Ben was a bit surprised at how quickly she'd agreed, particularly given how reticent she had been about something as simple as a ring. One of the 'tricks' of the game was that there were questions designed to not meant to be answered easily. If they were too tame, the game would be over in short order, and the alcohol wouldn't be necessary at all. But he hadn't said any of that explicitly, and she wouldn't have any reason to know.

Once they started the game, though, they'd have to finish. The magic in the cards prevented them from just ignoring the rules, so one of them was going to have to talk to get through these cards. Hopefully Melody really was willing to play along.

After turning over the first card and glancing at his hand, Ben realized there was only one card he could play to start. He fished it out without taking time to read all of the questions in his hand — all of the questions he'd have to answer if he was going to win. He played the card: a blue diamond with the question have you ever been in trouble with the law?

"A few times," he answered, looking at the card rather than at Melody. "Most recently was during the Bella Scrimgeour thing. I had a bad feeling about her father and I wanted to check the Ministry records to see why he'd left the aurors. I used polyjuice to look like Aldous, and, uh, impersonating a Ministry official to steal records is illegal, I guess. Aldous got me off easy, but I had to swear an Unbreakable Vow not to do it again."

Ben let out a sigh. "So, uh. You have to answer that question, then play your own." Not that he thought Melody would have an answer, but still.