Jumping the Puddle - Wizardry in the States
I've always been a voracious reader. In upper elementary school, I discovered the Harry Potter books, and loved them to pieces - literally, in the case of my first copy of Prisoner of Azkaban. I was, therefore, rather non-plussed when my eleventh birthday came and went without a Hogwarts acceptance letter. It took me more than six years to realize
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They wouldn't call the Wizarding Government a "Ministry", certainly, as we don't have those in the States. America would have a Department of Magic and the Supernatural or a Magical Congress. It's always been a pet peeve of mine whenever I see characters refer to the American Ministry.
I'm not even sure the American magical community would use the term "wizard" to describe it's people. Because there are so many different cultures from around the world here, it wouldn't be entirely the British and European traditions practiced. There'd be a lot of Asian and African magic, not to mention the practices of the Native Americans before the Europeans got here.
Each region of the country would have a different emphasis, too. Salem would be the most European in approach, but the Southwest would be very Native and Mexican influenced. The Gulf Coast would be especially influenced by Africa with a mixture of Catholic elements. One thing the Europeans would be concerned about is the Americans allowing animal sacrifice, since such things would be considered sacred to some American groups. Given that it's such a large population spread out over such a large space, there are several American schools for magic.
Like Britain, America has it's Otherworlds, various Fairylands that can be accessed under the right circumstances. One such one connects to Seattle (Seattle being known as the Emerald City) that became rather famous due to a muggleborn witch accidentally winding up there.
There's also a lot more interaction between the magical and muggle communities in the States, which explains some interesting things that went on in San Francisco back in the 1960s. One wizard became quite famous in the muggle world as an animator, filmmaker, and theme park builder, though some worried at the time that he was being a bit too open about magic with the muggles.
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Oz and Disney, eh? I'm curious - is there any support in canon for your "Otherworlds" theory, or is it just a pet theory of yours?
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For more on the Celtic Otherworlds, see here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_World
A lot of the magical creatures we've encountered in this series are tied to the Sidhe as part of their Seelie and Unseelie Courts, including the goblins, pixies, boggarts, and brownies (who were enslaved by the wizards into house elves), further suggesting that the "Fair Folk" are out there, and we just haven't met them, yet. Or have we?
One popular theory is that Ollivander and Luna are part-Sidhe. They have the same large, moonlike, silver, reflective, unblinking eyes that unnerve people, the same unusual way of seeing things, and an "old magic" feel about them. We've not encountered any Pureblood like them. All the Purebloods we've met have been pretty much normal humans with magic. Interesting wording Jo used about Luna's eyes not blinking "like normal humans" instead of like a normal person. And just where did Ollivander disappear to?
In myth, the Sidhe originated as the Tuatha Dé Danann, who brought the Hallows to Ireland, including the Stone of Destiny, used in the coronation of British monarchs to this day.
It'd be appropriately mythic for the final showdown in this series to be in one of the Otherworlds, maybe even Avalon itself.
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Oh! Isn't the boundry between worlds sometimes referred to as a veil? Now, where have we seen a veil recently...? :D
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