Linda froze, her pen hovering mid-air, when she heard the voice. A voice she hadn't heard in years, but would instantly recognize. She had to resist the urge to rub her eyes when Orion Yaxley sat down in front of her, just to make sure he was really there.
"Well, that is a surprise," she said, trying to keep a straight face in spite of the mixture of emotions that suddenly surfaced in her. Damn, it's been long.
She didn't even acknowledge his comment at her first book - of course he would have hated it. It was one of the things they had never agreed on, the purity of blood and everything that came with it. Friends had pointed out his article in the Daily Prophet, two days after Not So Pure came out, but she had decided not to read it. Not because he was the author, but because she didn't read any reviews, good or bad, of her work on principle. She didn't want to be influenced on what or how she wrote. Least of all by people like Yaxley.
They had lost touch after school (not that she had tried to stay in contact), but she knew that he hadn't turned up on Voldemort's side during the war, which had surprised her a little. There had been a brief encounter a couple of years ago, but it was at a party and she had been too preoccupied with discussing things with her editor to really pay attention.
Yaxley had already sat down, not bothering with waiting for an invitation. Linda put down her pen, closed her notebook and leaned back in her chair.
"Mister Yaxley, it's been a while. What brings you to this wonderful town?"
