At three in the morning, Georgi was awakened from an uneasy, foreboding sleep by an exhausted International Express eagle owl clawing at his bedroom window. He'd been expecting (dreading) this delivery all day, which had made him quiet and distracted at training, and now he was too scared to open it right away. He took the owl downstairs and fed it instead, gave it some water, set it by the fire to rest and to watch Drago basking in the flames.

Finally, because the fear of what was in that envelope wasn't diminishing the longer it sat on his table, he picked it up, sent up a prayer to St. George for bravery, and read it.

Georgi Nikolov,

Until you're in my position as the head of a family and have to make decisions for the good of all, based on the realities of the world rather than your own flights of fancy, you shall not criticize my decisions on behalf of this family. Your mother and I are extremely surprised and disappointed that you would choose to flout the values and traditions we raised you to respect. We always believed that you were an honest and trustworthy young man, a credit to our family and to your bloodline on both sides, and accordingly we've given you the freedom to pursue your own interests, even as you went into Quidditch despite our misgivings on the suitability of that hobby. We see now that allowing you so much liberty at such a young age was a mistake.

If you are the son I raised, worthy of your name, your inheritance, and the responsibility and privilege your position entails, this is what you will do:

You will not entertain any visitors that will bring shame on your family. You will immediately cut off correspondence with Miroslav, who like all non-wizards has no place in our society and will ultimately be more content and productive mixing only with his own kind.

You will cease this sudden interest in liberal political nonsense and maintain a properly neutral stance on the Muggleborn question. No respectable family wants a radicalist agitator as a son-in-law, and your concern right now should be to safeguard the potential alliance with the Urquhart family. If a second promising match falls through for you, people will begin to wonder why.

You will keep your distance from political malcontents in the future, and you will work harder to present yourself properly as my son and as your mother's heir. The future of Hristov Company is of the utmost importance to your grandfather. Because you are my son and my first goal is the preservation of your promising future in that business, as long as you cease this agitation immediately, I will see that he never hears of this embarrassment.

Above all, you will spend the remainder of your time in Britain carefully considering the ruinous consequences of impetuous decisions. Remember my rebellious cousin Elena Grozdanova, who threw away all her advantages and responsibilities and lost everything because of her ill-fortuned fondness for that Muggleborn Levski. Coming out publicly with the sentiments you expressed to us in your letter will have consequences you have not fully anticipated, and any unsanctioned action on your part may force me to take measures in order to protect the rest of my family. As I've told you many times before, decisions made in haste are often regretted at leisure. Don't let this decision be one of those.

Georgi, my son, I understand that at this moment in your life, young and unencumbered by responsibility, far from home and surrounded by young foreigners with unconventional views, this act of rebellion may seem attractive and righteous. But your concern must be not for the transitory present, but for the whole long life you have ahead of you. Your own future and, more importantly, the future of our family must be in the forefront of your mind. You've known all your life what is important. Don't let this passing folly cause you to make decisions you'll regret for the rest of your days.

You say that you want to make us proud by doing the right thing. Prove it by living up to the trust and the responsibility placed in you as our eldest child and our only son.

With regards and awaiting your reasonable response,
Nikolay Ivanov Draganov

Drago had crawled out of the fire and onto his knee while he was reading, and Georgi took a deep breath, put the letter aside upside down so he didn't have to look at it, and petted him absently. "Drago, my friend, I think I might lose my family, and I don't know what to do," he told the salamander softly.

Drago looked back up at him and spat a tiny, tickling flame onto his sleeve, which was only a little bit comforting.