Ilvermorny School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry

Orientation Week at Ilvermorny

The week of Labor Day holds great significance in the American wizarding world calendar. It is the week when the Ilvermorny students return for a new term, and catch the Mayflower II (or the Ilvermorny Express) to reach the castle. The first-year students get the opportunity to explore the castle and the surrounding area for the first time. The new student's letter is delivered via Raven or Messenger Hawk. In the case of No-Maj Born students, Professor Emaline Goode personally hand-delivers the letter while also explaining everything to the student and their families. Upon arriving in Adams, Massachusetts, the entire town comes out to welcome the train and all the students.

The first week of school is known as Orientation Week or O-Week, and it's an eventful time for all students. Although anyone can attend, it's particularly aimed at first-year students to help them become familiar with the school grounds and faculty. No-Maj-born students are treated specially, with the school purchasing their supplies and uniforms directly since they are unlikely to have wizarding currency. However, the school also accepts No-Maj currency. During O-Week, first-year students are given no homework, and they won't face punishment for being late to class. Parents are also welcome to attend student orientation with their children, and no-maj parents are especially encouraged to do so. There is a guest wing of the castle that offers overnight boarding for anyone in need.

After the sorting ceremony, which takes place at the beginning of every school year, the headmaster of the school, Agilbert Fontaine, delivers a speech to the first-year and returning students. The school choir also performs the school's anthem before the headmaster's speech. The Opening Feast is a highly anticipated event that varies from year to year and is one of the biggest events of the school year. At midnight, the entire school gathers outside at the Thirteenth Tower, which is located on the edge of the notorious Black Forest, known for its ghostly inhabitants. Here, the students enjoy a massive campfire, make s'mores, play music, and tell ghost stories.

After the formal ceremonies, many houses host welcome parties and initiations for first-year students to become official members of the house. However, upperclassmen often subject the first-years to dangerous tasks equivalent to 'hazing' to prove their commitment and loyalty to the house. It's important to note that these tasks are approved by all four Heads of House and the Headmaster, and the severity of the tasks varies depending on the house.

Pukwudgie first-year students are handed a dead fly and locked in a dark chamber with Devil's Snare climbing up the walls, entangling anyone who touched it, binding their limbs and legs, and eventually suffocating them. The only way to break free was to relax one's mind or cast a fire or light-based spell that effectively drove it away from its victims. The goal was to make your way through the Devil's Snare to the end of the room, where you'd find a big magical Venus fly trap surrounded by flitterbloom. The student must simply place the dead fly into the Venus fly trap's mouth without becoming trapped in its clutches to accomplish the task. Mandrakes were used to scream while the student attempted to finish the task, but that function was eliminated decades ago.

Thunderbird first-year students are thrown into a week-long scavenger hunt when they must find seven different objects—these objects being unique for each student—and can vary from household items and school supplies like a spoon or pencils or more rare and hard-to-find items like an old book or even lost treasure hidden somewhere in the school by a team hand-selected by the head of Thunderbird House. There is rarely a student who manages to find all seven items assigned to them. This is the easiest of the initiation ceremonies.

It is said that the Wampus first-year students are put through the most dangerous initiation ceremony out of all four houses. The Wampus common room is turned into a small fighting ring where first-year students must work together in pairs to fight seven enchanted wooden knights, all without a wand. To beat and immobilize the wooden knights they must remove the knight's red feather from its helmet. The knights wield wooden swords that are used to throw blows at the students as they try to advance them. Though many students managed to complete the task without assistance from their upperclassmen, most were left badly bruised the next morning with some even ending up in the hospital wing. 

Horned Serpent first-year students are given a rather simple task. They are placed into a room within the castle that houses a sphinx who gives the first year a riddle to solve, once the first year solves the riddle they are given a golden coin by the sphinx to use as proof that they have solved the riddle. Students are given seven days and seven tries to think and answer the riddle. The task is mostly harmless unless the student tries to trick or cheat the sphinx which turns the sphinx violent.