Chapter 373: Family Emergency, Leave of Absence
A Wednesday in mid-February. The Great Hall. Breakfast.
The owl swarm poured through the vaulted windows on schedule, hundreds of wings beating, filling the hall with a rush of feathers and noise.
Letters, parcels, newspapers, and the occasional loose feather rained from above. Some landed neatly in front of their owners' plates. Others bounced off neighboring students' heads.
A large eagle owl broke through the outer edge of the flock, wingspan broad, flight steady, its trajectory elegant and controlled, in sharp contrast to the Barn Owls wobbling around it.
It landed in front of Regulus. One talon gripped the table's edge. The other extended, held perfectly level, waiting for him to take the letter.
The Black family owl.
Strapped to its talon was a black envelope. The seal pressed into the flap bore the full Black family crest.
Regulus saw the color of the envelope and the formal grade of the seal, and his hands went still.
Black envelope. The family's protocol for official notifications.