Sorting Ceremony (Ilvermorny)

The Sorting Ceremony is an annual event that takes place at the start of each school year at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The ceremony is held to sort every first year into one of the four school houses: Horned Serpent, Thunderbird, Wampus and Pukwudgie.

Ceremony
The ceremony is held in a circular room found behind the front doors of the school. The new students stand by the walls of the room, and wait to be asked to step forward onto the Gordian Knot engraved into the middle of the marble floor. The older students watch in silence from the balcony on the next level, which goes around the circle. The school then waits for one of the four wooden cravings, symbols of each creature the house represents, to react.

When the Horned Serpent wants a student, the gem set into it's forehead will glow, while Thunderbird shows approval by flapping it's wings. The Wampus will roar, while the Pukwudgie rises it's arrow into the air.

In very rare cases, which will most likely happen once every decade, more than one wooden carving will react. The student then gets to pick which house they want from the ones which react. Seraphina Picquery was one such student. She opted for Horned Serpent. When every new student is allocated a house, they are led to a large hall where they have to retrieve a wand.