Chapter 271: Two Letters from Home
Sunday morning. The Great Hall.
The long tables were loaded with food.
Most of the young wizards hadn't fully woken up. Over at the Gryffindor table, someone had their forehead pressed against their folded arms while a friend held their toast for them. Hufflepuff was lively as always, Ravenclaw quiet, and Slytherin sat proper, though a few yawns slipped through.
A flock of owls swept in through the high windows.
Two letters landed in front of Regulus.
The owls had arrived one after the other, a grey and a brown, both family birds. Each shook out its wings and settled beside his plate to wait.
Regulus glanced at the envelopes.
The first was thick parchment, black wax seal pressed with the Black family crest. Walburga's handwriting. Heavy strokes.
The second was thinner. The wax was black too, but it bore an additional rune: the exclusive mark of the Head of House Black. Only the patriarch's letters carried that seal.