[Note: Read up to Chapter - 71 on P patron at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]
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"Your name's Aris, yeah?"
Once they'd reached the second floor, where things were a bit less cramped — Hermione Granger finally caught up to them, her eyes full of curiosity as she addressed Aris.
"Yeah, that's right. Aris Shafiq," he replied with a nod.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Hermione — Hermione Granger!"
"I know," Aris said with a cheeky grin. "By the time you finished that challenge, I reckon everyone on the street knew your name."
"That was just luck…"
Hermione flushed pink, clearly a bit embarrassed by the praise.
"Hi, I'm Luna. Luna Lovegood," said the blonde girl, nodding politely as she introduced herself. She then pointed to the man beside her.
"And this is my dad."
"Lovely to meet you, clever girl," Xeno said with a grin, giving Hermione a gentlemanly nod.
"Pleasure to meet you too, Mr Lovegood," Hermione replied politely.
Just as they wrapped up introductions, the voice of the Flourish and Blotts manager called out again.
"Right this way, please! This here's the storeroom — bit of a tight squeeze, but it's quiet."
Aris peered inside. Apart from a small space in the middle with a table and a few chairs, the rest of the room was absolutely stacked with books, piled high and deep.
The store manager entered the storeroom first, and Aris could hear the sounds of things being shuffled about inside.
It was clear the space had only just been cleared for them.
The group followed him in, but as Hermione Granger tried to step through the doorway, the store manager raised a hand to stop her.
"My dear girl, your reward's right here. Take your books and be on your way, would you?" he said, gesturing to a neatly stacked pile of books in the corner.
"Can't I stay and hear what you lot are talking about?" Hermione asked, eyes wide with curiosity. She clearly wasn't ready to leave just yet.
"Well…" The manager looked uncomfortable, clearly about to insist she leave.
But Aris's voice rang out from inside the room.
"No need to be so fussy, Mr Manager. Whatever you've got to say, just say it."
Aris was growing more curious by the second. The manager's sudden shift in attitude — from cool formality to this awkward deference — was raising all sorts of questions.
Now he was trying to send Hermione away? What was that about?
He chuckled inwardly.
Surely he wasn't trying to wriggle out of giving up the books — afraid Aris might actually clear the shelves?
A ridiculous thought popped into Aris's head:
If he really wanted to, he probably could bankrupt Flourish and Blotts just by redeeming that challenge reward in full.
Of course, he wasn't actually planning to. That'd just be cruel.
Of course, Aris had no intention of actually doing that.
"Sir, my name's Henry — Henry Barton," the middle-aged shop manager finally said, dropping the act and no longer stopping Hermione from stepping inside the storeroom.
Once everyone was seated, he suddenly stood, bowed deeply to Aris, and said,
"Members of the Barton family have served the Shafiq family for generations."
"Sir... no, that's not right," he corrected himself quickly.
"Master — we've waited almost half a century to see the Shafiq bloodline return."
"When word came from Gringotts that a young lad had inherited the Shafiq fortune, I couldn't believe it. I kept wondering when we'd finally lay eyes on our rightful master again. I never imagined it'd be this soon."
"We were already making plans to seek you out, you see."
As he spoke, Henry reached up and dabbed at his eyes, which had gone red with emotion.
"I'm sorry, Master. It's just… this means a great deal to me."
Aris was momentarily thrown by the whole scene.
Henry Barton? His entire family have been Shafiq retainers?
He blinked. I'm only eleven! When did I end up with servants, retainers, and a legacy?
Beside him, Luna and Xeno looked properly gobsmacked — and Hermione's face was a picture, caught somewhere between disbelief and fascination.
This man's actually calling Aris his master?!
None of them had expected anything like this.
Flustered, Aris quickly stepped forward and helped lift Henry up from his bow, while trying to gather his thoughts.
"Er… Mr Barton, is it?"
"Master, you can just call me Henry!"
"Hang on, don't call me master! That makes me feel like I've aged about fifty years in one go — it's dead weird," Aris said with a helpless smile.
Henry hesitated, then asked a little nervously, "Then... what about Young Master?"
Aris opened his mouth to say no, but seeing the sincerity in Henry's eyes, he gave in with a sigh. "Alright, call me whatever makes you happy."
Henry's face lit up. "It's such a relief you've come back, Young Master. You've no idea — after the family vanished, everything felt like it was falling apart. With no head of house, all sorts of people started sniffing around the family's businesses. If you hadn't turned up—"
"Wait a minute!" Aris interrupted, eyebrows raised. "Are you saying the Shafiq family still owns businesses? Even now?"
"Absolutely!" Henry nodded firmly. "Even though it's been nearly fifty years since the last of the family disappeared, the Barton line has never forgotten our duty. We've been quietly protecting and managing the Shafiq estate all this time."
He gestured proudly to the shop around them. "Take Flourish and Blotts, for example — still turning a tidy profit every month, all for the family!"
As he spoke, the corners of his mouth twitched upwards, the tips of his goatee curling with pride.
Aris couldn't help but find the expression oddly charming.
"I never expected this..." he muttered under his breath. "I just came to buy a few books... and it turns out the shop's mine?"
And now apparently, he had staff — actual, loyal staff who'd stuck by the Shafiq name for decades.
It was a lot to take in. Aris suddenly felt like he needed a quiet moment just to process the madness of it all.
For a moment, Aris felt like Bruce Wayne from the Batman comics.
"All this is mad unexpected!"
It wasn't just Aris who was thrown — Xeno and the others sat there wide-eyed, stunned by the revelation.
Xeno had already been amazed by Aris's uncanny memory earlier, but Henry's sudden declaration had knocked that completely out the park.
He couldn't shake the feeling that even more surprises were just around the corner for this boy.
"Who is he, really..." Hermione Granger stared at Aris from across the table, completely baffled by the way events had unfolded — it was all so surreal, like something straight out of a fantasy novel.
The boy sitting opposite her looked her age, spoke like her age — and yet, he constantly pulled off the impossible.
First, he recited an entire book in ten minutes.
After what she'd just seen and heard, Hermione no longer thought for a second that it was some rigged publicity stunt by the bookstore. That idea was firmly out the window.
From the way Aris and the shop manager, Henry, had spoken, it was obvious they'd never even met before today. There'd been no hint of rehearsed familiarity — only genuine surprise.
Which could only mean one thing.
Aris's memory wasn't some parlour trick — it was real. And it was terrifying.
As someone who had taken part in the very same challenge, Hermione had a deep appreciation for how insane it was to memorise that much material, that fast.
But even more shocking than his memory… was his identity.
Even with the brief time they'd spent together, Hermione could tell that Aris wasn't ordinary.
Whether it was from what she'd read in The Mysterious Shafiq Family or the whispers she'd overheard from the crowd earlier, one thing was clear — the name Shafiq carried weight.
Enormous wealth. Long-lost legacy. Ancient prestige.
Then came Henry's revelation — that his family had loyally served the Shafiqs for generations, and had been safeguarding their legacy for fifty years despite their disappearance.
That level of loyalty felt like something out of folklore.
Hermione looked at Aris again.
There was something about him — something deeper than what met the eye.
He carried an air of mystery… a kind of quiet pull, a gravity.
And for reasons she couldn't quite explain, Hermione found herself wanting to uncover all of it.
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[Note: Read up to Chapter - 71 on P patron at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]