J.K. Rowling reveals the history of Native American magic

History of Magic may have been the most boring class at Hogwarts, but in the Muggle world, J.K. Rowling makes it all worthwhile. 

In a new Pottermore series about the history of magic in North America, Rowling explained how magic functioned in Native American communities before the Europeans reached America.

Unlike their Muggle/No-Maj counterparts, people in the magical world always knew about other continents and communities. On the American continent, she wrote, magical persons were often praised as healers and hunters, but sometimes feared in case they were "possessed by malevolent spirits."

Native American wizards and witches, Rowling explained, are gifted at plant and animal magic, and often practiced without a wand (a European invention). Though Charms and Transfiguration can be harder without a wand, these communities were skilled at other types of magic:

The legend of the Native American ‘skin walker’ – an evil witch or wizard that can transform into an animal at will – has its basis in fact. A legend grew up around the Native American Animagi, that they had sacrificed close family members to gain their powers of transformation. In fact, the majority of Animagi assumed animal forms to escape persecution or to hunt for the tribe. Such derogatory rumours often originated with No-Maj medicine men, who were sometimes faking magical powers themselves, and fearful of exposure.

The next installment of Rowling's North American magical history will release on March 9.

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