Title: Hold 'Em Close

Characters: Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny. No pairings.

Summary: "Thing is, the king of hearts can't shine quite so bright if all you have is diamonds." Poker isn't a game for the faint-hearted - freeverse.

Notes: I'm not completely sure about the layout here, and I don't know what you all like, but I'm pretty happy with it. I've been obsessed with Texas Hold 'Em lately - hence the title - and so this kind of... happened. Enjoy?

Notes 2: Also, I saw hearts as representing Gryffindor, clubs as representing Slytherin, diamonds as representing Hufflepuff and spades as representing Ravenclaw - you don't have to agree.

Life is a p-o-k-e-r game.

Take your cards and hold 'em close;

Deal with the deck they dealt you -

Throw in a chip or two,

And hope for the BEST.

Call. Fold. Raise?

James is the king of hearts,

oh, doesn't he just

SHINE?

Thing is, the king of hearts can't shine

quite so bright

if all you have is d-i-a-m-o-n-d-s.

Raise. Call. Fold?

Lily is the queen of clubs,

all curves and four-leaf-clovers,

to those who don't know the

{GAME}

But she's important.

LUCKY.

(Sometimes, anyway.)

Fold. Raise. Call?

Sirius is the j-a-c-k of d-i-a-m-o-n-d-s,

the player

who jokes his way across the table

to be placed back in the pack

with the other meaningless

CARDS.

He can't shine quite so b-r-i-g-h-t

{in the dark}.

Call. Fold. Raise?

Remus is the ace of spades,

all angles and upside-down-lopsided-hearts

to those who haven't

played before.

The suit he wears, his

MASK,

is handed over to another.

Raise. Call. Fold?

Peter is the ten of clubs,

o - v - e - r - l - o - o - k - e - d,

nothing without another of the SET.

"Ten of - oh, you know-"

"Hearts?"

"No, no - the other one."

"D-i-a-m-o-n-d-s?"

"No, the roundish one."

"Spades?"

There's only one left,

process of elimination.

"Clubs?"

"Oh, is that what it's called?"

Fold. Raise. Call?

If life is a game of p-o-k-e-r

then they make a royal flush,

in a way,

(because they're all hearts

at HEART)

And if you bet h^i^g^h enough,

you might even make a profit

(and a prophecy).

Call. Fold. Raise?

Thing is, take away the ten of clubs,

and replace it with a king

{PRINCE}

of clubs -

oh so more important,

following in his mother's footsteps -

and the entire hand becomes

m-e-a-n-i-n-g-l-e-s-s.

Two kings?

That's not worth shit in p-o-k-e-r.

Raise. Call. Fold?

So let's take away the king of hearts -

pretty meaningless now,

right Prongs? -

and rip the queen of clubs in

HA/LF -

she's done her part now,

right Lily? -

and leave the j-a-c-k of d-i-a-m-o-n-d-s

{in the dark} -

not so funny now,

right Padfoot? -

and drop the ace of spades -

who wasn't needed in the end,

right Moony? -

and what're you LEFT with?

Fold. Raise. Call?

But add in a queen of spades -

Hermione,

you can be needed now -

and put together a jack of hearts -

Ron,

just follow your {heart}-

and remove an a-c-e of d-i-a-m-o-n-d-s

from the pack -

Ginny,

you're capable of SHINING -

and pick up the king of clubs from the sidewalk -

Harry, pick yourself up

and fight.

(You're all hearts at heart).

Call. Fold. Raise?

And you need one more card.

Take your pick.

This hand will be EASY,

though it won't seem it

'til the last round of bets.

Put in your chips

because this king of clubs won't let you

D O W N.

Raise. Call. Fold?

The others can try, just try,

to spurn you.

10

9

8

7

6

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

You have a much better hand

than THEY do.

Fold. Raise. Call?

The cards they dealt you

are l-o-o-k-i-n-g up -

your house ain't made of

paper cards no more.

One BLOW

and you don't crumble,

so throw in a chip

Or two.

Call. Fold. RAISE.

Life is a p-o-k-e-r game,

so take your cards and

HOLD 'EM

close -

you'll win in the end.