lvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the Americanwizarding school, located on Mount Greylock in modern-day Massachusetts. It accepts students from all over North America. Students of this school, as at Hogwarts in Scotland, are sorted into four houses.
When Newt Scamander travelled to New York in the 1920s, he met several people (including Porpentina and Queenie Goldstein) who were educated at this school.
lvermorny Castle is located on top of the highest peak of Mount Greylock in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.
The castle was once a granite stone house constructed by Isolt Sayre and James Steward to be their home. When it eventually became a school, the cottage kept expanding until it became a castle. The front doors are adorned with marble statues of Sayre and Steward on either side. It is concealed by several enchantments which sometimes makes the school like a wreath of misty cloud.
History[]
Early history[]
Ilvermorny was founded in 1627, 637 years after Hogwarts, and the school was originally just a rough shack containing two teachers and two students. Ilvermorny was originally a stone cottage constructed by Irish immigrant Isolt Sayre, and her No-Maj husband James Steward. It became a school when their adoptive children Chadwick and Webster Boot hoped they could return to Ireland so they could attend Hogwarts. Isolt then promised they could build their own school at Ilvermorny with the objective of home-schooling them.
Thus, the school started with just the couple acting as teachers and their two adopted sons, Chadwick and Webster, as students. Each of them named one of the four Houses: Chadwick created Thunderbird, Webster created Wampus, Isolt created Horned Serpent, and James created Pukwudgie.
Eventually, the school enrolled more students, and the couple were able to provide wands not just for their children, but for the other students too. These students were Native Americans of the Wampanoag and the Narragansett tribes who shared their knowledge of magic in return for being taught the technique involved with wandwork. Therefore, Native American magic became involved in the foundations of Ilvermorny. Over the next few years, the school grew even more and by 1634, there were enough children for inter-house competitions.
Middle history[]
By the 18th century, Ilvermorny became a granite castle and more teachers were added to cope with the growing number of students. By this point, the school had become a boarding school. Ilvermorny reached the same reputation that other schools of magic had, and the founders had concealed their school by clever enchantments, some of which made it look like a misty cloud to No-Majs.
During the 18th century, one of Ilvermorny's ex-students, Dorcus Twelvetrees, revealed to a No-Maj named Bartholomew Barebone the location of the school, among other information concerning the wizarding community. However, it turned out that Bartholomew was the descendant of a Scourer, and he revealed all the information he got from Dorcus to the No-Maj community, including Ilvermorny's address. It led to one of the greatest ever breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy, but also the passage of Rappaport's Law, which effectively segregated the No-Maj and wizarding communities. When first-years arrive at Ilvermorny, they are sorted into their house and then they are taken to another area where they get to choose (or be chosen by) their wand. Before Rappaport's Law was repealed, students were not allowed a wand outside of school until they were seventeen and were not allowed a wand before arriving at Ilvermorny.
By the nineteenth century, Ilvermony gained the international reputation it enjoys today. By the 1920s, Ilvermorny had been flourishing for more than two centuries and was widely considered to be one of the greatest magical educational establishments in the world. As a result of their shared education, all witches and wizards who attended are proficient in the use of a wand.
They had also developed a school song. Scared parents of Ilvermorny students asked Ilvermorny to hold all students during the holiday season. The New York Ghost reports on their House points and awards. An essay from the Ilvermorny Scholars' Vanishment report was published in Transfiguration Today in 1926.
In 1927, French students were offered a student exchange programme to Ilvermorny for students whose parents worked at the French Ministry of Magic; decades later, a new exchange programme was offered for Ilvermorny and Hogwarts students. Ilvermorny introduced Creature Care into their Curriculum in 1927.
There are four houses at Ilvermorny: Horned Serpent, Wampus, Thunderbird and Pukwudgie. When a student starts their education at Ilvermorny, they step onto a Gordian Knot on the floor in the centre of the entrance hall with large wooden statues of the mascots for the four houses facing them. The carved statues react if they want the student in their house. The older students watch in silence from a circular balcony on a floor above them as the new students are sorted. The carvings react in different ways: the crystal in the Horned Serpent carving's forehead glows, the Wampus carving roars, the Thunderbird carving beats its wings, and the Pukwudgie carving raises its arrow.
However, sometimes more than one carving will try to select the same student and so the student is then able to choose the house they prefer. This happens very rarely. Sometimes— as rare as once a decade or even a generation as in the case of one student — a student will be selected by every house. Seraphina Picquery, who was President of MACUSA 1920-1928 is known to have had this honour. She chose Horned Serpent.
After the sorting, the student is brought to a large hall where they are chosen once more, this time by a wand. Prior to the end of Rappaport's Law, children could not have a wand prior to schooling and had to leave their wand at school during school breaks and could only take the wand out of school when they reached seventeen years of age.
Reputation[]
As might be expected of a school part-founded by a No-Maj, Ilvermorny has the reputation of being one of the most democratic, least elitist of all the great wizarding schools. Students are also well versed in the use of a wand. In edition 2579 of Transfiguration Today, an essay from Ilvermorny scholars was featured on the front page and on page 4 of the magazine.
Uniform[]
Main article: Ilvermorny uniform (Lord Caesar)
Ilvermorny student and quidditch uniforms
The robes of Ilvermorny are blue and cranberry. The colours honour Isolt and James: blue because it was Isolt's favourite colour and because she had wished to be in Ravenclaw house as a child; cranberry in honour of James's love of cranberry pie. All Ilvermony students' robes are fastened by a gold Gordian Knot, in memory of the brooch Isolt found in the ruins of the original Ilvermorny cottage.
