"You've been looking over those for a long time," Basil Flourish said. He was one of the two brothers who ran the store.

Harry looked up at him from his spot on the floor. He'd been there all morning.

"These all look impossible to understand," Harry said, "but I need to figure out which ones to buy because I need to understand." He couldn't help the desperate tone from coming through in his voice.

"Why?" Basil asked. "Wouldn't you rather read the newest Hailey Porter book?"

Harry spared a glare for the thirty something year old who had a smirk on his face. "Not funny," Harry said. He'd only found out last year that there were adventure novels based off of his own life being written and sold as young adult novels. Instead of being about a boy in Gryffindor though, it was about a girl named Haily Porter who was in Ravenclaw. She was sharp-witted and always did battle with the evil wizard Magmaport. She was severely disliked by the Transfiguration teacher, who was the Hufflepuff head of house, and who always gave her detention for every little offense. On the previous occasions Harry had come into Flourish and Blotts over his two week stay on Diagon, Basil had always tried to get Harry to buy a copy, and Harry always told him no. It had become a ritual, and Harry thought that one day he might buy a copy and burn it in front of Basil's eyes just to get a rise out of him. In the newest book Haily Porter had flown a yellow schoolbus to school and at the end of the year done battle with a giant tusked pig in the school basement in order to save her best friend's brother. The more he thought about it, the more he did want to burn a copy, or all of the copies. He wondered who was reporting to the author about the things he did.

"C'mon," Harry said, clearly not amused. "I need help. Which one of these do I buy?"

"What exactly do you need to know?"

"I need to know about running a business."

"You want to start a business?"

"No I want to know about running a business in general. I just found out a couple weeks ago that my family owns several businesses and I've been told that I need to learn or I'll mess everything up."

"Well all of these books will help you," Basil said, "but only if you have some experience to equate the knowledge to."

"Meaning?"

"You need real-world experience."

Harry gave him another unamused look. "Well I already asked you for a job," he said. Basil's brother Bennett had been the one to tell Harry they wouldn't hire him.

"At 13 you're a liability. You would need to get a parental consent form signed to work here, and we'd have to buy extra insurance in case you got hurt or royally messed up the till or anything else."

"I get it," Harry said, still irritated.

"But I don't see why you couldn't come in for a few days a week and help out without pay. As a volunteer we wouldn't have to insure you or anything."

"You'd teach me?" Harry asked.

"Sure. Besides, you're Harry Potter, you'd be good for business. Even Bennet would agree to that."

"And if I read something in one of these books and don't understand-"

"Don't worry about it Harry. We'll get you sorted out."

Harry stood up and picked up all five books he'd been looking through and took them to the counter to pay for them, and then Basil led him into the back to talk to Bennet.

"He's not really a volunteer," Bennet said. "You know he has shares here and owns the building."

"He wants to learn," Basil said.

Bennet gave Harry a close looking over. "You're just a kid, understand? We own the business. It's not for you to come in and tell us what to do."

Harry raised his brows. "I don't want to run your business. I don't know anything about business, that's why I want to learn. I only just found out that I owned anything of value at all. Mr. Silver told me I'd screw things up if I didn't learn what running a business is all about."

"Silver," Bennet said, sounding irritated, as though he had some beef with the man.

"You don't like him?" Harry asked.

"Nevermind," Basil said, cutting in. "Let's take him on Bennet. You know if people start seeing The Harry Potter around the store they're going to come in and buy more."

"More business never hurt anyone," Bennet said, thinking it over.

They worked out a schedule and Harry took a copy of it with him. Basil told him to read his new books as often as possible and write down any questions he had so he could ask them when he came in. Harry was supposed to come in from 7 am to noon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He was looking forward to it if for no other reason than to have something to do.

When Harry left the shop he wondered if anybody else would be willing to let him see how their businesses were run, but the only other shop owner he had really talked to was Tilly, so he went down Knocturn Alley and into her shop. Justin was inside sweeping the floor and Tilly was relaxing behind the counter on a chair and looked like she was enjoying herself.

"Harry!" she said. Justin looked up from the dust he was sweeping up. "Come to buy sweets?"

"Not today," he said.

She looked disappointed but he walked up to the counter anyway. "I'm going to be learning about how to run a business at Flourish and Blotts, and I wondered if I could learn a little from you as well. Not a job... no pay, just, teach me a little about how your business works."

"No pay?" she asked.

He shook his head. She didn't make that much and he didn't want to take away from Justin's earnings. He was really hoping Justin would be able to earn enough for his new robes by the end of summer.

"Well-" she said, "you have helped me sell more, and you found Justin for me."

"So it's a yes?" he asked brightly.

"I suppose. I've been running this business for fifty seven years you know. I suppose I should impart some of my knowledge on to young people like you."

"And me," Justin said, coming over with his broom. "I want to learn too."

"I'm not going to pay you to learn," she said, eying him.

"I'll learn on my own time," he said.

"All right then."

"Afternoon or morning?" Harry asked.

"I teach Justin how to make candy in the mornings," she said. Harry looked over at the boy and thought that for only having worked for her for 6 days he seemed to be doing alright for himself. He wondered how much she was paying him to help make the candy.

"Afternoon then."

Harry pulled out his schedule from Flourish and Blotts and marked down 1-3 pm on Mondays. He'd have just enough time to eat lunch on Mondays between Flourish and Blotts and the sweet shop, and he'd still have plenty of free time during the rest of the week to write to his friends and read his new books. Harry pulled one of the books out of his bag and handed it to Justin.

"What's this?" he asked.

"I bought business books," he said. "I'll read the ones I have, and you can read that one, and when we're done we can swap."

Justin scratched the back of his head and looked uncomfortable.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I have a hard time remembering what I read unless I can mark in the book."

"Mark in it then," Harry said. "Whatever you find interesting enough to mark will probably be helpful to me later when we swap books anyway."

"Thanks," he said, looking relieved.

Harry left and went back to his room in the Leaky Cauldron to settle down for an afternoon of reading. By dinner he had barely made it through a few pages of the first book he opened however. Nothing made sense and the book was clearly written for an adult or someone who was already running their own business. There was a lot of terminology Harry didn't understand and he spent most of his time writing questions down on a piece of parchment to take to Flourish and Blotts in the morning.

At seven the next morning, Basil seemed ready for Harry's questions however.

"What do you have for me?" Basil asked. Harry handed over his list and pointed to the first few words he didn't understand. "What's the difference between Oligopoly and Monopoly?" Basil read aloud. He spent over an hour explaining things to Harry while Harry took notes, and in the end he had to re-explain several items Harry was confused about, but when they were finished with Harry's questions, he thought he understood. Basil had Harry carry boxes out to stock shelves for a few hours as well as clean the windows of the shop front (Harry suspected this was to bring in customers who would see Harry from the alley since his scar was fully visible now with his new haircut. An hour before lunch, Bennet called Harry into the back and started showing Harry how to calculate the stock they had on hand and look at what they had sold that month and what they expected to sell in the coming month as Hogwarts students would begin to pour in to buy textbooks. Harry's brain felt like mush by the time he left at noon to get lunch and he decided to skip reading through his business book that afternoon in favor of a nap.

He spent the next morning trying to read but failing to understand, before giving up for the second part of the day so he could reply to letters sent by his friends and then go out on the alleys for some fresh air. He'd barely stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron and through the brick wall onto the alley when Snape's voice sounded by his ear.

"Potter. You were told to stay in your room."

Harry decided it was best not to open his mouth and start a fight, and instead pulled out the document Podmore had given him and handed it to Snape. The man snatched it from him and let his eyes scan down it briefly before thrusting it back into his hands. Harry scrambled to grab at the fluttering parchment before it fell to the ground.

"Nothing on that paper gives you permission to be out of your room."

"I'm not a prisoner," Harry said. "I'm aloud to be out for work and school."

"You have neither a job or a school in session to attend."

"The Headmaster never told me I couldn't be out on either alley, and I do have work and school."

Snape raised his brows, as if inviting Harry to explain, but Harry knew better than to think Snape would take his word at anything. He was waiting to mock Harry or shout at him, or perhaps both for any answer Harry gave. He ploughed on anyway hoping to avoid a confrontation all the same.

"Flourish and Blotts took me on to learn about business."

"And why pray tell would you need to know about such a thing?"

"Because I was told I would ruin things if I didn't know." The answer didn't seem to appease Snape however, so Harry continued. "If I'm to someday manage the businesses my family own, I have to know what I'm doing."

"Yes," Snape sneered, "I wondered when you would begin to flaunt your family fortune to anyone who would hear."

Harry bit down on his tongue. He wasn't flaunting anything. "You asked."

Snape sneered at him and turned on his heel to stalk away. Harry shook himself, trying to rid himself of the notion that he'd somehow put his foot in his mouth or caused the man to be angry with him in some way, but in the end decided that he'd never really done anything to earn Snape's wrath and that it would come at him full force whether he was respectful or not.

* * *

After Harry earned himself another headache on Friday trying to figure out business jargon and terminology at Flourish and Blotts, he ran into Justin on the steps of Gringotts. Justin had just finished selling candy and was getting ready to take a bag full of Sickles and Knuts back to the sweet shop.

"How's the reading been going?" Harry asked, wondering if Justin had been faring better than he had.

"I read the entire book, but I didn't understand any of it. Miss Ava tried to help me, and I think I figured a few things out, but I'm not sure."

"Me too," Harry said. He pulled out the notebook he'd been keeping notes in and handed it to Justin. "I'll make a copy if you want. Basil and Bennett have been trying to explain things to me."

Justin took the notebook and flipped through it for a moment and then handed it back to Harry. "We need a shared diary."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "A what?"

"Two journals linked together. When one person writes in their copy, the words appear in the other person's copy. Then we could share notes."

"That would be good," Harry said. "If you had questions you could write them down and when I go to Flourish and Blotts they could answer both of our questions and I could share the answers with you."

"Shared diaries are expensive," Justin said.

"Do they sell them here?" Harry asked.

"Flourish's should sell them."

"Hm." Harry went to the orphanage with Justin after he dropped the money off to Tilly and was paid his five sickles for selling that morning. Mrs. Ginger gave Harry and Justin both a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple and they ate it in the kitchen.

"I'm proud of you two," she told them as they finished their lunch. "No one will hand anything to you. You've got to make opportunities for yourselves in this world."

"That's not true," Justin said. "Harry's got all he needs."

"Hush," Mrs. Ginger said, but Harry didn't think Justin had said it like he was irritated. He didn't seem to mind Harry's company as much as he had when Harry had first turned up on Knockturn Alley.

"Well he does," Justin said. "He owns practically everything on both alleys."

"Yet he still turned up with almost nothing," Mrs. Ginger reminded him. "He has what he does today because he went looking to change the opportunities he had, and by the looks of it he took you with him despite your sour attitude."

Justin grunted to acknowledge that he'd heard but didn't want to take part in the conversation anymore. Justin took his apple and left the kitchen, leaving Harry and Mrs. Ginger alone.

"Don't mind him Harry. He's had a rough go of things. He's lucky to have a place to live, but he's unlucky in some ways too. It's easier in some ways for the children that don't remember having anything else, but he remembers. His parents died when he was six, and he and his sister had to leave a nice home to come here. So he knows what he's missing out on."

"Doesn't seem like it's so bad here," Harry said quietly, remembering that he'd told Dumbledore he'd rather live here than the Dursleys. He wouldn't be missing out on anything by coming here. In fact, he'd be gaining an awful lot. Three meals a day, a bed, the ability to go out on the alleys, and two adults who seemed like they cared for the children in their charge.

"No," she said, looking at Harry's eye, which had nearly healed now. It had gone from black, to blue, to mottled yellow and brown. "I don't suppose it is."

As Harry left the orphanage that afternoon, he tried to put himself in Justin's shoes. He wondered if Justin's house had been nice, and if he'd had a nice yard to play in, and nice clothes before his parents had died. Losing parents was hard enough. Losing everything you knew would be even harder on top of that. He wished the orphanage was nicer, not just for Justin but for the kids that knew nothing else aside from the orphanage.

* * *

As cool evening air came in through the open second story window, Harry lay on his bed petting the mangy stray dog that had stuck with him since he'd turned up two weeks ago. The dog rarely went out with Harry unless it was one of his days off (and Harry wondered how the dog knew it was his day off, but he did), and spent most his time sleeping on the end of Harry's bed or eating the leftovers from the meals Tom delivered.

Harry scratched behind the dog's ears as he looked over the copy of the holdings that Silver had given him. Right in the middle of the long list, Harry's eyes found Peverell's Orphanage. He couldn't tell whether he owned it, or whether he owned the building they were renting. He didn't think an orphanage should have to pay rent, especially on a building in such poor repair. He scratched down several questions and then went to bed. He had a long day tomorrow as it was his first day of going to both Flourish and Blotts and the sweet shop. He had designs on going to see Mr. Silver after he spent his time with Tilly and Justin, and aside from lunch he figured he wouldn't get a break at all until dinner.

* * *

"Here," Harry said, handing a black journal to Justin as he entered the sweet shop.

"What's this?"

"Dual diary," Harry said. Justin's eyes grew big.

"You bought one? It must have cost a fortune!"

"25 Galleons," Harry said. "I paid extra to get the extra large one. Hopefully it'll last us through the summer. Write small if you can but make sure I can read it. I figure if you write in blue ink and I write in black ink then we can tell who wrote what. I'll copy everything over out of my other notebook into the journal tonight."

Tilly listened to the boys conversation for a few moments, and when they were done talking about the journal, beckoned them over to the counter. She had a large, ancient looking book open.

"This is every sale I've ever made since opening," she said. Harry and Justin looked over the most recent page that showed that week's sales. There were columns listing confectionary items, the price they sold for, and the number sold. There was also a column in red ink with a number.

"What's this one?" Justin asked, pointing at the red column.

"That's the cost of making the candy. I spent 10 Sickles making jelly slugs last week, and I sold 20 Sickles worth of jelly slugs last week, meaning I had a 10 sickle profit." There was a green column for profit next to the red column.

She moved down the page to a line showing cauldron cakes. "I didn't make any profit on those last week. I spent 15 Sickles making them, and I didn't sell any, so that's a 15 Sickle loss."

She showed them several more numbers and columns on the page and then gave each boy a piece of paper and a quill.

"Harry, open up to the first month of sales and calculate profit, expenditures and loss and the types of items that were sold, and Justin you do the same for the last month of profit. Then compare."

They set to work, awkwardly trying to share the book by holding the vast number of heavy pages in the middle straight up so they could look at both the front and back of the book simultaneously, and began taking notes. Tilly scolded them both several times for writing incorrect numbers down and for not keeping their notes organized in columns like she had laid out on the pages of the book. When they were both done she asked them to explain what they found to her, and talk about why the sales from the two compared months were so different. They discussed it until three, and then Harry and Justin left together.

"She can't read," Justin said. "I don't think she was teaching us anything. She just wanted us to look at numbers and tell them to her so she could figure out what was going on with her money."

"What do you mean she can't read?"

"She's half blind," Justin said. "When she shows me how make candy in the mornings I always have to read the recipe cards to her."

"But she must be able to," Harry said, "she writes everything down in that ledger."

Justin shook his head as he stepped away from Harry to go back to the orphanage as Harry continued towards Gringotts. "It's all a charm," he said. "When she makes a sale a quill pops out and starts writing numbers in the book in different colors of ink."

Harry frowned as he parted ways with Justin and left Knockturn. Even if Tilly had been wanting them to go over things for her benefit, he still felt like he'd learned something. Basil had gone over the Flourish and Blotts ledger with him, and it looked a lot different than Tilly's. It had some of the same things like expenditures and inventory numbers, but the Flourish and Blott's ledger was more consistent with high earnings. From what Harry had seen in Tilly's ledger, she used to be a wealthy woman and used to sell a lot more sweets. Now, even with the items Justin was helping her sell, she was barely making enough to cover rent on the building.

Harry went up to Mr. Silver's office and asked if he could see him. This time the secretary didn't turn him away and looked flustered that he was there at all. Harry couldn't decide if it was because she had been so rude to him before, or if it was because he was The-Boy-Who-Lived. He hoped it was the former, because he hated being treated different just because of the scar on his forehead.

"Mr. Potter," Silver said when Harry appeared in his office door. "Come in."

"I had a question," Harry said, sitting in a modern black leather chair in the pristine, brightly lit office.

"Of course."

"On the list of holdings you gave me, the orphanage is listed. Do I own it, or just the building and they're paying rent?"

"You own the building, and they do not pay rent."

"The building is in such bad shape though."

"It is. I have not been over there for some years, but I can imagine it is worse now than it was before."

"Where does the orphanage get its money? It doesn't look like they have much to feed the kids or to give them. A professor brings lost Hogwarts robes to them so the kids can have something to wear to school."

Silver pulled out a stack of parchment and flipped to a page pertaining to the orphanage. "Your great, great grandfather, Percival Peverell started the orphanage. Your grandfather was the last to adjust funds going into their account." He slid the parchment across his desk to Harry and pointed at a number next to a date. "20 Galleons a month?" Harry asked. "That's barely anything. They have 17 kids over there and the two women who run it live there full time too."

"Yes," Silver said. He seemed to be more interested in Harry's reactions than to the news that the orphanage didn't have enough money to provide for themselves. "They're surviving off of donated food from a Professor's garden," Harry said.

"Did you have another question?"

Harry huffed in irritation. His family owned the orphanage and it was in such bad shape. It didn't sit right with him. "Why aren't they getting more?"

"As I said before, your father was not interested in managing family holdings. At the time your grandfather set the funds, 20 Galleons a month was more than enough to provide for the orphanage."

"How much should they be getting today?"

"That would not be something for me to decide."

"But you oversee the accounts."

"Oversee, not make changes to, at least not without authorization."

"What would you estimate they might need?"

Silver seemed to be considering him. "Theodore told you to make decisions on your own, yes?"

"Yeah but-"

"And his reasoning for that?"

"If we have to make a case for majority I have to prove I can take care of myself."

"More than that, you have to prove yourself... in all ways."

"So-"

"Any of your dealings with either myself or Mr. Podmore are likely to be called up in court to be questioned given the nature of your case and the claims Theodore is going to make on your behalf."

"So you're not going to give me advice."

"I can, but it wouldn't be in the interest of your case."

"You're not on my case though, you're managing the holdings."

"I'm still the Potter barrister," he said. "Even if Theodore represents a specific case for you, and even if you assert you don't want my advice on that case, it's still in your interest if I take an interest in your other legal dealings."

Harry tried to work over what he'd said. Podmore had made it clear he wasn't going to give him advice, and now Silver was making the same decision.

"You said if I did anything stupid you would say something."

"Asking me for advice about what to do with the orphanage would be a mistake," he said. "That is information you are able to learn on your own by asking the right questions to the right people. From the answers you get, I would expect that a smart up-and-coming entrepreneur such as yourself would be able to make a wise decision for himself on what to do with his family holdings."

Harry felt irritated, and stood up a moment later to leave.

"And Mr. Potter-"

Harry turned back around to the man who wore an irritatingly relaxed smile. "What you've been doing at Flourish and Blotts and Tantalizing Sweets-"

"Yeah?"

"I would keep doing more of what you're already doing."

Harry nodded and left the office. At least the man approved of something. He must have heard from someone that Harry had been learning from the Flourish brothers and Tilly.

As Harry entered the Leaky Cauldron a few minutes later, Tom caught sight of him and asked, "What would you like for dinner tonight Mr. Potter?"

"Whatever you have is fine," Harry said.

"You're too easy to please," Tom said with a smile. Harry didn't bother going up to his room and instead followed Tom into the kitchen. Tom pulled out leftovers from lunch and served up a large helping of vegetables and a pork chop and handed the plate to Harry. "Do you have any scraps of meat left?" Harry asked.

"Cooked or uncooked?"

"Whatever you have," Harry said. Tom pulled out a bowl and put all of his leftover meat and fat scraps into it. "Thanks," Harry told him, and he took the food up to his room. The dog was ready for him and nearly knocked Harry over when he came in the door with dinner.

"Ok ok, calm down," Harry said, putting the bowl of meat scraps on the floor and then sitting at the desk to eat his own dinner.

"What would you do about the orphanage?" Harry asked the dog, not expecting an answer. "Silver won't tell me what to do since I'm supposed to prove myself. He said ask the right people the right questions." He speared the entire porkchop with his fork and then took a bite without bothering to cut the meat up. "I know the right question, how much do they need? Who am I supposed to ask though? I don't know how much one person needs to live a month, how am I supposed to figure out how much 19 people need?"

The dog barked and Harry looked down at him. "What? You want my porkchop too? Here, have broccoli."

Harry threw a scrap of broccoli on the floor, and the dog nosed it, but didn't take a bite. "Well that was a waste, wasn't it?" Harry lamented. He was hungry. "You can't have my porkchop."

The dog barked again and then put his paws up on Harry's lap.

"No," he said, and stuffed the entire porkchop in his mouth. When he had finished chewing it up and swallowed, nearly choking, he stared at the dog, who still had his paws on Harry's lap.

"You're no help if all you want to do is eat my food." All he got was another bark in response.

"I wonder if Basil would know. Maybe Bennett, he seems like he runs all the finances," Harry thought out loud, mind still on the orphanage.

The dog dropped to the floor and then went to a stack of papers on Harry's desk and pulled one off onto the floor and barked again.

"What's with you? You gotta go out or something?" The dog nosed the paper in response and smeared it's wet nose across it. Harry grabbed at it, irritated, and looked at the large wet spot the dog's nose had left right over the word orphanage. Ignoring the dog, because chastising him hadn't worked so far, Harry took the parchment and went to lay on his back on the bed. He stared at the wet spot, going over possibilities of how to figure things out in his head. After nearly ten minutes his eyes came into focus again on the paper. The wet spot had nearly dried.

"The orphanage," Harry said aloud. The dog barked, causing Harry to startle and meet its eyes as it was staring at him. "You want me to ask the orphanage?" Another bark.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you weren't a normal dog. Are you magic then? Hedwig is smarter than a normal owl, and Neville swears Trevor helps him with his homework... that's his toad."

The dog finally seemed to settle down and jumped up on the foot of Harry's bed and curled into a ball, tucking its tail under its chin.

If anyone would know what the orphanage needed it would be Mrs. Ginger and Miss Ava.

* * *

"Can I see what's on the third floor?" Harry asked Mrs. Ginger the next day at lunch.

"No one has been up there in years. There's charms holding the roof up."

"Don't the charms have to be renewed sometimes?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Professor Snape comes and renews them."

"He's due in today isn't he?" Harry asked. Normally he would try to avoid Snape, but he wanted to see what kind of shape the third floor was in. He'd heard Justin mention Snape the day before when they were looking at Tilly's ledger.

"Yes-"

"Maybe he could renew the charms today then."

"Why do you want to see what's up there?"

Harry thought about it. "You know Justin and I are learning about business."

"Yes."

"It has something to do with making opportunities."

"Hm. I suppose."

"You'll ask him then?" Harry was surprised she wasn't going to question him more about it.

"It is about that time that the charms will have to be renewed."

"Do you think you could ask him if I could go with him?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Professor Snape doesn't like me."

She gave him a hard look but in the end seemed like she believed him. "If any other child said that to me, I might not believe them."

"How come you believe me?"

She didn't answer and Harry wrinkled his nose. "Is it because I'm me? I don't want to be treated different just because of the scar."

"You're just Harry to me," she said. "I haven't treated you any differently so far, have I?"

"No."

"Ok then. And to answer your question, I'll ask him for you."

He grinned at her. "Thanks. I have more questions though."

"Yes?"

Harry pulled out a folded piece of parchment from his back pocket and a Muggle pen. "How much does it cost for a person to live for one month?"

"Oh, let's see," she said. Harry thought the question sounded innocuous enough that she might not suspect what he was really up to. Since he was learning about business and finances, it made sense that he'd need to know how much a person needed in a month.

"There's food, and if a person is thrifty with what they buy they can stretch their budget quite a bit farther than normal. Housing expenses cost a lot, and then there's other necessities like clothes, heat in the winter, and things of that nature. Then if a person has wants those things cost too." She thought about it for a moment and then said, "I'd imagine a thrifty person who didn't spend on any wants could get by with about 15 Galleons a month."

"So a family of five," Harry asked, doing the math in his head, "would be 75 Galleons a month?"

"I'd imagine so. Remember, if there are children going to Hogwarts they'll need all sorts of school supplies. Some people buy them all at once so one month in the summer has a much larger cost, and others spread out their purchases."

"285," Harry said, and Mrs. Ginger looked over at him. "That's how much you'd need here," Harry said, "just for the necessities, not for wants."

"I suppose that would be about right," she said. "We've gotten along for so long on only 25 Galleons a month though that I'm not sure what we'd do with 285 a month."

"Well where do you get all your food? I mean, I know Professor Snape brings some, but-"

"He's not the only one. I'd like to have a garden myself but there's no room. Fortescue brings food every week from his garden. He keeps a greenhouse so he grows year round, and the Lovegoods bring food by once a month, and so do the McGlaggens."

"But-" Harry said, "it doesn't seem like enough... and I'm eating your food sometimes now and I shouldn't be."

"Psh," she waved him away. "An extra sandwich two or three days a week is nothing Harry."

"Aren't the kids hungry though?" He was often still hungry after eating lunch at the orphanage and went back to the Leaky Cauldron to get some fruit or another sandwich.

"Sometimes, but we get by."

Harry looked at the crumbling paint on the walls again, and the scorched wooden floor in the kitchen. "This place needs a lot of work." When he looked back at her she was watching him. "I didn't mean it to be rude," he said. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I say things without thinking."

"No, it does need work."

"That'd cost a lot wouldn't it."

"Several thousand Galleons," she said.

"Do you ever wish the orphanage was just in another place? Somewhere with a big yard or something?"

"The children wish that."

"But not you?"

"Sometimes I wish that too. Living on Knockturn Alley makes a lot of the teenagers ashamed to tell others where they live. There's a stigma to this place, but having shops nearby where they can find work however has proven a good thing in the past. Just like Justin working for Tilly."

"Because he can buy his own things?"

"Because he can learn skills he'll be able to use to support himself when he leaves the orphanage."

Harry had more questions, but Professor Snape appeared in the doorway to the kitchen then and cleared his throat. Harry turned to look at him and found himself facing one of Snape's nastier glares.

"Severus," Mrs. Ginger said. "Harry and I were just talking about you a few minutes ago. I was thinking it might be time to renew the charms on the third floor and Harry was wanting to watch."

"I prefer to work alone."

"Surely he won't get in your way," she said.

He grumbled something under his breath and then gave a stiff nod. Mrs. Ginger smiled and Harry got off the stool he'd been sitting on and followed Snape out. Snape didn't say anything until they were headed up the stairs between the second and third floor.

"What are you doing here Potter?"

"I was having lunch."

"Stealing from those less fortunate, how very alike your father you are."

Harry bit his tongue again until he tasted a hint of blood. Snape was trying to goad him into arguing so he could send him away, but Harry wasn't going to fall for it. He wanted to at least get a glimpse of the third floor. When Harry didn't answer, Snape turned and glared at him and then unlocked the door on the third floor and stepped inside.

"You are to remain in the doorframe," he bit out at Harry. "It is far too dangerous and I will not be responsible for you falling through the floorboards and injuring yourself."

Harry gave a very quiet, "Yes sir," and waited where he'd been told. Snape moved inside, choosing his steps carefully and Harry looked around the large open space. The ceiling had gaping holes where he could see daylight, the walls, floor and ceiling were all stained from water and covered in dirt and mold, and the floorboards were warped. Two of the windows along the back wall were broken out and there was glass beneath them.

"What is your sudden interest in charms Potter? I do not recall you getting stellar grades in the subject."

"I was curious," Harry said, trying not to gag at the overwhelming smell of mold, mildew, and rotting wood. He thought aunt Petunia might have fainted at the state of the place and the uncleanliness of it.

"Yes, and we all know Mr. Potter's curiosity must be satisfied at all costs, even to his own safety."

Harry sighed and Snape's head whipped around to him. "I think you've seen quite enough. Be gone." When Harry didn't move, Snape flicked his wand and the door snapped shut so fast that it hit Harry's nose and forced him backwards onto the small landing. He caught himself just before he fell backwards down the stairs. Grumbling as he rubbed his nose, he turned and went back downstairs.

"Well?" Mrs. Ginger asked.

"He threw me out."

"I see. How did it look up there?"

"Pretty bad," Harry said. "There were holes in the roof and windows were broken."

"It was the same before."

"Oh," Harry said. Remembering a lesson from primary about heat rising, Harry asked, "doesn't all the heat escape in the winter?"

"It does get cold, but we manage."

Harry thanked her for convincing Professor Snape and for feeding him lunch and then left. He wanted to go and ask Mr. Silver questions about construction costs, but remembered that he wouldn't be giving him advice either. Instead he went to Diagon and into Flourish and Blotts to ask Bennet and Basil.

"Construction?" Bennet asked. "Why do you need to know?"

"The orphanage is falling apart," Harry said. "I own the building. It's my responsibility to make sure it doesn't fall down around them."

"It's in that bad of shape?" Basil asked.

"There's holes in the roof and walls and the entire third floor is being held up by charms."

The two brothers looked at each other and then Bennet went to a filing cabinet and pulled out a folder. "We had to hire a company to build new shelves for the books last year." He made a copy of the parchment and handed it to Harry. "They did a good job and they were the most reasonably priced when I researched the available options."

"I figure it'll be thousands of galleons," Harry said.

"Are you going to raise rent on everyone to pay for it?"

Harry raised his brows. "Why would I do that?"

The brothers shared a look again and Harry wondered if they were somehow communicating telepathically, though Harry didn't know if such a thing were possible.

"It's our duty to teach him if we're going to teach him about business at all," Basil said, and though he didn't look happy about it, Bennet waved his hand at him in agreement.

"Since you own most of the alley, it would be smart to slightly raise rent on everybody for a short time to pay for the cost of maintaining your other buildings. There are risks associated with it however. You risk making shop owners angry, and some may move out."

"On the other hand," Bennett said, "Diagonalley is prime real-estate. Space rarely becomes available, and any successful business would be barmy to give up their space. It could happen if you raised rent too high for too long however."

"What do you pay for rent now?" Harry asked.

"100 Galleons a month."

Harry nodded. Tilly paid 25 a month. "Is it based on location?"

"Yes," Bennet said. "Certain spaces on Diagon cost more. The highest paying shops are those at the very end in front of Gringotts. Everyone has to go to Gringotts and when they come out with their pockets full of money the first thing they see are those shops."

Harry found it all interesting. "If rent were raised on every shop by one Galleon a month it would only raise about 35 Galleons a month. Or 70 a month if it were raised by two. That's not nearly enough for all the repairs at the orphanage."

"You could get away with two a month," Basil said. "Rent goes up periodically anyway."

"Thanks for your help," Harry said. He left the shop, and left the two brothers giving each other another telepathic look.

* * *

"Have you made a decision?" Harrison Silver watched as Harry sat down in his office several days later.

"I have."

"And what would that be?"

"We're fixing the orphanage. I looked at the third floor. It has holes in the ceiling and busted out windows and the entire floor is covered in mold and mildew. The kids are gonna get sick living there. I'm surprised the third floor hasn't collapsed already."

"It will be costly."

"I know." Harry handed over one of the parchments he'd brought in with him. "I contacted Bartizan Group and described the repairs. They pulled an old layout for the building and gave an estimate."

"That's a hefty sum Harry. Five thousand Galleons."

"I know."

"Are you certain this is what you want?"

"It's not what I want, it's what's right. If I own the building and it collapses and kills somebody I'm responsible, aren't I?"

"You are."

Harry had been learning a lot about business insurance from Basil in the last few days.

"And I'd feel awful. It's kids living in there."

"How do you intend on covering the cost?"

"I thought about raising rent. If I raise it too high I risk people taking their businesses elsewhere though. If I keep the rent raise low, it will only raise 30-60 Galleons a month. That's not nearly enough to cover costs. I'm going to cover the cost out of the accounts."

"Because you're worried about losing businesses?"

"No," Harry said. "That's part of it I guess, but not really." He stared Silver in the eyes and said, "I figured out they should have been getting 285 Galleons a month to cover basic living costs. They've only been getting 25. If we had been giving them 285 a month that would have been over 6,000 Galleons in just two years. If they'd had that, they probably would have made the repairs already. We owe it to them to make the building safe at the very least."

Silver smiled. He hadn't told Harry he was being stupid yet, so at least that was something. "This is why age doesn't matter in business."

"You and Podmore keep saying that."

"Because it's true. Your great great grandfather was only 15 when he took over the family businesses. That is why the Potter's are known for making rash, bold business decisions. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but when it does work, it's seen as genius. Generally older more seasoned businessmen don't make such bold choices."

"I'm not a businessman," Harry said.

"But you are a Potter. I imagine that sooner rather than later you will make a poor business choice based on feeling and I will have to call you out on it."

"Probably." Harry felt unsure of himself in anything business related. He still didn't understand most of the things he read or half the things Basil and Bennet told him, but he was sure about this. It wasn't right to let people live in those conditions when he had the money sitting in accounts to fix the problem. He had countless thousands of Galleons sitting in the accounts Dumbledore controlled, and almost ten thousand just from that month in the accounts he controlled.

"Set up an account to pay the construction company," Harry said. "Put 7,000 galleons in. Don't take it from the legal fund." The last thing he wanted to do was to run out of money to pay the only two men on his side against Dumbledore. Without them he'd be sent straight back to the Dursleys. "I also want you to work it out so that 300 Galleons a month go to Peverell's."

"Which account should that come out of?"

"Take everything out of the unnamed account I opened. From now on the four percent that was going into that goes to Peverell's."

"And the rest?"

"What would you suggest?"

Silver considered his question and Harry was glad that he decided to give him an answer. "The newly opened accounts will be nearly empty after you pay the construction cost. The only untouched account will be the legal fund."

"Will there be anything in it if you take the rest for the month to go to Peverell's?"

"Two hundred Galleons."

"Take it from there this month and then leave the legal account alone. Next month the rest of the accounts will have several thousand Galleons again won't they?"

"Yes."

"Take the money to replenish the legal account from one of them then, whichever one you think is best."

"As you wish."

Harry asked Silver to show him all of what they'd decided on paper before he left so he could get it clear in his head, and then went to send another owl to the construction firm. He wanted them to start work as soon as possible.