COMFORT ZONE | Sirius Black [REWRITING]

22. Off to Pakistan

A number of translations for those who care:
Chachu - paternal uncle (younger than father)
Chachu - Chachu's wife (different term used for father's sister)
Maamu - maternal uncle (doesn't matter if he is older of younger than mother)
Dado - paternal grandmother
Bhai - brother (also a term of respect for male cousins and other boys who are only a few years older)
Beta - child // Betey - children
Ammi - mother (also used by some as an affectionate way to refer to their mother-in-law)
Taya Ammi - paternal uncle's wife (older brother of father)

Wednesday, 20th June 1973

Shafiq Manor was situated on the outskirts of south-west London, well-hidden from a small Muggle village nearby, and at a reasonable distance from Pakistani wizarding communities located in and around the capital. The Shafiqs were the first South-Asian wizarding family to establish themselves in Britain in the mid-1700s, and despite the numerous immigrant families that settled soon after, many of whom received significant support from the early British Shafiqs, they were the only non-British family accepted enough to be included amongst the Sacred Twenty-Eight in the 1930s.

However, this did not mean that there was a lack of pureblood South-Asian families present and thriving in the UK now, in fact, there were potentially hundreds based in different parts of the country, but since none of them had been established enough in at the time of the formation of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, they had not been contained on the list. This included the British branches of a lot of families that had immigrated more recently, such as the Maliks—the family of Zarah Shafiq—the Sharifs and the Patils, all of whom were celebrated wizarding families in their native countries.

The Shafiqs and Maliks were different in the sense that they had branched out not only to Britain, but to France too, with Yasin's younger brother, Rashid Shafiq, working as a wealthy businessman there along with many other Shafiqs who had settled there before. Zarah, whilst not having siblings in France, had many aunts and uncles living in the country, hence the reason she had grown up speaking fluent French alongside Urdu, Punjabi and English the way all Shafiq children did.

The Pakistani branches of the Shafiqs and Maliks were based in Lahore, this included Ahmed Shafiq (Yasin's youngest brother) and Faaris Malik (Zarah's younger brother). Madiha's family were going to be staying at Chachu Ahmed's house for the first part of the holidays, before going over to Mamu Faaris' for the remainder.

Her mother's voice could be heard from outside the living room as Adam and Madiha sat waiting on the sofa together.

"Yasin, are you ready?"

"Yes, I just need the suitcases brought downstairs," her father called out.

"Lila can levitate them down for you."