I can’t imagine that it would have existed until the early 20th century (there’s no way that plantation owners with “special” kids would have been willing to send them to school with slaves who had powers, plus the mass immigration and other population expanding trends would finally have made the number of American students difficult to accomodate at Hogwarts.
It’s name would perhaps be Novamunda. It would exist on an island a few miles long from E-W and N-S. The southern end of the island would be hot and humid, the northern end would get snow, the western end would have beaches and moderate climate, etc… This being early 20th century America, instead of a castle I would see an art-deco skyscraper.
Potions Instructor would be Marie Laveau (not perhaps the original- could be a descendant- or might be the same, she’s adapted a don’t ask/don’t tell).
The House that produces the evil wizards would be Mathercott.
American Quidditch would of course be very different from European Quidditch, though I’ll leave it to others as to how.
It obviously has to be located in the most magical place in Ameriica (Hollywood), which is a component of the weirdest city in America (Los Angles–a.k.a. La-La Land).
Located underground, beneath a major movie studio, the failed experiments of students oft-times trigger earthquakes.
The odd pixie, gnome or ogre that wanders into the more mundane parts of LA (now there’s an oxymoron), will scarcely be noticed, as it’s weirdness is merely a matter of degree, respective to the other residents of LA.
Giant Sequoias (sp?) are merely the leftovers from early gardening magic.
Theda Bara, her youth eternally preserved by magic, is Headmistress.
It’s not the JK Rowling-verse but that new Disney movie, Sky High looks to me to be an American version of Hogwarts. Instead of reserved English Wizards in training, we have brash superhero wannabes. Bright colors instead of subdued greys. Cheesy hackneys subplots instead of nuanced character development.
How many houses would there be? Four for the 4 coasts? Then Mdm Laveau would be head of the “southern” house, whose symbol is, of course, the alligator.
I think that if you should incorporate as much canon as possible, and have it be set in Salem. I seem to recall a reference to a school at Salem. As a matter of fact, googling it takes me to an RPG message board about this very place.
I’ve often thought that Diane Duane’s ‘young wizard’ books were a close American equivalent to Harry Potter, though with less emphasis on the mythological sort of wizardry and more scientific ramifications to it.
They don’t have a centralized wizard’s school. Emphasis is on learning the art by yourself, out of your magic manual which can tell you just about anything it thinks you’re ready for, along with consulting experienced ‘advisory’ and ‘senior’ wizards.
The boarding school paradigm in the U.S. being different from that of Britain, I question whether the issue of “Houses” would arise. I wonder if such a school might more closely resemble The Citadel than Eton, and the experience favor The Lords of Discipline, rather than Tom Brown’s Schooldays.
Yeah, actually after I put that line in, I realized I didn’t really believe it either…
(BTW, I just read my local paper’s reveiw of the movie and they mention the Hogwarts influence but also said it wasn’t half bad. “best Disney movie since ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’” was the quote.
Perhaps instead of houses there would be a system similar to the fraternity/sorority system. They might be social or scholastic. Not everyone would belong, but there would be faculty advisers for the societies that were organized.
I agree that there would probably be more than one school, but I can’t see them being restricted in attendance by where a student lives.
And a headmaster/mistress would not be immortal. Change is necessary or an institution becomes stagnant or hidebound.
Yes, regardless of what the Wizards claim, they are clearly quite familiar with the culture in which they dwell. In America, I can’t imagine them not being basically normal people. Of course, this falls into the whole mess that Herry Potter simply makes no sense, socially speaking.
I have always wondered what the American wizarding world would be like, I even started a thread on it a while back.
I like the idea of the three schools, I belive that each would have it's own character, and thus the Wizarding children coming from them would be different.
Salem would be the oldest school in the country. In character it would be the most like Hogwarts, perhaps even with multiple houses. This would be the school where most of the “old blood” type witches and wizards would want to send their kids.
New Orleans would be the next oldest school. Despite (or perhaps because of) its location in the South, it probably would have been the place where slave children who suddenly showed magical ability would have ended up. I also doubt that you could keep someone in slavery once they showed magical ability. That and it’s more voodo (which IIRC come from West African traditions) like character would meant that even today it would be the school of choice for African American wizarding children. The Cajun population of the New Orleans region would cement the school’s reputation as the American School with the best food (and probably THE place to go for potions).
Cortez is the newcomer, despite many of its teaching traditions reaching back to Native wizards. The school would still have a high degree of Native american influence on the character of its teachings and staff. It would not only be the school of choice for West Coast types, but for the parents who wanted their children to have a less “traditional” education than that offered at Salem.
I see from the map that there is no west Coast school. Most likely due to too much smog, and for the Seattle types, all the magical attempts to change the weather were backfiring. Thus, all the west coast types would go to Cortez. I have the image of a teacher at that school (Care of Magical Creatures, perhaps?) who knows perfectly well how to do real magic. However, he is constley mystified as to why the spell he gets from New Agers never work. (perhaps he is one?) He doesn’t stop trying, however.
Due to an unfortunate series of events, at the all-school national championships of 1908, the snitch, quaffle, and one bludger were lost forever. An alumnus of the New Orleans school, in an attempt to assure victory for his team, attempted to charm one of the bludgers to attack only members of the other team. His accent caused the charm to misfire, however; the bludger was reprogrammed to attack the quaffle, and both balls were destroyed in a brilliant explosion at midfield as the first round game began. In the confusion about how to continue without the quaffle, the snitch simply flew off and was never seen again, and no one really cared, because they all saw it as quite a stupid ball anyway.
After some discussion, new rules were drawn up to complete the tournament, and were seen by all as much more enjoyable, and are the rules followed to this day:
The only ball in play will be 1 bludger
All players’ will be issued beaters bats.
The position of goal keeper will be eliminated
Thowing or batting the bludger inside the goalposts shall score 10 points
Carrying the bludger inside the goalposts shall score 50 points, due to its difficulty
The game shall last two 30 minute halves, and the clock shall be displayed prominently on the field.
The team with the most points when the second half ends, wins. In case of tie, the game shall continue in sudden-death format.
Helmets became mandatory equipment in 1926 after a team from Cortez adopted a strategy of beating its opponents over the head until they were too dazed to keep track of the ball.
Substitution was introduced in 1939, in response to the loss of many players from injuries during the course of the game. Fans stated they were not intested in watching the 2 remaing players from each side earnestly avoid the bludger for the entirety of the second half while their teammates had all been knocked from the game. Subsitution was so well revieved, that, today, unlimited subsitution is allowed after each goal and at the start of the second half.
By the 1950s, the 10-point “air goal” was out of favor as teams preferred to attempt the more difficult, but higher scoring, 50-point “carry-in” goal. In 1955, in order to stop the trend of 60-50 games decided only by an overtime air goal, the value for air goals attempted from more than 30 yards out was increased to 25 points. This has lead to an increase in scoring and air goal attempts, and has opened up a game that was in danger of becoming too slow to hold the crowd’s attention.
I hear tell that here are plenty of practicing wizards and witches attending West coast collages. Apparently, either the authority don’t really care, are distracted by other means, or perhaps the students cloaked themselves from detection, by means unknown to English wizards. Besides, there is always The Magi-Net , if they want to socialize.
Oh, and buildings hidden between buildings can only go so far in the Crowded parts of America. It seems to me that the muggles must have been exposed to wizards, though they don’t know it. Who do you think is one? Personally, I nominated Frank Lloyd Wright.
The sole conduit between the school and the mundane world is via an underground train (the buried remains of the old Red Line cable cars, natch) running between the secret underground campus and Venice Beach. Wizards, trolls, and pixies emerge from a small Venice shop that sells “smoking accessories” (winkwinknudgenudge), where they can then step outside onto Venice without so much as a by-your-leave from all the other weirdos there.
(If Venice is too far away, substitute Melrose Blvd. instead)
