Hope everyone likes the newest chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of JK Rowling's stuff! It's hers! I'm just borrowing and tweaking – not to make any money!

Chapter Four

Harry followed after the girls. The walked to the escalators, and Alex pressed on a golden, swirly design. Harry knew it must be a rune, but it was not similar to the one he had seen in Hermione's runes textbook.

Alex clearly stated, "Food court."

The escalator glowed the same golden color as the rune. Alex almost stepped on it before Sherry yanked her arm back. Harry snickered at the sight of Alex almost landing on her butt.

"You need to wait until we all can get on!" Sherry exclaimed. "Harry doesn't know how to do this! Or did you forget that already?"

Alex had the decency to look sheepish. Sherry rolled her eyes, then turned to Harry.

"There are too many floors to walk down each one. The stairs have an enchantment on them that allows us to feel like we only moved up or down one floor while travelling past many. You just have to tell the rune sequence where you want to go and step on the stairs when they glow. If someone has to go to a different floor and they're ahead of you, make sure to wait to try to get to your floor until after the stairs stop glowing. There's a map beside each rune, but you can be vague and only state the type of magic you are looking for. Each type of magic has its own floor, so the magic won't be confused. If you ask for something that can be found on multiple floors, like say a bookshop, you will have an alert pop in front of your face – kinda looks like a futuristic hologram – asking you where exactly you would like to go. If you don't say anything you will just go down one floor. Now you can go, Alex."

Alex whooped. She hopped on the escalator, which started moving when she stepped on. Sherry stepped behind her, dragging Harry along.

Well, now I know why they're friends, Harry thought. Both girls just thought it was okay to drag people around.

They were deposited in what Harry was certain was the food court. Every store was food-based. There were some common muggle stores (Five Guys, McDonalds, Domino's, Pizza Hut [although why the two pizza places were right next to each other was a mystery to Harry], Chick-fil-a, and several others) as well as obviously magical places (Cauldrons and Cakes, Bubblers', Hippogriff's, The Chinese Fireball, etc.). People mingled around in the tables outside the restaurants. Harry saw one group of friends split to go to both Hippogriff's and Domino's, then meet up at a table in the middle of both… wait, what?

Alex laughed. "In America, whoever's the fastest gets the most customers. In magical America, fast means there should be absolutely no wait time. There's a rune scheme on the entrance that alters time, so you don't have to take too long out of your busy day for lunch. Our no-maj counterparts consider themselves too busy and fast paste, but they've got nothing on us!"

Sherry led them to The Chinese Fireball. "Best Chinese food you'll find on this side of the country. It's actually authentic versus the greasy crap everywhere else seems to sell."

Harry ordered first and got the gung pow chicken, which seemed like the safest thing on the menu. Sherry ordered bloody guts (which turned out to be a meat mush with spicy red sauce) with a side of crab wantons. Alex was the strangest. She got the double entrée of dragon spleen and basilisk tongue, with a side of fried cockroaches. The girls had to explain that in America, certain dragon species and basilisks were bred for food. These dragons were not on the endangered species list. Basilisks had their eyes poked out when they were born (great for freezing potions, Sherry commented) and only grew so large before being put on the market. Their meat acted like pufferfish: it numbed the tongue (although why you'd want that sensation they never said). The fried cockroaches were just because Alex had no taste buds, according to Sherry.

When Harry tried to pay, Alex stopped him. "No," she said, "this is our treat to you." As she said this, Sherry stepped in front of him to pay their bill. Harry didn't realize it happened until he turned to pay anyways, only to be dragged off to wait for their meal.

Harry loved watching them prepare the food. The warlocks had things flying over people's heads doing tricks. Some of those things were on fire. Some of those things hit the others, only to shake drunkenly, then go back to what they were doing. To Harry, it seemed that the food never sat still, even when not in use.

He and the girls talked and laughed while they ate. They had an easy comradery, similar to how Harry was with Ron, Hermione, and the twins.

"We should do this again some time," Alex said as they walked him to the hotel. Harry would have explored this new magical world, but he had eaten enough that he was ready for a nap. The girls saw him almost fall out of his seat, then laughed about food comas and how you were only supposed to get them when it was Thanksgiving.

They got him to his room, then made plans for tomorrow. They were going to take him to a magical fair that was in town. Harry couldn't wait.

But he could sleep. The girls were accurate in calling it a food coma, he didn't wake up for the rest of the day and the entirety of the night.

…

It had been fun at the fair. There were several games to play and things to see. Harry's favorite was the broomstick gymnastic exhibition.

Each participant pulled off tricks and stunts not even a seeker would be comfortable with. They dove and looped through the air like they were born for it. That was not the dangerous thing, though. Some would stop the magic on their broom, making them free-fall. Others just let go and had to be able to grab their brooms before they reached the ground. One rookie had messed up and needed to call their broom back through magic, Sherry said the spell was accio, and he was lucky to be alive. Alex said in a real competition he should have been disqualified. One thing everyone did, though, was gymnastic tricks on their brooms. One rode theirs like a skateboard. Another did a no-hands backflip. Another did a cartwheel, and ended back on the broomstick facing backwards, only to lift himself on his hands, swing his legs up and around, and he was back facing normal.

Harry could have spent hours talking about the half-hour long show. He wanted to try some of that.

Alex and Sherry also showed him a magical ATM machine. He just pressed his hand against the machine, which would read his magical signature and connect with his bank account. The money that came out of the machine was not galleons, dollars, or pounds. Alex called them "bucks." Sherry explained that the no-maj slang term actually came about because of what the magicals' money system was.

Each "buck" was either in gold, silver, or bronze. Each was stamped thin so that the metal would act like paper money. Sherry explained that the paper money of the no-majes was easier to deal with, but the residential goblins did not want possible inflation, nor did they accept useless paper that at the end of the day a person wouldn't wipe their butts with when precious metals could be melted into other things (her words, not his). Instead of completely shutting the idea down like in Europe, though, goblins created bucks. Five bronzes to the silver and five silvers to the gold. Each buck was not the same size because of the amounts the metals actually go for. Bronze bucks were the thickest, and gold bucks were the thinnest. Much more sensible than the random numbers Europeans messed with. ("They can't complain about our Imperial system when their money system's so jacked up!" Alex commentated. "We use money every day, measurements just come with specific jobs!")

Harry noticed that a lot, American magicals using a system that makes things easier on them. It was more sensible to have ATM machines than go to the bank every time one was out of money. It was more sensible to have money values that stayed at specific intervals. It was more sensible to not have a credit card, as magic was able to circumvent electrical equipment here, but internet signals became wonky. It also prevented people from using money they did not have, reducing debt issues.

Harry was now back in Mrs. Higgindobbins's room, about to learn how to sense magic.

"You first need to be able to find your magic before you can sense others. It is your magic that allows you to sense other magics," she started.

Harry learned to sense his internal magic, but he hit a roadblock when he tried to use it.

Mrs. Higgindobbins thought. "Harry," she asked, "is it true European magicals use a wand for every bit of magic they do?"

Harry nodded. He had actually noticed how some people didn't have wands, but he just suspected that they were unusually powerful.

"Ah! That explains it! The crutch of a wand still has its effects on you. In America, wands are on a need-to-have basis. A person's magic has a set basis. Some people's magics are more precise than others'. It helps to have a wand, in that case. Some people with more wide-spread magic will use another foci, if one at all. The more wide-spread a person's magical base is, the less it wants to be directed into a foci. It is pointless to minimize a spell into a wand only to have to release it back out how it was. Everyone has some kind of foci, in the case they need to perform precision magics, but not everyone needs to use them regularly. It can be harmful, actually, to force a person's magic into a wand if it does not naturally want to go there.

"If a person naturally does not have a precision-base, and they are forced to learn through use of a wand, the magic can become strained. They will seem like they have weaker magic. Some people can overcome such issues, but that is only the case when a person's magic is extremely adaptive.

"Some believe that the more wide-spread a magician's magic is, the more there is, and the more powerful a magician is. That is why in Europe, those who can do wandless magic are considered extremely gifted. The only reason why that is true is because the person's magic adapted to a wand, but it can still perform as it originally intended, so it can be used to its full potential. Both magics have their advantages and disadvantages, just like everything else.

"I believe, Harry, that your magic is wide-based adaptive magic. It naturally rejects a focus, but it learned how to branch a small amount into the wand. That means that you are much more powerful than you may have thought because while your magic branches, it must stretch the magic into a thin string so that it will work with the wand. Precision-based warlocks actually condense, not thin, their magic into a thin strand. That is why precision-based magicals will always be better at wand-based magic than you, Harry. They are able to actually put more magic into their spell-casting. Meanwhile, you are basically choking your magic."

Harry's head spun. He shouldn't use a wand. While everything in America was done differently, the fact that his magic wasn't even supposed to use a wand was the thing that made Harry realize how ineffectively Europeans used their abilities.

"Why don't we know this?"

"Most European magicians are precision-based. Wide-based magicians have more wild magic. Wild magics are only possible when the magic can interact with other magic, specifically in the earth: natural magics. Europe just doesn't have the natural magics places like the Americas have. Very few wide-based magicians can even use their magics in Europe. We believe some of the squibs in Europe are actually wide-based magicians. Wide-based is a recessive trait, so the incest popular in the higher classes actually increases the chance of there being a wide-based magician in the family. That's why purebloods have so many issues with squibs. It doesn't help that incestual relations weaken a body's ability to use and connect to magic anyway. The end result is that the pureblood elite are slowly forcing themselves to become no-majes."

"So then how could I have a wide-based magic? My mum's a muggleborn."

"She might have been a wide-based user herself, or it lied dormant in her, and now you are receiving the effects of both new blood and the recessive characteristic. The possibilities are endless."

Harry hoped for the former. It would be nice to share something with his mother besides her eyes.

"Now, let's try this one more time, but instead of trying to direct your magic exactly towards me, like I think you've been doing, try just letting your magic go and find what it wants to find. Let it show you what it knows."

Harry breathed in, nodded, then breathed out. He could feel his magic surrounding him, pulsing, searching, protecting. It was a breathing thing, full of life. He could understand it perfectly, yet it made no sense. He loved it. This is what he wanted when he was first introduced to the magical world, even though he had no clue what to expect.

It perked at his connection. It knew what he was doing. He could feel the happiness of finally being acknowledged. Harry refused to ignore it again.

It moved in no set pattern, yet Harry just knew that it had a purpose behind everything it did.

Then, he could experience all the magic around him. Here, his magic whispered in his ear, this is what you're looking for. This is what I feel. And what a feeling it was.

Harry couldn't explain the experience. It went beyond sight, beyond his senses. It just was. His magic danced around him, happy to give him such an experience. Harry had a strange feeling it couldn't sit still. This must be the wild part of the wild magic. It needed to feel everything, that must be what Mrs. Higgindobbins meant when she said that the magic was wide-based. Harry knew his magic would never be happy only experiencing through a wand, but it did want to go through it just like everything else.

It wanted to experience the world as much as it could, and it wanted Harry right there with it.

There was magic in the furnishings, in the foundations of the building, in the very air he breathed. His magic informed him that magic back home was artificial. This was natural. It said that it was almost overwhelming. We don't need this for the rest of our life, but when we leave can we still visit? Can we? Can we? Can we? It was a hyperactive puppy, one Harry couldn't say no to.

Mrs. Higgindobbins's magic was settled around her. Her magic wanted to let the children play before it showed itself and potentially overwhelmed the newbie. No, it didn't consider him a newbie, it considered him and his magic kits, whatever that meant.

Okay, you've had your fun, it… said? Now you need to go back to normal, kit. Dorothy wants to talk with you.

Harry sighed in resignation. His magic complained, Does he have to?

Harry sent his magic reassurance, and his magic responded with a Fine and released him.

His senses felt overly sensitive and underwhelmingly muted when he went back to normal.

Mrs. Higgindobbins smiled at him. She asked, "Have a good time?'

Harry smiled in return. He felt almost drunk from the high he just experienced.

She laughed. "Exhilarating, isn't it? Now, we need to go over some safety measures and how you should practice now that you've got it down. First, what sense?"

It took Harry a second to understand. "None," he replied. "I… I can't explain it. It just was, and it was right. I do have a question, though. Is your name… Dorothy? And-and why did your magic call me 'kit'?"

Mrs. Higgindobbins looked surprised. "Ye-yes. What do you mean, 'call you kit'?"

"Your magic. It didn't really speak, but it… did? I can't describe it. There wasn't any words, but what it wanted me to know was just… known. Why? Is it-is there something wrong?"

"No, no," she waved off the idea. "I've never heard of a connection quite so strong. I don't understand how you and your magic can be so in sync, yet separated so completely. It's amazing. Now, lesson plans, I'll explain the kit thing later.

"You need to learn your magic and your sensing by yourself. Every person is slightly different, and it sounds like your magic would enjoy the experience of showing you what is what. Eventually, you should know how to 'blink' between normal sensing and magical. You should be able to sense things at a glimpse, but you should understand everything that you felt. More than likely, with how close your magic is, it should be almost running a constant commentary in the back of your mind when you get so far in your training. It may take days or years to get to that point, though. If you have any questions, just ask me. I will be limited, though, in how much I can tell you. I am purely a sight-based sensor, you sound like an unknown-base, but I will help as much as possible.

"You need to be careful, Harry." Harry looked up at that. "It's rather easy to go so far into your sensing that you forget to experience life through your own eyes. It's better to have as many options as possible rather than a reliance on one thing that can be taken away. In less magical environments, like Europe, if you are too used to magical sensing, you will almost be walking into situations blind. For you, it would be even worse than normal. It's doubtful your magic will let you, but it's better to warn than to fix."

Harry understood. He did not gain an ability just to lose himself.

"Now, on to the fun stuff." There was an almost Dumbledore twinkle in her eye. "I know you want to achieve spiritualasis, so we'll go over that, first. If we get through this quick enough, you should be able to go to classes with my son. He's about the same age as you. Maybe Sherry should introduce you, I think you'd make wonderful friends. You're actually at just about the average age people in America start learning this skill."

Harry was surprised. He knew the Marauders became animagi around his age, but the idea that that was normal?

"We should probably start with common terms and etiquette that Americans grow up with. First, we achieve spiritualasis, we are spiritualists, and the animal we become is called our animal spirit. There is something similar in every part of the world, but we consider the name based on how we achieve our animal forms, rather than what we achieve. Animagi use minimal natural magics and focus personal magic inside oneself to transform, and they rely heavily on transformative magics – transfiguration, right? Spiritualasis is achieved when one's personal magic becomes so enriched in natural magics that the change comes completely naturally. The most efficient way to change is based on how much and what type of natural magics are in the area. Whatever method the culture of the area came up with is more than likely the best way for that area. It'd be impossible to achieve spiritualasis in the UK. There is no reason to become an animagus in America. Only if your magic has a defect should you use another method. Your magic, Harry, is healthy, so relax."

Harry didn't realize he was tensing at the idea of a defect until Mrs. Higgindobbins said so. He wanted to be able to become a… spiritualist before he left for England.

"Once you have completed the transformation, the transformation is the same throughout the world. Your magic makes a reserve specifically for the transformation, so you can transform anywhere else in the world. If you learned the American method of transformation, you can still transform in England when you've finalized the change. Finalization does not mean mastered! Do not get those confused! Just because you're finalized doesn't mean you're done!"

Harry nodded emphatically. When Mrs. Higgindobbins got into something, she was scary!

"Next thing on the agenda, etiquette. I don't know about Europe, but in America it's considered anywhere from rude to impolite – depending on where in America and who you're talking to – to ask a person what their animal spirit is. It's a personal question, and some people do not feel comfortable answering it. I cannot tell you exactly when you may ask, but please consider the situation, where you're at, and who you're talking to before you do so. Just think before you speak.

"One of the major reasons why a person may hold their form secret is because the magic represents the personality of the person's magic. In England, people think the transformation shows your own personality, but they do not understand that magic is a separate but connected being. Also, most animagi are closely connected enough with their magic that their form makes sense in terms of their own personality. In America, that is not always the case. The transformation is more natural when the personalities are the same, but that goes into the basic theories of how spiritualasis works.

"During the transformation, your body is turned into magical energy before being reconstructed into the animal form. People actually have two forms, a magical and a nonmagical. The forms are determined based on how the magic naturally reforms itself. If you reject your magic's form, the transformation will not be successful. Without the excess magical energy that is known in America, the magic must fight the body to change, even if the body is in agreeance. That is why in Europe the personalities must match; if not, it is almost impossible to do the change. It's also why a magical form cannot be achieved in Europe. There is not enough excess energy to rewire the magical systems in the body for another magical form. In America, while it is possible to achieve two forms, not all people can achieve it. They do not have enough personal magic or they cannot absorb enough to rewire themselves. The physical body is not what's important in the change, it's how the magic moves through the body.

"During a nonmagical transformation, the cells change their DNA and their placement. Any excess mass is converted into magical energy which is stored for the change back, and if there's not enough mass the body absorbs natural magic. It's not as much needed as you might think, though, although the units of magic and magical theory can be explained another time. The actual connections stay the same throughout the body, as there is no alternative ways of magic that must be included. A nonmagical animal is almost a blank slate, so it's easier for magic to decide itself how to go.

"In magical creatures, magic flows in a specific way. That is why they are considered magical creatures: magic flows through them. During a magical transformation, the body not only must be rearranged physically to get the correct result, it must also be rearranged magically. That's why your magic decides the transformation, not you. The more different the arrangement of magic in this form is to you, the more difficult the transformation is. Oftentimes, after the transformation into a magical form, people will gain and lose skills in their normal human forms.

"More often than not, magic tries to have similar magical and nonmagical forms. For example, if your magical form is a basilisk, your nonmagical form will be a snake of some sort. From what research tells us, your magical form decides your nonmagical form unless your magical form has no nonmagical equivalent."

Harry thought his head was about to explode. There are two anim-spiritualasis forms?! And one is magical? Not to mention all the magical theory. Harry didn't know how he'd keep up.

"Even with our excess natural magical energy, only the more powerful or wild magicians can achieve their magical forms. Less than half of magical America can achieve the transformation, but the ability is common enough nobody blinks twice at a magical form."

Mrs. Higgindobbins smiled. "I think that's all you'll be able to take today, I think. Sleep on what I've taught you tonight, then we can continue tomorrow."

"Yes, please," Harry said cheekily, "no more torture."

"Why you!" she exclaimed. "Harry?" Her tone shifted. "Do you want to come eat dinner with my family? We'd be happy to have some company. I actually forgot about telling you about the 'kit' thing while I was explaining, I figure I could tell you after dinner?"

Harry beamed, "I'd love to." He backpedaled, "Unless I'd be a burden. I don't want you to have to cook more for me."

"No, no!" she exclaimed. "I overcook anyway! It'd be great! Do you mind chicken? Oh! Do you need to contact a guardian or anything?"

"Chicken sounds fine, ma'am," Harry said. "And my relatives don't need to be contacted. They don't care."

"Well… if you're sure… Harry? Are you and your relatives – what I'm trying to say is," this was the first time Harry had seen her flustered, "are you happy with them, Harry?"

No one had ever asked if he was happy with the Dursleys. They knew he wasn't, they just didn't care, or in the case of his friends, couldn't do anything about it.

"Don't worry about it, Mrs. Higgindobbins," Harry answered. He wouldn't get his hopes up, not yet.

As Harry followed her to the no-maj bus terminal, Harry knew that it was only a matter of time before she broke down his walls. And to be perfectly honest, Harry was okay with that.

Hey, guys! These chapters just seem to be getting longer and longer, don't they? So, is my magical theory making any sense, or am I just talking in circles? It's clear in my head, but I find that that normally means I overcomplicated things. Let me know! If I can't fit the answer in the story, I'll try to explain in the author's note.

I honestly tried to fit in the 'kit' thing in this chapter, but that's not how it played out. Oh, well. If anyone wants to make a guess, be my guest.

Speaking of guests, a guest reviewer mentioned Harry going to Gringotts and finding out about account related issues. I doubt I'll actually have that in my storyline. The ATM machine would prevent the need to go there for money, at least during the summer. Not to mention, it's been done to death! I don't know enough about account information or money to write about it affectively. I like how enthusiastic you are about it, but I want to try and experiment. If I do several of those things you asked, I'll probably just accidentally copy another person's story! I've read too many to not be affected. I like them, but I want to try my own thing. (Please don't take this the wrong way! I love suggestions!)

I don't know what I'm going to do about Dumbledore, yet, to be honest. I somewhat want him to just be a neutral background character that doesn't affect the plot overly much. I also don't know when I'll fit Sirius in, I just know that I will. I don't plan most of my story or the characters in it, I just think while typing, "Oh, that'll fit nicely!" or "what to do… what to do…" It's actually probably because of this lack of preparation that I never can seem to actually like the end results of my stories, but any time I try, the ending just doesn't work with all the middle details. So half the time, what comes on the page is as much a surprise to me as it is to you!

To the other guest reviewer, the Deathly Hollows will play a prominent feature in this story, just not like how you're thinking they will. While I do agree that summoning would be cool, it doesn't fit (somehow I have that part planned out…).

To the final guest reviewer, I have a Wattpad account, but no stories on it. I don't have any other story-based social media accounts, sorry.

Does anyone like how I tried to modernize the wizarding world? And did my explanations for things like credit cards and broomstick gymnastics make any sense? If not, or you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know. I want to become a better writer (although if you just say something like 'you suck!' I cannot interpret that into a better writing ability).

Also, my account's been funky lately. Sometimes I'll try to get on, and it won't let me log in. When I posted the last chapter on the first, it didn't update the timeline (though it did update the amount of chapters for some strange reason…). Also, my stories for a while were not available on the search engines for a while (don't know about now). Then, on one of my stories the account suddenly put a lot of technical computer-talk looking stuff in the front of every paragraph. These all seem to be temporary, but at least with the login it keeps happening! If anyone knows what's going on, could you explain it to me?

As always, review, follow, favorite, whatever suits your fancy.

Posted: 1/3/17