Salem Witches' Institute
Addison Pearman's Adventures (Which Are Nothing Like Sabrina the Teenage Witch)
Authors note: I decided today (quite out of the blue) that I wanted to re-read the fourth Harry Potter book. After about 80 or so pages, I came across the very fleeting single reference to The Salem Witches' Institute. At that point, I decided that this school would make a great basis for a fanfiction… so here it is. Also, I decided that 'muggle' was a very British term and wanted an Americanized version for my Americanized story, so I decided that 'Casual' (used as a proper noun) would suffice.
I have heard that, in other countries, a young witch or wizard is shipped off to magic school at a young age to cultivate their talent. After seven years of schooling, they are ready and able to enter society as a full-fledged magical adult. Because the student is surrounded by a safe environment in which to learn, he or she is free to explore their personality and grow into a successful member of society. I even hear that they prescribe to that philosophy in California, and that some students are even shipped off to France or England to be raised this way.
In the rest of America, we wait. Because wizards in America prefer to hide in plain sight among the Casuals, children with magical blood are assigned a magical mentor and are enrolled into the Casual school system. A mentor guides the students' magical talent, much as a coach would guide and train an athlete, and can even act as a parole officer at times. Their job is not to suppress magical abilities, but teach their student to hide and disguise their magic so that they can maintain magical secrecy in a non-magical society.
After high school, we have a choice. We can either choose to blend in with Casual society and continue on with our higher education, choose a Casual job and live out the rest of our lives much as any Casual would; or we can be shipped off to one of the handful of Magical Universities in America. My choice was made for me.
My mother was an alumni of Salem Witches' Institute, a sister of the magical sorority Zeta Alpha Zeta (nicknamed the Z A Z's), and a firm believer that a woman should celebrate her magical origins. If she had been able to come up with the money, I would have been an exchange student at Beauxbatons. As it stands, after attending high school I was enrolled in Salem Witches' Institute and I found myself in the most unlikely of situations.