"We were thinking that we'd sort through it once we got there, then Remy asked about the books and Pads about money. We can pop up and raid it and be gone without anyone knowing, if we went over Christmas."

"We could get all the books, gold and trunks from the Room. Then spend the first half of next year sorting through them and the last of the wizard-space frames. We could put together decent libraries for ourselves." Remy added.

"We could also build study-trunks and sell them to the OWL and NEWT students." Pads suggested. "Or rent them."

"Bring me a proposal for the trunks and a mission briefing for the Room raid. Once I've read them, we'll talk." Moody said.

"Alright." Moody laid the bundle of parchment down on the table. "The business plan for the study-trunks is fair. It needs some polishing, but the basis is sound. The mission planning for the Room is excellent. I'm not certain about accessing Filch's office, but I'll grant that having the extra copy of the marauders' map could come in handy. Same for this world's Potter/Peverell invisibility cloak, but I'm not pleased about how you plan to get it. Personally, I'd go straight to option three… brooms and summoning the cloak from outside his personal chambers. You've got a higher chance of success, doing that."

The three boys nodded, and Remy made a few notes.

"Outside that? Fine." Moody nodded. "The mission is approved. A few minor details we'll need to refine between now and Christmas. But it's a go. I'll spread the word that I'm taking you three abroad for the Christmas break. We'll infiltrate Hogwarts at the same time as the students are leaving the grounds for the express. Spend three to five nights in Hogwarts' Room of Requirement, while we sort through the books, trunks, gold and associated items."

The three boys gave one loud cheer and then were instantly paying attention.

"Titan. You're in charge of trunks, spaces and storage units. Prep your tent. Find the largest indoor wizard-space you have, we're going to need it as a warehouse. In the meantime, I want you to make shelving, multiple types. One for shrinkable trunks, one for non-shrinkable trunks, one for wizard-space frames and another for boxes but leave room for free-standing cabinets."

"Yes, Grampy." Titan nodded.

"Remy. You're in charge of books and shelving for them. Sort through the wizard-spaces and find one, or more, that you can use as storage. Fill them with shelving, initially sorting is not a concern, you just need to get the books stored, you can sort back here."

"Yes, Grampy." Remy nodded.

"Paddrick. You're in charge of gold, silver and jewellery. Not ʛalleons, but gold and silver and anything made from them. You know how to identify an item's composition and a rough value. Find yourself a storage space and fill it with more shelving and tubs. Jewellery, gems, ingots, goblets, candlesticks, you name it, if it's gold… or silver, grab it."

"Yes, Grampy." Pads beamed.

"Don't forget to apply your detection charms. If you think anything is cursed, put it aside, if I can't deal with it, we'll hire a curse-breaker. I'll handle the ʛalleons and any other money that's there. Along with any weapons, armour, potions supplies and anything belonging to the Blacks, the Potters, the Lupins or Lily Evans."

"Yes, Grampy." The three boys said together.

"Hold up." Moody said as he and the three boys edged up the Grand Tower's staircase. "Check me on this?" He pointed at the map, over Paddrick's shoulder, at a room almost opposite the DADA classroom.

"Room of… Lost Wands?" Paddrick answered, reading the room's tag.

"That's what I thought." Moody answered. "Ty, add it to my list. I'll empty that before we leave."

"Yes, Grampy." Titan nodded and pulled out a notepad and pencil.

"Move out." Moody ordered and the little procession began to move.

When they reached the seventh floor, Moody turned to Titan. "All yours, Ty. Lead the way."

Titan lead them down a long corridor and around the corner, pointing at a tapestry of a man waving a conductor's baton at six trolls wearing tutus.

"Wait here." Ty directed and kept walking towards the inner wall of the castle keep. He stopped and took a few deep breaths, focusing on what he wanted from the Room.

"The Room of lost, abandoned or discarded things." He whispered. "The Room of lost, abandoned or discarded things. The Room of lost, abandoned or discarded things." With the first sentence he walked along the wall, turning and retracing his steps with the next and again with the third. As he reached the end of the sentence, a door began to appear, small and nondescript, it appeared to be nothing more than a broom closet.

"There we go." He smiled and turned to his brothers and grandfather. All three wore stunned expressions. "What?" Ty demanded. "You all saw my memories. You know about the Room."

"Knowing or seeing in a pensieve is one thing, pup." Moody muttered. "Seeing in real life is another."

"Grampy…" Ty sighed.

"Alright, I doubted, okay. I'm sorry. Let's get inside before Filch or his bloody cat spot us." The older wizard grumbled.

"Yes, Grumpy." The three boys sighed, they knew he cared and that his 'caring' came out as negative scenarios.

Ty opened the door and lead them into the junk room to end all junk rooms.

"Sweet mother of Merlin." Moody whispered.

"Yeah." Ty agreed. "Let's make camp over here." He wandered over to a small cleared area along the wall, a few feet from the door, and pulled a small box from his satchel, laying the box on the ground he tapped the tip of the front pole of what appeared to be a model of a tent. The model stretched and enlarged until it was a full-size d tent. "There we go."

"How are we doing this? Order of attack, I mean?" Pads asked.

"Ty?" Moody grunted.

"I think we should get our wizard-space frames out and fix them to his wall." Ty patted his hand on the wall beside the tent. "Then work through one pile at a time. One person levitates the pile into the air and opens it out a bit, that would allow the rest of us to summon items from the pile. Form them into smaller piles, at least until we know if any of them are cursed, jinxed or hexed. At the end of the day, if a simple finite will fix the issue, we can add that to the un-hexed stuffed, otherwise all hexed or cursed stuff goes into a wiz-space for Grampy to assess, once we get home."

"Good idea." Moody said.

"When we finish each pile, the un-hexed stuff is transferred straight to the relevant wiz-space. Then we move onto the next pile. We can either take it in turns to levitate the piles or one person can do it until they begin to feel tired, then another person takes over." Paddrick said.

"Take turns." Remy corrected. "That was no gets too tired and everyone gets a break."

"I'll take the first pile." Moody ordered. "Get your wiz-spaces and set 'em up."

It took the boys all of five minutes to be ready to start. Paddrick had taken a chair from the nearest pile and transfigured it into a large half-barrel, to hold the items he would be summoning. Remy had taken a set of shelves from his wiz-space and slid them out ready to receive a load of books. Titan had watched and done the same with a trio of shelves of different dimensions. Moody had transfigured some chairs into more half-barrels and pushed them off to one side.

"I'd say the first few piles are going to be mostly furniture. We'll go through them quickly now and when you three come in September, you can sort through them properly and see what's repairable and what's only good for firewood." Moody said.

"Yes, Grampy."

"Ready?" Moody asked, letting a wand fall into each hand.

"Yes, Grampy."

"Wingardium leviosa." He pointed one wand at the pile of… stuff and once it was floating, he pointed the second wand at it. "Tardius separabit." As he spoke each item in the pile began to separate from the others, a small amount of free space forming around it. "In the case of furniture, it's not as important to create a little breathing space, but when you're working with small or tightly packed items, you need that space to summon things. Otherwise any item summoned, is likely to be blocked by those around it." Moody lectured. "When you summon each type of item, don't forget to point to where you want the items to end up."

"Yes, Grampy." The three boys replied, they were getting used to the older wizard parting with these small nuggets of information at different times. Each evening, he would check if they'd picked up on what had been said and Remy would write it in an index book for them.

Two minutes later, Moody let the pile slide back into its former position and the four moved to the next pile.

"Grampy?" Paddrick asked.

"Yeah, Pads?"

"We're going to have to move camp, aren't we? As we go?"

"Initially, maybe, but as we get further in and take more stuff out, we'll be able to transfer stuff from one pile to another, that will free up some space." Moody answered.

"Oh, okay, didn't think about that." Paddrick blinked.

"That's why you have me and your brothers. We pick up on the things you miss, and you pick up on the things we miss. That's what teams do, cover each other's backs."

"Yes, Grampy." Paddrick beamed at him.

"Alright, who's next?"

"Me, Grampy." Remy held up a hand.

"Good lad. Come stand over here, you'll want two wands out. Levitate with one, then once things are up separate with the other. Hold until we each call 'clear'. Got it?"

"Yes, Grampy." Remy nodded, a small frown sitting on his face as he concentrated.

Four days it took them to go through each pile of stuff in the Room, to go through each alcove, to check every nook and cranny. All four of them were exhausted, while the tent was a godsend, it was still a tent and they all were looking forward to going home.

"Wand room, Dumbledore's quarters and Filch's office and we're done." Moody sighed.

"I vote wands first." Titan said. "Work our way down."

"Huh… yeah… that sounds about right. Alright, who's on recon?"

"Me, Grampy." Paddrick held up the Marauders' Map where it could be seen. "There's no one in the upper levels, we're clear down to third floor of the Keep."

"Excellent. Ty, Remy? You're point, alternate by floor."

"Yes, Grampy." The two boys exchanged a speaking look and Remy moved to the front.

"I'll see that the Room is closed, Grampy." Titan said in answer to his grandfather's look.

Ten minutes and the room that had stored the lost wands was empty. Even the shelving had been shrunk and slid into a wiz-space. Then brooms were pulled out and disillusion charms were placed. The four flew out a window and down a level to the Headmaster's office.

"Grampy?" Titan whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Where are the Headmaster's private quarters? Does anyone actually know?"

"I'd expect them to be connected to his office." Moody replied.

"But you're not sure?"

"No, I've had no call to visit them or a valid reason to ask."

"Ty? Try a point-me on Dumbledore's night-cap. Or his bed-socks." Remy suggested. "That should point us to his bedroom, at least."

"Should we try and summon the cloak from here?" Paddrick asked. "It might be in his office."

The four were huddled together, floating about forty feet in the air, debating the merits of office, over personal quarters.

"That's a good call, Pads." Moody nodded. "We'll try that first. I want you three to pull out a wand, each. Good, now, hold them all together." It took a little manoeuvring to get into a position where all three boys were holding all three wands, as one. "Good. Take a deep breath on and my 'go', cast the summoning charm, for the Peverell invisibility cloak." He waited until the three boys took a deep breath and nodded. "One." He held up a finger. "Two." Two fingers. "Three.' Three fingers. "GO." He snapped his hand out straight and pointed it sharply at the window of the Headmaster's office.

"Accio Peverell invisibility cloak." Three young voice spoke as one.

No one was surprised to see the cloak float out of the window and across to flutter in front of the held-together wands.

"Excellent. Do it again, this time all Potter possessions."

Again, the boys chanted and again thing flew towards them, Moody opening a satchel from the Room to catch them. The auto-shrinking charms having to work hard on a couple of pieces of large furniture.

"Again. Black possessions."

Again, they chanted. Again, Moody played catcher, but this time he only caught books and a few phials of memories.

"Again, Peverell possessions."

And again.

"Lupin possessions."

And again.

"Lily Evans' possessions."

A few more books fluttered through the air and were quickly swept up into the satchel.

"Good work. Still want to try for the Marauders' Map?" Moody asked.

"Yes, please, Grampy." Pads nodded.

"Alright, around to the caretaker's tower." Moody sighed. He wasn't convince getting the map now was important, but the boys had their hearts set on it and who was he to deny them?

"Alright lads. You've each got your own sorting to do. Sort, label and store, you can work out uses later." Moody directed.

"Yes, Grampy." The three boys nodded.

"I want you each to keep an eye out for things for school, though. Trunks, books, equipment, that sort of thing."

"Yes, Grampy."

"Titan. Make up three trunks, one for each of you. Maximum capacity, with three compartments. One at ten-by-ten. One at five-by-eight. And the third at twenty-by-thirteen. First compartment is to be storage, put in lots of shelving, you'll need it to cover potions equipment for class, your telescopes, your brooms and anything else non-academic. The second compartment is to be set up as a walk-in wardrobe, hanging spaces, drawers and some shelving. I suggest you set up the third compartment as a library. If your head of house calls you on it, a library is the least worrying thing a firstie could have. I'll place a Fidelius on the fact that you have wiz-space frames in that compartment." Moody began. "For the wiz-spaces? Put in a bathroom, I remember what the Gryffindor bathrooms were like. A bedroom, who know what your dormmates are like?"

"I do. There should only be four of them, Ken Towler, Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins." Titan cut in.

"And do you know how bad they snore?" Moody asked rhetorically.

"Uh… no… not Ken and Lee, but neither of the twins snore."

"Best to be prepared, regardless. If you don't use it, it doesn't matter, but if you don't have it, you'll need it. Bathroom, bedroom, a potions lab and an exercise area." Moody repeated and Titan obediently wrote the list on a whiteboard.

"Remy. You've got the libraries. One each, start at first year and work your way up to mastery level. Maximum 10,000 books. Nothing dark or restricted by the Ministry, just general books. We'll set up a separate dedicated library trunk, later, for the more… restricted books. Sorting, cataloguing and priority charms are standard in most libraries, so try and find shelving that already has them embedded. You'll have to work with Ty on setting up the libraries in the trunks, I'd like the shelves to be retractable or on hinged covers for the wiz-spaces.'

"Yes, Grampy." Remy nodded and made some notes on his own whiteboard.

"Paddrick. You're in charge of the potions labs and filling in all the details. Stock the labs with equipment, ingredients and anything relevant. Stock the library with stationery, ink, quills, fountain pens, wax and all the other little incidentals you're going to need. Stock and furnish the bedrooms. The bathrooms. And the wardrobes."

"Yes, Grampy." Paddrick nodded, but all he wrote on his board was 'everything else'.

Seeing this the others shook their heads in amusement.

"Your eleventh birthdays are tomorrow, lads. Any requests?"

The three boys grinned. "Can we go to the zoo, Grampy?" Paddrick asked.

"Which one?" Moody frowned, not certain he wanted to know.

"Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie." Remy answered.

"Titan?" Moody squinted at the still silent boy.

"They've got wolves and tigers and lynxes and leopards and polar bears and eagles and owls and hawks." Titan tried to explain without actually explaining.

"I'll take you to the zoo… but my decision stands. I will not allow you to take the animagi potion until your cores are stable. Two more years, two more core growth-spurts, that might be done by summer after second year."

The three looked at each other. "Bugger." They said.

"Boys, you've done all the meditations, all the charms and taken the animagi identification potion. You still have a huge amount of research to do, before you get to the mandrake leaf stage. Just remember, you have to hold that in your mouth for a lunar month, twenty-eight days." Moody reminded them.

"Ugh… forgot about that…" Paddrick whined.

"We'll help you, Pads." Remy whispered to his brother.

Paddrick looked at Titan. "I love you, but sometimes I miss Prongs."

"Me, too." Titan looked just as miserable.

"Me, three." Remy added. "He made some things so easy."

"In the meantime, lads, you've need to think up a new name for the pack and pack-names for each other."

"Yes, Grumpy…" The boys sighed.

"Lads… It's not about controlling you." Moody sighed and tried to explain. "It's not about restricting you. It's about keeping you safe and healthy. The animagi transformation along with the patronus charm are two of the most advanced pieces of magic that can be performed by one person. Them, the Fidelius, the Cruciatus and the Killing Curse are the top five. They all require a massive amount of control, but they also require a stable core. In de-aging someone physically, their core is also de-aged, as is the physical aspect of their brain, which explains why you three are able to act with maturity, but only for a short length of time. Even if that is longer than most children your physical age. Having a de-aged core is not necessarily what either you or I wanted, but it doesn't stop you from being capable of doing 99.9% of magic that an adult can do. The reason for that capability is your control. Control of your emotions and magic is an ephemeral thing, just like memories. It has no physical base. It's intangible."

"…ooohhh…" The three boys breathed an exclamation.

"Exactly. Apparating, transfiguring, conjuring, summoning, banishing… children can do all of these with accidental magic. An adult de-aged to ten years old is just as capable as a fifty-year-old, when it comes to these. They have the same amount of control, probably more. But… the five spells I mentioned, they require a stable core and physically that doesn't happen until after the third core-growth spurt. For most teenagers, that happens sometime between fourteen and seventeen, for de-aged adults, however, it's a bit earlier. Twelve to thirteen, usually. The fact that Harry Potter managed to cast a corporeal patronus at thirteen is a surprise, but then the Potters did have a reputation for early core-stability."

"…ooohhh…"

"So, it comes down to this… If I say I don't want you doing something, I will give a reason. If that reason is magical or core related, there will be no arguments, you won't be doing it. You trusted your safety and wellbeing to me, now you have to trust me to follow through and keep you safe." Moody said.

"Yes, Grampy." The three boys said and came to hug their grandfather.

"Zoo tomorrow. Before or after Gringotts?"

"Why do we have to go to Gringotts?" Paddrick asked.

"I haven't been able to set up trust vaults for you, mostly due to your age. Gringotts are insisting on you having identity tests. Which is annoying but expected." Moody answered.

The goblin studied the three boys, one by one, before focusing on Titan.

"Mr Granger, we meet again. No glamours, I see, but your appearance is not the same, nor is your age." The goblin frowned.

"I didn't lie, everything I told you was true, except for my name." Titan assured the goblin. "But circumstances have changed... again."

"In what way?"

"These three young men, for reasons not of their own making have been placed into a very dangerous situation and the DMLE has become involved. The three have been permanently de-aged and given new identities. These changes are irreversible. This young man," Moody placed a hand on Titan's shoulder, "was not aware of the depth of the situation when he attended Gringotts in May. In fact, the situation wasn't revolved until mid-December."

"And how is that going to impact of pre-existing Family Inheritances?"

"Titan's original Family are listed as deceased and their assets have already been dispersed. Paddrick," Moody moved his hand from Titan's shoulder to Paddrick's, "was disowned by his parents when he was sixteen and was declared dead to the family at twenty-one, any assets that he might have had would have been reclaimed at that time." The goblin nodded as Moody explained. "Remy," Moody's hand moved to Remy's shoulder, "was a werewolf and had few assets in the wizarding world."

"Was a werewolf?" The goblin demanded. "You have a cure?"

"Not exactly a cure, but a way of reversing the disease. De-aging will remove it, but once a de-aging potion wears off, the victim will be re-aged by ten years, regardless of how far they had been de-aged. If they're ten and de-age by one year, they will still end up nineteen, that can be corrected with a second de-aging potion, of course. However, if they were forty and de-aged to six, they will end sixteen and there's no safe way of aging them up, again. It's something to do with how the de-aging potion reacts to the disease. The potions master didn't explain the exact reasoning of why, just how to get the end result and what to expect."

"Ah, I see. And these identities are permanent, you said?"

"Yes. All three were involved and given multiple chances to reject the proposal, but all three accepted and are now my grandsons." Moody knew this was skirting close to the edge of the Knowledge Secret, but as long as the lads' previous names weren't mentioned, close was fine. He could get away with close.

"And their names, prior?"

"I can't tell you that. Steps have been taken to ensure that their prior identities remain Secret." He placed some emphasis on the word 'Secret'.

"Ah." The goblin said, again. "I see, that makes sense. Mr… Titan, was it?" Titan nodded. "Titan. Are you still using the exchange pouch?"

"Yes, sir." Titan opened his satchel and lifted out the pouch in question.

"Good, place it on the table. Once you've had an identity test, I will close your previous application down, open your vault and re-issue the pouch, attaching the copy of your spell-chain, to your vault file. I also suggest completing all three tests today, identity, inheritance and propriety. We wouldn't want to miss anything, now would we?" The goblin gave a vicious grin and tapped a sigil etched into the desk's surface.

"Yeah, that'd be smart." Moody grunted.

Ten minutes later, the three lads studied the results.

"Pretty much as we expected, Grampy." Remy said. "No vaults to inherit."

Why would there be, Harry Potter and Sirius Black had been dead for eight years. Of course, any possible estates would have already been parcelled out. And Titan figured that Lady Magic had done all She could, in bringing Harry Potter and Sirius Black to a world at peace, now it was up to them to live in it.

"Propriety tests indicates that the three young wizards have a limited amount of ʛalleons and draughts on them, but it only allows for monies held within a Gringotts approved container or for property registered with the Ministry or Gringotts. If they have monies or draughts elsewhere, our testing will not show it." The goblin reminded them.

"They do, what they have on them is only spending money and emergency reserves." Moody commented.

"A wise precaution." The goblin held up three keys. "Paddrick Grimm." He handed Paddrick a key. "Mr Remington Grimm." Remy was handed a key. "Mr Titan Grimm." He handed Titan the last key. "Will copies be required for any of these?"

"No, but linked pouches will be. More for deposits than anything else. They have small signature-bonded coin purses for spending money." Moody answered.

"Will the other gentlemen be requiring exchange pouches?"

"Not at this time." Remy answered.

"But do you have a way for us to have gems and jewellery in our vaults assessed and valued?" Paddrick asked.

"We do. It's a relatively new service and only for vault holders." The goblin tapped another sigil and a portion of the desk opened, the goblin reached into the desk and retrieved a small book. "This is a Vault Itemisation Index. Every item within the linked vault is listed in this booklet." He opened the book and began to show them the various details. "As you can see the contents page lists the types of items. Each list gives a number of items and an approximate value of the entire category. You simply tap a heading and turn the page and the selected category will move to the front of the book." He showed them each step by example. "Each category will have a sub-contents page, for example, the main contents page may list jewellery, the sub-contents page will list different types of jewellery, rings, earrings, necklaces, sets, etc. Tap a sub-contents page and that sub-category with also move forward, within the category. Each page will list one item, at the top of the page will be an image, usually a wizarding photograph with 360° views, however, portraits, paintings and property listings, have different images. Below the image will be a title and owner, if either are known, followed by a description of the item. Below that will be a series of boxes that cover components, valuation, recommendation, disposal and applied magics. If you wish to dispose of an item, you simply pulse your magic into the selected box and Gringotts with see to your wishes." He returned to the front of the book. "As you can see, it also lists ʛalleons, §ickles and κnuts. If you select the ʛalleons category, you can see the last ten ʛalleon transactions on your vault. You can transfer ʛalleons to a prenominated vault by tapping one of the Gringotts' keys symbols. Or to a prenominated coin pouch by tapping the ʛalleons logo." He laid the book down on the desk. "These indexes are bound to you, by blood and magical signature. You are required to pulse your magic into the cover to open the index. To transfer or dispose of an item, you will be required to do the same again, however, for the disposal of any item over ʛ10 or the transfer of more than ʛ10, you will be required to press a finger into the sigil on the cover and pulse your magic into it, it will also take a sample of you blood to confirm. If there are any mind-altering potions or charms detected, the transfer or disposal with be denied and, as you are underage, your nominated guardian will be notified, immediately. This notification is usually by way of an alarm, be it silent or audible, through their own coin pouch, if they have one linked to a vault. If they don't, then an owl will be sent. The other option is to allow your guardian a read-only index, they can view your decision and make recommendations, and approve or reject a decision, but not make independant transactions."

"Lads?" Moody raised a brow.

"Yes, please." All three boys spoke together.

"Very good." The goblin said. "I recommend this type of coin purse," He help up what looked like a muggle zippered wallet. "As you can see, it's based on a muggle wallet, but with magical variations, once the closure is opened, you can see a number of pockets. One for the index, one for draughts, one for ʛalleons, one for §ickles and one for κnuts. Simply pulse your magic into a sigil, one of these here," there were four sigils on the inside of the opening, "and state the amount clearly and, assuming you have the funds in your vault, the amount will be withdrawn from your vault and be transferred to the appropriate pocket. It will not exchange §ickles or κnuts for ʛalleons, or vice versa."

The three boys nodded. "Yes, please."

"Excellent." The goblin produced three black coin purses and after a split second to look at the boys, each one changed. The trim on one became, a rich golden brown, one became a light grey and the third became a dark forest green. "These have similar security on them to the indexes, place your key halfway into the purse and place your finger on the Gringotts' sigil and pulse your magic into them. From now on, no one but yourself will be able to open or access the purse." The boys all complied, and each purse flared with a burst of golden light. "Excellent. Allow me to recap. Identity tests are complete, vaults are commissioned, indexes are linked, and new coin purses are bonded. And Mr Titan Grimm has transferred an exchange pouch from unverified to verified, paid in advance. Is there anything else I can assist you with, today?"

Moody studied the ceiling while he thought. "No. No, that's pretty much-"

"Grampy?" Titan asked. "What about a pouch to put artefacts into our vaults. Gems, jewellery, stuff like that. I picked up a bracelet on the beach, yesterday."

"Ah, we do have those, just a moment." The goblin dug into a drawer and emerged with a small drawstring pouch. "Here we are. These work similar to mokeskin, but instead of the item shrinking, the pouch opening enlarges, not the pouch itself, just the opening. And not large enough for furntire, but caertainly enough for a portrait or candlestick. Again, place your key halfway into the pouch and your finger on the sigil, pulse into both."

Again, keys were produced and magic pulsed.

"Excellent. Anything else?"

"Nope, that's it." Titan answered for them.

"Excellent." The goblin said again. "Total cost for each young man, will be… ʛ99, §11 κ9. I am assuming, of course, that like Mr Titan with his exchange pouch, the young men will be paying the total cost of the pouches and indexes, in advance instead of monthly instalments. Given their ages, this is by far the cheaper option in the long term."

"We will." Titan nodded. He handed over a ʛ100 draught and accepted the change. Paddrick and Remy doing exactly the same.

"Excellent. Gentlemen, good day. And I wish you all a profitable birthday." The goblin nodded to them and withdrew from the office, through a small door off to one side.

"Excellent, indeed." Paddrick grinned. "Zoo, anyone?"