#macusa

@whalesongsblog - you've indicated you like worldbuilding lore, so I figured you might enjoy this.

I'm avoiding writing smut that several people are begging me for...but as this is actually related TO the smut I'm working on...I'm giving myself a pass.

A little background before we dive in: I'm working on a HL modern AU that plays with a "what if some of our favorite HL NPCs were American". I've also created (yet another) MC who is swiftly becoming the nearest and dearest to my heart ("born of Pittsburg steel and Allegheny granite") and I decided...

You know what? I fucking hate Ilvermorny. I loathe it. I think it's sloppy. I think JKR took every single lazy stereotype one could have about magic-in-America and turned it into such a one-dimensional-and-appropriative-shit-show that it's honestly quite breathtaking.

Now that I've established that...I've long thought that the development of Wizarding schools and cultures should probably left up to those of us who live in those countries and cultures. Furthermore...it is very clear that JKR did not think through geographical and population scale. Great Britian can fit in the state of Texas alone ya'll. There IS NO CONCIEVABLE WAY that MACUSA would have only one wizarding school. I refuse; you cannot convince me otherwise. Countries like the US, Canada, Russia, China, Australia, Brazil, Argentina...they would have to have more than just one wizarding school. Even if the magical-using population is significantly smaller than the population who doesn't have it...in a country the size of the US, that would still be a shit ton of people. Ilvermorny would be bursting at the fucking seams.

Also...can you imagine an Alabaman, an Oregonian, an Oklahoman in New England? I mean. It happens. But...the culture clashes, omg. I'm a fucking Pennsylvanian, a single state removed, and "God's Frozen Chosen" drive me nuts (I say with love. Mostly. I did marry one.) Forget some over-opinionated Texan. It'd be chaos.

So, I will admit, I did take a broad-brush stroke approach and divided schools into the widely recognized cultural regions within the continguous US (all the states minus Alaska and Hawai'i). Those regions are:

The Northeast (Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, the New England States, and oh yea, I almost forgot New Jersey)

The South (Virginia, all the way down the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts to Louisiana, and across through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas)

The Midwest (Ohio, up to Michigan, all the way across to Minnesota, then down to Missouri)

The Rockies/Mountainous West - Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oklahoma, and I feel I'm forgetting a state b/c I'm not looking at a map

The Southwest - all the states along the Mexico border - Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and the southern portion of California

The Pacific Northwest - the nothern portion of California, all the way up to Washington.

Then you have a very unique and distinctive sub-culture that is quite significant, even though it spans several of these regions and the flavor of it shifts somewhat depending on what state it's in:

Appalachia - the Appalachian mountains, which run through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine (and into Canada).

Second major point: You cannot convince me that wizarding culture would be completely seperate from Muggle/No-Maj culture. You literally have No-Maj/Muggle-born witches and wizards (and I'm hereby adding "mages" as a non-binary term) that would bring their experiences and perspectives with them. So, having said that...the US has a pretty fucking problematic history. It would make sense to me that the South would have three wizarding schools, directly shaped by the Southern Session, the Civil War, and segregation. I believe there would be at least one "Historically Black Magical Institution" that arose in response to segregation - I will not be convinced that the MACUSA didn't struggle with that, too. I think a Southwestern school would be deeply influenced by Mexican culture; I think PNC school would have strong influences from the Asian diaspora. So, I've tried to represent those.

I'm white. I don't get it - I can't, truly. But I tried. I also tried to be respectful to Native cultures - I think wizarding schools would be Eurocentric and carry the same burden of genocide and white-washing as N0-Maj society. So I did keep any Indigenous references out of the names and inspirations for these schools, because I am not informed enough to appropriately represent, even though I'd be well-intentioned. That is an aspect of the American wizarding world that is not mine to craft. I also tread as carefully as I could with the Mexican/Latinx, Asian diaspora, and Black/Brown influences and inspirations, as again, not my story or my family's story (directly, at least - we do have some diversity in the close family unit from adoption and marriage). But, I felt a little safer trying to tip the hat to the schools that would have surely been influenced by the cultures that heavily shaped the regions they represented.

Lastly - I kept shit out of Louisiana. My biological grandmother was born and raised in New Orleans, so I have a direct link to that culture. However, it is over-used and stereotyped and there would be so much more to Southern magic than what is usually attributed to Louisiana.

So. All that said. I now present to you the first of our MACUSA schools, the one that I would have attended: (Disclaimer: Admittedly, this is heavily influenced by my perception and reception of the serial podcast, Old Gods of Appalachia. I love it. I adore it. It does explores more of the southern Appalachian cultures - Kentucky, Tennessee, a bit of West Virgina, a hint of Pennyslvania -...but if you've ever driven through the two-lane, mountain-hugging backroads of the Laurel Highlands during a full moon...you know how deliciously haunted even the Pennsylvanian Appalachains - the Alleghenies - can be.)

 Blackbriar School of Thaumaturgy

Region: Appalachia Location: Allegheny Mountains, West Virginia Philosophy: Folk-driven, experimental, and haunted. Built by coal-era magical inventors, railroad wizards, granny witches, and underground scholars. Specialties: Hedge thaumaturgy (think the McGuyver of spell-casting - also called "impulsive magic"), ghost theory & studies, earth-and-root magic, communal ritual work and casting, cursebreaking

FOUNDING LORE

Era: Late 1800s, peak of Appalachian coal magic and industrial folk alchemy. Founders: A renegade circle of thaumaturges, machinists, and death-sensitives who broke from Ilvermorny and Gravestead (one of the Southern schools). Core Ethos: "Build it yourself. Bind it with blood. Talk to the past. Protect what they would take."

Founded in a disused coal mine.

First headmistress: Miriam Greaves, a granny witch and seer from Kentucky.

The school was partially constructed using thorn-craft and hex-wrought metal from collapsed tunnels.

HOUSE SYSTEM: you can read more about the Houses here

Emberthorn – Cursebreakers (who favor the fiery spells)

House ghost: Coalmouth, a miner-turned-cursebreaker who glows from within.

Dorms are warm, dim-lit, and always smell like cedar and charred bone.

Closest in theory to Gryffindor ⟡⟡⟡ ✴ ⟡⟡⟡

Whistlestop – Magical machinists and inventors

Known for magical engineering, spell-augmented machines, and wearable magic.

Students often walk around with soot-streaked faces and tool belts

Think Ravenclaw, but steampunk. ⟡⟡⟡ ✴ ⟡⟡⟡

Gravetail – Ghost-whispers, seers, secret-keepers

Their dorms are in the old family crypts under the school.

House ghost: Miss Sal, who died in 1902 and still takes attendance.

Probably closest to Hufflepuff, if you squint real hard. ⟡⟡⟡ ✴ ⟡⟡⟡

Ridgewalker – Silent warders, the ones who watch and protect

Dorms are hidden; even first-years don’t find them until they've earned the right.

They know every hidden door in the school, including ones nobody else has ever seen (except possibly the ghosts, but they aren't talking)

Slytherin-esque, without the stigma.

CAMPUS DESIGN

Location: Tucked in a valley below Blackbriar Ridge, the school is built into the mountainside itself. Style: Hybrid of underground warrens, rusted ironwork, and bramble-grown towers.

The Red Chapel: Abandoned church-turned-dueling arena, rumored to be semi-sentient at the very least.

The Brambleworks: Greenhouse-labyrinth where bramble/thorn/root/earth magic is grown and studied. Shifts location during full moons.

The Hollow Vaults: Catacombs beneath the school housing cursed artifacts and unquiet spirits. Ridgewalkers train here.

The Clinkery: Forge-lab hybrid for Whistlestop students. Smoky, always humming. The furnace has a name, and it growls.

SIGNATURE INTER-SCHOOL EVENT: THE HOLLOWING GAMES

Held during the thinning of the Veil (Oct 30–Nov 1).

Students navigate a shifting night-maze made of spectral earth magic and ghost-light.

Challenges include: banishing wraiths, solving riddles, sealing breach-points, finding things were lost.

Blackbriar's won 13 of the last 15 Games. The two losses? One was a draw with Ilvermorny they refuse to acknowledge, and the other was to Gravestead after a suspected sabotage.

INTER-SCHOOL RIVALRIES:

Ilvermorny – Thinks Blackbriar’s a chaotic backwater (and they're wrong). Blackbriar thinks Ilvermorny wouldn’t survive five minutes in their forests and hollers (and they're right). Gravestead – Cold War level of tension. Southern sessionist blue-bloods versus a school population that spans that Mason-Dixon divide and does it proudly.

QUIDDITCH (BLACKBRIAR STYLE):

Yes, Quidditch is much loved in the US of A - but Blackbriar’s version is brutal and has haunted weather conditions built into the pitch (an idea that originated from a weather-witch from the Smokey Mountains (Tennessee's part of the Appalachains). Furthermore, in MACUSA, each school has one Quidditch team, comprised from all its houses; instead a school playing againts itself, its team plays against the other wizarding schools in the US.

Team Name: The Hollowgate Howlers

Mascot: A three-headed hound made of shadow and pine sap

Field: Carved into a blasted clearing with thorn-wall boundaries that change mid-game.

Conditions: Foggy. Windswept. Occasionally cursed.

FUN FACTS:

Pennsylvanians and Marylanders technically fall into the Northeastern cultural category, but depending on where one calls home in these two states, they may end up having a choice between Ilvermorny and Blackbriar. Can't speak to the western side of Maryland...but Western Pennsylvanians? Most would rather go uneducated than go to Ilvermorny. Blackbriar is theirs and they are Blackbriar, through and through.

Each state that plays host to a part of the Appalachians has a different name for their "range" - and many names/ranges overlap states. So, it doesn't matter: if a kid is from the Catskills (New York), the White Mountains (New Hampshire & Maine), the Green Mountains (Vermont), the Alleghenies (Pennsylvannia, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia), the Blue Ridge Mountains (Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama), the Great Smoky Mountains (North Carolina, Tennessee), or the Cumberland Mountains (Kentucky, Tennessee)...well, they are all welcome at Blackbriar, if they so choose. This makes Blackbriar one of the most regionally/culturally diverse schools in the country, second only to Freestone.

Also, while they're a way aways, Blackbriar welcomes their siblings-in-spirit from the Ozarks (a mountain range in Arkansas, distinct from the Appalachians). Different? Definitely. But there's a lot of common ground, too - more than a child of the Ozarks might find in Eisengarde, Altavista, Sablemoor, or Gravestead (as Arkansas sits at the crossroads of the regions these four schools represent).

Next up (when I get to it): The Southern schools - Gravestead (everyone hates them and rightly so), Freestone (Historically Black Magical Institution, which kinda' straddles the Appalachian and broadly Southern regional culture by virtue of where it's located), and Sablemoor (Deep Gulf Coast South, diverse from Day One, and wouldn't have it any other way).

Freestone | Gravestead | Sablemoor | Eisengarde | Altavista | Arx Caelum | Rainmere

Let’s dive into American Wizarding according to J.K. Rowling — as she revealed through Pottermore.

The American Wizarding World

⚡ Magic in North America

• Magic has existed in North America for thousands of years, long before European colonists arrived.

• Indigenous peoples had their own rich magical traditions, using wands, natural magic, and spiritual practices.

• Witches and wizards among Native communities were often medicine people, healers, and shape-shifters.

🏰 Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

• Founded in the 1600s by Isolt Sayre (a descendant of Salazar Slytherin) and her No-Maj husband James Steward.

• Located on Mount Greylock, Massachusetts.

• Four houses, each tied to magical creatures from North American folklore:

• Thunderbird → adventurers (soul).

• Wampus → warriors (body).

• Horned Serpent → scholars (mind).

• Pukwudgie → healers (heart).

⚖️ MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America)

• The American equivalent of the Ministry of Magic.

• Founded in 1693 after the Salem Witch Trials, when witches and wizards needed stronger protections.

• Headquartered in New York City during the Fantastic Beasts era (1920s).

• Very strict about magical secrecy, even more so than Britain’s Ministry.

👤 “No-Maj” instead of “Muggle”

• Americans call non-magical people No-Majs (short for “No Magic”).

• This difference in terminology reflects the cultural split between British and American wizarding communities.

🪄 American Wandmakers

• The first famous American wandmaker was Violetta Beauvais (New Orleans, 1800s), whose wands were known for drama and power.

• Shikoba Wolfe, a Native American wandmaker, crafted wands known for using Thunderbird tail feathers.

• Unlike Europe, where Ollivanders dominates, America had several independent wandmakers.

🐍 Magical Creatures & Lore

• North America has its own magical fauna, some inspired by Indigenous stories and folklore:

• Thunderbird – a storm-bringing bird.

• Wampus Cat – a magical cougar with great strength.

• Pukwudgie – small, mischievous, goblin-like beings.

• Horned Serpent – wise, magical serpents with jewels in their foreheads.

✨ Key Differences from British Wizarding

• Stricter secrecy (due to the Salem Witch Trials and anti-witch hysteria).

• No intermarriage with No-Majs was allowed by law until the 1960s.

• Wand legislation was tightly controlled; only licensed witches and wizards could legally carry wands.

• The American magical community was much more segregated and cautious compared to Britain’s more open magical society.

Let’s break down the history of MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) as J.K. Rowling outlined it on Pottermore and through Fantastic Beasts.

🏛️ The History of MACUSA

⚡ Origins

• Founded in 1693, the same year as the Salem Witch Trials.

• Witches and wizards in America realized they needed a central government to protect their kind after many magical people were falsely accused, hunted, or even exposed during the Trials.

• The Trials were exaggerated by Scourers—corrupt witches and wizards who betrayed their own kind by hunting magical people for profit. Many Scourers went underground, and their descendants continued to cause trouble for centuries.

🪄 Early Years (1600s–1700s)

• Modeled after the Wizengamot (Britain’s magical high court).

• MACUSA’s first duties:

• Hunt down Scourers.

• Enforce secrecy from No-Majs.

• Establish wand control and magical law.

• The first President of MACUSA was Josiah Jackson, a tough leader chosen for his ability to bring order.

• Headquarters moved frequently during these unstable years to avoid discovery.

📜 1700s–1800s

• MACUSA became stricter than European ministries due to constant fear of exposure.

• Laws included:

• Absolute ban on magical–No-Maj marriage.

• Severe punishments for magical exposure.

• During the American Revolution, MACUSA sided with both British and American wizards at different times—though most supported independence.

• 1800s: MACUSA was headquartered in Washington, D.C., then later moved to New York City.

🏙️ The 1920s (Fantastic Beasts Era)

• By the 1920s, MACUSA was firmly rooted in New York City inside the Woolworth Building (enchanted so No-Majs saw only a normal office tower).

• Seraphina Picquery was President at this time—an elegant but very strict leader.

• MACUSA maintained Rappaport’s Law (1790):

• Total segregation between magical and non-magical communities.

• No friendships, marriages, or even contact with No-Majs.

• This made American wizarding society much more isolated than Britain’s.

• This era was marked by:

• Conflict with the Second Salemers, an anti-witch extremist group.

• The Obscurus incident in New York (1926).

📖 Modern Era

• Rappaport’s Law was eventually repealed in the 1960s, allowing intermarriage and more relaxed relations with No-Majs.

• By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, MACUSA remained the primary governing body of wizarding America, but with a reputation for being bureaucratic and overly rigid compared to the British Ministry of Magic.

⚖️ Key Differences from the Ministry of Magic

• Much stricter secrecy laws (a legacy of Salem).

• No-Maj segregation laws lasting until the 20th century.

• Wand regulation—unlicensed wizards were not allowed to carry wands.

• Stronger historical focus on hunting down internal threats (Scourers, Dark Wizards).

Let’s explore the magical creatures of North America according to J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World canon (Pottermore and Fantastic Beasts). Many of these tie directly into Native American legend and Ilvermorny’s history.

🐉 Magical Creatures of North America

🦅 Thunderbird

• A majestic bird that can create storms as it flies.

• Closely related to the phoenix.

• Sensitive to danger, making them powerful magical companions.

• Wand cores made with Thunderbird tail feathers are powerful but can be difficult to master.

• One of Ilvermorny’s four house mascots (represents the soul, favors adventurers).

🐍 Horned Serpent

• A large, intelligent snake with a gem-like jewel in its forehead.

• Can send visions and telepathic messages to witches and wizards.

• Isolt Sayre (Ilvermorny’s founder) had a deep connection with one.

• Horned Serpent horn is sometimes used in wandmaking.

• Ilvermorny house symbol (represents the mind, favors scholars).

🐈 Wampus

• A magical, panther-like creature with great strength, speed, and mystic sight.

• Inspired by Cherokee legend.

• Nearly impossible to fight due to its speed and power.

• Wampus hair is a wand core material, producing strong, bold magic.

• Ilvermorny house mascot (represents the body, favors warriors).

Pukwudgie

• Small, goblin-like beings, fiercely independent and tricky.

• Can heal but also shoot arrows tipped with magical poison.

• Originally distrusted witches and wizards, but later allied with Isolt Sayre.

• Some served as Ilvermorny’s earliest protectors.

• House symbol (represents the heart, favors healers).

Wampus Cat (variant from folklore)

• Sometimes considered separate from the Ilvermorny Wampus.

• A terrifying magical cougar that could mesmerize prey with its eyes.

Hidebehind

• A nocturnal forest creature that can conceal itself perfectly behind any object.

• Attacks humans, especially No-Majs.

• Dangerous and nearly impossible to detect—except by a witch or wizard.

Hoopsnake

• A snake that forms itself into a hoop and rolls after its prey at high speeds.

• Strikes with a venomous stinger in its tail.

Hodag

• A magical beast from Wisconsin folklore.

• Fierce-looking but more mischievous than deadly.

Jackalope

• A magical hare with antlers.

• Found across the American West.

• Mischievous and sometimes aggressive toward No-Majs.

Snallygaster

• A dragon-like beast native to Maryland.

• Part-bird, part-reptile, with metallic claws.

• Feared by early American No-Majs.

🐉 Wampus Variants, Thunderbird Kin, and Others

• Many North American magical creatures have ties to indigenous myth and folklore, often blending natural magic with elemental powers.

⚡ Note: Rowling only gave us a handful in detail, mostly tied to Ilvermorny’s houses. But Wizarding World lore hints at a vast ecosystem of magical North American beasts, many still hidden in forests, mountains, and deserts.

Scourers — one of the darkest pieces of American wizarding history J.K. Rowling created. They were crucial in shaping why MACUSA (the Magical Congress of the United States of America) became so strict compared to the British Ministry.

⚔️ The Scourers

🩸 Who They Were

• The Scourers were a band of corrupt witches and wizards active in 17th-century North America.

• Originally, they claimed to be “bounty hunters” tracking down lawbreakers in the magical community.

• Over time, they became mercenaries for hire, motivated by greed and cruelty rather than justice.

🕸️ Crimes & Betrayals

• They sold out fellow witches and wizards to No-Majs during the height of witch paranoia.

• Some even actively encouraged the Salem Witch Trials, turning magical folk over to non-magical authorities to save themselves or profit.

• They trafficked magical children, artifacts, and creatures for money.

• Essentially, they were considered traitors to wizardkind.

🔥 Impact on Salem & American Wizarding Law

• The Scourers’ betrayals led directly to the Salem Witch Trials (1692–1693), in which both magical and non-magical people suffered.

• Their actions caused deep mistrust between American magical society and No-Majs.

• After Salem, the surviving Scourers went underground. Many blended into No-Maj communities, marrying non-magical people and hiding their magical bloodlines.

• Centuries later, their descendants often grew into bitter anti-magic families, some of whom became violent No-Maj extremists (like the Second Salemers in the 1920s).

⚖️ MACUSA’s Founding

• In response to the Scourer crisis, witches and wizards founded MACUSA in 1693.

• The first priority: hunt down the Scourers and destroy their networks.

• Scourers became a symbol of the ultimate betrayal of wizardkind.

• This legacy explains why MACUSA developed such harsh secrecy and segregation laws (like Rappaport’s Law), much stricter than Britain’s Ministry of Magic.

Legacy

• Even long after their decline, Scourers haunted wizarding memory:

• They were used as a boogeyman story to warn young witches and wizards.

• Their descendants fueled anti-magic hate movements in the U.S. (like Mary Lou Barebone’s family in Fantastic Beasts).

• They are remembered as one of the great shames of magical history, and part of why American wizarding society became more suspicious, isolated, and law-driven.

⚡ In short:

The Scourers were greedy, violent magical mercenaries who betrayed their own kind during America’s colonial period. Their treachery created the Salem Witch Trials, led to the founding of MACUSA, and shaped the paranoid, secretive culture of American wizardry.

The Original American Aurors

⚡ Origins

• When MACUSA was founded in 1693, right after the Salem Witch Trials, its first task was to track down Scourers (corrupt witches and wizards who betrayed their own).

• To do this, they created the first group of American Aurors — magical law enforcers modeled after Britain’s.

👤 The First Twelve

• A group of twelve witches and wizards volunteered to become Aurors.

• Their mission:

• Hunt down surviving Scourers.

• Protect wizardkind from further betrayal.

• Establish magical law in the New World.

• Their names were recorded, though Rowling didn’t reveal all of them. We know a few historical notes:

• Some came from Europe.

• Others were born in the Colonies, including descendants of Indigenous witches and wizards.

• They were chosen for their toughness, courage, and magical skills.

⚖️ Hard Lives

• These Aurors had to operate in a land with few laws, no magical infrastructure, and constant danger from No-Maj hysteria.

• Many were killed in action or disappeared.

• The survivors became legends in the American magical world.

🌎 Legacy

• The American Auror Office grew directly from these first twelve.

• They are remembered in wizarding history as the “Founding Aurors.”

• Their uncompromising fight against the Scourers helped establish the culture of strict secrecy and harsh law enforcement that defined MACUSA.

Rappaport’s Law is one of the most important (and restrictive) laws in American wizarding history. It explains why U.S. witches and wizards lived so differently from their British counterparts.

⚖️ Rappaport’s Law

📜 Origin

• Enacted in 1790 by Emily Rappaport, the 15th President of MACUSA.

• Sparked by a disastrous breach of secrecy involving a young witch, her No-Maj lover, and some dangerous magical items.

🔥 The Incident

• A pure-blood witch named Dorcas Twelvetrees fell in love with a charismatic No-Maj named Bartholomew Barebone.

• Barebone was secretly a descendant of the Scourers (anti-wizard mercenaries from the 1600s).

• Dorcas foolishly revealed the magical world to him and even let him handle her wand.

• Bartholomew exposed wizardkind to his fellow No-Majs, spreading fear and paranoia.

• This betrayal nearly blew apart the Statute of Secrecy in North America.

⚖️ The Law

In response, Emily Rappaport passed Rappaport’s Law, which imposed the strictest magical secrecy rules in the world:

1. Absolute separation between magical and No-Maj communities.

• No friendships, relationships, or marriages allowed.

• Witches and wizards could not even share meals or socialize with No-Majs.

2. Extreme wand control.

• Wands were registered and tracked by MACUSA.

• No unlicensed witch or wizard could carry one.

3. Punishments for violations.

• Harsh legal consequences for anyone exposing magic or mingling with No-Majs.

🕰️ Effects

• Created a culture of isolation and secrecy much stronger than in Britain.

• American wizards lived parallel but totally hidden lives.

• No-Majs were feared and distrusted far more than Muggles were in Europe.

• Intermarriage between magical and No-Maj families became illegal until the 1960s, when Rappaport’s Law was finally repealed.

🎬 Fantastic Beasts Era

• In the 1920s, during Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Rappaport’s Law was still fully in effect.

• This explains why Newt Scamander was shocked by American wizarding secrecy, and why Jacob Kowalski (a No-Maj) being involved with Queenie Goldstein caused such conflict.

• Queenie and Jacob’s romance directly defied the law.

✅ In short:

Rappaport’s Law was a harsh segregation law that kept witches and wizards completely separate from No-Majs for nearly 200 years. It was born out of betrayal, fear, and paranoia — and shaped American wizarding society to be far stricter than Europe’s.

The Repeal of 1965

By the mid-20th century, U.S. wizarding leaders recognized the law was:

• Impossible to enforce (magical and No-Maj societies overlapped too much).

• Outdated in the modern era of growing civil rights and social integration.

• Actively damaging the magical community (stunting cultural growth, creating fear).

So in 1965, after intense debate, MACUSA repealed Rappaport’s Law, declaring it unnecessary and unjust.

🌎 Effects on Modern American Wizarding Society

1. Mixed Families Flourished

• Wizard–No-Maj marriages and friendships became legal.

• A new generation of half-blood and mixed-culture wizards emerged, bringing diversity and resilience.

• Magical children of No-Majs were no longer stigmatized or hidden.

2. Cultural Expansion

• Wizards could freely enjoy and adapt No-Maj culture — music, fashion, food, technology.

• American magical arts absorbed influences from jazz, cinema, literature, and more.

• Magical communities in cities like New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and Los Angeles grew vibrant and diverse.

3. Educational Growth

• Ilvermorny admitted students from more varied backgrounds.

• No-Maj-born children (like “Muggle-borns” in Britain) now had open pathways to magical education.

• Curriculum modernized, reflecting wider perspectives and new magical practices.

4. Shift in Politics & Law

• MACUSA softened its image, moving from a paranoid enforcer of secrecy to a modern bureaucracy.

• The Auror Office was redirected toward real threats (rogue wizards, dangerous creatures) instead of policing personal relationships.

• More cooperation with international bodies (like the British Ministry of Magic) became possible.

5. New Social Attitudes

• By the 2000s, young American wizards grew up with a more open, integrated identity.

• Quodpot and magical pop culture thrived alongside No-Maj sports and entertainment.

• Discrimination didn’t vanish (old pure-blood families and Scourer-descendants still carried prejudice), but society as a whole leaned progressive compared to its past.

✅ In short:

The repeal of Rappaport’s Law in 1965 transformed the American wizarding world from a fearful, isolated society into a modern, multicultural, and outward-looking community. It opened the door to mixed families, richer culture, freer education, and stronger international ties — laying the foundation for the wizarding America we imagine in the 2000s.

The journey to Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry isn’t described in the same detail as the Hogwarts Express, but J.K. Rowling did reveal how students typically arrive at the school.

🏰 How Students Get to Ilvermorny

🌲 The Location

• Ilvermorny sits atop Mount Greylock in Massachusetts, hidden by strong enchantments.

• To No-Majs, it appears only as a ruined, abandoned stone structure.

• To witches and wizards, it’s a beautiful enchanted castle, often shrouded in mist.

🚪 Arrival at the School

• Students gather at the base of Mount Greylock.

• They travel by various magical means (since America never had a central train system like the Hogwarts Express):

• Apparition (for older students or parents).

• Portkeys provided by MACUSA or the school.

• Brooms (common among young witches and wizards).

• Some families use magical creatures or enchanted vehicles.

• From there, students follow a hidden enchanted path that leads up the mountain and reveals the school to them.

🎓 Sorting Ceremony

• Unlike Hogwarts, students don’t take a long train ride together.

• Instead, the magical journey often ends directly at Ilvermorny’s Entrance Hall.

• There, they are sorted immediately by the carvings of the four house creatures (Thunderbird, Wampus, Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie).

• Each carving reacts to claim students — and if more than one responds, the student chooses.

🧳 Key Difference from Hogwarts

• Hogwarts has a shared cultural ritual with the train ride from Platform 9 ¾.

• Ilvermorny’s arrivals are more varied and individual, reflecting America’s size and diverse magical communities.

• What unites students is the sorting ceremony, not the journey itself.

⚡ In short:

Ilvermorny students don’t ride a single magical train. They reach the base of Mount Greylock by portkey, broom, apparition, or other magical travel, then ascend the enchanted mountain path to the castle.

Wands at Ilvermorny and in American wizarding schools are a fascinating subject, because they worked very differently from how Hogwarts students used them in Britain.

🪄 Wands at Ilvermorny

🏫 The Early Days

• When Isolt Sayre and James Steward founded Ilvermorny in the 1600s, most magical children in America didn’t have wands.

• Wandmaking was still developing in North America, and imported European wands were rare.

• At first, students used found objects (sticks, carved wood, heirlooms) to channel magic, or practiced wandless spells.

⚒️ The First American Wands

• The first great American wandmaker was James Steward himself, though he wasn’t a wizard — he learned wandlore by helping Isolt and working with magical materials.

• Later, American wandmakers like Shikoba Wolfe and Violetta Beauvais became famous, supplying Ilvermorny students with true wands.

• Ilvermorny eventually became not just a school but also a distributor of wands to young witches and wizards, ensuring they could study magic properly.

⚖️ MACUSA and Wand Control

• Rappaport’s Law (1790) changed everything:

• It required that all wands be registered with MACUSA.

• Children were not allowed to carry wands outside of school until they came of age.

• This meant students only used their wands on school grounds under supervision.

• In contrast, at Hogwarts, students could keep their wands with them year-round.

🎒 At School

• Students at Ilvermorny typically received their first wand upon admission (unless their family already owned one).

• Wands were kept at the school during the year and locked away when students went home for the summer.

• This policy was meant to prevent exposure to No-Majs and reflected America’s stricter magical secrecy laws.

✨ The Symbolism of the Wand

• Getting your first wand at Ilvermorny was seen as a rite of passage.

• Because of scarcity and regulation, wands were considered precious, personal treasures — maybe even more so than in Europe.

✅ In short:

At Ilvermorny, students usually got their first wand when they started school. Unlike Hogwarts, they couldn’t freely keep wands outside the castle because of MACUSA’s strict laws. The school was both a place of learning and a safeguard for magical tools.

American witches and wizards don’t get as much spotlight as their British counterparts, but J.K. Rowling did give us a roster of important names in the Wizarding World of North America.

Here’s a list of known American wizards and witches (canon from Pottermore / Wizarding World and Fantastic Beasts):

🏛️ MACUSA Presidents & Leaders

• Josiah Jackson – first President of MACUSA (1693), chosen for his toughness after Salem.

• Emily Rappaport – 15th President, created Rappaport’s Law (1790).

• Seraphina Picquery – President in the 1920s (Fantastic Beasts), elegant, strict, and highly respected.

🧙 Famous Figures

• Isolt Sayre – Irish-born witch who fled to America and co-founded Ilvermorny in the 1600s.

• James Steward – her No-Maj husband, co-founder of Ilvermorny, helped create early American wands.

• Martha Steward & Rionach Steward – Isolt and James’s twin daughters, among Ilvermorny’s first students.

🪄 Wandmakers

• Shikoba Wolfe – Choctaw wandmaker, famous for wands with Thunderbird tail feathers.

• Violetta Beauvais – New Orleans wandmaker, her wands were dramatic and powerful (favored in dueling).

• Johannes Jonker – son of a No-Maj, talented wandmaker who popularized horned serpent horn cores.

⚔️ Law & Aurors

• The First Twelve Aurors – the original magical law enforcers in America (names not all given, but legendary).

• Abraham Potter – one of the first MACUSA members, distantly related to Harry Potter’s line.

🎬 Fantastic Beasts Era

• Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein – MACUSA Auror, later Newt Scamander’s wife.

• Queenie Goldstein – her sister, a Legilimens with a rebellious streak.

• Percival Graves – Head of Magical Security at MACUSA (actually impersonated by Grindelwald).

• Mary Lou Barebone – leader of the Second Salemers, a No-Maj extremist group; descendant of Scourers.

• Credence Barebone / Aurelius Dumbledore – Mary Lou’s adopted son, an Obscurial.

🏫 Ilvermorny Founders & Legacy

• Chadwick Boot – one of Ilvermorny’s earliest students (adopted by Isolt and James).

• Webster Boot – his brother, also raised at Ilvermorny.

• Their descendants became part of the Boot family in Britain (notably Terry Boot at Hogwarts centuries later).

🐉 Others

• Bartholomew Barebone – Scourer descendant, caused the breach that led to Rappaport’s Law.

• Dorcas Twelvetrees – pure-blood witch who naively revealed wizarding secrets to Bartholomew.

American wizarding history features figures like Isolt Sayre (Ilvermorny’s founder), Emily Rappaport (strict lawmaker), Seraphina Picquery (1920s MACUSA President), the Goldstein sisters, wandmakers like Shikoba Wolfe, and legacy families like the Boots and Potters.

Ooo, I love this one 🍽️🪄 — food and drink in the American wizarding world isn’t described in as much detail as Hogwarts’ feasts, but we can piece together canon mentions and expand with what J.K. Rowling hinted at on Pottermore/Wizarding World, plus parallels to U.S. magical culture.

🍔 Food & Drinks in the American Wizarding World

🏰 At Ilvermorny

• Students likely eat in a Great Hall equivalent, enchanted to serve food.

• Unlike Hogwarts’ traditional British fare, Ilvermorny meals would reflect New England and North American cuisine, with magical twists:

• Clam chowder (possibly self-stirring).

• Cornbread & stews enchanted to stay warm.

• Cranberry sauces and pumpkin dishes (pumpkin is big in both magical worlds).

• Maple-sweetened pastries from northern forests.

• Magical creature-inspired treats, like Thunderbird-shaped cookies.

☕ Drinks

• Butterbeer may exist in America, but locals would have their own drinks:

• Maple Mead – sweet, magically warming.

• Firewater Cider – enchanted apple cider with a kick.

• Sasparilla Soda – fizzy, spell-bubbled drink popular with young wizards.

• Moonshine Mash – enchanted Appalachian brew, highly regulated by MACUSA.

• Chicory Brew – wizarding coffee alternative common in New Orleans.

🍬 Sweets & Snacks

American wizarding candies would mirror Honeydukes but with U.S. flair:

• Pukwudgie Pops – sour candies that bite back.

• Thunderbird Taffy – crackles like lightning on the tongue.

• Horned Serpent Licorice – twists into serpent shapes when unwrapped.

• Wampus Fudge – chewy and fierce, rumored to give strength.

• Salem Witch’s Toffee – darkly sweet, with “burnt sugar” magic that smokes when eaten.

🍽️ In Wizarding Cities

Places like New York (MACUSA’s HQ) or New Orleans (wandmaking hub) would have their own wizarding cafés and pubs:

• The Blind Pig (Fantastic Beasts) – underground speakeasy in New York run by the goblin Gnarlak. Served illicit magical drinks, likely jazz-filled atmosphere.

• Wandmaker’s Café (New Orleans) – said to serve enchanted chicory coffee that “reads your fortune in the foam.”

• Appalachian Spell-Pubs – rustic wizard bars serving spiced stews and magical moonshine.

🧙 Cultural Influences

• Indigenous magic users contributed foods with natural enchantments (corn, beans, squash, herbal teas).

• Immigrant wizarding families (Irish, Italian, African, Jewish, etc.) brought magical twists to their foods, creating a diverse magical cuisine unique to the U.S.

American wizarding food & drink is more regional and culturally diverse than Britain’s. At Ilvermorny you’d see New England–style magical meals, while wizarding pubs in New York or New Orleans would serve enchanted versions of local dishes, alongside unique sweets and magical beverages.

What J.K. Rowling Actually Revealed (Canon)

• Rowling gave us very little detail on American wizarding food and drink.

• The only explicitly mentioned American magical establishment serving drinks is:

• The Blind Pig – a speakeasy in New York from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (1926).

• It served illegal magical drinks (though none are named).

• On Pottermore, she expanded Ilvermorny’s lore, but no sweets, drinks, or feasts were described the way Hogwarts feasts and Honeydukes treats were.

So:

• No mention of whether Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans, etc. exist in America.

• No canon U.S.-specific wizarding candies or drinks have been named.

⚖️ Logical Inferences

• Since the Statute of Secrecy existed on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s reasonable to assume some magical goods crossed continents.

• That means things like Butterbeer and Chocolate Frogs probably exist in the U.S., either imported or locally produced.

• However, because American magical culture developed differently (stricter laws, cultural diversity, regional magic), it’s highly likely they also had their own sweets, candies, and beverages — but Rowling never described them.

I created a set of American wizarding sweets that feel like the cultural counterparts to the iconic British ones (Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott’s, etc.), but flavored with American folklore, creatures, and traditions.

🍭 American Wizarding Sweets (UK Equivalents)

🐸 Chocolate Frogs (UK)

➡️ Thunderbird Truffles (US)

• Storm-crackling chocolate truffles that spark tiny lightning when bitten.

• Collectible cards feature famous American witches & wizards (MACUSA presidents, Ilvermorny founders, wandmakers).

🍬 Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans (UK)

➡️ Wampus Whiskers (US)

• Licorice-like strings that magically shift flavors (sometimes delicious, sometimes awful).

• Known to “swipe” across your tongue like a cat’s rough tongue — hence the name.

🧃 Pumpkin Juice (UK)

➡️ Maple Moonbrew (US)

• A sparkling maple-flavored drink that glows faintly under moonlight.

• Favored at Ilvermorny feasts during autumn.

🍫 Cauldron Cakes (UK)

➡️ Charmfire Pies (US)

• Mini enchanted pies (apple, pecan, or pumpkin) that steam like they’re freshly baked, even after days in a satchel.

🍭 Acid Pops (UK)

➡️ Salem Sour Sticks (US)

• Candy sticks that fizz, spark, and “hiss” like a witch’s potion.

• Named as a cheeky reclaiming of the Salem Witch Trials.

🍫 Fudge Flies (UK)

➡️ Pukwudgie Pralines (US)

• Sweet-and-salty nut pralines that “poke” you with a little spark before melting into sweetness.

• Popular in New England wizarding communities.

🪄 Fizzing Whizzbees (UK)

➡️ Snallygaster Sours (US)

• Sour, crunchy candies that make you belch out tiny puffs of harmless flame.

•Inspired by the dragon-like beast from Maryland folklore.

🍩 Treacle Fudge (UK)

➡️ Appalachian Spellfudge (US)

• Dense, magical fudge that strengthens spellcasting focus for a short while.

• Rumored to be a favorite of young Ilvermorny students before exams.

These sweets mirror the fun of the British wizarding treats but tie into American magical culture — creatures (Thunderbird, Wampus, Snallygaster, Pukwudgie), regional flavors (maple, praline, apple pie), and bits of history (Salem).

J.K. Rowling never gave us a clear picture of the American wizarding world after the 1920s, but we can piece together what it likely looked like in the 2000s (the same time Harry Potter was at Hogwarts and later an Auror) using canon from Pottermore/Wizarding World, Fantastic Beasts, and logical worldbuilding.

🌎 The American Wizarding World in the 2000s

⚖️ Government: MACUSA in the 21st Century

• Rappaport’s Law (the no-No-Maj contact law) had been repealed in the 1960s, so by the 2000s, U.S. wizarding culture was far less isolated than in the Fantastic Beasts era.

• MACUSA was still the central government, but it was viewed as bureaucratic and rigid compared to the British Ministry of Magic.

• By this time, MACUSA had likely modernized — with divisions for Aurors, Magical Law Enforcement, Creature Regulation, and International Magical Cooperation (to coordinate with the Ministry of Magic, especially during Voldemort’s return).

🧙 Society & Culture

• Wizards in America were more openly mingling with No-Majs (marrying, socializing, blending families).

• Magical communities probably flourished in major cities (New York, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles), but still hidden with strong enchantments.

• Ilvermorny alumni formed a large, diverse middle class of witches and wizards.

• The legacy of Scourers and Second Salemers lingered, but anti-magic prejudice was much weaker than in the 1920s.

🏫 Ilvermorny in the 2000s

• By Harry Potter’s time, Ilvermorny was thriving as one of the most prestigious schools in the world, rivaling Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang.

• Its sorting tradition (Thunderbird, Wampus, Pukwudgie, Horned Serpent) continued.

• Modern students likely had easier access to wands, magical textbooks, and supplies than earlier centuries, thanks to established American wandmakers.

• Ilvermorny probably had its own magical sports (including Quodpot, a U.S. invention, alongside Quidditch).

🧹 Sports & Entertainment

• Quodpot was hugely popular — a fast-paced, explosive cousin of Quidditch, invented in the U.S.

• Professional Quidditch leagues likely existed, though not as prestigious as in Europe.

• Wizarding music, cinema, and magical performance arts would have developed their own American flavor (think wizarding jazz, blues, Broadway-like charms).

🍬 Food & Drink

• American magical sweets, drinks, and cafés would have become as iconic as Honeydukes and The Three Broomsticks were in Britain.

• The Blind Pig (a 1920s speakeasy) was likely replaced or modernized by newer magical bars, coffeehouses, and clubs by the 2000s.

⚔️ Global Connections

• By the time of Voldemort’s return (1990s–2000s), MACUSA would have been in contact with the Ministry of Magic in Britain.

• However, MACUSA was known to be less cooperative and more isolationist than European ministries.

• U.S. Aurors may have monitored Voldemort’s rise but saw it as “Britain’s problem,” unless it spilled into international affairs.

💻 Technology & Magic

• Since American magical society often mirrored No-Maj society more closely, by the 2000s wizards in the U.S. may have been more experimental with magical–technological hybrids.

• Enchanted radios, televisions, even magical versions of early computers (though Muggle tech doesn’t usually mix with magic).

• Possibly, younger wizards explored magical equivalents of the internet for spell research, communication, or even gaming.

J.K. Rowling never directly wrote about how the American wizarding world intersected with slavery, we can explore it carefully by combining canon hints with historical context and magical parallels.

The American Wizarding World During Slavery (1600s–1800s)

📖 Canon Touchpoints

• Rowling described MACUSA as founded in 1693, shortly after the Salem Witch Trials.

• The Scourers (rogue magical mercenaries) often sold out their fellow wizards — some may have profited off the slave trade by betraying magical or No-Maj individuals.

• We know that by the late 1700s, American magical society was already rigid, secretive, and segregated (especially after Rappaport’s Law, 1790).

• She never said how slavery was addressed in wizarding America, but given that magical governments often reflected their No-Maj counterparts, slavery had to have cast a shadow over the magical world as well.

🧙 Wizards & Slavery: Likely Realities

1. Magical Families and Slaveholding

• Some wizarding families in the South likely mirrored wealthy No-Maj plantation owners, using enslaved labor while hiding their magic.

• Enchanted plantations may have existed, where slaves were magically bound as much as physically chained.

• The moral divide would have run deep: some wizards benefited from slavery, others resisted or helped enslaved people escape.

2. Ilvermorny During Slavery

• Founded in the 1600s, Ilvermorny admitted all magical children regardless of blood or background.

• But given Rappaport’s Law (1790–1965), children of enslaved No-Majs and wizards might have been excluded, hidden, or endangered if their existence risked exposure.

• It’s possible some secretly attended through magical resistance networks.

3. Resistance & Underground Magic

• Some magical folk, especially from Indigenous and African diasporic traditions, likely used magic to aid enslaved people escaping bondage.

• Charms of concealment on the Underground Railroad.

• Protective wards in safe houses.

• Magical folklore blending with Hoodoo, Voodoo, and African spiritual practices.

• Wizards sympathetic to abolition may have joined these efforts, but secrecy laws (and prejudice) limited how openly they could act.

4. MACUSA’s Position

• MACUSA was focused almost entirely on secrecy and control, not morality.

• Likely turned a blind eye to slavery among wizards as long as it didn’t endanger exposure to No-Majs.

• This fits Rowling’s depiction of magical governments elsewhere (e.g., the Ministry in Britain tolerating house-elf slavery for centuries).

5. Legacy in the 2000s

• The legacy of slavery would remain in wizarding communities just as in No-Maj society:

• Old wizarding families with wealth tied to enslavement.

• Distrust between magical communities descended from enslaved people and those from privileged lineages.

• Cultural survival: African magical traditions profoundly shaped American wizarding practice (particularly in the South and New Orleans, where wandmaking traditions flourished).

Williamsburg in the American Wizarding World

✅ Canon Events

1. MACUSA Moves There (1760)

• In 1760, the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) relocated from an enchanted building in the Appalachian Mountains to Williamsburg, Virginia. 

• Williamsburg was chosen because it was the home of Thornton Harkaway, who was then President of MACUSA. 

2. Crups Incident & Secrecy Breach

• Thornton Harkaway kept Crups (a magical breed akin to Jack Russell terriers that are very protective of wizards) at MACUSA’s Williamsburg location. 

• These Crups attacked several No-Majs (non-magical people) in Williamsburg. This caused a serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy. 

3. Aftermath: President’s Resignation & Hospitalization for No-Majs

• As a result of the attacks and the exposure, Thornton Harkaway was forced out of office in disgrace. 

• Williamsburg became the first city in the United States in the wizarding timeline to host a psychiatric hospital for No-Majs who “saw things” during that time (i.e. who witnessed magical phenomena) as a way to deal with people impacted by the Crup attacks. 

4. MACUSA Leaves Williamsburg

• Following these events, MACUSA did not stay long in Williamsburg; it moved on (eventually to Baltimore, etc.).

It was a sweltering summer evening in Washington, D.C. The lawns before the White House gleamed under floodlights, packed with a crowd of thousands waving red banners and camera phones. American flags whipped in the hot wind, and a stage had been erected beneath the portico, decorated with a golden seal that looked suspiciously enchanted.

Behind the podium stood President Donald Trump, his hair luminous in the spotlights like spun gold leaf. Beside him, stiff and uncomfortable, was the President of MACUSA, Celestia Picquery, dressed in purple robes.

“This,” she muttered, “is undignified.”

Trump was already speaking, or at least, talking.

“Folks,” he began, hands sweeping dramatically, “we’ve got something tremendous tonight. People, great people, have told me there’s been… magic in America. Real magic. Not the kind with fake wands and, you know, rabbits and hats, though those are fantastic, by the way, great industry, lots of jobs, but the real deal.”

He grinned at the cameras. “They tell me we’ve got witches! Wizards! We love wizards, don’t we, folks? Always have, always will.”

The crowd, mostly MAGA hats, flags, and confusion, cheered uncertainly. A man shouted, “Make America Magical Again!” to scattered applause.

Picquery closed her eyes briefly. “Merlin preserve me,” she whispered.

Trump beamed at her. “Now, I’m going to introduce someone, a very powerful lady. People say she’s the most magical woman in the world, maybe ever. Tremendous lady. The best. Please welcome Celery… Piquet!”

Picquery inhaled sharply through her nose but stepped forward with poise. “Celestia Picquery,” she corrected through a forced smile, her voice amplified by both microphone and charm. “President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America.”

The crowd murmured, half skeptical, half intrigued.

“My fellow Americans,” Picquery began, “for centuries, our worlds have lived apart. Hidden, yet intertwined. But the time has come, at the urging of our allies abroad, to reveal the truth. Magic is real. Witches are real.”

There was a ripple of laughter and disbelief. Someone in the crowd shouted, “Prove it!”

Picquery’s lips tightened. “Very well.”

She raised her wand. A silver spark burst from its tip. Then, with a graceful flick, a flock of bright bluebirds exploded into the air, wheeling above the stage in a glittering cloud.

Gasps rose from the crowd. Cameras flashed wildly. Children squealed in delight.

But a voice shouted from the back: “It’s CGI! Fake!”

Another: “Smoke and mirrors!”

Picquery’s eyes narrowed. “You doubt?”

She pointed her wand toward a nearby limousine parked by the gates. A stream of light arced through the air, and the car lifted clean off the ground, rising ten, twenty feet, hanging there as if weightless.

The crowd screamed. Phones flew up to record. Reporters shouted questions over one another.

Trump turned toward her. “That’s, that’s very impressive. I could use that at my rallies.”

Before Picquery could respond, a deafening gunshot changed everything.

A member of the audience wearing a MAGA cap lowered his gun.

Picquery staggered backward, clutching her arm as blood blossomed across her sleeve. The crowd erupted into chaos, screams, and shouting.

Trump ducked behind the podium, yelling something about “a witch hunt” that was lost in the noise.

Two Aurors appeared instantly, wands drawn, one disarming a man in the front rows, his pistol spinning from his grasp. Another grabbed Picquery by the shoulder.

“Hold on, Madam President!” he shouted.

With a sound like a thunderclap, both of them Disapparated, vanishing in a swirl of light. The remaining Auror stunned the attacker where he stood, then vanished as well, leaving behind only confusion, smoke, and panic.

The levitated limousine dropped back to earth with a crash, setting off its alarm. The bluebirds dissolved into sparks.

Above the stage, the giant American flag still rippled proudly, but the cheers had turned to screams, the music to sirens, and the moment meant to unite the world had ended in blood and disbelief.

Somewhere across the ocean, Hermione Granger’s voice was being broadcast live from Buckingham Palace. But in Washington, D.C., all anyone could talk about was the witch who’d appeared beside the President, and vanished in a burst of fire and thunder.

-

Paris glittered under twilight, the Seine glimmering like molten gold, the air heavy with anticipation and the murmuring hum of thousands gathered in the Place de la Concorde. At the center of it all stood a grand stage draped in blue velvet and the French tricolour, flanked by banners bearing both the crest of the French Republic and the Sigil of the Ministère de la Magie Française.

High above the crowd, magical wards shimmered faintly in the dusky sky, invisible to most, but clear to the handful of witches and wizards scattered among the spectators.

Near the front, Bill and Fleur Weasley stood with their three children, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis, their blond hair shining like halos in the evening light. Fleur held Louis’s hand tightly.

“I don’t like this,” she murmured in French. “Too many people. Too much noise.”

Bill squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll be all right. This is history.”

Onstage, President Emmanuel Macron stepped forward to the podium, dressed in formal black, looking only faintly uneasy. Beside him stood Minister of Magic Armande Dupont, an austere woman with silver streaks in her dark hair and a wand hanging visibly from her belt.

The crowd quieted.

“Mesdames et Messieurs,” Macron began, his voice carrying over the sea of faces, “tonight, I speak to you not merely as President, but as a witness to something extraordinary. Something—”

He hesitated, searching for words.

“—that challenges everything we thought we knew of the world.”

He turned slightly to Dupont. “Madame la Ministre?”

Dupont nodded and stepped forward. “For over three centuries,” she said, “the magical and Moldu communities of France have lived apart — bound by an ancient law known as the Statut du Secret. But tonight, that veil is lifted. I, and many like me, am a witch.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Some laughed. Others shouted, disbelief, denial, excitement. Cameras flashed like lightning.

Fleur’s heart swelled. “At last,” she whispered. “After all these years...”

Dupont raised her wand. “To demonstrate,” she said calmly.

A spray of golden light burst from the tip, swirling into the air before forming a great glittering fleur-de-lis above the square. The crowd gasped, cheering, clapping.

From somewhere in the throng, a voice screamed a curse in a Slavic language that Bill recognized from the war. A streak of purple fire, tore through the air toward the stage. Dupont reacted instantly, flicking her wand, and the curse ricocheted, slamming into a nearby gendarme.

The policeman screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground as violet lightning danced over his body.

Above the square, the sky darkened unnaturally. Smoke curled and twisted, forming a monstrous shape: a skull with wings not of bone but of spectral feathers. It was the Dark Mark, now fused with the symbol of the Auguery.

Panic erupted, and the elegant square dissolved into chaos.

“Bill!” Fleur cried. “The children!”

Onstage, Dupont seized Macron’s arm. “We must go, vite!”

With a crack, both vanished.

Masked figures appeared in the smoke and began to fire curses at any wizard and Moldu in sight. Aurors countered the masked attackers immediately, and the square became a battlefield. A fountain exploded. Fire and water cascaded together. Moldu ran screaming toward the Champs-Élysées as police drew guns, firing blindly into the smoke.

“Bill!” Fleur cried as her children became lost in the chaos. “The children!”

Bill pulled out his wand. “Victoire! Dominique!”

“Papa!” Louis cried, then was yanked from Fleur’s grip by the surge of fleeing bodies.

Fleur screamed. “LOUIS!”

Bill forced his way forward, casting shields left and right as stray spells shattered stone and glass. A Death Eater’s curse struck a statue beside him, blowing it apart in a shower of marble shards.

“Protego!” he roared, blocking a hex and firing one back, stunning the attacker into a café wall.

Fleur’s hair was flying, her eyes glowing faintly with Veela rage. “Find the children!” she shouted over the chaos.

But they were gone, swallowed by the tide of terrified Parisians, the screams, the crack of gunfire, and the echo of dark laughter.

Above it all, the Dark Mark with Augury wings pulsed and shimmered, casting its eerie light over the City of Light now plunged into shadow

-

The summer night in Beijing shimmered like molten glass. Lanterns swayed in the warm breeze, red and gold banners fluttered across Tiananmen Square, and the air pulsed with the hum of both magic and electricity.

On the balcony above Mao’s portrait, which was now moving, stood President Bo Xilai, immaculate in his dark Mao suit, and beside him, Madam Zhang Mei-Lin, the Chinese Minister for Magic. Her robes were embroidered with dragons and phoenixes that moved faintly when she breathed. Beneath them on the ground stood rows of Aurors in emerald robes, shoulder-to-shoulder with uniformed police. Thousands of citizens crowded behind barriers, craning to see.

Among the crowd stood Cho Chang, once Seeker for Ravenclaw and veteran of the Battle of Hogwarts, now living quietly in Hong Kong. Beside her was her husband, Liang Wei, a Muggle with a scholar’s frown and a small lapel pin shaped like a white dove, a symbol known to those who still whispered of democracy. Their daughter Olivia, seventeen and bright-eyed, held her mother’s hand tightly.

“It’s really happening,” Olivia said in a breath. “The whole world’s finally seeing us. Witches and non-magicals no longer separated.”

Her husband made a sound halfway between a sigh and a scoff. “A new world built on the same old foundation. Do you truly think they’d share power with magicians any more than they share it with ordinary people?”

Cho shot him a look. “Liang. Please. Not now.”

A fanfare of horns cut through the air. President Bo began his speech, his voice magnified across the square and a thousand broadcast charms.

“Citizens of China, and citizens of the world!” he began. “Tonight, we reveal a truth long hidden. Among us live those blessed with ancient power a magic that has shaped our myths, our arts, our nation itself!”

Polite applause followed, but real excitement rippled only when Madam Zhang lifted her wand. Her voice, clear as glass, rang out:

“For three centuries, the Statute of Secrecy bound our world apart. No longer. The Ministry of Magic and the Communist Party of China now stand as one. Harmony between the magical and the non-magical is China’s new destiny.”

She pointed her wand skyward. A streak of golden light burst into the night. The clouds parted and from their midst emerged two colossal dragons, wingless, sinuous, their scales gleaming like molten jade and ivory.

Gasps and cries filled the air.

The dragons twined together, roaring silently as fireworks exploded around them in bursts of lotus-shaped flame. Their dance filled the heavens, graceful and terrible, as though the old spirits of the ancient Middle Kingdom had awoken at last.

Olivia’s face glowed with wonder. “Mum, it’s beautiful! You fought in a war so that things like this could happen, didn’t you? So we could all be together.”

Cho’s heart swelled and broke all at once. “Something like that.” She had been waiting for this day since she rescued her husband from a black jail in Chongqing 19 years ago when she first moved back to her home country.

Liang’s gaze stayed fixed on the stage. “Or so they could put magic under the same flag that already owns every thought in this square.”

Olivia turned on him. “Why do you have to ruin everything? For once, can’t you just see the good?”

“Because, Olivia,” he said quietly, “I know what happens when the government tells you a miracle is for your own good.”

Above them, the dragons curved into the shape of a great red heart, showering sparks over the square. The crowd roared its approval, chanting, “Héxié! Héxié!” Harmony, harmony!

Cho squeezed her husband’s arm. “Please,” she whispered. “Not tonight.”

He didn’t answer. His eyes were on the Aurors at the perimeter, dozens of them now, speaking urgently into communication charms, scanning the crowd. Something about their stance chilled him.

Madam Zhang and President Bo raised their joined hands to signal the finale. “Let magic and reason walk together forever!” she proclaimed.

The dragons roared, their voices vibrating through the square and then, with an elegant bow, they dissolved into a thousand sparks. Fireworks erupted in perfect synchrony, painting the sky in gold, crimson, and violet.

The crowd cheered wildly. Olivia wiped tears from her eyes. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

However, Cho, watching the wards shimmer faintly around the perimeter and the anxious faces of the Aurors, felt a prickling dread she couldn’t name.

Liang leaned close, voice low. “Beauty,” he murmured, “is the easiest mask for control.”

Cho said nothing. She only stared at the empty sky where the dragons had vanished and wondered if, somewhere beyond the smoke and cheers, the world’s magic had just chained itself to the seats of Muggle authority.

-

The night of the Revelation fell over India like the birth of a new god and the death of the old world.

In New Delhi, the streets overflowed with people. Millions had gathered under banners of saffron and green to witness what the news called “The Great Unveiling.” Cameras flashed. Drones hovered above the crowd. On a glittering stage in front of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood beside a tall woman in deep blue robes, Diya Sobhraj, the Indian Minister for Magic.

“Tonight,” Modi announced, his voice echoing through every radio and holo-screen in the nation, “we reveal the truth that has lived among us for centuries. Magic is real, and it belongs to all of India.”

The crowd gasped as wizards and witches levitated on flying carpets above the dais, conjuring shimmering lotus blossoms and flaming peacocks that danced across the sky. The spectacle left most speechless.

Far away in a modest Mumbai apartment, Padma and Parvati Patil watched the broadcast with their husbands.

“They’ve gone mad,” Padma murmured.

“No secrecy left,” Parvati exclaimed. “No protection either.”

Their husbands, Rajesh and Amrit, both wizards who worked at the Mumbai branch of the Indian Ministry of Magic, looked uncertain but hopeful.

“Maybe it’s time,” Rajesh said. “Maybe peace is possible now.”

Parvati shook her head. “You think the muggles will understand? They’ll see us as gods or monsters.”

Padma turned off the television. “I don’t like the feeling in the air,” she said. “It feels like the day before a storm.”

And the last babies are finished!

Phoenix!Credence and Panther!Percival

Title - But little did I know (that I was going insane)

Fandom - Harry Potter

Main pairing - Severus Snape X James Potter

Status - Ongoing, 5/50

Synopsis - James Potter is a realist. Lily Evans is a dreamer. Severus Snape is the youngest professor in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

When desire calls, the lives will change into what they really want - they'll go for miles to have them with one goal in their minds.

Political and feminist themes are included

@dhrmonth

“Miss Granger, welcome to MACUSA! We are honored to have you on board. I hope all things are in order?”

Hermione shook the President’s offered hand eagerly. “Oh yes, Sir. New York is exceptional- best coffee I ever had.”

The President’s laugh boomed throughout the dome, earning a few curious glances. “Glad to hear it. Well, enjoy the party.”

Hermione inhaled deeply. She did it; she’s finally in America. This was what she needed - a fresh start. No more nosy reporters, no more ungrateful bosses, no more running into cheating ex-boyfriends and their ‘she’s-just-a-junior’ girlfriend.

Hermione heaved a sigh and downed down the rest of her champagne before taking another flute from the passing waiter, to toast the new year.

The party was held inside a see-through glass dome at the tallest building in Wizarding Time Square- twinkling faerie lights adorned the magnificent tree at the center of the ballroom and tiny flecks of snow surround the area, reminding her of Christmas at Hogwarts.

The night was perfect.

The countdown projected above read that it was already a few seconds to midnight.

The night’s event host made a toast and everyone raised their glasses.

5…

4…

3…

2…

Hermione’s world suddenly tilted when someone grabbed her waist and soft, warm lips touched hers.

It felt … surpiringly pleasant. So pleasant that she closed her eyes and opened her mouth for more -and she was not disappointed.

Hermione angled her head while her hands trailed up the stranger’s broad shoulders - taking note of the hard muscles underneath - and wound them around his neck, bringing their bodies closer. A low groan escaped from the stranger’s lips that made Hermione’s inner walls clench.

The stranger deepened the kiss, tongue darting out to meet hers, and Hermione felt his fingers dance on her jaw, then her throat, before they settled at her nape - curling firmly at her loose hair. She released a contented sigh and the stranger moaned.

When the stranger released her - their bodies still loosely locked in an embrace - she slowly opened her eyes.

Hermione’s face turned white when she realized who it was.

The stranger’s shocked face mirrored her own. Recovering, she yanked her body away and glared at him. He glared back.

“Malfoy?! What the fuck are you doing here?”, she demanded.

Malfoy scoffed. “Me? I work here! Have been for years.”

It was her fault, really. Hermione did not know he was in America. The last time she saw Draco Malfoy was at his trial at the Ministry six years ago.

Hermione couldn’t think of a clever reply so she resolved to pettiness.

“Well, why did you kiss me?”, she asked, chin raised and cheeks flushing.

Draco eyed her up and down, his hungry eyes darkening. Hermione’s whole body tingled; she swallowed the knot building in her throat.

A heartbeat later, Draco straightened and his face contorted to that familiar sneer.

“It’s tradition here.”, he replied. “When the clock strikes twelve at new year's eve, you kiss the person nearest you for good luck. Surely you must know that, brightest-witch-of-her-age.”

The audacity. Hermione rolled her eyes. “Good to know you’re still as infuriating as ever, Malfoy.”

Draco - to her surprise- laughed. Hermione was caught offguard.

“Likewise, Granger.”, he said. Draco raised his glass. "Happy New Year."

The corner of Hermione's mouth twitched upwards. "Happy New Year."

In mutual resignation, they clinked their glasses together and drank their champagne in one go.

Draco, having drank all that liquid courage, tried his luck and offered his arm to her, to which - to his astonishment - she took.

They drank more, danced together and spent the rest of the party surprisingly enjoying each other’s company.

The next day...

-tbc.

THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC, BRITAIN

criminals guilty of severe crimes such as murder are not sentenced to death, so to speak. they are sentenced to life in Azkaban, where they stay for the rest of their lives, drained of their happiness until they die of misery, health issues, or whatever. dementors are supposed to be soul-sucking creatures, but they don’t actually suck out the souls of the prisoners. they’re supposed to be satisfied with feeding on only emotions, and guard the prisoners till their end.

there’s a bit of discrepancy, however- let's compare the sentences of Sirius and Barty Crouch Jr. Sirius is convicted for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and 12 Muggles, and his sentence is simply life in Azkaban. Barty Crouch Jr is convicted for the one murder of Cedric Diggory, but he has his soul sucked out by a Dementor.

(note: yes, he actually killed his father, but I’m pretty sure Fudge didn’t know that until AFTER crouch jr got the dementor‘s kiss.)

so- the difference in their sentences is wildly different. however, one important factor is that Fudge is in charge in Barty‘s case, and we know he’s a wack ass Minister, while he wasn’t Minister yet when Sirius was convicted. so we can probably excuse this injustice to Fudge's incapabilities as the Minister of Magic.

so in conclusion: the British ministry does not take the lives of their prisoners and just dumps them in the hands of dementors to die naturally or have their souls sucked out.

THE MAGICAL CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

criminals guilty of severe crimes are immediately sentenced to death. there are no dementors in America, as far as we know.

Newt and Tina‘s case is a little complicated. MACUSA knew that neither actually killed Shaw themselves, but they were held responsible for the Obscurial that did it. Tina‘s role in the matter was barely even known, and if they’d asked around a little bit, they’d have known that she had been trying to arrest Newt for days and was just doing her job. but with little to no information on what part she played in the murder, she was sentenced to death as well.

like i said, no dementors. here, the deaths of the criminals are orchestrated by wizards and witches. their happy memories are drawn out and are shown to the prisoner in a pensieve-like cesspool, until the prisoner is tempted to relive those happy memories and jump in, killing themselves. so basically, they’re gaslighted into committing suicide.

the most dramatic part of this comparison is that the way prisoners meet their end in Britain is the exact opposite of the way they do in America. think about it- in Britain, their happy memories are drained out until they are left with only misery and depression and negativity, and they die, tortured and unhappy. in America, they are forced to view their happy memories until they jump in- dying cruelly, but (to a certain extent) happily.

woah.

What are some of your thoughts on differences between the UK wizarding world and the American wizarding world? I have about 50 different threads competing for attention, so I'm hoping asking someone else will let me focus on one!

Thank you so much! 💕

Honestly, knowing you disagree with me and still enjoy reading my stuff is an incredibly high honor, thank you!

Now, honestly, I haven't given that much thought to the American wizarding world since I'm not really invested in the Fantastic Beasts movies, but I can outline some of my thoughts about it.

First of all, government (I just find fictional politics fascinating). MACUSA is obviously very different from the Ministry of Magic. I'd say it has a similar system to the rest of the United States, where each state has a governor, and there is a federal government led by a president above it. The US does not have a history of nobles and a House of Lords like in the UK, so it makes sense they wouldn't have a Wizengamot but instead a court system and a cabinet more similar to the modern USA but not quite.

Pottermore supports me on this:

Representatives from magical communities all over North America were elected to MACUSA to create laws that both policed and protected American wizardkind. [...] The first President of MACUSA was Josiah Jackson

We know MACUSA was founded in 1683, right after the Salem witch trials and the enactment of the Statute of Secrecy, but before the founding of the United States. If I had to guess, I'd say the independence of the United States as a magical community was agreed upon by the ICW (which already existed) with the enactment of the Statute of Secrecy. After all, by that time, America was the place in which most witch hunts took place. They were the ones who needed the most protection and organization to be sure the muggles didn't know about them. (The Ministry of Magic was only founded in 1707, since to them it wasn't that of a pressing issue). Basically, MACUSA was the first fully independent magical government, since up to that point the muggle government was the magical government (+ a few magical councils like the Wizengamot in the UK), that's why they never really had an Independence War like the muggle US, they just completely cut themselves off from muggles first.

I know MACUSA is mentioned to represent "all" of North American wizards, but in 1693 when it was founded all there was in North America was the East Coast colonies and Quebec in Canada, so, it probably is just the US, no idea what's going on with Canada. Maybe Canada isn't a real country in the Wizarding World and is part of MACUSA 🤷‍♀️.

The American wizarding world is more separated from the muggle one. A "Ministry" of Magic, as I mentioned in the past, indicates that technically, they are subordinate to the muggle prime minister, if only on paper. The Ministry of Magic isn't fully independent from the muggle UK government. The President of MACUSA likely has no connection to the muggle president. The Muggle USA was founded after them as a separate government that has no authority over MACUSA. Government structure influences went back and forth, but I think in America there is less of a bleeding between the muggle and wizard world than we see in Europe because of how they were founded and how much worse and more recent the witch hunts were.

The fact that in 1790, they enacted Rappaport's Law, it strengthens my opinion that the American wizarding world has much less ties to the muggle one than the British Wizarding World. The law, which was only lifted in 1965, completely separated the magical and muggle communities outright outlawing wizards and witches from marrying or befriending muggles. This law is much harsher than anything seen in the UK, perhaps only the Death Eaters regime in 1997-1998 reached these levels of anti-muggle legislation.

So, culturally, the American wizards are quite different from the European ones, and I'd assume there would still be even more prejudice against no-majs even later into the 1990s.

That being said, in the Fantastic Beasts movies, we see other magical beings such as goblins and house elves have a better status among wizard society in the US than in Europe. So, it's likely that American werewolves, for example, can own homes and be employed more easily in the US because they're magical. And all magical beings seem to have a decent standing in the US, it's muggles that are the issue. Muggleborns probably have a shit time there, honestly (at least in the past).

Like, I have to wonder during Rappaport's Law, what did muggleborns do? Did they have a unique legal status and were allowed to keep in touch with their families and childhood friends? Were they forcibly removed from their homes and placed somewhere in the wizarding world? Were they left to fend for themselves in the muggle world, and no wizard ever bothered to introduce them to magic properly? I have so many questions. Regardless, I assume Illvermorny at least does accept muggleborns during the 1990s.

As for the school situation, in my mind, Illvermorny is just, like, the biggest wizard public school in the USA, but the population is so big there just has to be more. Like, population-wise, the US is much bigger than the UK and it likely even surpasses the number of students Durmstrang would theoretically have (And the number of students in Illvermorny might even include Canada). Also, America is America, even among wizards. You just know there would be a bunch of smaller private schools that were just founded by random wizards/witches throughout the years in various states because they wanted a school for their community. (After all, MACUSA is a congress of representatives from the different states, I'm sure each one of these states has some of its own cultural identity like in the muggle USA). I assume most muggleborns end up in Illvermorny since it's likely the school with the means to locate them.

General culture-wise, I think their fashion would be different. Like, I'd expect them to have less muggle contemporary influences on fashion. Like, you won't see bowler hats on US wizards. But their fashion is also less likely to look high medieval as they put a lot of effort into hiding when the witch hunts took place (more so than the European wizards, at least), so their fashion, music, and architecture probably still have more American 1690s influences in fashion, architecture, and music. But there still will be contemporary muggle influences, and more and more of them would appear after Rappaport's Law was lifted. I would also guess their slang and language evolved a bit differently since they didn't have as much muggle influence compared to other magical communities.