20 Ways American ‘Harry Potter’ Would Be a Totally Different Story

When you think about it, there’s nothing inherently British about witchcraft and wizardry. If anything, you’d think the empire’s rebellious stepchildren would be more open to such things, rather famous witch trials notwithstanding.

Yet the wizarding world of Harry Potter is so British, it colonized this sentence as we were typing it. Sure, the Fantastic Beasts series introduced the concept of American magic schools, but there’s a reason we’ve largely stayed out of them. America doesn’t really do boarding school, nor train travel, nor Ye Olde Shoppes of any kind. American Harry Potter would just be really, really different.

That’s why one Reddit user asked r/AskReddit, “If Harry Potter was set in the United States, how would the story change?”