While the Harry Potter series is mainly set at Hogwarts, there are plenty of references to the big wide wizarding world throughout the books. For example, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry learns about other wizarding schools for the first time. We also learn about American wizards and witches in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and visit the French Ministry of Magic in Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald. So, grab a Portkey, and join us for a trip outside the cold castle walls of Hogwarts.
Fleur Delacour - France
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire really opened up what we knew about the wizarding world thanks to the introduction of the Triwizard Tournament. Not only did we cheer on Ireland and Bulgaria for the Quidditch World Cup, but Hogwarts also hosted students from the fellow European schools of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang for the Triwizard Cup.
Enter Fleur Delacour.
As a half-Veela, Fleur caused a stir with the students of Hogwarts - namely Ron Weasley and Roger Davies – who were infatuated with the Beauxbatons student throughout her stay. Although Fleur's school was never visited in the books, she gave us plenty of info about Beauxbatons (which is said to be located ‘somewhere in the Pyrenees') while complaining about Hogwarts in comparison! Still, the diamond statues do sound lovely.
"'Zis is nothing,' she said dismissively, looking around at the sparkling walls of the Great Hall. 'At ze Palace of Beauxbatons, we 'ave ice sculptures all around ze dining chamber at Chreestmas. Zey do not melt, of course . . . zey are like 'uge statues of diamond, glittering around ze place. And ze food is seemply superb. And we 'ave choirs of wood nymphs, ’oo serenade us as we eat."
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Bill's pen friend - Brazil
Do you remember that Bill Weasley has a disgruntled pen friend in the book series? In the books, this pen friend was not impressed when he heard that he and Bill couldn't go on an exchange trip, and as such, sent him a cursed hat that caused his ears to shrivel up. Well, we’ve all had fallouts with our friends before...
We also know of a Brazilian wizarding school called Castelobruxo, which is described as "the Brazilian school for magic, which takes students from all over South America, and may be found hidden deep within the rainforest". No offence to Hogwarts, but a rainforest-based wizarding school sounds very picturesque and probably less terrifying than the Forbidden Forest.
"’Spect they go to some foreign school,'" said Ron. 'I know there are others. Never met anyone who went to one, though. Bill had a penfriend at a school in Brazil . . . this was years and years ago . . . and he wanted to go on an exchange trip but Mum and Dad couldn’t afford it. His penfriend got all offended when he said he wasn’t going and sent him a cursed hat. It made his ears shrivel up.'"
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Viktor Krum - Bulgaria
Viktor hails from Bulgaria, representing the country at the Quidditch World Cup. While the novels don't reveal much about Bulgarian wizarding life, aside from the country's love of Krum himself (with most Bulgarian tents at the World Cup showcasing posters of the Seeker at the campsite), we also briefly meet the Bulgarian minister, Mr Obalonsk, who is excited to meet Harry Potter, reaffirming that our hero is world famous.
The minister also has a wicked sense of humour, and pranks Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge by pretending that he couldn't speak any English throughout the Quidditch World Cup.
"'Vell, ve fought bravely,' said a gloomy voice behind Harry. He looked around; it was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic. 'You can speak English!' said Fudge, sounding outraged. 'And you’ve been letting me mime everything all day!''
'Vell, it vos very funny,' said the Bulgarian minister, shrugging." -
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Viktor attended the somewhat chilly-sounding Durmstrang - a school described as being based in northern Europe, but its exact location is a mystery. According to Draco Malfoy, unlike Hogwarts, the Dark Arts is taught at the school, and Muggle-born students are not invited to attend. Indeed, Durmstrang proved itself to be dangerous after producing one of history's most dangerous dark wizards, Gellert Grindelwald.
"'I think Durmstrang must be somewhere in the far north,' said Hermione thoughtfully. 'Somewhere very cold, because they’ve got fur capes as part of their uniforms.'"
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Rudolph Spielman – Germany
We meet Rudolph Spielman in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, who works for the International Confederation of Wizards. Spielman played a big role in overseeing the transfer of Gellert Grindelwald to Europe and was the only one to survive Grindelwald’s attack after the Dark wizard escaped.
Beyond Spielman, we know a few other things about German wizarding history. In Quidditch Through the Ages, for example, the country originated the ancient broom game Stitchstock, which involved the players protecting a dragon’s bladder on a pole (lovely!) illustrated by a painting entitled ‘Gunther the Violent is the Winner’!
Hassan Mostafa - Egypt
Hassan, the Quidditch referee during the Bulgaria vs Ireland Quidditch World Cup, hails from Egypt. Although little is known about him - except that he has a large moustache, a bald head and is a Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch - we know a little about the magic of Egypt as the Weasley family also went there on holiday!
Since Bill works as a Curse Breaker on tombs that were cursed by ancient Egyptian wizards, they family visited him and saw tombs with skeletons of Muggles who had managed to get inside and, according to one of Ron's letters to Harry, had "grown other heads".
We also know that Egyptian witches and wizards could have attended Uagadou, which accepts students from all over the continent of Africa. According to this piece of writing on the school, the students there are particularly proficient at Astronomy, Alchemy and Self-Transfiguration.
Tina and Queenie Goldstein - USA
And of course, we were introduced to North American wizarding life in the 1920s thanks to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. While Newt hailed from England, he went across the pond to meet many American wizards, including the Goldstein sisters, Tina and Queenie, in New York.
As well as magical folk attending Ilvermorny, which, according to Queenie, is "only the best wizarding school in the whole world", the new films also reveal that the American wizarding community in the 1920s had "rather backwards laws about relations with non-Magic people", and were not allowed to wed non-magical folk. We experienced the difficulties of this law through Queenie’s character when she fell for the No-Maj, Jacob Kowalski. You can brush up on your history and read more about Rappaport's Law here.
