Harry Potter fans, rejoice! Rowling reveals, via Pottermore, that we don’t have to travel to England to attend a magical school.
For those of you who are confused, let us explain: During Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter discovers during the Quidditch World Cup that other wizarding schools exist besides Hogwarts. But not much information about those schools have been revealed. There are brief descriptions about some schools in the chapter leading up the World Cup. But the only schools Harry — and us fans — truly learn about is Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute. And these two schools only feature in one book and one movie, Goblet of Fire.
Rowling hasn’t talked much about those other schools and we, her devoted fans, have accepted that we’d never know. However, Friday night during the “A Celebration of Harry Potter” event in Orlando, Florida, Pottermore stated that they were going to publish new information (written by Rowling herself) about the 11 magical schools around the world.
And if readers thought Rowling couldn’t come up with stranger names than Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, they clearly underestimated her.
Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch — AKA Luna Lovegood — appeared as a special guest during the event and revealed the name of the wizarding school located in North America: “Illvermorny.”
Pronounced “Ill-ver-morn-ee,” fans may expect references to this American wizarding school in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film adaptation, come November 2016, featuring Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander.
“I am assured by Pottermore that more will be revealed on Ilvermorny soon,” said Lynch.
Information about Illvermorny have yet to be posted, but it is expected in the coming days. Until then, additional information about three other magical schools have been posted on Pottermore by Rowling: Castelobruxo, located in Brazil; Mahuotokoro in Japan; and Africa’s Uagadou. Also posted on Pottermore is a map listing the locations of all the magical schools. According to the map, Illvermorny appears to be located in the northeast corner of the United States. So we fans can definitely expect Illvermorny to cameo briefly in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.