i think this might be my fav scene i wrote from my harry potter fic:
“You can’t possibly know what I’m holding,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Lillith. “I’ve spent years perfecting this face.”
“Years wasted,” Thiên An muttered into her coffee.
Lillith’s gaze stayed flat, calm as glass. “You raise your eyebrows when you bluff,” she said after a moment, voice as even as if she were remarking on the weather.
Sirius blinked. “I do not.”
“She’s right,” Kingsley said without looking up from his parchment. His quill scratched steadily, the sound a kind of heartbeat in the background. “It’s very obvious.”
Thiên An grinned wide, pointing at Sirius with her mug. “See? Even Auror Extraordinaire over there agrees. You’ve got tells all over you.”
Sirius scowled, though the expression didn’t hold. “You lot are conspiring against me.”
“We don’t have to conspire,” Lillith replied, laying down her card with surgical precision. “You hand the game over yourself.”
Thiên An wheezed a laugh, nearly choking on her drink. “Oh, I live for this.”
Sirius clutched his chest, theatrically wounded. “Merlin’s beard, the betrayal! First my godson, now this Slytherin menace and her henchwoman—”
“—best friend,” Thiên An corrected. “And don’t drag Harry into your poor life choices.”
“Poor life choices?” Sirius threw his hands up. “I’ll have you know I’ve been called many things, but—”
“Reckless, impulsive, self-destructive—” Kingsley listed calmly, still writing.
“—all synonyms,” Thiên An added helpfully.
Sirius stared at them all, jaw dropping in mock offense. “Is no one on my side?”
“Not while you’re losing,” Lillith murmured, her coins now stacked into perfect little towers.
Sirius dropped his cards in defeat, collapsing back against the chair. “That’s it. I’m ruined. Bankrupted by a fifteen-year-old. Alphard’s spirit is rolling in his grave.”