~I solemnly swear that I am up to no good~

North American Harry Potter fans rejoice! J.K. Rowling has just released the history of the North American wizarding school, Ilvermorny, and a sorting quiz that will place Potter fans in one of four houses: Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Thunderbird, or Wampus.

While many Potter fans remain loyal to their Hogwarts houses, many have chosen to be sorted into their Ilvermorny houses as well.

For those who haven't read up on the history of Ilvermorny, here's a brief summary compiled by Newsweek.com:

Ilvermorny was founded by the Irish witch Isolt Sayre and her No-Maj (or non-magical) husband James Steward. Isolt Sayre was born in Ireland in the early 17th century. Both of her parents were killed when she was 5 years old by her aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, an evil and fanatical pureblood. Gormlaith then raised Isolt. She kept her niece isolated from neighbors, cursed or jinxed Muggles and animals who came near them and refused to send Isolt to Hogwarts when her letter came. Isolt stole her aunt’s wand, which she didn’t know had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts.

She escaped to the New World aboard the Mayflower, disguised as a Muggle boy named Elias Story. In America, Isolt came across magical creatures, like the Hidebehind, a “forest-dwelling spectre that preys on humanoid creatures,” and the Pukwudgie, “a short, grey-faced, large-eared creature distantly related to the European goblin,” who “hunts with deadly, poisonous arrows and enjoys playing tricks on humans.” There were also Hodags, Snallygasters and Wampus kittens as well as a Horned Serpent who lived in a river. Isolt, it seems, understood Parseltongue, since she heard the Horned Serpent speak to her. Isolt and her Pukwudgie companion, whom she’d saved from a Hidebehind and named William after her late father, found two wounded young wizards in the forest whose parents had been killed by another Hidebehind.

Isolt raised the two boys, Chadwick and Webster Boot, along with James Steward, a Muggle she met when she returned to the forest to bury the boys’ parents and later married. Isolt, James and the two Boot boys dreamed up a school modeled after Hogwarts, which Isolt spoke about wistfully despite never attending. They named its four houses Thunderbird, Wampus, Horned Serpent and Pukwudgie. When the school became well known, it was said that “Horned Serpent favors scholars, Wampus, warriors, Pukwudgie, healers and Thunderbird, adventurers.” Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Witchcraft and Wizardry grew from Isolt’s and James’s home atop Mount Greylock. They later concealed it from other No-Maj eyes with a set of enchantments. The couple also had twin girls: Martha, who turned out to be a Squib, and Rionach, who later taught Defense Against the Dark Arts at Ilvermorny. Gormlaith came to find Isolt, intending to destroy Ilvermorny as she had Isolt’s childhood home. But Chadwick, Webster and William the Pukwudgie helped Isolt destroy her cruel aunt.

Isolt and James both lived past the age of 100 and served for years as the headmistress and headmaster of Ilvermorny. By the 19th century, it became internationally renowned, and statues of its founders stand by the doors of the castle. The school’s robes are blue and cranberry in color, and they’re held together with a gold Gordian Knot, a nod to a brooch that belonged to Isolt’s mother, which she took with her on the Mayflower.

Now, one main difference between Hogwarts and Ilvermorny is the Sorting Ceremony. Instead of donning the Sorting Hat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, new students at Ilvermorny are sorted in the school’s round entrance hall. Each young witch or wizard steps into the center of the room and waits for giant wooden carvings representing the four houses to react. If more than one does, the student may choose his or her house.

Tumblr and other websites have blown up with opinions about how the houses from both wizarding schools relate to each other, but one Tumblr blog had an interesting opinion/observation: Hogwarts sorts you into houses based on what traits are important to you and what you value in a person, whereas Ilvermorny houses seem to be more of what part of you defines who you are.

For example:

- Gryffindors value bravery and being daring

- Hufflepuffs value loyalty and hard work

- Slytherins value ambition and being cunning

- Ravenclaws value intelligence and creativity

whereas

- Horned Serpents are defined by their minds and what they think

- Wampuses are defined by their bodies and what they can do

- Thunderbirds are defined by their souls and what they have found

- Pukwudgies are defined by their hearts and who they have helped

There is no particular house from Ilvermorny that fits perfectly with a Hogwarts house. Each house from both schools have their own traits that fit a person, and when you take the sorting quiz, which you can do for both schools at Pottermore.com, you may find yourself surprised (or not so surprised) with where you end up, but no matter where you end up, you know that you can count on the other members of your house(s) to be like your family.

Have a magical day, lovely readers!

~Mischief Managed~