Magic School Alternatives

[Peeves]

There are rumors of magical schools all over the world and many are secret, but general information can be found on all of them. To keep some consistency between applications and site knowledge, here are the known variants from the books for this site.

Please read these descriptions before applying for a character who has been to these schools.

[Peeves]

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Durmstrang Institute

School Crest

Location: Northern Scandinavia. Located in either Sweden or Norway.

Headmaster: formerly Igor Karkaroff

The Durmstrang Institute is a wizarding school located in northern Scandinavia, in the northernmost regions of either Sweden or Norway, though it has taught students from as far afield as Bulgaria. Durmstrang was one of the three schools that competed in the Triwizard Tournament. It is an old school, having existed since at least 1294. The students at the school wear fur cloaks and blood-red robes.

Durmstrang, like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is located inside a castle. The castle is only four stories tall and fires are only lit for magical purposes. It has very extensive grounds. In addition, the school is Unplottable; Durmstrang, like other schools, likes to conceal its whereabouts so that the other schools cannot steal their secrets.

Durmstrang does not admit Muggle-borns. Therefore, it was ironic that Krum attended the Yule Ball with Hermione Granger, who is Muggle-born and would not have been admitted at his school.

Durmstrang is notorious for teaching the Dark Arts. Former Headmaster Igor Karkaroff was in the service of Lord Voldemort as a Death Eater, but managed to escape punishment in Azkaban by providing the Ministry of Magic with the names of his co-conspirators. Lucius Malfoy, another Death Eater, considered sending his son Draco to Durmstrang, but his mother did not like the idea of him going to school so far away.

Students

Known Students
* Viktor Krum
* Poliakoff
* Gellert Grindelwald

Past:

In about 1894, Gellert Grindelwald was accepted into Durmstrang Institute. Although the school was into the Dark Arts, Grindelwald's experiments in the dark magic has been too dangerous for the students. After a certain amount of time, even Durmstrang could no longer ignore Grindelwald's dangerous studies, and expelled him. Prior to his expulsion, he carved his mark on a wall of the school, which was left on there even now. Some students copied it onto their books and backs in order to impress others, but were taught a lesson by those who lost families to Grindelwald.

Events Surrounding the Triwizard Tournament:

Durmstrang arrived at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament by an enormous ship, where they also slept during their stay in Scotland. They chose the Slytherin table and ate there.

Bulgarian Quidditch Seeker, Viktor Krum, attended Durmstrang, and was still in school during the 1994 Quidditch World Cup. That same year, the school participated in the recommenced Triwizard Tournament. Karkaroff brought twelve students with him to Hogwarts to put their name into the Goblet of Fire. However, it was Krum who was chosen as the Durmstrang representive.
The Durmstrang Ship, docked at Hogwarts Lake.

As Krum was a celebrity, he was constantly hounded by Draco Malfoy and other students, who wanted autographs and the prestige of being close with him. Krum mostly ignored these advances, but formed a close friendship with Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor student. They continued communication after the Tournament through pen-pal letters.

Karkaroff fled after Lord Voldemort rose again. It is not known who took over, or whether the school's reputation improved or worsened due to this.

Headmaster Igor Karkaroff

Etymology:

"Durmstrang" may be a Sthingyerism for Sturm und Drang, a borrowed German expression meaning "turmoil, ferment" deriving from the name of a highly emotion-driven German artistic movement of the late 1700s. "Sturm und Drang" literally translates as "storm and stress."

Behind the scenes:

* In the movie, it is implied that the Coat of Arms for Durmstrang is a double-headed eagle, as that symbol was seen on the on the sails of the Durmstrang ship and on Viktor Krum's school clothing. This may be a clue to Durmstrang's location, because the flag of Albania (which is near Bulgaria) also depicts a double headed eagle, as do the flag of Imperial Russia and the Coats of arms of the Habsburg Monarchy. (Abania is not a likely location for the Institute, however, because its southern climate does not match needs implied by the Durmstrang uniform.)
* Durmstrang's coat of arms also features Cyrillic characters, indicating that the school is located in a Slavic country.

Credit: HP Wiki

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Inner Stair

In The Seventh Year, Durmstrang is a single house school with no divisions. Those who compete in Quidditch form teams to challenge each other with the leaders those who win their places. While the school is in a very cold climate, the actual school straddles a hidden valley off the map of Muggles and carefully unplotted. These spells are renewed by senior students on a regular basis as practice and to strengthen the protections. The school itself is castle inside a mountain with many of the interiors rooms literally built out of the rock of caves. A deep underwater lake gives it a secret port for the School Ship (used much as the Hogwarts Train).

Danica Vladislava is the new head of Drumstrang.

While the class known as 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' is called 'Dark Arts,' this does not imply those who leave the school are all Dark Wizards. Durmstrang puts an emphasis on knowing ones enemies and this includes the Dark Arts (although rumor that the teachers ignore students using those arts against each other is just that; a rumor. Really. Trust us.). Muggle Studies is not a class to be found here, although Magic Geography is (a full history and studies of all the magical lands and countries found in the known world) as well as Art of Summoning (types of creatures and methods) and Jinxes and Hexes. Competition in both written and in physical form is stressed with most students getting equal experience in dueling and practice on a daily basis.

Dress Robes

Blood red robes do make up the required uniform and staffs are earned by each student only as they progress. Thus they are both a sign of progress and of achievement, being more elaborate and usable as the final year draws nearer. The classrooms are rough and the class intense with an ever-growing sense of competition in each year. The Infirmary is a regular stop of many students although actual deaths have been incredibly few owing to the swift retribution from staff for any who misjudge their talents.

The school has a decidedly military feel which give students a strong sense of discipline; strongly encouraged by the staff who believe if one can control one's self, then one can not control magic. Thus students wear a uniform for daily wear and a very military uniform robe for special occasions. The fur cloaks and linings are because of the school's underground climate which does provide a certain chill as well as a toughening against the environment.

All in all, Durmstrang turns out seasoned wizards well able to handle most spells and firm in the knowledge of their own abilities and limitations.

The School Ship

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[Peeves]

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Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

School Crest

Location: Near Cannes in southern France

Headmaster: Olympe Maxime

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is a magic school located near the city of Cannes in southern France. Beauxbatons's current Headmistress is Madame Olympe Maxime. The school Coat of Arms is two golden wands crossed over one another, each shooting three stars. "Beaux bâtons" is French for "beautiful batons." The "bâtons" part is presumably a reference to wands.

School Building

The School:

Beauxbatons is similar to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Academy has existed for over seven hundred years. During the 1994-1995 school year, a delegation of senior Beauxbatons students and their Headmistress stayed near Hogwarts Castle in Britain to participate in a new Triwizard Tournament. The group arrived in a pastel blue coach pulled by twelve huge, winged horses. The carriage door was embossed with the golden coat of arms and opened to reveal golden steps. The horses also were golden-colored, with red eyes, and fed on single-malt whiskey. From October until the end of the school year, the entire delegation stayed on Hogwarts grounds, sleeping and presumably studying inside the coach, and eating in the Hogwarts Great Hall. The school champion was Fleur Delacour. They did not win the Tournament

The Castle:

The Academy is a glittering castle, most probably newer and brighter than the Hogwarts castle. Both Hogwarts and Durmstrang are in castles; however, Fleur Delacour described Beauxbatons as a palace. The food at Beauxbatons, at least according to Fleur, is delicious, but much lighter than the food served at Hogwarts. Students are serenaded while they dine by choirs of wood nymphs. At Christmas time the dining hall is adorned with great, non-melting ice sculptures. Beauxbatons is Unplottable, so no Muggles or even wizards from rival schools can find it on a map, and then it is disguised so that no one can really see it unless they know to look for it.

Some have speculated that since bouillabaisse was served at the opening feast of the Triwizard Tournament, and this fish soup is generally served in southeast France, Beauxbatons could be somewhere on the Mediterranean coast, perhaps Marseilles. Also, Hagrid tells Harry, Hermione and Ron that he pretended to go towards Beauxbatons to shake off followers(while going to find giants), then told professor Umbridge that he had been in southern France.

This would also explain why Beauxbatons students are so cold when they are at Hogwarts. Beauxbatons uniforms are made of light blue silk. Other indicators are perceived accents and the confirmed ethnicity of student Fleur Delacour. Like Fleur says "ze" instead of "the" which is commonplace for French people speaking English.

Students

Beauxbatons students stand at attention from when their Headmistress enters the room until she seats herself. They also seem to care more about their studies and their school's reputation.

According to Fleur Delacour, Beauxbatons students have their first exam after their sixth year.

Known Students:
* Fleur Delacour - Triwizard Champion of Beuxbatons during the Triwizard Tornuament in 1994.
* Gabrielle Delacour - Fleur Delacour's younger sister.

Behind the scenes:
* In the The Goblet of Fire film, Beauxbatons is pronounced wrong. Dumbledore says boh-BAT-tons, but in reality, if Beauxbatons is a French school, it would be pronounced BOH-bat-ton. This appears to be an error of pronunciation on Dumbledore's behalf, seen as the French students pronounce it correctly.
* In the movie all Beauxbatons girls appear to be attractive, whereas in the book Fleur Delacour, as she is part Veela, seems to be the only standout.
* In the movie, the Beauxbatons Coat of Arms is a shield surrounded by golden lines where as in the book it is 2 crossed wands shooting sparks. However, two crossed wands can be seen at the top of the film-version coat of arms.

Etymology:
Beauxbatons was likely devised from the French "beaux bâtons," literally translated as "beautiful sticks"; however in French the word "bâton" is also used to mean "wand."

Credits: Wiki

Olympe Maxime

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One of Many Doors

In The Seventh Year, Beauxbatons is tucked in the South of France in the most unusual of the Magic School environments. Instead of being a hidden building, one of the earliest Headmasters took the easiest route and simply worked spells into the chateau of a certain King while it was being built. Over the period of building the students were trained and educated by the teachers in their inadequate original building while at night a staff of wizards and witches worked over the daily construction until after twenty-eight years the construction was complete.

There are now two different castles, one laid over the other in a very masterful spell. One is now toured by muggles during the day along with the grounds at the same time the school operates around them totally undetected and unplotted. By this simple method, the school itself is impossible to detect and enter accept by very specific spells laid around the country in different villages. In each is a muggle repelling door, detectable only by wizards and very carefully concealed, hiding any of the Wizarding world nearby as well. By this means, accepted students enter doors and are transported by a clever type of port-a-key to the only entrance to the spell: underground. They are selected by a series of witches and wizards who visit students on their tenth birthday for testing and evaluation in the privacy of one's own home.

The Side Hall

There are traditionally three houses at Beauxbatons:

Rouerie House:
Adora Rouerie was very intelligent and clever. She was into more the traditional side of things. Most of the students in this house have her traits and can be found with a book in their hand and a smile on their face. Though people in this house appreciate the traditional side of things they also like to have fun. During the day they can be found in the courtyards reading a book. While later that night they could be the life of the party. House colors are blue and green and the house animal is the peathingy.

Sournois House:
Boden Sournois was arrogant. He was vain and scornful of "lesser" people. Meaning bloodlines. You will mostly find pure-bloods in this house, though some aren't. Though these students may seem to be the "popular" ones they aren't always the nice ones. Though there may always be a nice one in the bunch. Some great wizards have come from this house, but so has from the other houses as well. They can be found at a party, but are usually the ones pulling the pranks and causing trouble. House colors are black and red and the house animal is the raven.

Cossu House:
Jocelin Cossu was very creative. She always inspired people and always had many great ideas. The students in this house can often be seen drawing, writing, and anything else creative in their free time. Rest assured when hanging with one of them you will be having fun, but in an original way. They are usually the ones that help set up the party, but it doesn't mean they're not there somewhere having an intimate discussion with someone. House colors are light blue and white, the house animal is a pure white cat.

-- Credit to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

Students wear blue silk uniforms of typical french design fitted to the modern day (updated every few years slightly to stay in line with the current fashions). Clothes are kept loose and very tough (strengthened with spells woven in during their creation) because of the many non-magic classes encouraged in student education including dance, etiquette, art, and music. Prefects here however are called Musketeers in respect to the former guard of history.Graduates from Beauxbatons are expected to be able to move in any society and thus are expected to reach high standards in more then just magic fields.

Unlike many schools, however, Beauxbatons has graduate level classes in architecture, magical spell engineering, and many other classes based on high class professions to give their students an extra 'polish' when entering the work world. Graduate level classes are offered to Beauxbatons students only with one exception. Students at other schools who score top of their class marks, and who can pass some simple tests in etiquette and social skills, are accepted on a case-by-case basis.

A Standard Classroom

Beauxbatons has long kept up an aggressive recruiting team in the field tracking down wizarding families on many areas including Africa and North America. The belief that all students' backgrounds can add to the experience of all is highly cherished and the chance to spread the French school's influence has long been an important secondary goal. While competing with other schools is fine, the belief in constantly expanding (especially as they have plenty of room still with nearly 150 rooms still unused and sealed) is a constantly debated theme amongst professors.

While music, dance, and Quidditch teams are in competition between Houses (and hotly so as advance flying courses are mandatory here and musicians are touchy about their compositions), more carefully followed are the art competitions. Several galleries for each year are available for judged pieces each month with points gained going to each represented House. Themes are assigned by judges (random choice of one teacher and kept secret until judging) and judged on creativity, style, and quality. At the end of the year all winners are compared together and judged by a new board and the winner has never failed to win the House prize (chosen as a surprise by the Headmaster or Headmistress) at the end of the year ball.

Partial Class List

Soi-défense et la Diplomatie (Dada)
L'Art des Potions Cordiale (Potions)
Apprendre à Voler (Flying)
Sensibilité aux Plantes (Herbology)
Occupant de la Faune Magique (Comc)
Métamorphose (Transfiguration)
Enchantement (Charms)
Études Médicales (Medical Studies)
L'Arts Créatifs et la Musique (Creative arts & music)
Métaphysique (Metaphysics)
Le Déguisement et les Moldus (Disguise and Muggle Studies)
Tirer les Ficelles du Cerveau (Hypnosis)
Littérature des Sorciers (Wizard Literature)

- Credit to Beauxbatons Guide

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[Peeves]

This quaint little Victorian home in Salem Massachusetts houses one of the most famous and oddest magic schools in the world. Since the early 1600s the school has been active, one of the first in North America and founded by a group of witches who chose this most unfortunate part of the world to begin their teaching. The school has always had a special connection with the community ever since the muggles got it in their heads to burn witches who were, after all, never truly witches. The real ones watched the proceedings with shaking heads, but it did establish their reputation and continues to haunt the steps of the school in modern times as well.

The school has always been seen as looking into the past and the modern generation is not any different from the founders who believed in teaching hard-won information that has been time tested. Some schools believe them to be a bit backwards and sometimes quirky, but the graduates have often been solid practitioners who could be depended on in a crisis. The current building is the third in it's history, dating from their move back in 1875 to the current location on the outskirts of the city itself.

The interior has been most obviously expanded on a dramatic scale with only the entry way being considered still a Victorian style. The rest of the house stayed in the 1880s...and not. The current Heads of the time (The school has always had a set of three witches as heads to direct the different directions of the school) became fascinated with the current technology of the muggles in that time and began fiddling and enchanting, quite against the rules of the time. Over time the house was remodelled and it seems the occupants have developed a fondness for the old world technology that leaves one to believe they are living in another time line itself.

They fell in love with the steam era in the States and the Heads adopted everything they could find and began tinkering. While the rest of the muggle world moved on into the modern age of gas, geothermal, and electricity, the Salem school became filled with the steam age and tinkering on a major scale. Seen as 'eccentric' by the neighborhood (now grown old and trashy with a couple of gangs) the house (unplottable and carefully designed as an SEP spell (Someone Else's Problem) instead of muggle repelling) doesn't fit the neighborhood at all, but the neighbors just shake their heads and grin, never knowing how odd their neighbors really are.

The house literally contains hundreds of inventions, all steam powered and magically enhanced, frequently doing the chores of the building automatically and freeing up the Professors for teaching. The students, frequently amused and used to odd changes and bizarre contraptions, learn a lot about the old muggle world and solid, practical magic. Say what you will about the school, but their graduates remain solid wizards and witches.

The current owners (one wizard and two witches) putter out to pick up their students at the local train station in a very odd and head turning VW bug which has won a number of awards for local competitions. The owners don't understand why the local museum keeps bugging them to sell it; they just shake their heads no and continue on their way. And they are up to date in an odd way; they have a computer and use it (mind you with windows 2000 capability) it's just built out of an old typewriter, and old tv cabinet, and a lot of strung together parts which only works because of the magical additions.

The rooms are neo-Victorian, and kept sparse except for student belongings. The meals are simple but filling, the classes uninventive, but good practical lessons which make for decent fighting against the Dark Arts (one thing they are considered fairly tops in amongst wizarding schools). Their graduates are excellent duelers and used to the oddest things from wizarding kind. They are tolerant, hard workers who are also fairly thorough in their work. The school has never been big and offers a very competitive class ratio of one to one. This means unlike most magic schools they are tops at working with a students individual magic and preferences, able to pick out strengths way in advance and early enough to focus them in the right directions. The school can sleep a total of seventy-five students and twenty-five Professors. Although it rarely has more then twenty five students enrolled at a time.

The local community continues hosting tours of the "witchy salem" unaware of the odd inhabitants who still operate in their neighborhood, although no longer wearing the traditional garb of the wizarding world. Students are expected to wear a more modern Victorian look, the closest to a uniform there is, and young ladies in particular notice the reactions of young men to their appearance in the shape-defining dresses, often sticking with similar styles later on in life.

Classes are not only in magic, but in etiquette, table manners, and how to dress to impress (not that most of the students follow all of the rules later on). Teenage boys from this school tend to be charmers, well learned in how to talk someone into agreeing with them or performing a service. Many go on to Auror or Ministry careers in North America which has an astonishingly good record against Dark wizards and their interferences.

Young witches also do well, going into Auror training or Commerce, especially in the ways of selling and purchasing items in the retail world. This is particularly odd since the school does little with finance and retail classes. Both groups are familiar with using muggle devices to some degree (although many go out and take a muggle job for awhile just to get their reactions right) and many learn to enchant things and gadgets that are handy for a wizard to have, not to give to muggles.

Despite it's quirks, The Salem Witches Institute continues to turn out fine students in several fields and has had much popularity during the last two wizarding wars by parents who wanted their children to be good defenders. One can only hope the need does not increase more.