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"That fat Dursley..."
Sirius began to curse, but Lupin's stern look forced him to swallow the rest.
"If you want to continue staying at Hogwarts, I advise you not to say things like that."
"The entire school admires him."
"And he is my benefactor."
"What is so great about him?" Sirius muttered, looking aggrieved. "He only stopped a few children from fighting. He only founded some disciplinary group. He only gets top marks every year. He only solved the Chamber of Secrets crisis from fifty years ago. He only received the Order of Merlin, Third Class and First Class. He only created some recovery spell. He is only the youngest Wizengamot member..."
His voice grew quieter and quieter until it was almost inaudible.
Any one of those achievements would have been remarkable on another young wizard.
Sirius scratched his head angrily. "Hey, Remus, whose side are you on? Why do you keep speaking for outsiders?"
"I am on the side that is right."
This time, Lupin did not indulge his old friend.
A short while later, Sirius stormed out of the office and wandered aimlessly through Hogwarts Castle.
The young wizards did not pay him much attention. Most assumed he was a new professor of some class or other.
'If James were here, he would definitely stand with me.'
Sirius thought as he walked.
Unfortunately, the friend who had always stood by him was gone. It was all because he had thought of switching the Secret-Keeper at the last moment and had gotten James killed.
'No. James is gone. I have to do right by Harry.'
Sirius was the sort of person who acted on impulse. Otherwise, he would not have given up on himself in Azkaban for twelve years.
At that time, he had not thought of Harry at all.
"But Harry will not even see me now."
Thinking of that made him depressed again.
As for Dudley's warning, Sirius had already thrown it to the back of his mind.
Perhaps only a beating would help him remember.
The best way to get close to someone was to show interest in what they liked.
Sirius suddenly remembered something James had once said while pursuing Lily.
What did Harry like?
'That card thing, right? Wizard Cards.'
Once he figured that out, Sirius brightened. He hurried back to Lupin's quarters and, while Lupin stared at him in bewilderment, tossed Floo powder into the fireplace and left.
Three days later, a rumor spread among the second-hand Wizard Card dealers in Diagon Alley.
No one knew where he had come from, but a wealthy wizard had bought every expansion pack the dealers had at high prices.
Because of that, the resale price of Wizard Card packs rose again.
The dealers smelled profit and began buying up expansion packs aggressively, intending to hoard them and sell them at even higher prices.
A few days later, however, the official Wizard Card shop announced that card packs would be sold with no purchase limits.
The dealers suffered heavy losses.
The greediest among them lost almost everything they had put in.
They realized they had been tricked by the so-called wealthy wizard and swore to make him pay. Unfortunately, the man had vanished.
While Dudley was at a critical stage in his communication-snail research, the Wizard Card tournament qualifiers officially began.
Because the matches were held on the weekend, the Hogwarts professors did not interfere and allowed students to participate.
More than five thousand people signed up early, with more wizards still arriving from different places. That did not even include the audience.
Even the organizers had not expected such popularity. Their original venue could hold only ten thousand people, which was far from enough.
In the end, they had to spend a great deal of money renting the large stadium normally used for the Quidditch World Cup, which could hold a hundred thousand spectators.
The qualifying matches were dull.
Thousands of wizards were paired against random opponents. Anyone who won twenty matches in a row qualified. Only the sixteen fastest winners would enter the main bracket.
Because the competitors' skill levels varied wildly, some matches ended in one or two turns, while others dragged on so long that nearby players had already finished four or five games.
It was not because both sides were too strong.
It was because both sides were too weak.
After half a day, players began qualifying in steady succession.
The first Wizard Card tournament had been held at Hogwarts, but that did not mean young wizards were naturally better at the game. In fact, adults were often stronger.
Among the first five to qualify, only one was a Hogwarts student.
"What? This game is too simple."
The speaker was Sirius Black.
Using a deck filled with high-power cards, he easily won twenty matches and entered the top sixteen.
Yes.
The wealthy wizard who had bought up expansion packs at high prices had been Sirius.
As the owner of the Black family fortune, he was unquestionably rich. In his own words, he was now so poor that he had nothing left but money.
The Black family had once even surpassed the Malfoys as the richest family in the wizarding world. One ancestor had spent an enormous sum to "donate" himself an Order of Merlin, First Class.
Even after the family's decline, the remaining wealth was enough for Sirius to squander for a lifetime.
The rules of Wizard Cards were complicated, and Sirius was too lazy to study tactics. But he understood one simple principle:
The rarer the card, the stronger it was.
High-power cards had to be strong.
So he used the power of money and built a deck full of them.
His strategy was extremely direct. He relied on high base power to push through the opponent before they could set up a board.
It was crude.
It was also useful.
Many wizards lost before their strategies could unfold.
The real problem was Sirius's excellent luck. Some decks were designed specifically to counter high-power cards, but he did not face a single one.
The top sixteen were soon decided. Only four were Hogwarts students. The other twelve were adults.
The top sixteen matches were more interesting than the qualifiers. At least the players no longer looked like beginners fumbling against one another.
Soon, the top eight were decided.
Neville, Harry, and Draco all made it in. Hogwarts had gone from four of the top sixteen to three of the top eight.
Draco's opponent was Sirius.
"Malfoy boy, I will show you what I can do."
After so many wins, Sirius had finally understood the fun of the game.
Mostly, winning felt wonderful.
"I will play first."
Sirius drew a card and held it face down toward Draco.
"My card is this."
"Come out! Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
At his call, a huge silver-white dragon appeared on the field.
This was the ultra-rare magical creature card with the highest power among beasts:
Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Ordinary cards were not even worth sending against it.
Draco smiled at the enormous dragon.
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