FOUNDING
The Quabbin Academy of Sorcery, or QAS, was founded in 1695 as a response to prolonged
persecution of witches and warlocks during the years 1692 and 1693 in Salem,
Massachusetts. The attacks began after a small breach of the Statute of Secrecy triggered a
general scare. Eventually, the Statute of Secrecy was restored and the appropriate people
Obliviated. Unfortunately, many innocent members of the Wizarding community lost their
lives as they withheld using their power to save themselves from the Muggle persecutors.
Although each of them could have used magic to protect themselves from the various means
of interrogation and torture, doing so would have ruptured the Statute of Secrecy further and
all of them knew that any further breakdown of the Statute could have dire consequences for
both Muggles and wizards.
Our founder, Josiah Hampton, realized that the only way the wizards would be able to keep
their community going would be to have everyone Apparate out of the Salem into a new
community further west, far beyond the reach of the Puritan authorities. They eventually
called their new community Dana, after Professor Hampton's late wife.
Free from the Puritans, the Wizarding community flourished and developed large populations
in three adjacent Swift River Valley towns: Enfield, Prescott, and Greenwich. The centerpiece
of the community was the Academy, in Dana proper. At the Academy, young men and
women from all over New England would be able to study wizardry without any interference
from the Muggle authorities.
As time went by, the population of the area increased. Although the wizards had taken
extensive precautions to make sure that a repeat of the Salem Witch hysteria could no longer
happen, the increasing numbers of Muggles gave them cause for concern. Eventually, in
1930, Horace Hopwell, a closet wizard who had been living in Boston for a time,
recommended that the Swift River Valley be dammed to create a reservoir which would
provide drinking water for the Boston area.
The plan was enacted, and the Quabbin Reservoir was born. Muggles watched as the four
Wizarding towns were flooded and erased from the map. Meanwhile, Wizard Hopwell was
doctoring the records of the towns to ensure that no references to the wizards survived: for
instance, the date of the founding of Dana was switched to 1801. What the Muggles didn't
realize, however, was that the wizards were able to return to the towns once the reservoir hadfilled. The Dana wizards had perfected the Repellaqua spell, a powerful incantation which
would surround a large area with a waterproof dome.
Protected by Muggle eyes by the impassable shield of water, the wizards resumed their secret
lives. In 1946, QAS was honored to be selected as a founding member of the American
Sorcerer Academic League, or ASAL. The ASAL comprised a federation of regional
Wizarding schools spread throughout the country. The annual Quidditch tournament between
the eight schools is one of the highlights of the school year. QAS has jurisdiction over the six
New England states as well as part of upstate New York.
The total enrollment at the Academy, as of the 1995-1996 school year, was 826, spread more
or less evenly across all seven grades.
ACADEMIC STRUCTURE
Wizards who are accepted to QAS enter the Academy at sixth grade, at the beginning of
junior high. They spent Grades 1-5 with Muggles, learning the basics of reading, writing, and
arithmetic.
The Academy has two campuses, one for men and one for women. The men meet in Dana
and the women in Enfield. Both campus use state of the art magic and are designed to help
the students learn as well as they can.
The curriculum follows the standardized class schedule popularized by Albus Dumbledore at
the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England. Any prospective parent will be
reassured that his or her child will get the appropriate Defense against the Dark Arts, History
of Magic, Divination, and other standard lessons. There is also a special program for gifted
students.
SOCIAL LIFE
The school is divided into four houses: Dana, Prescott, Greenwich, and Enfield. In days gone
by, they corresponded more or less to which city the candidate had grown up in. Nowadays,
however, people all over New England get distributed throughout the houses. The old rule
still applies -- for instance, everyone from Prescott is assigned to Prescott House -- but the
Four Towns only provide 21% of the class of '96.
The Academy hosts several academic and recreational competitions. The four houses
compete in Quiddich, Quodpot and spellcraft on a regular basis. The Academy's women's
Quodpot team, the Mermaids, have won the ASAL championship three of the past five years,
and we are expecting that trend to continue under our new coach.
FINANCIAL AID
We at the Academy understand that a good education does not come cheaply. As a result, we
have a financial aid package for those wizards who find admission too expensive. Please
contact the headmaster for more information.
Thank you for your attention
To be continued...