William Calhoun and the Black Feather. Book I. Aik Iskandaryan

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СКАЧАТЬ all Calhouns were killed, someone managed to place their magic feather beside him, right before their death. Because it was clear that the feather could have belonged only to one of his ancestors. But Mr. Wellington made it clear that feathers didn’t serve strangers. Whom did he mean by strangers? It must have been another wizard kin! But, according to Wellington again, feathers couldn’t be inherited! Why did he have this feather? And why did it obey him?

      Then he remembered the morning at the Magic Post Office and Vulpik’s reaction to his surname. Vulpik’s reaction wasn’t much different from Wellington’s reaction at the Feather Nest. What could all that possibly mean? William had been pondering about those questions for a long time, but he failed to find an answer. Finally, he dropped this useless activity.

      Not long before evening, Nymus came, as promised.

      «Good Mail, Master Calhoun!» he raised his hat in a customary movement.

      «Nymus!» William was particularly glad to see his mailmage. Because he was supposed to deliver him a letter from the Department with the results of his request about studying at the Preparatory Course. «Have you got any news?»

      «Yes, Master Calhoun! I do not come empty-handed!» At this held out his large right palm. And that one clearly had something inside.

      William realized that now the expression «not empty-handed» had acquired quite literal meaning for him. «Who knows,» he thought, «perhaps it was made up by mailmages!»

      «Do you have a letter from the Department?» he pointed at Nymus’s swollen palm.

      «I do! That letter exactly!» Nymus pulled out a blue envelope from his palm pocket and handed it to his master.

      William took out the letter and read it aloud:

      «Dear Mr. Calhoun!

      The Wizard Education Department is happy to inform you that you have been officially granted the status of the Preparatory Course enrolee. You are to complete a year of studies of the special Enrolee Program, within which you are to study such subjects as Featherology, Wizard History Refutation, and Magiflorology. After the year of studying at the Preparatory Course, you will receive grades awarded for each of the abovementioned subjects according to the Fifteen-grade system, which will allow you to enter a MUni according to the total grades you will receive during the Preparatory Course! Please, note that each of the three subjects will be taught for two months. By the end of March next year, you will get a letter with your grades, where you will also find a referral to a relevant MUni.

      Best regards,

      Daphne Wootton (vice head of the training department)

      Enrolee Training Department»

      To William Calhoun

      13, Blackfriars Lane,

      London, England.

      William finished the letter and gave the mailmage a happy look.

      «I’ve been admitted, Nymus!» he exclaimed. «Admitted to the Preparatory Course!»

      «Master Calhoun has chosen to read the letter aloud, so I am already aware of that! Please, accept my congratulations, Master Calhoun! But this is not the only news I have brought!»

      He held out his other hand and pulled out another envelope, purple this time.

      «Whom is the second letter from?» William asked, puzzled, as he took the envelope from Nymus.

      «From the Department as well! It is supposed to come together with the letter about the admittance to the Preparatory Course!»

      William opened the second letter and also read it aloud:

      «Dear Mr. Calhoun!

      The Wizard Education Department is eager to inform you that this Saturday the Annual Enrolee Ball is going to take place, which all enrolees of the Preparatory Course are to attend. Attendance is mandatory. In case you turn the invitation down, your further studies at the Preparatory Course will be annulled and the refusal to take part in the Annual Enrolee Ball will be viewed as disrespectful to the Ball regulations and its organisers. We would also like to inform you that because of the anniversary of the Annual Enrolee Ball, it is going to take place in Germany, at the residence of the president of the International Federation of Wizards, Quincy von Bulberg. To reach this destination, you will need to come to the Cabstation before 5:30 p.m. this Friday, where you are going to take the Six O’Clocker together with other participants of the Ball to travel to the castle. During the ball, all enrolees will receive feathermaps with addresses of the teachers where regular classes of the Preparatory Course will take place.

      Please, find your invitation ticket enclosed to this letter. You will need to have it with you as a pass to the Annual Enrolee Ball.

      Best regards,

      Charlotte Walsh (Enrolee Correspondence Department)

      Wizard Education Department»

      To William Calhoun

      13, Blackfriars Lane,

      London, England.

      «This cannot be!» William said after he had finished reading the letter. He took the golden invitation ticket out of the envelope and read:

      William Calhoun

                              Participant of the Annual Enrolee Ball

      At first, William was thrilled. And no wonder: he was accepted as a full member of the wizard community, invited not just anywhere, but to the castle of the president of the International Federation of Wizards, where wizards come to from all over the world. But in a moment, his delight was quickly replaced by disappointment.

      «I’m afraid this isn’t going to work, Nymus!» he said gloomily.

      The mailmage didn’t have time to say anything as William continued:

      «What am I going to tell Hoggarts?» he pointed at the letter from the Department. «That I’m going to go to Germany to take part in the wizard ball?»

      «Master Calhoun is free to act as he wishes!» Nymus said with respect. «If he wishes so, he will go to another place where he will not have to ask for a permission to move around.»

      «But where will I go? Where will I live, how will I pay for my needs?»

      «Do not worry. I can sign Mister Calhoun for a membership at the Carefree Wizard Fund, where he will be given accommodation, food, clothes, and other necessary things.»

      «No, this won’t do!» William refused. «I love Hoggarts and I can’t just leave them like that. They are my family. Not by blood, but still. And they have been taking care of me for so many years and consider me their son. No! I’d better tell Mrs. Hoggart that I’ll spend the weekend at Bobby Atkinson’s place. She knows him, we go to school together, I mean we did, she won’t mind.»

      «Well, Master Calhoun knows better!» Nymus agreed reluctantly and added: СКАЧАТЬ