New Pottermore Stuff

[Jorlem]

Sorry about the double post, but a new article went up on Pottermore today, on the upcoming Fantastic Beasts movie. It reveals a bunch of interesting stuff about both the movie, and American Wizardry. Here are the highlights:

The US term for Muggle is ‘No-Maj’
Non-magical people in North America are called ‘No-Maj’ (pronounced no-madge).

The American Ministry of Magic is called MACUSA
This stands for the Magical Congress of the United States of America. It’s based in the Woolworth Building, Manhattan, and even has its own seal of office.

American witches and wizards live in secret
Thanks in no small part to events like the Salem witch trials, the North American wizarding community lives strictly off the No-Maj radar.

By Newt’s time, most No-Majs don’t believe in witches and wizards, save for a fanatical organisation called the Second Salemers. They are led by Mary Lou (Samantha Morton) and want to expose and destroy witchcraft in the US. Mary Lou’s son Credence (Ezra Miller) is a troubled figure.

Newt owns an enchanted suitcase
How does a Magizoologist work on the go? He takes his work with him, of course. Newt Scamander’s suitcase is enchanted so that it’s bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside. To avoid embarrassment at US Customs, Newt can flip a switch on his case to hide its contents from No-Maj eyes.

The beasts escape
Newt falls foul of the American wizarding authorities when the beasts in his enchanted suitcase get out, which puts him in the path of Graves…

You’re a wizard, Colin
Colin Farrell plays a powerful MACUSA Auror named Graves, right-hand man of the US wizarding community’s leader.

There is a scene in a Harlem speakeasy
A scene in Fantastic Beasts is set in a Harlem speakeasy. The film’s 1926 setting is slap-bang in the middle of Prohibition in America, when buying, selling and bootlegging alcohol was illegal. That didn’t stop there being literally thousands of speakeasy clubs in New York City alone. But is this establishment for witches and wizards, or No-Majs?

(and on the new Pottermore site, nothing is blocked behind an account wall, so I can actually link the source!)
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.