On Sunday, August 27th, 2023, Lily decided to teach James a new numbers game.

At one o'clock that afternoon, Lily went into James's room carrying a pair of large golden dice with big black numbers, a piece of parchment with the numbers 1-5 written in a top row and the numbers 6-9 written in a bottom row below the top row, and a quill.

"James," smiled Lily, "I'm going to teach you a numbers game this afternoon."

"I'm all for it, sis," grinned James.

"So, " explained Lily, pointing at the parchment, "As you can see, this parchment displays the numbers 1-9 in the form of a top row containing the numbers 1-5 and a bottom row containing the numbers 6-9."

"I see that," confirmed James.

Next nanosecond, Lily tossed the golden dice to James.

"The game I'm going to teach you is called Big Numbers," said Lily matter of factly, "The object of the game is to remove all of the numbers. You will roll the dice and then remove a combination of numbers from the board that match the number on the dice. For example, if you roll an 11 you can remove either the 9 and the 2, the 8 and the 3, the 7 and the 4, or the 6 and the 5. A bad roll occurs if you roll a number that no combination of numbers remaining on the board adds up to. You win the game by clearing the board. Usually, a bad roll usually means a loss. However, there is a caveat built into the game: If you roll the same number on both dice, you win a piece of insurance. You can use as many pieces of insurance as you have won to stay in the game. The game ends with a loss if you roll a bad roll with no insurance left or with a win if you successfully clear the board."

"Seems simple enough," said James, "It almost sounds like a gambling game."

"It can be played for money, for fun, to settle disputes, or whatever," replied Lily.

"Settle disputes?" asked James, "Such as if there is tie to make one of the Hogwarts Quidditch teams that doesn't want to break? A tied election?"

"Yes, those could be examples of using Big Numbers to settle disputes," answered Lily.

"We don't have any disputes to settle," declared James.

"No, we don't," piped up Lily, "But I would like to offer you a bet on the outcome of this game."

"How much?" inquired James eagerly.

"If you lose, you owe me ten galleons," offered Lily, "If you win, I owe you ten galleons. "

"I accept the bet," exclaimed James excitedly.

"I rather not use my wand for something this simple," said Lily simply, "So, I'll simply cross out the numbers you've knocked out with my quill."

"Yes, we don't have to whip out our wands for everything," agreed James.

"Roll those dice," Lily instructed James.

"Where do they need to land?" wondered James.

"Oh, great question, James," sighed an embarrassed sounding Lily, "I don't give you full instructions. I can be a retard sometimes. Just roll them on your bed."

Next nanosecond, James rolled the dice onto his bed and rolled a pair of 6s.

"A double already!" exclaimed Lily, "You have a piece of insurance. So, which numbers do you want to knock out?"

"The 1, the 2, and the 9." decided James at once.

Lily crossed out the 1, the 2, and the 9.

"So," Lily informed James, "You have the numbers 3,4,5,6,7, and 8 left to knock out."

James quickly rolled the dice again, this time rolling a 6 and 5.

"You've rolled an eleven," said Lily crisply.

"Let's get rid of the 8 and the 2," chose James.

Lily crossed out the 3 and the 8.

"Now," Lily reminded James, "You still have the 4,5,6, and 7 on the board."

James was having a lot of fun playing and was getting caught up in the excitement of trying to win.

James changed his rolling strategy to a soft toss and rolled a 1 and a 3.

"Your only move is to eliminate the 4," piped up Lily bluntly, immediately crossing off the 4, "You've still got the 5, 6, and 7 to take care of.

James continued with the soft toss method and rolled a 2 and a 3.

"Another roll where the decision is made for you," smirked Lily, crossing out the 5, "The 5 is gone. Now, only the 6 and 7 remain and it's impossible to roll a 13. You need two moves to go your way."

At this remark, James bent down a little and literally kissed both dice before rolling them again.

The kiss did bring James luck as he rolled a 4 and 3.

"Well," grinned James glowingly, "That takes care of the 7,"

"Indeed," cooed Lily as she crossed it out.

"I have two shots to get rid of the 6 because I won insurance on my first roll," James reminded Lily.

"Good to see you're keeping on top of things," said Lily approvingly.

James now rolled a 1 and a 2.

"That's a bad roll," gushed Lily happily, "I might win the ten galleons after all. Your one piece of insurance keeps you in the game. Now it all comes down to this roll."

James blurted out, "Well, maybe I should kiss the dice, it worked for me two rolls ago."

James then kissed both the dice and rolled them, then closed his eyes as Lily closed hers at the same time.

Lily opened her eyes first and saw that the dice on the bed showed a 1 and a 5.

James's eyes were still closed, and he did look a little nervous.

"Well," spoke Lily proddingly, "You have to find out the results sometime, open your eyes."

James opened his and to his delight saw the dice with the 1 and the 5 facing up.

"YES!" yelled James, "I won!"

"You won fair and square," acknowledged Lily, crossing off the 6."

Lily dug her left hand into her left hand pocket and retrieved ten galleons that she handed to James.

"Congratulations, James," said Lily, "Even though I was on the losing end of our bet, it was still really fun to teach you Big Numbers."

"I had a lot of fun playing," burst out James radiantly, "Yes, it's always fun to win, especially when you win a bet, but I noticed that I was having a blast while I was playing."

Lily now said, "James, you may keep these dice. I've got plenty more of them."

"Thank you, Lily," smiled James warmly, giving Lily a hug, "I can have a lot of fun just rolling these dice and I can create a lot of little games in my own head to play with them. I appreciate you letting me keep these dice."

"My pleasure James," cooed Lily, "Besides, I don't want to take them back after you kissed them. I don't need your germs, thank you very much."

James and Lily burst into laughter at the exact same nanosecond.