I woke up as if everything was normal. It was around eight in the morning and I was not ready to get out of bed yet so I did what is normal for teenage girls, I checked my phone. After texts, Snapchat, and Instagram were all checked I still had one very important communication app to open, my email.

I checked both my official account, and my old account which is now immensely filled with advertisements. As I watched the unread messages number sky rocket after refreshing, I hoped for something different, which there was. I had received an email from Pottermore which is a website which offers much detail into the magical world most people know through Harry Potter.I got so excited about what the email said I clicked on the link to open it without even thinking.

After opening the email I saw that J.K. Rowling has officially named more magical schools than just Hogwarts. We now have the confirmed names and summaries of multiple wizarding schools. Out of the known number of eleven we now have the Brazilian Castelobruxo, mostly French Beauxbatons, mysterious Durmstrang, Japanese Mahoutokoro, and African Uagadou. Not only are there basic facts about each individual school, but one other school has more background than the rest.

The Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is located in North America. Not only is there a summary of the school, but there is an entire history following the story of Isolt Sayre, who has blood relation to Salazar Slytherin. The story follows Isolt from childhood to adulthood in order to show the founding and history of the school.

The school was admittedly based off of Hogwarts in some particular ways. One very evident similarity is four houses. A Ilvermorny the houses supposedly represent the whole wizard. The Horned Serpent is mind, Thunderbird is soul, Wampus is body, and the Pukwudgie is considered the heart. The Horned Serpent has a jewel set into the head, favors scholars, and plays a big role in the history of Isolt who co-founded Ilvermorny. The Thunderbird is a bird which creates storms as it flies and favors adventurers. A Wampus is physically ideal creature, similar to a panther. The Wampus favors warriors. Pukwudgie is a creature which despises Muggles (which in North America are called No-Maj, short for No-Magic,) and favors healers.

Ilvermorny’s history also gives us explanations of wizardry in North America, and a bit of expansion into Salazar’s relatives. Along with slang terms like No-Maj and abbreviations of magical governments, there are also explanations of what it was like to be the first witches and wizards in the New World in the tale.

While the written story may be fascinating, there are also more active ways to get involved in the new tale. One way would be to watch the video on the website which gives a sneak peak at the history of Isolt. The other, more fun way, would include getting sorted. While Ilvermorny sorts the houses differently than Hogwarts in the the story, online you can take a test made by J.K. Rowling to unfold whether you’re a Horned Serpent, Wampus, Pukwudgie or Thunderbird like me!