"No worries, mate. Gin's easiest for me," Kevin shrugged. He seized the cards and began to shuffle them as he sorted out the rules of the game.
"Alright, we each get ten cards," he started, dealing out just that many cards to himself and to Alfie. He put the remaining cards in a pile in the middle and flipped the top one over. "You're trying to make melds in your hand - three or more cards that are either all the same rank or sequential in suit."
Kevin glanced to his left and saw Professor McGonagall stride into the Great Hall. Quickly inventorying his knowledge of Hogwarts rules (which was by no means comprehensive), Kevin frowned. He couldn't remember if traditional playing cards were permitted. Certainly Trelawney would have been interested in them, but Kevin could easily see McGonagall forbidding them on the basis they might inspire gambling.
Drawing just the tip of his wand from his shirt-sleeve, Kevin tapped on the stack of cards, which transformed suddenly into a newspaper.
Kevin grimaced. He'd gotten the "Manchester Evening News" logo right, but in several places, the text of the articles read as heart-heart-spade-diamond.
As the matronly professor passed Kevin and his cards buddy, Kevin launched into a description of the offside rule.
"There can't be an attacker closer to the net than the last defender when the ball is played..." he trailed off, hearing the click-click of McGonagall's shoes recede.
"Sorry about that, mate, I wasn't sure if cards were kosher. Should we relocate?" he asked, folding up the newspaper and hoping he wouldn't be missing the 7 of clubs when he transfigured it back.