Emrys rolled his eyes at this remark. "And you're so invested in Reuben Crouch's good opinion of you?" he challenged, returning to his closet. No one ought to know about this duel except the two of them, Crouch, and Pettigrew — letting this stuff circulate around would mean it was stopped before it happened, because it was illegal. Hopefully Macmillan hadn't gone around telling anyone he'd been challenged over a flippant comment made about one of his lovers — but then, Macmillan had made the comment in the first place, so maybe he had less sense when it came to discretion than Emrys would have previously thought. Maybe he needed to re-evaluate his decision in occasionally sleeping with him.

"This thing with the woman is likely over either way," he pointed out. "If you die, obviously, but if you somehow win — which you certainly won't, but if you did — she isn't likely to have any fond feelings for you after you admit you murdered her brother."