Hyperion smiled at the momentary flicker of concern on the man's face. "Nothing bad," he added with a sly smile. "One of my colleagues is your head of department, and I remember her rather tartly informing my mother - that is, the head of my department - that 'Smith and Jones are more than capable of the job and they don't need swotty Aurors underfoot' or some such."
He smiled fondly, already liking Zacharias for his interest in books if nothing else. "1984's this amazing book by George Orwell, written in the early twentieth century," he said, still smiling. "It's about a lad called Winston Smith who works for the government, erasing events from the past in newspapers to make it match up with what the government wants now. But Winston hates the party and basically he tries to rebel. That's a really brief summary, as I wouldn't want to ruin the book for you." He smiled back and nodded, amused by the use of the word cool. "It is cool, you could always join if you'd like?"