I’ve decided to make some wand cores that I feel like would be more common in the US
Suncat Whisker — above average power and performs best with charms and elemental magic. It is possible, if immensely difficult, to get this without killing the animal.
Jackalope Antler — best for healing magic, struggles to perform Dark magic
Aurabird Tail Feather — powerful, popular amongst aurors, duelling masters, and those specializing in defense against the Dark arts
Quetzha Venom — powerful but very particular about the wood it is paired with (works best with light colored wood, but always turns the wood into a copper color, no matter the type). Very easily swayed to perform Dark magic. If a wand containing quetzha venom is broken, the venom will seep into the wood and turn it ash.
Rivercat Whisker — best for transfiguration, very common in small towns near rivers or lakes. Wands containing a catfish whisker core paired with the wood of waterside trees are known to be rather durable and extremely loyal to whomever they choose (if the wand is stolen, the wand will backfire whatever spell the thief tried to use).
Saguaro Spines — best for dueling or performing elemental magic. They do not favor Light or Dark magic, but will perform either for their owner. Saguaro spines are best paired with other desert woods such as: Mesquite, Ironwood, or Palo Verde, among others. Most commonly found in the southwestern states
Blue Lizard Tail — of average power, does best with charms. Very common in the local shops of the eastern states. They can be obtained without killing the animals. Blue tailed lizards can regrow their tails
i’ll probably add onto this later with more cores or even make another post about wand woods. idk yet, but i’ve been thinking about this stuff a lot lately lol if there are any questions about any animals i used, just ask
So something just occurred to me. Like 1920's Potterverse America has this whole "Wizards can't associate with muggles" law, right? But like, they've got to have muggleborns too, right? That means their family has to know about it right? Unless they go around kidnapping eleven year old wizards and obliviating their parents or something. Or they’ve sworn these kids to absolute secrecy and just, like, tell their parents they’re going to a fancy-shmancy prep school or something instead of Hogwarts lite. But like, what about parents who want to meet the teachers and look at the school and go to PTA meetings and stuff. Do they have a whole fake school and teacher set up to appease those parents? And do they really trust the secrecy of their community into the hands of eleven year olds? Think of the socialization that would have to occur if that were the case, how much fear they would have to instill in these children. And I mean, if wizards are only ever marrying other wizards, the magical population in America must be proportionally much smaller than it is in Britain or elsewhere, otherwise you’ve got a lot of cousin-marrying-cousin sort of deals, like with the Purebloods back in Britain, and their not expanding their population at all, like, if you only have a set population size from which to draw from, that population size is going to stagnate or decline, isn’t that the problem wizards in Britain had?
hello I like you to meet John Anderson. he could be anyone. no, like, literally anyone. this was intentional. a lot of hexes require names as a component and become increasingly ineffective the more common the name.
most people get around this with True Names, which aren't nearly as powerful against humans as they are to fae and the like, but nonetheless act as a workaround to most forms of obfuscation.
unfortunately for everyone, his True Name has been retrocausally altered to be John Anderson.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 4/?
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Culture, world-building, American Wizards, cause let's be honest, there's no way ilvamorney is the only american school, Fix-It
Series: Part 1 of independent higher education
Summary:
The Charms and Customs series, (Jersey Devil Publishing, 2010-2019), hopes to facilitate a new era of cooperation among wizards and nonwizards alike by providing a basic introduction to wizarding culture for newcomers, as well as offering foreign wizards insight into other traditions.
In this chapter: American Wizardry in the New Millennium: AKA the effects of 9-11 and the internet
Harry missed the days when his scar burned in anticipation of trouble, because at least then he knew when trouble was coming.
For example, his scar hadn't so much as itched the day he and Ron got sent to America. That day had started like any other scar-pain-free day as an Auror: he and Ron had met up for their morning cup of Wizard's coffee (literally the same as normal coffee) before trudging up three flights of stairs to their small, cramped office. Ron had just lit a Wizard's cigarette when the pair heard a knock at the door. Then, She walked in.
She was all streaming hair, smooth skin, and long legs. This was the kind of client, Harry thought, that was in real trouble. A woman like this was surely caught deep in the webbing of the underworld: a rich heiress with powerful enemies, maybe, a drug mule with a conscience, or, just maybe, an international spy turned against her government. Whatever the case, this was the sort of woman that Harry --- or at least, the detective he wanted to be --- would risk it all for.
"Hi Ginny," Ron said, not looking up from his cigarette.
"Hullo Ron. Hermione's not a fan of the cigarettes, you know."
"They're Wizard cigarettes! They're enchanted, they're nothing like those plant things Muggles smoke. I've tried to explain this to her..."
"I have half a mind to tell on you," Ginny replied, looking amused at the thought of getting her older brother in trouble. Then, she turned to Harry, and sighed.
"We've talked about the hat, Harry."
“Look, I like it, it makes me look like a detective."
"Hats haven't been in style for almost a century."
"Maybe I'm trying to bring them back? I am Harry Potter after all; people care about what I wear, apparently."
"Yes, exactly, you're Harry Potter, and if you're going to maintain whatever modicum of respect you've earned in the public consciousness, you need to not wear that hat."
"Dumbledore wore a hat..."
"Dumbledore also wore pajamas to work, so..."
Harry knew that he had lost and took the hat off. Instantly, it shrunk down into a flat, textured disc that Harry put into his wallet. He walked over to Ginny and slid his arms around her waist. She smiled and gave him a peck, but then pushed away.
"I'm here on semi-official business, unfortunately." She walked over to the door, checked outside quickly, and then muttered muffliato under her breath. A dull, heavy soundlessness settled over the tiny office.
Ron put out his cigarette. "Honestly, Ginny, being an associate diplomat has made you paranoid. All the cases we get from the Ministry are dull and unimportant anyway."
Ginny glared at him. "I'm an assistant diplomat who's responsible for the entire Southeastern United States. And this isn't a Ministry case, exactly. This is a case from me."
Harry and Ron exchanged a confused, worried look.
"Have either of you listened to the news at all recently?"
"Not from America, if that's what you mean" said Ron.
"I usually get my news from you talking about it," Harry admitted.
"Alright, well, listen. There's an active serial killer in Orlando right now."
"In Disney World?" Harry asked, wide-eyed.
"No, not in Disney World."
"What's Disney world?" Ron's speech was muffled by the cup of his hands, lighting another cigarette.
"Only the most magical place on Earth, Ron" Ginny said. Harry chuckled a bit.
"Really?"
“No, it's a theme park," Harry said.
"What's a theme park?"
Ginny cleared her throat. "Listen, this is a wizard serial killer, and he's targeting half-bloods." She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out some photographs. Harry and Ron looked at them. Ron winched. One of the bodies had the word "MUTT" written across the forehead in angry red lines.
"That's bloody disgusting."
Ginny nodded tensely. "It's awful. And the Aurors over there; they haven't been able to catch whoever's doing this."
The fog of a lazy morning had been blown violently from Harry's mind. "You want us to go and catch this guy. But why? This seems like an American issue."
"It was. Until this morning." She pulled out another picture.
"This is Pallav Patil." Her voice broke when she said it.
It was a gruesome picture.
"Related to the Patils we know?" Ron asked, quietly.
"A cousin," Ginny said. "I knew him, a little, at Hogwarts." She swallowed a sob.
"He was a really happy kid. On an exchange trip in America for the summer." Ginny steadied herself. Harry tried to gulp quietly.
"So it's our problem now too. It'll take a few days to get the Ministry to agree to send you over there to assist the investigation, but I want you there now. Start looking around. Try to find this guy."
Ron and Harry nodded, wordless. Ron started to pack his work bag while Harry gave Ginny a hug. While they embraced, she spoke to him quietly.
"This guy --- he's hunting half-bloods. Please be careful, Harry."
He let go.
"I'll be in touch," she said, and Disapparated. Harry pulled his wallet out, flicked his hat back to full size, and put it on.
The worst part of the picture, he thought, was the bloody message the killer had left on the floor around Pallav Patil's body in huge, jagged letters:
"Go Back Home."
The little thrill Hermione got, when she walked to the front of a classroom and started teaching her class, hadn't quite worn off yet. She figured it should have; she had attended King's College right after the war (because she could take Muggle classes alongside magical ones) and --- in typical Hermione fashion --- had become a TA by her second semester. Now, she was working towards a doctorate in Theoretical Charms, and was teaching introductory courses --- Modern Charms 1 with Theory, this semester. She felt like she was almost a professor. Although, she reminded herself, she would never become one, because finishing a draft of her dissertation was (in her estimation) literally completely impossible.
But she despite that fact, she really loved Theoretical Charms. As she had explained to Ron, Harry, and Ginny one day over tea, Theoretical Charms was a very practical, grounded subject --- unlike some fields under the umbrella of Theory of Magic she could mention. Theoretical Charms had the excitement of being abstract and universal, of being concerned with fundamental questions, and the satisfying objectivity of being bounded by the real magical world. Plus, it was very interdisciplinary: Hermione got to work with people who did Wand Lore, Enchantments, even Potions! Despite people who told her 'Hermione, it doesn't make sense to normal blokes like Harry and I, we really don't care,' she thought it was a wonderful subject.
"Today we start the unit on revelio, which is one of my personal favorite charms --- actually, it's what I do research on! As you all will remember, of course, revelio is essentially an information gathering spell --- yes, you have a question?" A boy with messy hair and bad posture had raised his hand.
"How do you do research on a charm? Didn't somebody make it, can't you ask them?" It wasn't a bad question really, if it had been asked more politely.
"That's a good question! You'll learn about this a little later in your Spellcraft classes, but spells aren't really 'made' per se, they're sort of discovered. Well, discovered isn't quite right either... it's hard to explain at your level, but basically there are some spells that exist whose properties we don't fully understand. I'm studying some of those properties, and what they might imply about the nature of magic. Does that answer your question?"
The mop of hair nodded and slouched a little lower in its chair.
"As I was saying, revelio is commonly used to locate nearby people or examine the magical effects that have been applied to an object. But it's different than other purely informative spells because it can produce effects --- actually removing enchantments designed to disguise or hide. Let's start with an idealized example..."
After class, the group of two or three students who cared (and weren't just taking Modern Charms to meet the Healing requirements) came up to ask questions. They were led by a tall girl with circular glasses and curly hair, who was clearly their leader.
"You said your research is on revelio, but what exactly does that mean?"
"Umm... Do you remember talking about spell modifiers at all in school?"
The students shook their heads no. Really, the more Hermione learned, the more she wanted to burn the entire educational system down and start again.
"Well, you know how you say revelio to remove cloaking enchantments, but Homenum revelio to reveal nearby people? Homenum is a modifier --- it changes the behavior of the charm."
"Oh!"
"So I do research on the behaviors of a specific revelio inflection."
"Oh!! What is that?"
Hermione checked her watch. She had a few minutes.
"I'll show you! Step back a little please?"
The blob of student somehow stepped back as one, unified mass.
"Anima revelio!"
The rush felt like wind, but no sound came. Hermione and the three students started glowing, wispy tendrils of light peeling off their bodies and dissipating into the air.
"Woah! Wow! Amazing!" That's how people usually responded to the spell. Even Ron had quit being a smart-ass for a few minutes when she had finally been able to demonstrate it for him at home.
Hermione grinned. "It's cool, right?" The tall girl was examining her hands, astonished.
"Why do my hands glow so much more than the rest of me?"
All four sets of hands glowed with bright, quiet energy that pulsed lazily. Smoky light was densely coiled around their fingers and breathed across their palms. It was like the tube of a fluorescent light bulb, or the light of star, had been loosely wrapped around their hands.
"Because you all are magic-users."
The students looked at Hermione, with glowing eyes and open mouths. That wasn't part of the spell, necessarily.
"This spell --- it makes your soul, your energy, the life inside you visible. Everyone has it --- the aura, the energy that surrounds and permeates living things. It's just, for magic users, it's a little less... connected."
The students looked at her with wonder and mild confusion.
"If there was a non-magical person here in this room, they'd light up too, but their aura wouldn't extend so far outside their body. It'd look tighter. Try walking around!"
The students moved around, trancelike, leaving trails of glowing mist in their wake.
"Non-magical people wouldn't leave trails that long --- their soul and body are much more tightly coupled. For magic users, the soul-body coupling is especially weak around the hands, for some reason, which is why they glow so brightly --- more of your aura can 'escape' your body and permeate the air around you."
"Is that why we hold wands in our hands?" Tall girl was holding her wand in her hand, with her arms stretched all the way out in front of her, half afraid and half in awe.
"Yep! Wands, well, wands are complicated, but because so much of a magic user's aura can escape through their hands, your wand can 'talk' to your aura through them. That's why magic users have wands: they can make it easier to access and focus the aural energy that's stored inside you."
For effect, Hermione pulled out her wand and shot sparks through the air. Her students gasped. They could see the glowing aura flow through her fingertips, lighting up her wand and trailing behind the sparks, dissipating into the air like ink into water. Then, Hermione flicked her wrist, and the glowing stopped.
Her students looked disappointed.
"But I don't understand? Why is it called an aura? How do wands talk to your soul? How does this make any sense?"
"Honestly, we don't really know," Hermione admitted. "But what I do know is that other professors use this room. So, unfortunately, I can't explain everything about Theory of Magic to you all today."
The students nodded and started shuffling towards the door.
"Thank you!" The tall girl with curly hair waved as she left with her friends.
Hermione smiled, waved back, and started packing up. She hardly noticed that someone had Apparated into the room until she looked and saw a figure in a long coat walking towards her.
"Ginny!" Hermione beamed as her friend shook off that just-Apparated feeling. "How are you? It's been ages!"
"I know! I've just been so busy with work, and I'm sure you've been just dying with that dissertation you're writing."
A dark look came over Hermione's face, which indicated to Ginny that this topic was off limits.
"I wish I had just come to visit, but I'm sort of on official business. Muffliato." The quiet felt heavy and pressed against their ears.
"What's going on?" Hermione looked worried.
"Have you been following the news from America?"
"The serial killer in Orlando?"
Ginny nodded.
"I'm sending Harry and Ron over there to investigate. Something... something's not right. I'm not sure what exactly. But I'm wondering, is there any way you could go over there with them? I just..."
i saw your tags i wanna hear about your no-maj monologue because just ??? that's literally what i would have expected americans to come up with like ' oho the british are gonna call 'em muggles, eh? let's call them no-maj's ! that's SO much better! ', and of course, there's gonna' be the reminder, ' sir, it's not just the british - the rest of the world calls them mugg- TOO LATE, already wrote it down, we're calling 'em no-maj's now '
Okay, I’m supposed to be studying for my final right now, but FUCK IT.
I have no idea if you’re American or not, but I am so here we go.
I think you’re somewhat right that Americans would be like SCREW YOU BRITAIN, however, I also think they wouldn’t get rid of the term muggle as completely as that. Think about it. America is a vast country; by the time of Beasts (1920′s, right?), there are probably TONS of terms magic folk use to describe muggles. Maybe some of them use no-maj. Maybe.
Let’s think about other words we’ve… adjusted… from ‘proper’ English (which is literally the most Frankenstein language ever to start with). Colour = color, Favourite = favorite, the usage of ‘s’ in British English vs ‘z’ in American English. The most likely first change for ‘muggle’ is to just spell it differently and print it that way forever. Maybe ‘muggle’ becomes ‘muggul’ or something. Looks stupid, but if it is printed for long enough, people get used to it.
Now, say someone in America wanted to call them non-magical. I honestly don’t think the first thing they would do is to cut off two syllables. If anything, given the Salem witch trials and other anti-magic views prevalent in early America, they would want to steer as far away from a word like magic as they could. Intercepted letters and overheard conversations may be kept safer that way. How?
By initializing it.
Take ‘non-magical’ and make it ‘N.M.’ Eventually, this becomes so prevalent a shorthand that it makes its way into the vernacular as ‘en-em’. Which, to be honest, is a helluva lot easier to say than ‘no-maj’.
The end-all of this is that there would likely be numerous terms for non-magical people and no-maj just bothers me.
Thanks for the ask! <3
P.S. I think you know, but I am not a linguist by any stretch. This is just the inane things an engineer gets preoccupied with in the shower. ;)
And with it some, hopefully, fun things will be rolled out over the next few weeks. I know I am not the best at updates. Even when it comes to the new released trailers for Fantastic Beasts I’ve been lax but that is also because I assume most have seen it already. Anyway, I realize to have a page that 1,035 of you (Wait what? Seriously, THANK YOU!) may not be keen on all of the things I’m posting but hopefully you’ll be willing to stick around.
One, I’ve been working behind the scenes to set up this as an RPG. The goal is to get that up and running completely by the 31st. This includes,
• Common Rooms where roleplayers can chat in character among themselves.
• Open Roles, teacher (npc) introductions and options for original characters.
• Rules. (I know BOO! But in opening this up to everyone, it needs to be there.)
• An OOC board to update storylines that are going on between all characters just in case they may effect other story lines.
And my personal favorite:
• a forum for everyone to talk about Ilvermorny and North American Wizardry/Magic, because ultimately all I’ve posted thus far has either been directly from Pottermore or my own personal head canon. Ultimately, I want this world building to be a collaboration. I want to hear the opinions and differences of cultures that would effect the wizarding world in America. We’re a melting pot and I’m personally curious because, as I’ve said before, I can bring the white to the table but that’s about it. The goal is to have more immersion than that. I’m very much looking forward to the interactions with other fans on this one.
So, I hope you all will enjoy what I’ve been creating for a good long time now and want to play along too.
