HBP, chapter 12.

Imperiused is a word used in canon.

 

Not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question, so if it isn't, can someonhe tell me where the following question should be asked:
Is there a page where people ask where specific Harry Potter 'facts' comes from (i.e. canon, WoG, fanon etc) and lists common fanon, and if not, should it be made?
also, tagentially related question: does makind something a Horcrux make it nigh-invulnerable or do wizards merely make their soul containers a safe as possible?

 

The latter. This is a fundamentally misunderstand part of the whole idea of horcruxes - the idea that horcruxes have some kind of inherent magical protections that make them difficult to destroy. But this is not what DH tells us.

This explanation has everything we need:

1. You can't destroy a soul piece directly; you have to destroy the physical object - the horcrux. Once the physical object is destroyed, the soul piece dies.

2. Horcruxes don't come with "stock" protections: Dark wizards have to separately enchant the horcrux with protections. Only when you destroy an object beyond the scope of these protections is the soul piece destroyed.

3. Those protections are variable. Basilisk venom isn't some special anti-horcrux killer. It destroys Tom Riddle's horcruxes simply because he didn't have access to its antidote: phoenix tears. That implies that had Tom Riddle had access to phoenix tears, he would have been able to use them to imbue his horcruxes with a protection against basilisk venom.

But the likelihood that a dark wizard could get a phoenix to cry for them seems vanishingly low.

 

There are 11 schools I thibk

 

Yep, 11.

Taure posted a nice theoretical list sometime ago.

 

By theoretical list has been ruined by remembering that JKR said in interview that Ireland has its own school, which means you have at least 4/11 schools in Europe, plus one in Brazil, one in Japan and at least one in the United States. That means 4 schools are left to cover:

- The Spanish-speaking world
- Africa
- The Middle East
- India
- China
- Australia
- Indonesia

It gets pretty tricky. If I were JKR and committed to the 11 schools concept, I would have gone for:

1. Hogwarts, UK. Covers all the British isles, plus a number of English-speaking students from the Commonwealth.

2. Beauxbatons, France. Serves France plus French-speaking ex-colonies.

3. Durmstrang. This would be a Germanic school serving Germany and Scandinavia.

4. Salem, USA. Serves the US and Canada.

5. Lima, Peru. Serves Central and South America except Brazil, plus a lot of students from Spain.

6. Alexandria, Egypt. Serves the Arabic-speaking world.

7. Chinese school.

8. Indian school.

9. Brazilian school, also serves Portugal and Portuguese Africa.

10. Japanese school.

11. Ethiopian school serving the remaining parts of Africa.

As French was historically a language of international diplomacy, I imagine a fair number of international students at Beauxbatons from countries without their own school. E.g. Italy and Russia.

Even here you've got large gaps. 11 isn't really enough XD

 

No joke. If Durmstrang covers Germany and Scandinavia, what would cover Eastern Europe and Russia?

EDIT: Just realized you wrote Beauxbatons, but that would mean there'd be more internationals than French.

 

Building of this idea... What if the school was originally in Portugal but moved in 1807 with John VI when the whole court fled to Brazil. If the magical part of the Portugal moved along with the muggle, that implies either that Portugal's magical community was a lot more connected to the muggle government than Britain's or that Napoleonic France's muggle expansion was mirrored by an equally expansionist magical France.

Since the school didn't move back to Portugal with John VI in 1821, that could mean that the hypothetical French European magical empire lasted longer than the muggle, long enough that the school just stayed in Brazil when it became safe to return home.

Far to many ifs and guessing to be canon but an interesting idea for a historical fic.

 

And Durmstrang is not admitting Muggleborns. It is possible to handwave it but it requires either dystopia or hilarious in-universe doublethink.

Or drastical differences in number of Muggleborns across different regions.

 

What if their are continents completely unpopulated by wizards? Wizards seem to live in concentrated areas. It is possible, for example, that wizards only live in north america, not south america. Or perhaps none of them went to Australia. I suspect, the vast majority live in Europe anyway.

 

Why would there be no magical users among the aboriginal people of Australia or South America? That's ridiculous.


Now, maybe they wouldn't use the same magical systems as European wizards, but it is at least strongly implied that wand magic as we see it in the books has become the dominant system world-wide. It's sheer utility certainly supports that.

 

That's a pretty good theory, since brazilian natfives were never organized in more than local tribes I doubt the possibility of them forming a largve school.

Ooor you could take the old Tupi myth, that sais that the promise land was on the East Coas and made millions of them move from near the Andes and beyond, and give it a magical spin, making it that this promise land was El Dorado, a religious/magical center in the end of the Amazon. What you guys think? And with the Spanish conquista, this city became a center for all meso-american cultures. That could move Taure's school from Peru to East Europe or South Asia.

 

My favoured interpretation is that the 11 schools are part of some kind of elite club, like the Ivy League in the US. This club teaches a similar kind of curriculum - Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, etc. based mostly on the use of wands. Its spread is global, but focused in Europe/the Mediterranean and areas of European influence, due to wands originating in Europe.

Other areas of the world could have formal schools, and those schools may even teach magic using wands, but they have some significant differences in terms of focus or structure. And then of course you have the areas of the world without enough magical people to make a national school viable, or without the social organisation for a school to have been founded.

So why would JKR say there are just 11 schools? Well, from the perspective of those 11 schools, "witchcraft and wizardry" is magic. Other magical systems are inferior.

 

Because even though magic isn't genetic, its confirmed psuedo-genetic. Its possible that muggleborns only happen in areas populated by wizardkind.
Note this isn't actually what I think. Its an attempt to explain 11 schools.

 

Personally, I like to think of the whole 11 Schools schtick as a good example of Rowling's poor Worldbuilding skills. Unless the Wizarding World is both extremely small and extremely concentrated in several key areas, it just makes no sense to have so few schools around. I freely admit it's one of those things I keep out of my Head-Canon, like the goblins are honourable or Grindelwald being the bigger Dark Wizard than Voldemort.

BTW, since no one noticed by earlier question...

 

I prefer to just ignore eleven as JKR is awful at maths and death of the author.

In my mind there would have to be around a dozen schools in Europe (Hogwarts, Dumstrang, Beabaxtons being the oldest) with some of the Mediterranean schools serving North Africa and part of the Middle East. I expect a few schools in the Iraq/Syria/Israel (cradle of civilisation and all) region as well to to cover the rest of the Middle East. China given its huge population needs several schools, and given Korea and Japan's historical xenophobia they would need their own separate schools as well - Japan's population is huge though so I'll give them two or three schools.

I can see a Pacific school being based in Australia and New Zealand or possibly Hawaii - most likely NZ though given it was colonised first. I can see two North American schools on each coast to serve the US and Canada, another in Central America to serve Mexico and all those little countries. I expect another two in South America - possibly Brazil for Portuguese speakers, and Peru for Spanish speakers.

Africa would probably only have one or two - one in Cairo and possibly a new school in South Africa that was founded by the British. India also probably has several schools.

Maybe about 40 schools all up.

 

Meh I can see 11 schools being all that is as it only needs the number of wizards worldwide not being that high.

 

It goes back to Herpo the Foul, in fact the prefix 'herp-' refers to snake matters, like herpetology. Herpo made the first known Horcrux, incubated the first Basilisk and probably created the Parselmouth ability to pass on to his followers/children.

 

11 after the war with Grindelwald, he might have destroyed a few or all the teachers, who were skilled wizards opposed him and die or that much of the population died