Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft

Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft is an American witching school that is located on Mount Greylock in modern-day Massachusetts. It accepts students from all over North America. Students of this school, as at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft in Scotland, are sorted into four houses.

Location
Ilvermorny 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 appear like a wreath of misty clouds.

Early History
Ilvermorny was founded in 1627, 637 years after Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, 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 non-magical 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 the couple acting as teachers and their two adopted sons 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 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 students 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 as other schools of magic, and the founders had concealed their school with clever enchantments, some of which made the castle look like a misty cloud to non-magical individuals.

During the 18th century, one of Ilvermorny's ex-students, Dorcus Twelvetrees, revealed to a non-magical individual named Bartholomew Barebone the location of the school, along with other information concerning the witching community. However, it turned out that Barebone was the descendant of a Scourer, and he revealed all the infonrmation he got from Twelvetrees to the non-magical 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 an American law which segregated the non-magical and magical communities.

Sorting
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 center 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 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, sometime 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 is known to have had this honor.

After the sorting, the student is brought to a large hall where they are chosen once moor, this time by a wand.

Reputation
As might be expected of a school part-founded by a non-magical person, 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.

Administration
The highest position at Ilvermorny is a Headmaster. They make all major decisions regarding the safety and day-to-day functioning of the school and have power to override any decision made by any authoritative facilitator at the school.

Headmasters

 * Isolt Sayre
 * James Steward
 * Agilbert Fontaine

Professors

 * Rionach Steward
 * Eulalie Hicks

Notable Alumni

 * Chadwick Boot
 * Dorcus Twelvetrees
 * Porpentina Goldstein
 * Queenie Goldstein
 * Rionach Steward
 * Seraphina Picquery
 * Webster Boot