Chapter 52: Matter of Family Part Three.

Chapter 52: Matter of Family Part Three.

Oswald Cobblepot had a shit eating green on his face but why wouldn't he be in a good mood? There were way too many reasons not to be in a good mood after tonight. Tonight was the night that he had been waiting for, for an extremely long time. The grand opening of the Iceberg Longue was upon them and he could hardly wait.

There were a lot of things that amped up his anticipation with what was occurring and this was one of them. He took a good view at the club from his private booth, making a mental checklist of things, when he surveyed his very much packed private nightclub and casino.

Whether they be famous for all of the right reasons, or many of the wrong ones, they were hear full force tonight. Legitimate business men and not so legitimate business men, along with socialites and the less endearing members of society showed up as part of the festivities tonight.

Why wouldn't he be in a good mood? He was in a good mood, he was in a bloody good mood in fact. He surveyed some of the scenes around his club, a shit eating grin getting even more prominent.

"Not such a bad turn out so far," Cobblepot said, pretty much talking to himself a bit more than the others. There was a reason to smile.

The band was booming, the conversation was rather lively, and not to mention that there was a full house of people with disposal incomes, some of them willing to gamble it away. So this was going to be a night that he would remember for an extremely long time, to be perfectly honest.

Not to mention that the eye candy on the floor, in the form of the serving girls looked like a charm. But they were icing on the cakes. That being said, Cobblepot turned over his shoulder and prepared to greet the guest of honor, moving from the seat that he was sitting in, in between Mr. Carpenter and Tracey.

"Rupert, my dear boy, it's good to see you are here," Cobblepot said, seeing him enter the ring with his floozy of the week, a girl that was pretty much young enough to be his daughter.

"Oswald, I have to say, you sure know how to throw a party for the Gotham City elite," Rupert replied in a jovial voice, shaking hands with the man. Thorne looked over his shoulder before he continued in a booming voice. "It's quite the turn out tonight, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but the night's going on, here, have a drink….first one's on the house, but I can't make you any promises after the second one."

Thorne chuckled and took Cobblepot off on his offer. Tonight was not a night for business but rather a night where people could kick their feet back and relax.

Cobblepot looked around, tonight was a bloody good night for his return to high society and he hoped that by the end of the evening, he would be raking in the rewards for this amazing return.

Mr. Walrus was in the back room, conducting business, and obviously Mr. Carpenter and Tracey were there with him.

"Looks like there isn't a person in Gotham City that isn't out here," Thorne commented to Cobblepot.

"Rupert, my old boy, you have no idea, you have no idea," Cobblepot said, a smile on his face but suddenly he saw a very familiar figure that caused the entire mood to change.

"Is that Bruce Wayne?" Thorne's date asked, nearly spilling her drink in surprise.

"I believe that is," Thorne commented, folding his arms and looking. Things might become rather interesting tonight.

Cobblepot tried not to show it but his mood darkened as the Wayne heir made his way into the club. He sauntered in like he was entitled to be here with a pair of fashion models on every arm.

"Well, should have expected him to show up, shouldn't we, Oswald?" Thorne asked, pulling Cobblepot out of his thoughts.

"Should have, yes,' Cobblepot said, his voice more of an angry squawk then a response and he clutched the handle of his stylish umbrella, trying to calm down.

Wayne was there, chatting with some people on the dance floor and his hand tightened over the handle of his umbrella.

Things quickly escalated from bad to worse, when Harry Potter of all people walked in there. Cobblepot's mood went to pretty bad to really foul, his hand clutching underneath the umbrella. He managed to keep a lid on his temper long enough to calm down and not make a scene.

'Don't lose your shit, it won't do well for you to do so,' Cobblepot thought to himself, shaking his head for a few seconds, trying in vain to keep his calm. Even though he had the urge to smash something and smash it hard.

Then suddenly, he wondered how he was willing to turn a negative into a positive. His family after they were disgraced, he had a pretty big handicap to overcome. Suddenly, a slight wicked grin appeared on his face, but faded after a second.

There was seconds where everyone had their attention on Harry Potter. Which saved Throne from seeing that momentary outburst, a blessing in disguise for Cobblepot really.

"Tracey."

There was no answer, her eyes were locked outside and Cobblepot looked at her, rapping his hand on the table very gently, but her eyes were still fairly averted forward, and it seemed like that she was spell bound by the presence of this young man arriving.

Cobblepot lifted up his umbrella and rapped it on the table and snapped. "TRACEY!"

Tracey turned around and she could see that her boss was rather steamed. She shook her head, acting like she wasn't looking at the eye candy.

"So the little golden boys want to show up, well, let's turn this one around into a positive," he whispered, beckoning her out of the room. He left under the pretext of looking around the club, leaving Thorne and his date to occupy themselves with another drink.

Turn a negative into a positive, that's what a Cobblepot would do in the end. The foul bird took a step forward and other than what entered the club, everything was going well.

"Sorry, no time to chat, got to make sure everything is smooth," Cobblepot said, brushing past a couple of his contacts and he saw Mr. Walrus peering out of the crowd.

Tracey and Mr. Carpenter followed at his heels.

Harry Potter was going to really admit that the club was rather nicely put together all things considered. Despite the fact that he was angry at the man, he was grudgingly impressed by everything.

'He did put it together fairly nicely, and I'm sure that there were hours of work that he put into it,' Harry thought and Kara looked fairly amused.

'It would be a real shame if something happened to it, wouldn't it?' Kara asked, with a knowing grin on her face.

'Yeah, it really would be, a real shame,' Dinah thought, smiling at the thought of what was going to happen.

Never the less, some of the girls were dividing into groups. Harry watched with Faora pretty much literally dragging Selina off into the opposite direction, with potentially devious intentions in mind.

Then seconds later Kara nudged Vicki and she whispered something to her. Harry was too busy getting a look at the layout around the club to see what was happening. Karen made her way off into her own direction as well.

'It's time,' Jaime thought, nodding towards Harry, and she took advantage of the hustle and bustle of the club to slip off into the midst of the club, with Dinah, Jaime, and Diana working their way towards the casino.

Harry smiled, he could see that he was left alone with Sapphire and Veronica. That being said, the two girls were huddled together with each other, something that caused Harry to raise an eyebrow.

As two girls would have done, they were huddled in a close conference with each other and Harry speculated that they were scheming for some reason or another. Exactly what they were plotting, Harry didn't really piece that much together. Their whispering got rather rapid with each other and Harry could not help but listen in, with his overly enhanced hearing.

'So what are they saying?' Donna asked, her curiosity getting the better of her, and it appeared that Lyta was about ready to listen in as well.

'You know, I don't know, might as well be Greek to me…..I understand some of the words….'

Hippolyta of all people giggled in amusement, hearing a bit of it. 'Well, I'll tell you this much, and I can say this without a doubt from experience, Greek is a lot easier to comprehend then what they're saying.'

'Yeah, that's for sure,' Donna thought, placing her hands on her face and inclining her head, with a slight smile.

'Well that puts me at ease,' Harry thought and he could hear the words coming from Sapphire.

"Okay, alright…..see you later…"

Harry raised an eyebrow at that statement from Sapphire and Veronica stepped forward, giving Harry a brief kiss on the cheek.

'I'll catch you later, Harry, I think that I'm going to steal a dance from Bruce….BRUCE!" Veronica said, calling the billionaire playboy over. The man in questioned turned and looked at her. "It's been a long time since I've seen you, one would think that you were avoiding me."

Sapphire smiled, catching Harry's eye in amusement, and she reached over to the side, gripping Harry's hand. With one swift motion, she lead Harry over.

"So what's up?" Harry asked and Sapphire gave him a bit of a bright smile in response.

"You'll see in a bit," she told him, an air of mystery filling her voice, but never the less she brought him over to where an interesting crew of people were holding court.

Harry recognized Simon Stagg right away, it would be hard not to do so, and he could hear the conversation between the three men that he was talking about. Commissioner Loeb was the most obvious individual that was there, but there was also Hamilton Hill, the Councilman who had aspirations for far higher and Maxmillion Shreck, a silver haired man who acted charming on the surface, but there was an oddity to him and a slight amount of sleaze as well.

"There are many changes in Gotham City, I don't think….."

"Just think about the business that the new power plant would bring in," Shreck said, looking at them. "It's all about helping Gotham City build its way to a bright tomorrow, isn't it?"

"Well, you drive some interesting points home," Loeb said in a voice that was non-committal at best. "We would need to look through all of the angles."

'Or he's just trying not to make a decision that will cost him any political favor given that he's on some pretty shaky ground,' Harry thought to himself.

"Just think of what is best for business and best for Gotham City," Shreck argued once again, trying to curry some rather important favor and he turned towards Stagg. "Simon, I'm sure you would agree that….."

"Well, I'm not sure if it's really best for business, the safety concerns out way the potential profit," Stagg commented, looking at both of these men.

"Stagg, with all due respect, I never thought you to be one…."

"Times have changed, and I follow where the money is going to go," Stagg said and he looked at Shreck extremely carefully, choosing his words even more carefully. "Do not forget that sometimes the best business is the one that isn't going to land us in trouble with the general public."

Sapphire inclined her head, waiting patiently for this conversation to wrap up. It appeared that she was working on him but obviously she had to do so within a context of a language that he understood and that was dolars and senses.

"Just think about it…"

"Well it would bring new jobs to Gotham City," Hill commented, scratching underneath his chin. That was something that could endear him to the people if he wanted his plans to move forward.

"Just think about it, and think about the benefits, I would like the support of all of you, you could assume that we're going to do what we can to help make the world a better place," Shreck said and there was something shifty about what he was saying.

"We'll see, but I'm not willing to throw my support on it, until I see how much it benefits things, such a plant would have several safety concerns that would need to be addressed before we could properly deal with it," Stagg said and it looked like his jaw was set firmly.

"Well, I know that you might have a good grasp, as it was partly because of your donation where the Major Crimes Unit was established."

"Yes, some of the more seedy elements are taken care of…but tell me, what are we doing about this Nightwing and Batman?" Shreck asked. "I've been reading the most extraordinary rumors about how Batman lead an uprising of the homeless against the Gotham City Police Force, and his popularity is growing, like some kind of cult."

"Well, I do hope that something is done about Batman, if I'm elected Mayor, there will be no vigilantes in this town," Hill said in a firm voice and he turned to Loeb, as if looking for his feedback.

"Batman and Nightwing will be brought in, no one will be above the law as long as I'm Commissioner."

"Yes, Sapphire, what is it?" Simon asked, turning around and looking towards his daughter. "Mr. Shreck, Councilman Hill, and Commissioner Loeb, I believe that I've introduced you to my daughter Sapphire."

There were some light greetings but they were more formal than anything.

"Daddy, this is Harry Potter," Sapphire said, looking from Harry to her father.

"Yes, Doctor Potter, I have followed your work," Stagg remarked, shaking hands with the young man. It was diplomatic but there was a small amount of sincerity in his voice. "Gotham City's future hinges on driven people like you, and I'm glad that you are helping my daughter stay on the right path to complete her studies. The Stagg family legacy hinges on her."

"Doctor Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you as well," Shreck said, Harry had already met Loeb and Hill in passing, and they just nodded at him.

"Anyway, you have business, so I just wanted to introduce the two of you," Sapphire said, and she decided to steer Harry back towards the dance floor, because she doubted that she could stand listening to any more political posturing tonight.

"So, that was….."

"I think that you owe me a dance," Sapphire interrupted him, with a smile, and his hands were placed on her waist as the two of them did just that.

'So she wants to be evasive, fair enough, fair enough,' Harry thought, allowing her to lead him onto the dance floor.

Faora Dru-Zod, alias Alexandra Potter, smiled, she always enjoyed a challenge and Selina Kyle was the epitome of a challenge if there ever was one. She had been courting her, waiting for him to bring her into the group.

"So, not a bad turn out today," Selina whispered to her and she was about ready to go shopping, but she was trying to be polite and not ditch Alexandra on the dance floor.

"No, it isn't," she commented with a smile on her face. "Summer Gleeson seems to be interested in getting more than a few words with Harry…"

"And I'm sure that young Miss Vale essentially cock blocking her was unintentional," Selina said with a shifty little grin and Alex just shook her head. "I don't know, she has some positive qualities but she comes across as…..what's the right word for her?"

"Artificial might be the word that you're looking for," Faora replied and Selina smiled, that was it. "So, about the Penguin's assistant…"

"She's not a bad looker, but her value goes up when she opens her mouth and that…..I don't even know what the fuck her accent is spills out of her mouth," Selina said and Alexandra smiled.

"Gags were invented for a purpose like that…"

"I'm beginning to think that gags were invented just for the purpose of someone like Tracey Buxton," Selina said with a swift smile and nod.

Faora was on the hunt for a target to seduce, to give them the insight to Penguin's organization, not that the more conventional approach of the communications network had been cut off but so far, there was really no dice at all.

"You know, whilst you're here, feel free to indulge in your hobby," she whispered to Selina, trying to encourage her to make use of her natural talents.

"Do you mean…"

"I mean exactly what you think that I would mean," Alex responded and Selina didn't say anything, but the wicked smirk on her face pretty much told the story and then some.

Meanwhile, Vicki and Kara were scoping out who was talking to who, because a club like this, there would be some shady backdoor dealings going on. Vicki was watching intently, trying to determine who was going to talk to who and exactly how that was going to happen exactly.

One of the parties that she saw was Roman Sionis and he was in intense talks with Tony Zucco although about what, they couldn't really say.

That being said, Kara looked around and could see Skeevers with a large cane, it looked like some kind of pimp cane by the looks of things. He walked fairly gingerly all things considered.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that he showed his face tonight, but I guess he has to maintain public appearances," Vicki said and she continued to look around.

'If it isn't compensating for something with that, I'd eat Vicki's panties,' Kara commented but she should have known that a comment like of that would not go without a response.

'I'd pay to see that,' Amanda thought and there was much agreement by the other members of the bond.

But perhaps the most interesting was Thorne and Cobblepot. Given the warning that Harry gave Thorne a while back, it appeared that he was back out doing some things that he shouldn't do. It just gave him some time to recover.

"Looks to be two businessmen who enjoy each other's company, at least for now," Vicki said, snapping some pictures and she would have to look to see if there was more than meets the eye. No money would exchange hands in a public venue.

The fact that a couple of supposed reputed business men were talking with some of the criminal elements in Gotham City. Kara leaned back against the wall, waiting for the show that was very unlikely to unfold.

Vicki had a sixth sense that something was about to go down tonight, that many combustible elements in one place was so dangerous. There was just one match that was going to ignite the powder keg. That being said, she continued to sharpen her reporter instincts and look out closely into the crowd. Just waiting for something to happen that would allow her curiosity to pay off.

Jaime made her way forward, looking over her shoulder to see her two companions that were moving behind her. Diana and Dinah followed her, the coast was in fact fairly clear.

'If it is Cobblepot that is behind this, I think that he's using the back area of this place to conduct business, if you catch my drift,' Jaime thought, and she was taking an opportunity to get a better view of her surroundings. 'So what do you think?'

'I think that's pretty logical,' Dinah thought and Diana would have to concur just a little bit with that. They had the packages that were ready to deliver, the ones that Harry made for them on their way into the club.

Jaime raised her hand and the three of them slipped into the back room.

'You know, I'm pretty sure that the waitresses are able to move around well…..give me a second to copy the details of their uniforms, and then we'll be off,' Jaime thought, looking over her shoulder, and then she looked forward.

She waved her hand and the three of them had the uniforms transferred. Obviously, the material around the uniform was very tight around them, but that could have been par for the course. They were one piece costumes, where their cleavage would have spilled out for, had Jaime not magically enhanced them to hold up a little bit. Then there were sheer stockings that covered their legs and nice boots. There were top hats on the top of their heads, along with a bow tie.

'Not too bad of a likeness,' Diana thought, with a smile, she was pleased at how well the charm work held and she was certain that Jaime was.

'Well, it does show you what Cobblepot thinks his women as,' Dinah thought, shaking her head and leaning back but Jaime corked an eyebrow and looked at her. 'What?'

'Well, it should be something that you should be used to wearing, given the old hand me down costume that your mother wore,' Jaime thought to her and the woman sighed.

'Just because I'm used to wearing it, doesn't mean that I find the costume very comfortable, if at all,' Dinah thought, biting down on her lip hard and giving herself a sigh to recover.

'Exactly why did the costume be set up that way anyway?' Diana asked, she was curious.

Dinah turned to both of her companions. 'Don't think that I haven't asked that question myself more than a few times.'

'Yes, I mean…it's an eye catching costume, and I'm sure that it would distract most men and more than a few women, but at the same time….you know, wouldn't that be a bitch and kind of cold in the winter time,' Jaime thought and Dinah placed her hand underneath her chin.

'You know, that's never been a topic of conversation that came up,' Dinah said, and she saw that Jaime slipped one of the packages that Harry had given them. 'You know, I honestly really don't have the slightest idea possible. She originally started as a long line of police officers, but she couldn't join the force, never found out why, but she wanted to help, so she started to fight crime.'

Diana slipped one of the packages, it was in the VIP area, right underneath the box where Cobblepot was, at least how he started out the night. They noticed he made his rounds around the club, doing business, both legal and otherwise.

'You know, even with the modifications, the costume that you have now might always be cold,' Jaime thought to her.

'Well, there are a lot of…..there are a lot of charms on it thanks to Lavender, so it's a lot more practical that the original version that my mother had,' Dinah explained to her and Jaime nodded with a smile on her face. The final package was in her hand, all that she had to do was make sure she planted it in the most strategic location. 'And there's a charm on my mask to prevent people from connecting Black Canary to Dinah Laurel Lance….but that's just really a precaution more so than anything else.'

'Right, right, figured as much,' Jaime thought, there was really no question as to what was in these packages because Harry was pissed. The night was prepped to end with a bang.

The Club was really starting to fill up throughout the night, the front was brimming with all kinds of business, and the back area was brimming with it as well.

'Is that….a tank?' Dinah thought, looking at one of the more interesting items with curiosity.

'Guess you can buy anything here, if you got the scratch,' Dinah thought, and she looked around. Obviously the further back they got into the club, the seedier the business got, at least that's what their assumption was.

Jaime got an interesting glance at a person, mostly because he was coming towards her, almost at the force of a tank, that knocked her over.

'No way, no fucking way,' she thought to herself but the dark haired female shook her head. Despite the fact that she had not seen him in a long time, fortunately, there was no mistaken him, she should have known him.

'What…..' Faora thought but then she was caught gobsmacked. The last time she saw him, he was down on his ass, having fallen back on his own accord.

He might have dropped about a hundred pounds of fat and put on about fifty pounds of muscle but then again…..he didn't really recognize her, not that he would. He never was that sharp on the uptake.

'Petunia's precious Duddikins, grew up into the thug that I always thought that he'd be,' Lily said, shaking her head. That was her sister in a nutshell, to raise a mobster strong arm person. That being said, the redhead's mouth was hanging open.

That being said, that made things interesting and not to mention, far more personal than it should have been.

This news also got the reaction that they expected it would but it didn't change the plan in the slightest.

Veronica found herself on the dance floor with Harry, after Sapphire had her turn with the green eyed wizard. She looked rather pleased with herself all things considered, with his arm wrapped around her waist, and hers wrapped around his neck.

The two were having a conversation, before Harry saw the Walrus faced man up close. He was having a very back sense of Deja-Vu suddenly to be honest, as the song got lively, and in the ultimate twist of irony, it got pretty ominous, almost like something was fixing to happen.

Harry was caught completely off guard for a fraction of a second but he managed to recover from his reaction pretty fairly quickly. He spinned Veronica around and dipped her through the floor, catching her by surprise when she nearly touched the floor.

'Close call,' Kara offered, as the realization of who Mr. Walrus was came to them.

Harry didn't say anything, in fact, he was maintaining a rather good poke face, when he brought Veronica back up. She was surprised but at the same time, she found herself quite pleased with what transpired.

"You know, you're not the type that I would consider to be one that would dance well, but you are," Veronica said, managing to catch her breath and she looked into his eyes. Needless to say, she was practically gushing and by that, in every single sense in the world.

"I've had a lot of practice," he said, keeping her eyes on him with a smile on his face.

She could not being to not be pleased, it was obvious why she was pleased. But she managed to replied with a slight grin on her face. "Well…is there really anything that you can't do?"

"Well, I haven't found anything yet that I haven't, but that doesn't mean that anything doesn't exist," Harry told her and Veronica blinked, her mouth hanging open for a second and she nodded.

"Okay, fair enough," Veronica said, with the song winding up to an end.

Harry was mentally plotting what his next move would be, as the dance was about ready to conclude. Things were getting rather heated in the club, and that was for more ways than one.

That being said, the solution rather came to him, as he saw Sapphire waiting there, with a smile on her face, waving him over. She was standing in front of the Casino and there was a mischievous grin on her face.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm feeling a little bit daring tonight," she stated, looking at both of them with a smile on her face.

"Oh, would the two of you be up for some gambling?" Harry asked the both of them.

"Actually that does sound like a little fun, I mean what's the harm in that?" Veronica asked.

'Oh boy,' Donna, Amanda, and Emily chimed in through unison, before they were completely hushed.

'And….suddenly I'm beginning to see what's going on here,' Jaime thought, granted she had a good idea but this threw the puzzle pieces together.

"Sure, I mean, it'd be fun spending time with you, and…..didn't you already beat the slots a lot tonight?' Sapphire asked, with a smile on her face. There didn't seem to be a lot of people who had a lot of luck there, although there were some winners. "I…..I guess I've never had that much luck with something like that, you know."

"Well it really does take a steady hand and a bit of patience."

'You didn't….you did, didn't you?' Rose asked him and Harry smiled.

'I don't have the slightest idea what you could be talking about,' Harry thought with a smile on his face, and he guided Sapphire over to demonstrate.

To be fair, the machines weren't nearly as rigged as the ones that were in Vegas, those were a special kind of rigged to be honest. But these required a lot more luck to be honest.

"Don't spend it all in one place now," Harry joked to Sapphire, who smiled like the cat that ate the canary as she hit the jackpot. "So, let's join these guys, because even though I've won a lot tonight, I'm looking forward to breaking the bank."

"Are you really?" Sapphire asked.

"What can I say, would you believe I feel lucky tonight?" Harry asked but then he paused. "Then again, I feel lucky every night."

The implied innuendo of that statement was not lost amongst the two females who giggled a little bit.

Harry edged his way over to the poker game, where the game was starting. He sat his way down to the game, with a smile on his face.

"Deal us in."

The dealer recognized him and nodded. There were a couple of men on the table with knowing grins on his face, and Veronica and Sapphire sat down next to him.

The first hand, they thought that he was a pushover, but sure enough, he did pretty well for himself.

That being said, the next round, they were beginning to think that the beginner's luck was something that was in greater abundance than he thought it was.

And after the third round, they were beginning to sweat just a little bit. It was obvious that he wasn't the pushover they thought he was.

"So, Gentlemen, I think that I'm doing fairly well," Harry said, looking at them with a smile on his face, sweeping the chips in. "So, are you still feeling lucky?"

"Not going to let you push me over, Potter," one of the men at the table said boldly.

"Yeah….let's keep playing, anyone can get lucky for a few hands."

'It's up to you, I'm game if you are," Harry said and there was a moment where the men looked at each other, and nodded. Their stubborn male pride was as such where they were not about to quit while they're ahead.

Which played into Harry's hand perfectly.

Harry Potter had a grin on his face, and that was not just because Sapphire was perched firmly on his lap, an interesting perk. The stack of chips had grown immensely in the last half hour and things were getting rather intense. All of the people who were there from the beginning had completely folded and had finally thrown in the towel for the evening. The last man standing from the original group looked to be considering throwing his car into the deal to get everything.

Veronica was pressed against his back with a smile on her face and she could see these formally cocky men sweating up a bit of a storm now. There was something oddly satisfying about all that. "And look, you've won again."

"Amazing the run of luck you've had tonight, isn't it?" Sapphire asked, squirming to see over the stack of poker chips that had been added. They were pretty much overflowing.

"Well, I said that I was feeling lucky tonight."

"So, you've been lucky tonight haven't you, feeling quite good about yourself?"

Oswald Cobblepot waddled over, he had one of his men keep an eye on the game, but much to his agitation, he couldn't get Potter booted from the club for cheating.

"Well tonight's a good night, isn't it, Ozzie?" Harry asked with a smile on his face, taking a drink. He could barely feel that much of a buzz, even if he suspected this might be fairly strong for normal people.

"Yeah, I guess, you've been doing pretty well for yourself tonight,' Cobblepot said grudgingly.

"Well, you should be impressed of all of what you've accomplished," Harry said with a smile on his face, and he was waiting for something to happen.

"Yeah, but this game right here, you see that, it's a kid's game, not too shabby if you want to be a novice, but you've done well, see your suit jacket's off, but I'll show you how a real man plays this game," Cobblepot said.

"Oh, and is he coming here soon?" Harry asked and Sapphire had to duck her head, to keep from laughing.

"Alright, you've obviously been feeling a little cocky, but now it's time to come to come back down to Earth and show you what happens when you go up against a pro," Cobblepot said, intensity flashing through his eyes.

Cobblepot was a man who was used to playing for the highest stakes and Harry admitted that he was likely more skilled than the people that he had been taking to the cleaners tonight.

That being said, the first hand was won by Harry.

"Anyway can win a hand, let's go for one more," Cobblepot said, not breaking his sweat.

"Be my guest," Harry motioned towards him and there was pretty much a glint in his eye which told the man to just bring it, more or less. That being said, Cobblepot was looking pretty good for himself. "Well done, but like you said, anyone can win a hand."

"Are you in or are you out for one more?"

Harry smiled, he could say that Cobblepot was trying to call his bluff but Harry wasn't going to be one that was going to give in that easily.

The third hand, well the result was interesting, given that Harry won that one handily. Given the stakes that were present, that looked like that it struck Cobblepot right where it hurt.

"Well, that was interesting."

Cobblepot managed to recover quickly. "Those were just pennies….there are a more high stakes game going on in the back, if you think that you're man enough for it."

Harry smiled at Sapphire and Veronica, waiting for their impact and their feedback.

"I'd say that you'd go for it," Sapphire said and Veronica detached herself from him, deciding to egg him on just a little bit.

"Most certainly, you're on a roll tonight," Veronica said to him, she figured that they could hang out with the other girls or bother Bruce, actually bother Bruce was a good idea.

"Sure thing, Ozzie, you're on, just let me cash in my um pennies," Harry said, holding out all of the chips and Cobblepot looked like he had been struck that.

"Doctor Potter, may I offer you a drink?' Tracey asked him, holding a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"Sure thing," Harry said, and he suspected a trap but one needed to bait it.

"Yes, drink up," Cobblepot said, not looking too eager.

Harry drank the wine.

"Is this imported?" Harry asked him.

"Yes, from a brewery in Germany, only get the very best here."

"Well it's well worthy of the Cobblepot name."

'Most likely because it tastes like Horse piss,' Harry thought making a face at the wine he tasted.

'Wait a minute, how do you know what Horse piss tastes like?' Amanda asked.

'Figure of speech, duh,' Emily thought, shaking her head.

'Well then…'

Harry smiled and Cobblepot beckoned him over, and they made the journey there, he could see it coming, it was only a matter of time.

'Good thing you took your vitamins today, isn't it Harry?' Lily asked him and he smiled.

Harry smiled and waited, seeing Cobblepot knock on the metal door.

Three times, in a certain rhythm and there was something that nailed him across the back of the head.

He slumped to one knee, and collapses down to the ground, his eye halfway open, and he could see the Penguin standing over the top of him. He saw Dudley standing over him with a splintered cricket bat, and the Penguin was rubbing his hands together, proud of the work that was done.

"Got you know freak."

Harry gave a shadow of a wink, and then he "passed out."