#I think it’s so interesting to consider the different accommodations that Hogwarts could provide

[inkyarcturus]

I like thinking about stim toys in the wizarding world, especially when it comes to stim toys themed around potions or certain areas of magic.

Fake potions that change colors when you flip or shake them.

Fake timeturners that essentially act as fidget spinners which you can spin however.

Tiny snitches that you can mess with in your hand and watch float back down once you throw it up in the air.

Chewlery shaped like common magical sweets such as chocolate frog.

Bendy wands that act similar to tangles.

Articulated magical creatures based on those rainbow slugs.

Cauldron slime.

The possibilities are endless.

[peekerparker]

Ilvermorny Dormitory Head-Cannons

Ever since Salem, the Northeastern American Wizarding World has amongst the no-majs, completely integrated and undetected. The Ilvermormy castle reflects this way of secrecy not only through it’s cloaking defense, but within the walls itself. 

My head-cannon is that Ilvermorny is a complicated system of hidden rooms which can only be found if needed, as if the campus was made up of hundreds of “rooms of requirement.” No two students could navigate the castle the same way. The castle is always changing and accommodating itself for its students. Which explains how the facilities expanded as the school started to gain more enrollment years after it’s conception. 

This also emulates how the world works outside of the school’s wall. 

The houses each have different entrances, the main ones, but also ones that appear when needed. Mostly, only members of the house can find and enter the dorms. However, if a student of a different house is invited or needs to enter the dormitory, they will be allowed based on the castle’s judgement. 

Here is where I think the dorms would be, how they would appear, and how they reflect the houses. 

Syre House (Horned Serpent) 

The house founded by Isolt Sayre, which favors the mind, can be entered through balconies above the library. However, the “Horned Serpent” Students, infamous for reading into the long hours of the night, and going long periods studying without sleep, will sometimes find their beds appear in little nooks and crannies within the library and the study rooms itself. These rooms will be completely hidden from other students who may even be browsing in the same aisle that the bed popped up in. Some Horned Serpent students have even claimed that they woke up the next day in the classroom of the course they were sleeping through. It is pretty common that a student from another house will be studying in the library late and a Sayre house bed would appear for them, causing some distress when a student will come home to sleep and a random student would be passed out in their bed. As for the common room, it’s the smallest one out of the four and the most simply decorated. It has a fire place, a couple of couches, and a balcony that looks out onto the scenery. Every morning an owl will arrive and deliver the morning newspaper which can multiply each time a student takes one. A House elf will also come up in the morning and serve tea or coffee. 

Webster Boot House (Wampus) 

The house of Webster Boot lays dormant within the mountain, and can be accessed through various places around the grounds. Openings in the cliff face, under the fountain, tunnels beneath the school, are all examples of where some students have entered from. No matter from which door you enter, a brick staircase will build itself under your feet while you walk down. Some young “Wampus” Students will run so fast that the bricks can’t form steps fast enough and they’ll fall. Despite being under ground, a spell ensures that every room has a large beautiful rounded dome-like sun roof which is made too look like the sky, much like the spell in the great hall in Hogwarts. This dorm is made to accommodate the “pleasures of the body”. The rooms are private and well insulated, there are many little kitchens for students who love to cook and eat, and the dorm opens right out to the grounds where the more athletic students can play sports, run, etc. and students from other houses who want to join in can. The common room is at the bottom of the structure, where there is normally a fire place and either a phonograph will be playing music, or an old film will be projected. Sometimes students with No-Maj parents will bring LP’s from home, gaining them some serious “street-cred”. No matter what time of day it is, when you walk into the Webster Boot house, there will always be the sound of loud laughter and invigorated cheering. 

Chadwick Boot House (Thunderbird) 

The Chadwick Boot Dormitory, or the “Nest” as some call it, is the easiest entrance to find, but one of the hardest to access. The Dormitory is in the highest tower of the school, and a grand staircase leads to it. A student who is not permitted or invited to enter the dorm will find themselves climbing the staircase endlessly without ever getting near the end. In reality, the staircase is only one story high. Many students have sworn that if they’re having a good conversation, the steps will last until the conversation ends. Others admit that when they are having a terrible conversation, the steps will be remarkably short. Much like the Sayre House, sometimes students will be so exhausted, that their bed appears in a little nook along the steps, but they will always wake up in their regular room the next morning. The common room is much much bigger on the inside considering that the tower is so tiny from it’s exterior. The rooms are exclusively furnished and decorated with objects that students have brought from home or abroad, and are enjoyed and admired by their peers. Things brought in by “No-Marj-Born,” are deemed very exciting and special. The living room, kitchen, and houses, may seem like it’s filled with clutter and junk, but in reality it’s decades of treasures. Many of these objects are enchanted, and a true thunderbird can always find something they need. 

Steward House (Puckwudgie) 

The Steward dorm is burrowed under the school’s impressively large green house. The easiest entrance to find is a glass door within the greenhouse, which to other students looks like a regular glass pane. However, there are also tunnels, corridors, and even a few fireplaces that lead into “Puckwudgie’s” network of rooms. Every room and window is overgrown with different beautiful plants, flowers and trees. Each room in engorged with “Komorebi” light, and the delightful scents of earth and flowers. The house is the most communal, and the students share one big bed room and bath room. Sometimes, these dorms are gender segregated, but some years not, it depends on the class. There is also the option to have a private bed and bath room which is provided, but many students of this house love long nights talking, practicing spells with each other, brewing potions, and telling stories. When a student first moves in, they know which bed is theirs by the fact that their favorite plant or flower will be growing along the headboard. Sometimes, for those who are not so amused by plants, a (reasonable) favorite animal will be waiting for them. For students who are less interested in the flora and fauna, it’s been known that a favorite candy bar was waiting for them at their bed. One year, a kid with No-Maj parents arrived to a box of Kit-Kats. For some of these special gifts, the students are still not sure if the head of house puts them there, if it’s the castle itself, or maybe the puckwudgie who wants to welcome the new students.