Spellbound: Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, 68, has opened the world’s only registered wizard academy, the Grey School of Wizardry in California(dailymail.co.uk)
He is the real-life wizard headmaster giving Harry Potter’s Dumbledore a run for his money.
Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, 68, has dedicated his life to studying the Dark Arts - even doing the shopping in his wizard costume and wand.
Now the magic master has opened the world’s only registered wizard academy, the Grey School of Wizardry, as he prepares to make Hogwarts and the world of Harry Potter a reality.
'If you've ever read Harry Potter and wondered if wizards really do walk among us, perhaps behind a secret train platform, or in secret communities, I can tell you that we are absolutely real,' says Oberon, from Cotati, California.
Today, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart’s Grey School of Wizardry is the first wizard school to be officially recognized as an academic establishment.
Like Hogwarts, the Grey School teaches 16 departments, including Alchemy, Beastmastery, Horse-whispering, wand-making and spell casting.
Pupils who attend unique ‘conclave’ magic schools are split into four ancient houses - Winds, Undines, Gnomes and Salamanders, and like Potter, students study a defence against the deadly Dark Arts.
'In the magic community I’m referred to as the real Dumbledore,' admits Oberon. 'But before Harry Potter, people just called me Merlin, or Gandalf.'
The former teacher and counselor was teaching spells to aspiring wizards long before JK Rowling even dreamed up Harry Potter.
Oberon rose to fame in the early 1980s as an eccentric who claimed to have created the world’s first unicorn. Unbelievably, the self-proclaimed 'master of wizardry' created a single-horned creature, using minor surgery on a goat, that made front page news in America.
The creature later toured America with a famous circus. 'It’s every wizard’s dream to have a unicorn, and we achieved that,' says Oberon, who lives with his wife, Morning Glory, 63, a witch. In 1985, he organized a diving expedition in Australia and New Guinea to investigate the age-old mystery of the mermaid.
The Grey School boasts 735 students, of which Oberon claims 100 are under-18 ‘trainee Harry Potters.’ For now, it is an online college with regular physical wizard camps, where muggles can study seven years to graduate with a journeyman degree in Wizardry.
For more Bilingual News, please log on to our website at language.chinadaily.com.cn. For now, this has been ...
他是现实版的“魔法学校校长”，让“哈利•波特”中的邓布利多校长也感到了竞争。
现年68岁的奥伯伦•泽尔•瑞文哈特将一生的精力都用于研究黑魔法，甚至去超市购物时也穿着魔法袍带着魔杖。
如今，这位魔法大师开办了全球唯一一个注册魔法学校——格瑞魔法学校，要把霍格沃兹魔法学校和哈利•波特的世界变成现实。
来自美国加州科塔蒂的奥伯伦说：“如果你曾经看过《哈利•波特》，想知道我们中间是不是真有魔法师，他可能正躲在一个隐秘的火车站台后面，或者在某个秘密社区里，那我可以告诉你，我们魔法师真的存在。”
奥伯伦•泽尔•瑞文哈特开办的格瑞魔法学校被认定为学术机构，成为首个被正式认可的魔法学校。
与霍格沃兹一样，格瑞魔法学校分为16个系，教授炼金术、驭兽术、马语、魔杖制作和咒语施法等。
在独特的“秘密”学院里，学生被分为风、水、土、火“四大家族”。与哈利•波特一样，大家都要学习对抗致命的“黑魔法”。
奥伯伦说：“在魔法界，人们称我为真实的邓布利多。但在哈利•波特问世之前，人们叫我梅林或甘道夫。”（译者注：二人分别是《亚瑟王传奇》和《魔戒》中的法师）。
早在J•K•罗琳构思创作《哈利•波特》系列之前，奥伯伦就开始向有志成为魔法师的人们教授咒语了。奥伯伦曾担任教师和顾问。
在20世纪80年代初，奥伯伦宣称自己创造出世界上第一头独角兽，从而一夜成名。但自称“魔法大师”的奥伯伦只是给一只山羊做了个小手术，让它变成了一只独角羊，这在当时引发美国媒体轰动。
随后，一家著名马戏团带这只“独角兽”在美国进行巡演。奥伯伦说：“每个魔法师都梦想能有只独角兽，我们实现了。”奥伯伦目前和63岁的妻子、女魔法师“牵牛花”一起生活。在1985年，他还在澳大利亚和新几内亚组织了一场跳水探险活动，追溯美人鱼的古老传说。
格瑞魔法学校宣称有735名学生。奥伯伦称其中100名学生的年龄不满18岁，他们就是“哈利•波特新手”。目前，该校是一所网络学院，定期开办魔法实地训练营。“麻瓜”要学习7年才能拿到熟练魔法师的毕业证。
a run for one's money: 激烈的竞争
Hogwarts: “哈利·波特”系列中的霍格沃兹魔法学校
ancient house: 世家，望族，这里指派系
unicorn: an imaginary creature usually depicted as a white horse with one long spiralled horn growing from its forehead（独角兽）
muggle: a person without magical powers（麻瓜，即《哈利•波特》中不具备魔法能力的凡人）
journeyman: any experienced, competent but routine worker or performer（熟练工，熟手）