Defense Guide

"Morning, Sirius. Where did you just go?" Lupin poked his head out of the kitchen and looked curiously at Sirius, who had just entered the tent. "Why do you look so unhappy?"

"I went to see Ludo Bagman. That bloke only paid half the Galleons he owed last night." Sirius had no fondness whatsoever for Bagman, who was trying to welsh on the debt.

"When did you place a bet?" Lupin stared at Sirius in shock. He had never imagined his old friend had been secretly gambling. That was not a good thing.

"I thought you'd be more concerned about how much I won." After pulling over a chair and sitting down, Sirius propped his legs on the table, seemingly lost in thought.

"All right, how much did you win?" Lupin asked helplessly.

"About... a thousand Galleons," Sirius said.

"How much?" Lupin's eyes widened in disbelief.

"A thousand Galleons," Sirius repeated, equally astonished.

"Stop gambling. Quit while you're ahead!" Lupin completely ignored the black smoke slowly rising from the pot as he tried to persuade Sirius. He truly could not understand why his old friend would take the risk of gambling. What if he lost? To win a thousand Galleons, how many Galleons had he needed to stake?

"Bagman didn't have enough Galleons to pay me, so he suggested I keep betting." Sirius glanced at Lupin's slightly grim expression and said casually, "I already agreed. Those Galleons were earned anyway, so it wouldn't matter even if I lost all of them. Besides, it's not like I'm guaranteed to lose."

Lupin fell silent. He knew he had no right to lecture Sirius. In the end, he only said, "Don't get too greedy. Quit while you're ahead," before returning to the kitchen to continue making breakfast.

"Lose? Me? No, I won't lose."