat was going to happen. Now, after almost eighteen years in thewizarding world, her current location was as much a sensory overloadas her first view of actual ghosts. For the first time since shethought she saw his face on the TV screen, she wondered if she mightbe mistaken. It was almost impossible to believe that Harry Potter,savior of the wizarding world, and missing for the past nine yearscould be hiding out here!
No, she thought,even though those green eyes could belong to anyone, I wouldrecognize that scar anywhere. And so, because of thatunmistakable lightning bolt shaped scar, Hermione found herselfwading through crowds of muggles in what she thought had to be thehighest concentration of neon lights in the world. The problem was,now that she was in Las Vegas, she had absolutely no clue where tobegin searching.
Zoby, a prominent Norfolk restaurateur who was the principal owner of a half-dozen downtown eateries, has died at the age of 72.
She knew that thestrong magical energies emanating from Hogwarts interfered withmuggle electricity. Conversely, she wondered, was there so muchelectricity in this city that magic could be similarly disrupted? She wondered at what point she had become so much more comfortablewith magic that electricity seemed to be such an intimidating force. Maybe it's the city, she decided. After all, I still useelectricity in my flat in muggle London.
Still, the task aheadwas daunting. In her opinion, there seemed to be more casinos onjust this one street than there were rooms in Hogwarts. Not tomention the countless thousands of hotel rooms many of those casinoshad. Plus, she didn't know which casinos, if not all of them, hadthe game she saw him playing. In fact, the obstacles in her pathwere starting to seem so overwhelming, she wondered again if it hadbeen a bad idea coming here alone, with no plan.
Still, she justcouldn't ignore that small spark of hope that had flared upwhen she caught that split-second glimpse on the telly, that firstglance in nine years of her best friend. That spark of hope was allthat was keeping her from screaming in frustration, that kept thetears threatening to fall behind her eyelids, that had her lookinginto the night sky, pleading silently for some help. Any help atall.
She could not have beenluckier if she drank a gallon of Felix Felicius. It was atthat exact moment that she was looking into the sky that her eyecaught a flash of movement through the glare from the neon lights. She never would have noticed it if she hadn't been looking inexactly the right spot. Here! Here was the proof she had beenlooking for! The proof that she wasn't crazy, that she didn'twaste a whole month of holiday, leaving her home and travelinghalfway around the world on a wild goose chase.
The tears startedspilling out of her eyes now, but they were tears of relief ratherthan frustration. She didn't give a damn about the tears as longas they didn't block her vision. Not that all the glare from allthe neon lights in the whole city could distract her now. She washardly aware that she had started running down the strip, bumpinginto people left and right, as she followed her target. Shedesperately wished she could get close enough to get its attention. Finally it slowed down and landed on the awning of one of thecasino's parkways.
'Hedwig!'
If an owl could lookstartled, Hermione thought, that's the face it would make. Though Hedwig was definitely surprised to see Hermione, she seemedhappy enough. With a loud hoot, the owl flew off the awning ontoHermione's waiting arm. It took all of her self-control, but shemanaged not to crush the beautiful white owl with a hug. She managedto get by with stroking her feathers.
'Hello, girl. It'sbeen a long time since I've seen you.' (Hoot) 'Is Harry around? Is he doing ok?' (Hoot) 'Can you take me to him?'
Though Hedwig lookednervous when Hermione mentioned Harry's name, whatever the owl wasabout do got interrupted by a voice from behind Hermione.
'Well, if that ain'tthe damnedest thing.' The speaker was tall man with light brownhair and blue eyes wearing jeans and a t-shirt that said 'chicksdig scrawny pale guys.' He was definitely not scrawny, Hermionenoticed, as he held out a piece of bacon that Hedwig accepted. Hescratched the owl's head as he continued.
'You see, I'venever known ol' Hedwig here to respond to anyone but her owner ifthey didn't have any food in their hand.'
'You, you know herowner?' Even though he was obviously familiar with Harry'sfamiliar, Hermione could hardly believe that she was lucky enough tofind the answers she was looking for in less than an hour in thiscity.
'Know him?' Theman started laughing. 'That bastard cleaned me outta twenty grandjust last night!'
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