The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. Sam asked Harry several more questions about natural-born. When Harry mentioned Hogwarts, Sam asked even more questions. In the meantime, Dean slept in his seat.
"Wait, did you just say that Loki is teaching?" Sam asked in absolute disbelieve.
"Sure, he is one of the best teachers. The entire class had top marks in the test before the Christmas holidays and that even though he only had half the time to teach us everything. On top of that, he also uses the time to teach us about the supernatural worldwide. If he didn't teach us we would be taught by the most boring ghost in existence" Harry huffed.
"A ghost...? As a teacher?" Sam didn't know what to think anymore. This whole new world turned his upside down.
"Yes, ghost. We have quite a few ghosts at Hogwarts, and no, they don't go insane. This was actually how Loki became our teacher in the first place. After mourning the fact that he couldn't prank Binns...our former teacher," he added after seeing the questioning look on Sam.
After that, Harry explained to Sam what Loki told him in the first history class. The entire time it took to get to Vegas, they talked about several things regarding magic. Finally, they reached the city, and as if he knew it, Dean woke up.
"So we are in Vegas now. Where to?" Sam asked while Harry looked out of the window and for any sign of white rabbits.
When he finally spotted one, he answered. "Can you see that white rabbit graffiti over there?"
"Yes."
"Follow it."
Sam did as he was said and a short time later, they stood in some deserted area. It was a factory complex that looked like it was abandoned a long time ago. Only a few cars parked there, which seemed a bit odd. Mostly the five hundred thousand dollars Porsche looked out of place.
"Are you sure that we are right here?" Dean asked sceptically.
"Quite. I can see the magic radiating from that door over there" Harry said while he got out of the car. He walked up to the said door when he noticed that the Winchesters weren't following him but instead rumoured in the car's rear trunk. So he turned around and walked up to them instead. Both were sorting some weapons and put them in a large bag.
"You don't need them. As far as I understood Lo, you wouldn't even be able to take them with you."
"Say what? I'm not going into some unknown building filled with supernatural beings unarmed" Dean got het up.
"Then take some knives with you. Guns are not allowed, only wands and knives."
The brothers started to repack their bag. Harry shrugged while walking back to the door. He didn't want to know what they packed. He did his duty by warning them, and in the end, it wasn't his problem should they bring guns with them. He waited a few minutes until Sam and Dean were finished and walked up to him. Together they walked into the building.
They all stopped dead in their track. Inside it was much different than what it looked from the outside. Though Harry shouldn't be so surprised with knowing Diagon Alley. However, this was entirely different. He now knew what Loki meant with modern and totally awesome.
They stood in the entrance of a vast building. It was brightly lit, and the floors and walls were in a mixture of beige and deep red. In front of them was a security point. They could see many shops along a hallway that seemed to lead to a round central plaza. It was much like those modern shopping malls. The shops all had large glass fronts behind which they showed their best products. It seemed that they stood in the section for sports.
The three went to the security checkpoint and had their luggage checked. It seemed that the Winchesters took his advice to heart and only took knives with them.
"Welcome to the Rabbit Hole. Fights are not allowed in here. Should you want to fight or duel someone, please use the facilities in the basement. Any violation of this rule ends in harsh punishment and being expelled from here. I wish you a nice day" the security officer recited.
Harry nodded as well as Sam. Only Dean looked a bit sour. They walked further into the mall when suddenly Sam shouted.
"Bobby, nice to see you. Strange I didn't see your car outside. How did you get here?" Sam rambled excitedly.
Bobby grunted. "I didn't get here from Vegas but from Milwaukee. Was much closer to where I was."
That was when Harry face-palmed. "I should have known. This entire thing is in a pocket-dimension connected to several cities through portals."
Bobby looked at him, astonished. "You know a lot, boy. Harry Potter, I assume? I'm Robert Singer, but everyone just calls me Bobby."
"Yes sir, nice to meet you" he shook his hand. "And to what I know...let's just say that Lo is a never-ending well of knowledge. He told me that he created a pocket dimension where he has his house after I caught him disappearing one night. I assumed that this here is much the same."
"We should talk later more, lad, but I guess you want to do shopping first" Bobby laughed upon seeing the excitement in Harry.
They all walked to the plaza in the centre where they got to see the full extension of the building. It was a four-story building plus the basement the security officer mentioned.
The ground floor reached four hallways from the central plaza connected with two more concentric hallways along which the shops were located. Each quarter was dedicated to another field of shops to find here next to sports and weapons (wands and other foci included), clothes, and everyday stuff.
The first-floor layout was much the same. Located here were potions and rituals, magical amulets and jewels, electronics (yes, the assumption that electronics don't work in heavily warded areas is nonsense if you knew how to enchant them) and furniture.
On the second floor was one colossal book shop. When Sam saw that he nearly bolted for the next elevator to get there much to Harry's amusement.
The third and last floor was some kind of botanic garden where you could buy any plant you could think of. This was a floor Harry would definitely visit later to see whether he could find something for Neville.
Above that all spread a glass dome behind which an artificial sun shone, at least Harry assumed that it was manufactured.
According to an information panel, the basement seemed to hold many different areas for sports and other activities.
"I know where I want to go first" Harry exclaimed before walking down one of the hallways straight to the weapon shops.
"Weapons? Aren't you a bit young, Harry?" Sam asked with concern in his voice.
"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy, I wield a weapon far more dangerous than any gun or knife for about four months now, and you think me too young?" Harry laughed. "Besides that, I'm not looking for a gun but magical foci and perhaps a few knives."
With that, he walked to a large shop that sold right what he wanted, wands and other foci. Sam followed him out of curiosity.
Dean was more interested in the shop opposite that they entered, selling guns and other fire weapons.
"You two have fun with your hocus pocus. I go where the real weapons are" with that he entered the gun shop. Bobby chuckled and went with Dean.
"Good day and welcome to Greywood's Magical Emporium, I'm Ms Greywood. How may I help you?" the woman behind the desk greeted upon their entering.
"Hello, he here needs a wand and perhaps a focus. Is there a way to find out to which way of focusing his magic he is inclined to?"
"Sure we have a way to test that. If you would follow me, please" the woman turned around and went through a door on the side.
Sam looked a bit helpless at Harry. "Wand? Focus? Way of focusing magic?" he didn't know what he wanted to know first.
"Come on" Harry dragged him through the door. "There are three different methods of focusing the magic. Through a focus like a wand, hand magic that I used to colour your brother's car, and mind magic is purely through intention. We need to know which you are inclined to."
Sam's head was buzzing, but he did as he was asked. This day couldn't become crazier than it already was. Not only did he learn that he was a natural-born wizard instead of some kind of abomination. But now an eleven years old boy dragged him around to find out how to harness this ability.
When they stepped through the door, they found themselves in a small room with a workbench and lots of tools. The woman grabbed a sphere and turned back around to them.
"This sphere will scan your magical core and then shine in a colour which indicates how you best focus your magic. Please just hold it."
Sam took the sphere. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but suddenly it glowed in a green and blue mixture.
"What do these colours mean?" Sam looked at the sphere in open curiosity.
"Green is the colour for focus-based channelling while blue stands for mind-based channelling. It is quite rare that someone is naturally inclined to two forms" the employee explained.
"Would you mind if I try it too?" Harry asked upon which she shook her head.
So he took the sphere from Sam. First, nothing happened, but suddenly it glowed in three different colours, blue and green like Sam's but added to it was also red. The woman looked at him with wide eyes.
"Okay, this is rare. To be honest, I don't know any other human who is inclined to all three forms."
"Being the only one doing something seems to be my thing" Harry growled. Both adults looked at him, confused. "I survived something that is deemed to be not survivable."
Upon that the eyes of the woman went wide. "Harry Potter?" she asked astonished.
"It seems that I'm not only known in Britain" he had hoped that at least here he would have peace from all the fans. "But we are here for business. As I said he'll need a wand and are there perhaps foci to support hand and mind magic?"
"Sure, sure" she was back to her original composure and walked back to the counter in the shop. Rummaging in it she produced two tablets, one with different woods while the other hold different materials suitable for wand cores. "For the wand, we need to determine which wood and core suit you the best. Just hold out your hand over them and pick the one that draws you to it."
Sam did as he was told and scanned first the wood and then the core materials. In the meantime, the employee explained about supporting foci.
"For hand magic, most people prefer either a ring or a bracelet. For these various metals and gems can be used. For mind magic, on the other hand, you can use either a necklace or a tiara. Earrings are also a possibility. The same materials apply."
Meanwhile, Sam was finished with the selection for his wand. He ended up with holly as wood and hellhound fur and the feather of a heavenly owl for the core.
"Okay, now it is official. You two ware my most unconventional customers. I never had to fashion a wand with a core so oppositional like yours. It will be quite a challenge" Greywood said with a smile.
Sam, on the other hand, was quite troubled. Hellhound fur he could explain through the demon taint but the feather of a heavenly owl?
"What is a heavenly owl anyway, I never heard of it" he enquired.
"A heavenly owl is quite rare, and I can only offer them as a core material because I know someone who owns some of them. They are pure white and are said to be the familiars of angels, though this is unconfirmed. What is confirmed is that they are even purer than phoenixes and unicorns. Because of that, it is so unusual that your second core material is hellhound fur. I never thought that those two would ever come together in one wand."
"Aaaand another thing I have to ask Lo. The list is getting quite long" Harry mourned while picking up one of the wand woods the woman offered. Greywood raised an eyebrow.
"That is an unusual wood you picked there. Dogwood, it is mostly found around people with a trickster nature. I assume you already own a wand; may I ask with which properties?"
"Holly and phoenix feather but I don't think it is that match. You know I'm from England and the only wandmaker Ollivander uses only so much woods and three cores. Here see for yourself" he grabbed into his bag and pulled out his wand before giving it to her.
She looked at it from every angle before putting it on her counter. "You're right; this is a bad suit for you. Do you perhaps want a new one too?"
Harry thought about it. Ever since he started learning from Loki, he used hand magic. But on the other side who knew when a wand might come in handy and better be equipped with one that suited him than that thing he got from Ollivander. So he nodded.
Since he already had his wand wood, he only needed the core. It took him about three more minutes to find it, Thestral hair, Demiguise fur and Pixie hair.
"Quite the trickster are you?" Greywood laughed. The dogwood and Pixie hair stood for mischief while the Demiguise would make sure that no one other than the owner could see the wand. There was a reason that said fur was also used to craft invisibility cloaks.
"Don't ask" Sam growled while Harry mustered his best innocence face.
"Before we get distracted any further. Foci for the mind and hand magic" he piped.
Greywood nodded while putting the wand materials away before producing two new tablets with metals and gems. "Same procedure as with the wands."
In the end, Sam got a necklace of silver with a chalcedony pendant. Harry had a platinum ring with heliotropes around it.
"Okay so now that we have the materials for your foci is there anything else you need?"
"He will also need a wand holster" Harry pointed at Sam.
"Which material?"
"Dragon hide, Antipodean Opaleye if possible."
"Sure, it will be done. I would ask you to come back in about an hour. Everything should be ready by then" Harry didn't even ask what all that would cost he had the credit card from Loki and when the pagan said it was one without limits, he didn't doubt that it was.
Sam and Harry nodded and went out of the shop to see what Dean and Bobby were up to. On their way, Harry groaned. The entire ordeal took nearly one hour.
"I have one question" Sam suddenly asked. He continued upon Harry's questioning gaze. "If I understood you correctly you need for focus-based magic something like a wand, a focus. But if you get a focus for hand magic, for example, doesn't it become focus-based magic then?"
This was something that buggered him ever since Harry mentioned the different methods.
Harry shook his head. "I can only repeat what Lo told me in that regard. I understood that with focus-based magic, the focus is mandatory. You can't perform magic otherwise. But a focus for hand magic has only a supporting function, like adding more strength to your spell. Other than that, it has no function, and you could do as well without it. It is I think like when you perform a ritual as a wand using wizard. You have added foci in this case like rune stones, but the primary focus is what you normally use, your wand. I hope you understand what I mean; otherwise, you'll have to ask Lo I fear."
"I think I understand, but perhaps they have some books on that matter here" Sam didn't like the thought of asking Loki for anything. It was enough that Harry planned on asking him about the demon taint of his magical core. Blimey, now he admitted to himself that he inherited magic. What comes next? Lucifer dancing in a tutu in front of him? Had he known that this thought might come true in not too distant future...
They together entered the shop Dean went in earlier to be greeted by a Dean who looked like Christmas came early.
"Sam, look. They have weapons enchanted so that they reload themselves automatically. You just put the ammo you want to use into the pouch that comes with them, and you never have to worry again about missing a beat because you have to reload."
"Fifteen thousand dollars? Heaven, they are expensive" Sam exclaimed incredulously upon seeing the price tag.
"Probably because of the enchantments" Harry mused while looking around. There was even an enhanced version with a pouch containing three different types of ammo in separate compartments. You then could choose at the weapon from which container you want to draw the ammo. This weapon cost twenty-five thousand dollars. That was when he got an evil idea that would test whether the credit card was truly without limits. It was also a perfect way for him to get back at Loki for dropping him so unceremoniously with those two jerks.
"Hey you two idiots, why don't you choose two weapons each you want to have. I pay" he said with a devilish grin that let the others shiver.
"And an eleven years old boy carries around enough money to not only buy one of those" Dean said, pointing at the gun before him. "But four?"
"I got a credit card without limits from Lo for Christmas so technically he is paying" Harry shrugged.
Hearing that the brothers had no more restrictions. In the end, they both chose a shotgun each and Dean a pistol while Sam wanted an MP that could switch between single-shot and full-automatic. All weapons had the improved self-reloading charm as well as self-cleaning and anti-jamming spells. Together with ammo that would last more than a lifetime: silver bullets, rock salt, demon-killing bullets (yes it seems that the infamous colt wasn't what made it demon-killing but the ammo)...you can name it, Harry had to pay over one hundred thousand dollars, but he didn't care.
The vendor packed everything up in a box and sealed it.
"Since guns are not allowed in the Rabbit Hole, I have to seal this crate. The seal will automatically come off once you leave or enter the shooting range in the basement" he explained, but the brothers didn't really care. They were over the moon about the new weapons even if they couldn't use them immediately.
Now that they were finished, they all went into another shop that sold closed combat weapons. Here, mainly Harry bought things. He got five throwing knives despite not knowing how to use them. But that would change soon, as well as two daggers all enchanted to stay sharp and kill everything, including demons. Sam and Dean also got some new knives again on Loki's expense.
They shortly went back to the wand shop to fetch their stuff, and now they sat at a café on the central plaza.
"I think I saw a hotel on the information panel. Perhaps I should rent a room there for the rest of my holidays" Harry mused.
"Then we will stay with you" Sam stated matter-of-factly which earned him a confused look from Dean. "I'm not leaving him here alone and see it that way, free holidays."
Sam had him with the free holidays' statement. Dean wasn't one to discard something free. Bobby, however, had to leave them since work was calling.