It’s not just Hogwarts: J.K. Rowling reveals other wizarding schools

There’s some good news for would-be wizards worldwide who just don’t see themselves living in Scotland.

In a series of posts on the Pottermore website, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling revealed that “there are eleven long-established and prestigious wizarding schools worldwide, all of which are registered with the International Confederation of Wizards.”

Rowling had previously hinted at the existence of a North American wizarding school but revealed its name only on Friday: Ilvermorny. That’s all the information she’s giving North American fans at the moment.

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“The precise location of each of the following schools is a closely guarded secret,” Rowling explained. But it’s unlikely Ilvermorny is located, say, in Miami Beach: “As a general rule, magical schools tend to be situated in landlocked, mountainous areas (although there are notable exceptions, as will be seen), as such regions are difficult for Muggles to access, and easier to defend from Dark wizards.”

In addition to the North American Ilvermorny, Rowling introduced readers to Mahoutokoro in Japan, where non-boarding students “are flown back and forth to their homes every day on the backs of a flock of giant storm petrels.”

Aspiring wizards in Africa take lessons at Uagadou, a school somewhere in Uganda, located in “a stunning edifice carved out of the mountainside and shrouded in mist, so that it sometimes appears simply to float in mid-air.”

South America boasts Castelobruxo in Brazil, a school under the protection of “the Caipora, small and furry spirit-beings who are extraordinarily mischievous and tricky, and who emerge under cover of night to watch over the students and the creatures who live in the forest.”

There are two additional wizarding schools in continental Europe, Rowling writes: the Durmstrang Institute in the far north and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in the Pyrenees. (That last one’s for you, French “Harry Potter” fans.)

On Twitter, Rowling answered questions from fans eager to know more about Ilvermorny, urging patience and directing them to Pottermore and seemed to hint at the existence of a Hogwarts-type institution somewhere in or near Australia.

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