'Is this just a little bit special?'
Irene thought Adrian had some misunderstanding about the term "little."
After some eye contact, Adrian keenly noticed that Irene's expression was becoming worse and worse. He hurriedly looked at Dougt and changed the subject.
"Deputy Director Dougt, have you settled things with the people in the wizarding market?"
After glaring at Adrian fiercely, Irene turned to look at Dougt.
"More or less. We beat them this time. Of course, I paid some Galleons so the wizard market wouldn't press things further."
Saying this, Dougt's face also showed a little pride. He'd become famous in Knockturn Alley through this incident, and now probably not many people would dare to provoke him.
"Are you sure?" Irene frowned. The most important thing to pure-blood wizard families was face.
"I'm still a member of the Bonham family anyway. They still have to give some consideration to that," Dougt sighed.
"Didn't you tell me you were disowned by the Bonham family?" Irene asked.
"But few people know that, right?" Dougt smiled mockingly. He hadn't expected that after being disowned, he'd have to rely on his family's reputation one day.
'Bonham family?'
Adrian recalled the memories in his mind. None of the famous families seemed to be named Bonham.
Then Adrian remembered he'd seen a related name in Hogwarts' books of famous modern figures.
'Mungo Bonham... the founder of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries!'
Adrian finally understood. No wonder Dougt had been able to become deputy director of St. Mungo's at around thirty years old. In addition to his outstanding ability, it was probably also because he was a member of the Bonham family.
Although this family wasn't well-known in the magical world and had few members, not even included in the Twenty-Eight Sacred Pure-Blood families, members of the Bonham family had served at St. Mungo's Hospital for almost generations. Their potential influence was extremely large, not to mention that the current director was a member of the Bonham family.
"So the matter has been settled now." Thinking of this, Adrian felt relieved.
"It should be, at least on the surface they won't conflict with us anymore." Dougt nodded his head, then hesitated again.
"But I'm not sure if those pure-bloods will try to trip us up in private. Especially since the Ministry of Magic has recently begun investigating the spread of dark magical items. Maybe they'll use this to make trouble."
"You're worried they'll put pressure on the Ministry? Have them come to Knockturn Alley and find me here?" Irene said with a frown.
"Yes, many people in Knockturn Alley know we have a good relationship. I only have a broken house with nothing to target, but you're different here, so I'm a little worried." Dougt sighed. That was why he'd come today.
"Can the Ministry of Magic's hands reach here?" Adrian asked strangely.
"Strictly speaking, Knockturn Alley is also under the Ministry's jurisdiction, but it's too messy here with not much profit to be made, so the Ministry has always adopted a hands-off attitude."
Dougt answered Adrian's question, then looked at Irene.
"Although there's only a possibility, you can't help but prepare. In short, you may have to remove the dark magical items in the store first, or temporarily suspend business for a while. I'll ask around for information, and when the Ministry's operation is over, you can return to normal."
While talking, Dougt took a bag from his waist apologetically and tossed it over.
"There are a thousand Galleons in it, which should be enough for you to use during this time."
"No, and you remember to drink less next time!" Irene shook her head. After catching it, she threw it back again.
Irene knew very well that for Dougt, who loved wine and gambling, this bag was probably all his savings.
Dougt tried to persuade her for a while but still couldn't make her keep the bag of money, so he had to leave reluctantly. Since he'd gotten into trouble, he had to deal with the consequences.
For a while in the dark magic shop, only Adrian and Irene were left.
Adrian kept a calm face, still thinking about the bad news from Dougt.
Originally, because of the Ministry's inspection problems, business in the store was already terrible. But now with this added complication, he was afraid they wouldn't have even a single sale during this period.
While thinking about it, Adrian suddenly felt a chill. When he looked up, he realized Irene was staring at him.
"Now you can tell me the whole truth about what happened?" Irene's face was full of anger. She seemed to want to scold him a few times, but in the end it all turned into a sigh.
Adrian was silent for a while, remembering the crescent moon pendant Irene had given him, and reflecting on whether he'd been too guarded against her.
As a traveler who'd come over halfway, although Adrian had relied on learning Occlumency to organize his memories, it didn't mean he'd been able to accept all this.
He'd just pretended to look like the person in his memories with a trace of guilt. After all, when he'd first crossed over, what he'd worried about most was that the original dark wizard mother would discover he was a fake.
He'd taken the risk to perform a dangerous bloodline fusion ceremony to save his life from a furious Irene in the worst case.
It's just that Irene's trust and worry for him had touched Adrian a little. After thinking about it, he thought he might be able to give back some trust.
"Mom... I didn't hide it from you. I just didn't want you to worry about it."
"Accio Origin of Blood!" Adrian turned around and waved his wand.
In the small room on the second floor, the suitcase placed in the corner suddenly shook. A heavy book flew out of the suitcase and traveled all the way down to Adrian's hands.
"This book is...?" Irene didn't understand why Adrian had suddenly summoned a book. After leaning close to take a look, she found it was an old book with slightly yellowing paper, obviously quite old.
"I found this book in the Restricted Section. I relied on it to gain a lot of magical power, so I kept it with me and didn't return it." Adrian turned the pages of the book and handed it to Irene.
Irene took it curiously. After turning two pages, her expression became much more serious.
The book contained a lot of content that violated her previous understanding, especially about the origin of transformed creatures such as werewolves and vampires, and the history of ancient wizards who seized the power of other magical creatures.
If this spread out, the entire magical world would be in an uproar.