He snorted at even the mere hint that his Aunt Petunia might be willing to let him have fun.
"She didn't even let me have a bedroom until I was 12 and she was terrified I'd hex her senseless if she didn't!" he shook his head, finishing off the beer in one long gulp. "And anyway, why do you need to bet for money? I have plenty of both kinds." he pulled his wallet from his back pocket and opened it, showing two different slots, front and back, each filled with notes of differing sizes. "And, I need to owl Luna too, especially if we're going to be out late. I'm not sure she'd appreciate not knowing where I was." he smiled a bit sheepishly.
Were he in a poorer mood, he probably would have railed at the mention of the sort of treatment Harry had received. However, it wasn't exactly new information, and there was no use snapping about it to Harry. She'd been irrational as long as James had known her, though the image of her pursed disapproval that first morning on Lily's porch always did manage to make him smirk just a bit. Even more amusing was the way she proceeded to practically glare at him all through breakfast.
"Nothing to do with need. Trust me, it'll be amusing," he assured Harry. "Don't even worry about it, let your dad keep a trick or two up his sleeve, eh?"
He laughed a bit, quite amused by Harry's wallet. When he was young they'd never quite been a need for such things. A wallet worked well and good for muggle notes, but when it came to gold James still rather fancied the small pouch, charmed to shrink and flatten what he considered to be 'normal money.' Some fashions he preferred to retain from his own time.
"Yeah, I reckon it'll be a bit late," he conceded, not bothering to hide being pleased by the notion. "Always best, to let the lady in your life know what you're getting up to. Believe me, stumbling in around four in the morning without warning rarely gets you the sort of welcome you'd enjoy."
He shook his head and chuckled.
"Yeah, I'd reckon not. Besides, I think with everything that's gone on, Luna might be prone to worry after me.. especially since I've never been one to stay out. I'll tell her it's all your fault." he smirked. "With the stories I've told her about you lot, she won't be surprised." he closed his wallet and replaced it, wondering exactly what he'd gotten himself into. Of course, he hadn't partied ever in his life, but hey, his Dad wouldn't get him into anything sordid, would he? "So... where exactly are we going then?" he asked a bit cautiously.
Harry had always been one to go into a situation knowing where he was going, what he was doing. A tentative look crossed his face... of course he trusted his Dad, he just didn't trust the rest of the world.