Chapter 4 -
Sam Marquez, the casino hostess for the Montecito and Delinda Deline, the manager of the Mystique restaurant, were busy discussing the preparations for the Pussy Cat Dolls concert that was supposed to be held the next day, when Delinda asked her about her latest whales. Harry and the gang were eating in the Mystique just a few tables away and Delinda was keeping a close eye on them.
"They haven't gambled yet but Mr. Malfoy secretly requested a private table after dinner." Sam informed her
"Secretly?" Delinda queried.
"His girlfriend seems opposed to gambling." Sam said
"Which one is Mr. Malfoy? The one that has mistaken a fork for a shovel?" Delinda joked looking at the way the Ron shovelled food into his mouth.
"No, the one with the platinum blond hair" Sam said indicating to Draco.
"Wow, he must have a great barber. I can't even see any of his original hair colour! I wonder who does his hair" Delinda stated as she observed the sleekness of his hair.
"He's from England and that red head sitting next to him is his girlfriend so I wouldn't try anything. You know what they say about redheads." Sam cautioned.
"I am seeing three guys and two girls so one of them must be single. Which one and please don't tell me shovel face." Delinda said
"My other whale Mr. Potter is the single one. Apparently, he can't seem to keep a relationship long enough." Sam stated as she flipped through a list of requests from one of her other whales.
"Oh, Perfect. That's just my type of guy!" Delinda declared.
"Looks like you got some competition though." Sam said as she pointed to Mary who was walking over to the table occupied by Harry and the others. They watched a few exchange of words before Mary started handing out packages to the group.
"Registration forms" Both girls said in unison.
-&-
Harry had requested a table for six for dinner. He was hoping he Hermione would be back in time for dinner. As Harry stared at the empty seat next to him it was abundantly clear to him that Hermione won't be back in time for dinner and he wondered why she did this to him. She knows how he worries about her safety. He thought he made it clear before she left that he didn't want her wondering around Las Vegas by herself. The world may be free from Voldemort but there were still a few death eaters lurking about. Las Vegas would be a perfect place for them to hide and Hermione would be a perfect target for them. Of course Hermione took that opportunity to remind him that she placed second to him in Defence Against the Dark Arts and was perfectly capable of taking care of herself but that still didn't stop him from worrying about her.
Seated next to Harry at the table was Ron. Ron wasted no time in ordering food and pretty soon the table was packed full. Luna sat across from Ron with Draco and Ginny on the other side of the table as well. Draco was looking disgustedly at Ron.
"Ron just because Sam was kind enough to comp our meals doesn't mean you have to eat everything in sight!" Draco declared
"Yes Ron. You are very embarrassing!" Ginny declared as she tried to make sure nobody would notice the resemblance between her and Ron.
"O s nw embrsd by yr bthr" Ron said with his mouth full of food.
"That's it Ron. Room service for you from now on!" Draco said as he hastily brushed food that flew out of Ron's mouth from his sleeve.
"That Ron," Ginny said indicating to Draco's actions "Is why I am embarrassed by you." Ginny said hastily as she tried to move a little further away from her brother.
Ron swallowed his food and protested. Ron accused Ginny of being just like Hermione. Ginny countered by saying that even a Hippogriff had better manners than him. They traded insults and accusations until Mary appeared at the table in a nice black cocktail dress.
"Excuse me" She said politely.
"Hello Mary" Harry greeted her cheerfully. He was happy for the interruption. This was supposed to be a nice vacation and he didn't want to spend it listening to Ginny and Ron argue. Their arguments usually escalated and somehow everyone around them was drawn into it. Hermione would usually silence them with non-verbal magic and encourage them to make peace. It worked most of the time. Where was she when he needed her?
"Hello, I need to give you your name tags and information for tomorrow." Mary said as she passed out the information. "You were supposed to get these at registration but since I saw you upstairs I checked you in. Also can you give this one to Ms. Granger. I haven't met her and I have no idea who to give it to."
"Sure" Harry said with a large smile. "She should be here for soon. I don't know what's keeping her." Harry said as he glanced at his watch for the millionth time that night.
"If she went out she probably lost track of time and is wondering around somewhere." Mary said, unaware that that was absolutely the worst possible thing she could have said.
"Maybe I should go look for her. It's getting late." Harry said as he tried to stand up but was held back by Ron.
"Mate, you'll never find her. We'll see her tomorrow. Besides you saw those books, I bet she knows this town inside out!" Ron said trying to assure his friend.
"Harry, Draco is everything going well?" Sam said as she and Delinda appeared at the table.
"Yes very well thank you. The meal is lovely and everything has been great so far." Harry said politely to them.
Sam smiled as Delinda stepped on her foot reminding her of her presence.
"This is Delinda Deline she manages this restaurant. All credit for the food should go to her." Sam said as she coyly introduced Delinda into the conversation.
"Yes if you want any special dishes don't hesitate to ask. If you also want some appetizers to munch on while you're at your private table tonight, I can have the chef whip some up." Delinda said to Draco with a slight toss of her hair. Delinda loved to cause trouble.
All colour drained from Draco's face, which was the exact opposite to what happened with Ginny. If one were watching the scene from afar, one might think Ginny and Draco were joined at the hip as the blood left his face and went to hers!
"If you would excuse us but MY boyfriend and I need to have a private conversation." Ginny said through gritted teeth. She grabbed Draco by the collar and yanked him from the table and led him into the female bathroom.
"Did I say something bad?" Delinda asked Harry innocently.
Mary frowned at Delinda. She knew she did that purposely.
"There is a Pussy Cat Dolls concert tomorrow night. I can get you tickets" Sam said trying to move the conversation away from Delinda.
"Sure. That sounds like fun." Harry said "Can we get six tickets please?"
"Actually, I am not supposed to tell you this but Ms. Brown already arranged for everyone in the reunion to go to the concert. You don't need Sam to get you any tickets." Mary said
"Oh that's great." Harry said happily.
Ron leaned close to Harry "What's a Pussy Cat Doll?" he whispered softly.
"I'll explain later." Harry said under his breath.
A silent Draco and a happy Ginny rejoined them at their table.
"We're ready to go to our table Sam but Ron and Luna will also be joining us." Ginny said sweetly. She knew Draco strongly disliked having to do things with Ron. She may have been dating Draco for two years but things between her brother and Draco were still as cold as in Hogwarts. It was by an unspoken agreement that both boys stayed out of the others way. Luna also seemed to have had a calming affect on Ron.
"We will?" Ron said cluelessly.
"Yes you will." Ginny reiterated.
"Well it's been a pleasure meeting you Ms. Deline but I hear my table calling me!" Draco said charmingly as Ginny glared at her.
They both started to walk off when Ginny stopped and turned around. "You coming or not Ron" She hissed in a menacing voice.
Luna gracefully rose from the table pulling Ron with her. She whispered softly in his ear and Ron eagerly took off after Ginny. Luna smiled serenely and wished Harry a pleasant night before she headed off in the direction that Ron ran.
"Aren't you going to play as well Harry?" Sam asked sweetly. She was trying to encourage Harry to gamble as well.
"I am kind of tired. It is some ungodly hour back in London so I think I might try to get some sleep." Harry said but he knew there was absolutely no way he could sleep until he knew Hermione was safely back at the Montecito.
"But it's still early. We could show you around a bit and then you could get some sleep." Delinda offered flirtatiously.
"The only thing I really wanted to see was what Vegas looks like at night." Harry said
`Though I did bring my Firebolt along so I could see it from the air' Harry thought to himself.
"The roof is a great spot!" Delinda said. "We could go up there."
Mary looked dubiously at Delinda.
"The roof?" Harry questioned while he was concocting a plan to take his Firebolt along. It would certainly help him find Hermione quicker if he used it.
"Yes trust me you will like the view from the roof" Delinda said
"The view is nice but you have seven nights here in Vegas. I don't think you'll miss much if you go to sleep tonight." Mary said kindly.
Sam watched as Delinda glorified the view from the roof and Mary encouraged Harry to get some sleep for the first day of his reunion.
Harry came up with what he thought was a bright idea.
"Why don't you just show me how to get to the roof and then I could go to sleep." Harry said happily. Once he knew where the roof was he could fly his Firebolt and look for Hermione.
They agreed and were about to leave when Gunther, the head chef, appeared. There was a problem in the kitchen and Delinda had to deal with it right away. Sam indicated that she had to make several arrangements for the arrival of another whale and she left Mary to take Harry up to the roof by herself. Mary smiled and told Harry to follow her.
Mary felt uncomfortable on the roof with Harry. The last time she was alone on the roof with a guy it had been with Danny. Even though their relationship had been a disaster she missed it. Waking up with Danny every morning had been the best present anyone could give her. Her stint with Jake wasn't that good. He never made her feel the way Danny did. But Jake was good for her in a way. He helped her sort out what she was feeling and what she really wanted in a relationship. She watched Harry walk out to the roof's edge. He obviously wasn't afraid of heights. He seemed to enjoy looking at the lights. Harry walked back to her and was about to indicate he was ready to leave when a rustling at the door caught their attention.
"Jake!" Mary exclaimed surprise.
Jake looked at her and studied Harry standing near to her. He was about a foot in front of her and Jake didn't like how close they were.
"You leave me this morning and I find you up here with another man already!" Jake screamed
"What are you implying?" Mary asked horrified
"I came here to see if we could mend things but I see you have already moved on. Goodbye Mary." Jake said before he left the roof.
Mary began to cry. She couldn't believe Jake thought that of her. Harry began to panic. He wasn't good with crying women. Ever since that incident with Cho Chang he had been afraid of girls that cry. He remembered Hermione said that it was usually a good idea to hug a crying woman so he put his arms awkwardly around Mary and held her.
Mary started to apologize to him and he told her she didn't have to. She started to explain to him about her break up with Jake and she went over and sat on the bench. Harry reluctantly joined her. At the end of her tirade she concluded that she was a disaster with relationships. Harry, not really having listened much, decided that giving her another hug would hopefully make her feel better. It was in that position that they were interrupted by two voices.
"Mary?" A male voice said.
"Harry?" A female voice said.
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