Spending a week in Austria riding and relaxing had been an absolutely wonderful getaway, but the next time she went overseas, Melisande was going to have to arrange for delivery of the Daily Prophet. She’d come back to quite an avalanche of news, from Sirius Black supposedly being a werewolf to Lucius Malfoy having a bastard. The latter she believed, but she wasn’t yet ready to dive into thinking about that mess, so Marlene’s announcement that she’d been fired was a good place to start.
When Marlene came to greet her, Melisande looked at her, noting the racier robes than were fit for the Ministry. Good. Their set could be conservative, especially in views, but at the same time, there was nothing wrong with flaunting what you had, and all the better if men were fooled by the exterior.
“It’s good to see you too, Marlene. It’s been too long, really.” Kissing Marlene’s cheek in greeting, she produced the bottle of wine she’d promised. It was elvish and a good vintage, just the thing for celebrating or complaining about the Head Auror, depending on how Marlene’s mood went. “Marcus is… Marcus. Trying to thwart Mother’s attempts at marrying him off, so we can have a Yaxley heir.” Melisande sniffed. “Pansy is well enough.” She waved a hand. “Enough about my family — how are you doing?”