“It’s… it depends. When I was a kid they took our wands away for the summer while we were enrolled at Ilvermorny,” Carlos explained. “But of course there are always kids who use magic by accident or study wandless magic out of spite. I… was closer to the former, really. In my experience though, it’s almost always been in front of my family. Though I think I told you about when I accidentally enlarged my friend’s rock collection…. he was a no-maj and some aurors came to, um… clean that up. But I didn’t get in trouble – I was only twelve or so.”
“They took your wands away?” He sounded almost horrified by that, he couldn’t imagine having his wand taken–– well, he could, but not by Hogwarts or the Ministry, the only person who’d ever taken his wand did so for much more sinister reasons. “Around here, you get to keep your wand during breaks with the condition ya don’t go performing magic in front of muggles, only exception is if your life is in danger. Using magic in self-defense while underage is justifiable and sometimes it’s entirely necessary, y’know?”
Carlos nodded. “Yeah, of course,” he agreed. “It’s just that we had a big scare with the Salem Witch Trials back since even before the United States became a thing, and then there was another scare in the 1910s or so… so MACUSA tried to get a handle on everything and keep children from performing magic when they were too young. I guess… we have enough issues with accidents. Then again, the US is a big country so… maybe the government is a bit stricter because there’s more wizards to deal with?”
The Perfect Scientist 