"Yep. That's it. Good, lad. You go and see Albert, you tell him Carson sent you. Tell him your story and what you plan to do. He'll do right by you. He's my brother and we've both lost friends that were in the same position you're in, lad, if we can help you, we will."

"Thank you." Harry shook Carson's hand and after shrinking the trunk and tucking it in this satchel, he left the shop headed for Technic Alley.

Three doors into the alley, he saw the sign for Add a Room or Two and he had to take a few breaths before stepping through the door.

"Good Morning!" A perky little blonde witch chirped at him. "Welcome to Add a Room or Two. What can we do for you?" Ye Gods, she bounced like Colin and Dennis.

"Uh…? I… Carson sent me to speak to Albert?"

"Okay, just give me a moment to tell him." She darted off towards a pair of blue doors and leant around one. "Boss? There's a kid here, said Mr Carson sent him to speak to you."

"Carson? Send him in then, Melissa." A man's voice answered.

"Yes, sir." She bounced back over to Harry. "Boss says, head on in. The blue door on the right." Her attention was instantly back on the door.

"Right…" Harry edged away from the counter and crossed the room to the indicated door. He debated knocking, but before he got the chance the man spoke again.

"Come on in, lad."

Harry entered the room and found a simple office, but one that was oddly disproportionate to the door's position in the shop.

"I'm Albert. Have a seat and tell me why Carson sent you." A heavyset wizard with dark brown hair pointed at a chair opposite him.

"Yes, sir." Harry nodded and sat where directed. "Um, I went to buy a trunk and I told the wizard there, Carson I suppose. I told him about why I wanted it. My mother was a muggleborn and…" for a few minutes he told Albert what he'd told the goblins and Carson.

"Ah…" Albert sighed and nodded. "And did the idiot brother of mine say anything about why he was sending you to me?"

"He mentioned something about being able to put wizard spaces inside expanded spaces?" Harry answered more as a question than as a statement.

"Ah…" Albert nodded again. "Wizard spaces are expensive, lad, as much as a trunk and more, can you afford it?"

Before Harry could answer, an older wizard in overalls tapped on the door.

"Boss? Four more for the burn box." The wizard didn't enter the office, he just reached in and dropped what appeared to be four lidless boxes, into a much larger box, before leaving.

"Burn box?" Harry asked, suddenly curious.

"Burn box." Albert snorted in amusement. "I have no idea why they call it that, we've never burnt it." He saw that Harry was still curious and sighed. "We make wizard spaces here and we're often asked to change a room, meaning remove an existing room and replace it with a new space. Sometimes it's to change a nursery to a children's room, other times it's change a child's room to a guest suite, or to an office, or upgrade a potions lab or bathroom, remove a potions lab and place a library. That sort of thing. We remove the existing wizard space frame and replace it with a new frame. When we do that the old frames go in a box, that for some reason the staff have taken to calling 'the burn box'. Only Merlin knows why." He shook his head.

"They go in the box? Then what happens to them?" Harry asked, an idea starting to form.

"Nothing. I suppose one day we might get around to burning them, but yet."

"Do you sell them?"

"Sell them? Why on earth would we do that? We'd have to sort them, make sure they were empty, dispose of any contents and clean them. No, I doubt we'll ever try to sell them."

"Would you sell the whole box? As is?" Harry asked. "It's only the start of May and I'm not eighteen until July, if you sold me the whole box, I could sort them, empty them, maybe sell them on, or back to you to have as a cheaper option." That was a slightly distorted version of the truth, he had been eighteen, and that may have changed, but he didn't need to tell people, just yet.

Albert blinked at Harry and a smile began. "You got a trunk from Carson, right? How big?"

"Uh… the largest compartment is one hundred and eighty square feet. Why?" Harry answered.

"I can't sell you the box, it belongs to the business, but I can sell you the scrap contents. You'd have to provide your own container, though."

"Ooh, I get it." Harry grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, I thought you might." Albert grinned back at him.

"So, how much for the scrap in the box?" Harry asked.

"Hmm… How does… All you can carry for κ1? Yeah, how does that sound?"

"κ1? One single κnut? Are you kidding? You're short-sheeting yourself, sir." Harry protested.

"No, lad, I'm not, I'm selling rubbish that should be burnt. I have to justify every transaction to the accountant and let me tell you, he's not going to be impressed that I charged you for rubbish." Albert corrected.

"Oh, okay. Um… It's all timber, yeah? Tell him, it would make fine kindling." Harry offered.

"Kindling? Kindling… sold for kindling. Yes, that could work. Alright. Let's see how much we can get into your trunk before we close this deal."

"Sure." Harry reached into his satchel and pulled out his shrunken trunk, stood it up and enlarged it. He turned the lock and opened the largest compartment. "Here it is."

Albert nodded and stood, he crossed to the 'burn box' and picked it up. Instead of joining Harry inside the trunk, he stopped at its entrance.

"The burn box is an expanded capacity box, much the same as your trunk, and like I explained earlier, you can't put an expanded space inside an expanded space. I've no idea how many frames are in here, lad, so let's start slow. How are you at conjuring?"

"Sir?" Harry frowned.

"You should have some shelves to keep the frames on, so you know what you've sorted and what you've still got to go. Then there's any contents."

"Oh, right. Yeah, I'm okay at conjuring, but why conjure when I can transfigure? If I had some twigs or branches, I could permanently transfigure them into shelves." Harry answered.

"That would work. You've a muggle brain, kid, don't lose it. Wizard's aren't the most logical of people. Right, I'll empty the box, you stack the frames against that wall, stand them on end and pack them as tight as you can. You can sort them later and shelve as you sort."

The next half hour was filled with boxes and floating them into place. Row after row after row. They ended up filling one end of the largest compartment, the boxes stacked over five-foot-high and nearly three-foot-deep.

"Well, lad, there's a lot more than I expected."

"Yeah…" Harry huffed. "I stopped counting at a thousand. And that was in just the first minute or two. How long have you been collecting the used frames?"

"Oh, they're not all used frames, some of them are apprentice frames."

"Are they safe? How do I tell the difference? How do I enlarge them? Open them? Use them? CLose them?" Harry fired at Albert.

"Ah. Most apprentice frames have no maker's mark on them. Once they've reached the point where we deem their work safe for sale, we mark them with an 'A' for apprentice made, alongside their maker's mark. See here?" Albert picked up a frame and the six-by-three-by-one-inch box looked tiny in his big hands. He pointed to a series of letters burnt into the wood. "We burn them on, rather than carving them in, as once the rune sequence is complete, we can't alter the original dimensions of the frame and carving letters would be removing part of that, but burning doesn't for some reason. Something to do with not removing any mass? I'm not sure, runes were never my thing, I'm just the business manager. Anyway, any frame with a burn mark has passed safety inspections and is fine to use. You place it against a solid surface, like this, and press this rune, here, and the frame will enlarge. Then this rune, here, will activate the charms and the space will be connected to the frame, again. Just tap the runes again, reverse order, to deactivate and shrink the frames, when you've finished with them."

"Can I put two frames back to back?" Harry asked.

Albert frowned. "I can't see why not, but it's not something I've tried, so I'm not sure. Try it, at worst you lose two frames, at best it works. A warning lad. When we deactivate the frames, anything inside them is frozen in a type of stasis. So, you might find pets, owls, plants, food, potions, even fires might still be lit."

"Cool…" Harry breathed.

"It is, but be careful, okay? The structure of each space is safe, as is the atmosphere inside them, but we've no idea of their contents."

"Right." Harry nodded soberly. "Detection charms before entering."

"Yep." Albert lead Harry out of the trunk and back into the office. "Right, lad. κ1, if you please? Thank you." He said after Harry handed over the requested coin and accepted the corresponding receipt. "One last thing, lad. I doubt anyone would have told you, but changing your name magically holds over into the muggle world."

"Really?" Harry's jaw dropped a little. "How do I do that?"

"There's a number of ways. Most are done with a simple oath. Something along the lines of you swear on your life and magic that form that moment onwards, you will be known as, add whatever name you choose, and seal it with magic. You have been taught that, yes? Also? If you were to get someone to blood adopt you, that would change your magical signature and together with a name change oath, you would be a completely different person. Unfortunately, having a muggle as a guardian still means that you can't do it without their consent."

"So, wait until I'm eighteen, then?"

"That'd be best." Albert nodded. "I'm sure you've got a few friends that you are really close to, maybe you could ask one of them to adopt you as a brother, it's not as difficult and doesn't impact on your adopter's family's inheritances. It's more like that person is individually adopting you as their personal sibling, not the family as a whole adopting you as a member of the family, which would impact on inheritances. Also... don't drop your studies, you can always sit the exams when the Ministry hold open OWL and NEWT exams in August. And there's no limit on when you have to do them by. Eighteen or eighty, makes no difference."

"Oh…" Harry whistled silently.

"Something to think about, lad. What else do you need, today?"

"I was going to get a tent. My cousin's been talking about hiking in the lake district. It would get me away from Uncle for a few weeks and Dud's might be a muggle, but he's in-the-know, so a wizarding tent would give plenty of space. Maybe some furniture to go in it and some groceries. I'm a good cook, if I've got supplies." Harry answered.

"Not a bad idea. Go talk to Wallace at Expedition and Extras. Tell him Carson and I sent you and tell him your plan." Albert paused. "No. Hold on." He pulled a sheet of parchment towards him and scribbled for a few minutes. "Give him that and tell him what else you need, he'll point you in the right direction."

"Thank you, sir."

"No need to thank me, lad, just pay it forward, one day. Help someone else that needs it. That's thanks enough for most of us. Now, off you go, get some lunch first, though, I can hear your stomach begging."

Harry laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I think that might be a good idea. Thanks." He stood and with a quiet smile, left the office and the shop. He wandered back to the cauldron and ordered a bowl of stew and slice of bread, before heading back out into the alley.

It took Harry a few minutes to find Expedition and Extras, for some reason he was looking for a small storefront and they had quite a large one. He'd looked passed it a number of times, before he heard a staff member welcome someone to the shop. He paused and turned in that direction, to be confronted with large windows filled with travel gear.

"Hello." A young wizard, somewhere in his twenties, approached him. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Yes, I was told to speak to Wallace. Carson from 'Bags and Boxes' and Albert from 'Add a Room or Two' sent me." Harry replied.

"Ah. And may I ask for a name?" The way he asked made Harry wonder whether he expected Harry to answer 'no'.

"Ewan will do." Harry did answer, but with the name he'd given the goblins.

"Certainly… Ewan. If you'll excuse me for a minute, I'll let Wallace know." The other wizard nodded and left Harry to wander the store.

In less time than Harry expected, he was joined by another older wizard, this one about the same age as Albert and Carson.

"Ewan, is it?" He asked as he reached Harry.

"Ewan will do for now, yes." Harry nodded.

"Ah, Albert told you how to change your name, then? Good, good. Why has he sent you to me?"

Harry didn't answer, he just handed over the letter that Albert had written and waited patiently for Wallace to read it and hand it back.

"Thank you." Harry said as he tucked the letter back into his pocket.

"That makes things quite clear. What are you after in a tent? Do you know?" Wallace asked.

"Not really. I have a few ideas, but they're fairly flexible."

"Tell me." Wallace conjured up a notebook and pencil.

"I want a central living space with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen with laundry." Harry shrugged. "I'm not too fussed about layout."

"And size?"

"I'd like to have standard double beds in the bedrooms. The rest…? Neh, no idea."

"Albert mentioned that finances are a bit tight. As a new tent, this could set you back about ʛ1000, but if you are prepared to deal with a second-hand one? Could be as little as ʛ50, depending on stock." Wallace explained. "I've quite a few second-hand tents, right now, so you could pick whichever you want."

"Can I have a look at them?" Harry didn't know what constituted a good tent and what didn't.

"Sure, come on back." Wallace lead him to along a narrow hallway that opened into a room that was about twenty-foot square, with one wall lined with shelves that held small boxes. Each box was roughly six inches wide, eight inches tall and the same in length.

"Each box holds a single tent. All the tents I make have a shrinking feature as well auto-erect features, if you want pack them down, but you have to empty them to do that. It's easier to display them like this, also means we can leave display furniture in them." He pointed a smaller shelving unit. "These are my second-hand tents. Shall we take a look?"

"Sure." Harry agreed.

"Excellent. Let's see. Two bedrooms…"

Wallace only had three tents with two bedrooms and Harry didn't like any of them, so Wallace started to show him tents with three bedrooms. The fourth tent of this size was the one that Harry chose. What he ended up with was a basic three-bedroom tent with two bathrooms, a kitchen with laundry and a reasonably large living space. Two bedrooms and a bathroom to the left and the other bedroom, bathroom and kitchen to the right.

After paying for his tent, with yet more Gringotts' draughts, Harry listened Wallace as he suggested that Harry visit Dovetail's Furniture for second-hand bedframes and a sofa or two, but to go to Matilda's Soft Furnishings for new mattresses, pillows and linens. Then he suggested The Kitchen Pantry for groceries.

Harry stood across the Alley from Dovetail's, he knew that he was running out of time. He'd been using glamours for a number of hours by now and he was beginning to feel it. He estimated that he had less than an hour before he had to drop them, or take the risk of them falling while he was still in public. And he still had three shops left to visit.

He cast a quick notice-me-not over himself and dropped his glamours, for one minute he stood there, wriggling his shoulders and swinging his arms, in an attempt to ease the tension fall from his shoulders. After that minute he replaced his glamours, but not the same ones. This time he looked more like Sirius with Remus' hair and his own eyes, with an age based around the late twenties to early thirties. Once in place, he entered the shop.

"Good afternoon, sir. My name is Anne, how can I help you?" A young witch introduced herself.

"I've been tasked with setting up a tent for a pair of muggle-raised teenagers. I need two bedroom suites, minus mattresses. A sofa and two armchairs. I've a limited budget and would prefer second-hand." Harry wanted to give the impression of an Uncle or family friend, shopping for boys still at school.

"That we can do. If you'll follow me, I can show you a number of options. Do you have a timber in mind? And what size beds?" Anne asked.

"A light wood maybe whitewashed or painted, simple lines, nothing elaborate. And double beds by preferrence."

"Sure, just a moment." Anne pulled open a shallow draw and Harry saw that it held many small boxes containing shrunken bedsteads and matching bedside drawers.

"Do you have something with wardrobes and tallboys?" He asked. "The tent could be in use for months. There's talk of hiking across mountains." He shook his head as though unimpressed.

"Of course." The first drawer was closed and a second opened.

"That's more like it." Harry hummed. "That one and that one, please."

"Certainly." Anne plucked out the two boxes and closed the drawer. "Sofas, you said? With matching armchairs?"

"It's unimportant if they match, we're talking about teens, they don't care. The budget is the deciding factor."

Another drawer was opened, and Harry studied the contents.

"That sofa, that armchair and that leather loveseat." He said, pointing to the three items.

"Sure." The three were removed and lids placed on all five boxes.

"ʛ5 for each bedroom suite, ʛ3 for the sofa, ʛ2 and §10 for the leather loveseat and ʛ1 and §5 for the armchair. At total of ʛ16 and §15, sir."

He handed over two ʛ10 draughts and accepted his change, before gently placing each box in his satchel.

"Thank you." He nodded politely to the girl and left the store. Three doors down he found Matilda's and entered.

"Afternoon." The elderly witch seated by the counter said.

"Ma'am. I'm furnishing a tent for a pair of teenagers and already have bed-frames, I need mattresses and other linens. I have a limited budget, but would prefer new mattresses and pillows, the rest isn't as important."

"Well then, let's get you sorted. What size beds?"

"Double."

"Over here, then. These here are charmed to provide support as needed. For a double bed, mattress-only, you're looking at ʛ15 each. For pillows there are two options, ʛ3 and come in soft or medium or firm, or ʛ5 and have auto-support charms like the mattresses."

"Two mattresses, four of the auto-charm pillows. Please." He added the last word with a nod when the witch indicated to shrunken mattresses.

"Of course. Linens?"

"Blues. Light blue for one and dark blue for the other. For each? Two sets of sheets. Two blankets, one cotton, one wool. One feather doona and a cover to match the sheets. For each bathroom. Four towels, two bathmats, four washers, two handtowels. For the kitchen. Two dishcloths, four tea-towels. For the living room, do you have floor rugs?" Harry recited the list that Aunt Petunia insisted that each bedroom or bathroom should have.

"We do. Let me show where they are, and you can flick through them while I fetch your linens." She led him over to a table with a pile of napkin sized mats and left him to look through them.

By the time she returned, he'd chosen a large rectangular mat in dark chocolate with blue circles that overlapped in places, one that wouldn't clash too badly with the other furniture.

"Nice choice." The witch acknowledged. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No today." Harry gave her a smile.

"As you say. With this rug, your total comes to ʛ57 and §12, sir."

Harry nodded and pulled out a ʛ100 draught and accepted the change and, yet again, placed a shrunken box in his satchel.

One shop left.

The Kitchen Pantry was bright and cheerful, with trays of fruits and vegetable along one wall and shelves of non-perishable groceries on another. The rear wall held a set of shelves with plates and bowls holding ready-made meals.

"Afternoon, sir." A middle-aged witch approached him. "Can I help you?"

"Please. I've been asked to outfit a tent for two teenagers to go hiking. One's quite good at cooking, but the other…? Not so good. I need a mix of ready-made meals and pantry supplies." Harry replied.

"We have a number of different household pantries. For bachelors, for spinsters, newlyweds, young families, older families and mature couples. In addition, we have a separate section of ready-made meal pantries." The witch explained.

"Ah, let's start with a basic household pantry for a couple, mature aged." Harry blinked at the chart she handed him.

"Just select five items from each section, if you want more than one of any one item, write a number in the box. As you mark items off, our back room will pack them for you." She left him to mark boxes and went off to tend to another customer.

When he finished, he held up the clipboard and she reappeared at his side.

"Finished?" She asked.

"Only the household pantry." Harry answered.

"Oh, yes, you did say you wanted a ready-made meal pantry, too, didn't you? One moment." She flicked her wand and a second clipboard appeared. "It depends on the type and size of pantry, as to the cost. One meal a day for seven days is ʛ2. Three meals for seven days is ʛ5. One meal for a month, thirty days that is, is ʛ8 and §10. Three meals is ʛ21. A snack pantry for seven days is §15. For thirty days is ʛ3 and §10. We also have a few meat pantries. One pound of meat for ʛ1, two for ʛ1 and §15 and five for ʛ4, §10. Anything over that is a bulk order and we do them separately."

"Ah…" Harry's head reeled at the options. Had these been available when he, Hermione and Ron had gone camping? "Three meals for thirty days, a thirty-day snack pantry and five pounds of meat. A pound each of chicken, beef, lamb, pork and sausages, please."

"Excellent choices, sir. Will you be wanting a ready-made meal stasis cupboard? Or a pantry cupboard? They're both ʛ5, it's fully refundable upon return, though."

"Hmm… better be safe. One for each." Harry nodded.

"I'll get a box ready for you. Have a seat. Oh, the cost? Let's see… uh… ʛ59 and §3, sir."

Harry sighed and drew out yet more ʛ10 draughts, this would leave him with only three, until he broke down another ʛ100 draught and he'd prefer to avoid that.

The witch returned and placed a small box on the counter beside him, inside were three shrunken cupboards.

"This is the household pantry. Yes, it's shrunk, once you remove it from the box, you have thirty seconds to position it where you want it before it unshrinks." She pointed to the cupboard with solid timber doors. "And this is the ready-made pantry. Same as far as unshrinking goes." She pointed to a cupboard with glass fronted doors. "And this is the snack pantry." This time she pointed at a set of drawers. "Again, same for shrinking. And here's your change, sir." She handed him a dozen or so coins.

"Thank you." He accepted the coins and dropped them into this coin pouch, gathered up the box and placed it in this satchel. There couldn't be much space left, thankfully he had no more shopping to do.

He left the shop and headed back to the Cauldron. As he passed through, he decided to get a carton of butterbeers. It had been months since he'd had one and figured that he'd earned it, offing old Snakeface.