JK Rowling has released the latest update when it comes to the new wizarding schools that she has revelead as part of the Harry Potter Universe expansion. The origin of Ilvermorny, the North American school for witches and wizard, has finally been revealed through Pottermore - the website dedicated to Harry Potter updates and more.

Much like Hogwarts, the school also started with a dark tale but was overcome by the love between pure-blood Isolt Sayre and no-maj (muggle) James Steward. Here is an excerpt about the two:

"For many years, Isolt and James remained joint Headmaster and Headmistress, as beloved to many generations of students as members of their own families."

And of course, we finally get to know what the four houses are and how they were named!

"For Chadwick, an intelligent but often temperamental boy, it was the Thunderbird that can create storms as it flies. For argumentative but fiercely loyal Webster, it was the Wampus, a magical panther-like creature that was fast, strong and almost impossible to kill. For Isolt, it was, of course, the Horned Serpent that she still visited and with which she felt a strange sense of kinship."


As to how the kids are sorted without an actual sorting hat...

"While the rest of the school watches from the circular balcony overhead, new students file into the round entrance hall. They stand around the walls and, one by one, are called to stand on the symbol of the Gordian Knot set into the middle of the stone floor. In silence the school then waits for the enchanted carvings to react. If the Horned Serpent wants the student, the crystal set into its forehead will light up. If the Wampus wants the student, it roars. The Thunderbird signifies its approval by beating its wings, and the Pukwudgie will raise its arrow into the air."

There are crucial differences from Hogwarts:

"The Sorting Ceremony is not the only major difference between Hogwarts and Ilvermorny (though in so many ways the schools resemble each other). Once students have been allocated a house they are led into a large hall where they select (or are selected by) a wand. Until the 1965 repeal of Rappaport’s Law, which enforced very strict conformity with the Statute of Secrecy, no child was allowed a wand until they arrived at Ilvermorny. Moreover, wands had to be left at Ilvermorny during vacations and only upon attaining seventeen years of age was the witch or wizard legally allowed to carry a wand outside school."

If you want to read more, go to Pottermore.com!