The owls made Julien jump (about a foot into the air) but he'd de-ruffled his feathers by the time Alfie slung an arm around his shoulders. For a moment it felt like a banked fire somewhere in his chest, a comfortable feeling of belonging, similar to the feeling he had when he lost himself amongst the bookstacks, and some strange other thing that he'd never felt before - but it went as soon as it was there and he passed it off as another random flicker from another unknown source.
He tucked himself in against Alfie a little, just because that soft happy feeling he had there was better than the prickling cold he had from Harmony.