One of the most cringe-worthy scenes in the entire Harry Potter film franchise happens in the The Goblet of Fire, when the students of Hogwarts follow the amazing entrances of their peers from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons with an off-key rendition of their saccharine school song.

But it turns out that underwhelming Hogwarts ditty isn’t unique, because apparently they are a feature of English-speaking wizarding schools everywhere, as a new and telling deleted scene from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them shows.

The scene features Tina and Queenie Goldstein performing an impromptu rendition of their alma mater’s school song, that of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the famed American institution of magical education hidden atop Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. In the movie, it was briefly mentioned in an abbreviated version of this scene, which ended before the sisters begin singing.

The duet takes place after Queenie reads Newt Scamander’s thoughts and she tells him to let go of Leta Lestrange. The Ilvermorny song starts off okay, it’s sweet and folksy like many traditional American school songs (though when you’re a witch you get a magical, invisible ukulele to play along with you), even a little catchy, but then it…well, you’ll see.

Oh, Ilvermorny, Massachusetts
We choo-choose-it
We choo-choose-it

No wonder Tina rolls her eyes when she starts singing.

Forget about how awkward that section sounds, there’s something about those lyrics that makes them so goofy to us. But, we just can’t put our finger on why…

There it is. But just because this seemingly unimportant scene didn’t make it into the movie that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it, especially regarding the Fantastic Beasts sequels.

In the buildup to the film, J.K. Rowling released a series of histories about magic in the United States, from Native American wizards, through the Salem Witch Trials, to the self-imposed separation of the magical community from their No-Maj counterparts (which ended up being very relevant to the movie), and the background of some famous American wandmakers.

But few of those got as in-depth an exploration as Rowling’s history of Ilvermorny. If you want to know more about it, we broke down the school’s past when it came out, including its founder, her family, and its four different houses (a setup inspired by Hogwarts), named after some of the magical creatures we met in Fantastic Beasts. The attention given to Ilvermorny’s place in the American magical community made it feel like the school would play a big role in the film.

Obviously that didn’t happen. This time. But the deleted scene makes us more sure than ever that we’re going to see Ilvermorny in at least one of the sequels, and that it will play an important part in the ongoing saga of Grindelwald’s reign of terror. We’ve already speculated this is the real story being told in the prequels.

The lyrics of the song (as we can best decipher them) indicate that Rowling planned on informing moviegoers (that hadn’t read about Ilvermorny) of its history, especially its founder, Isolt Sayre (whose father called her Morrigan). Why do that unless there would be an eventual payoff to all of this focus on Ilvermorny?

Caw-caw, caw-caw
:purring (cooing?):

We stand as one
United against the Puritan
We draw our inspiration
From good witch Morrigan

For she was persecuted
By common wandless men
So she fled from distant Ireland
And so our school began

Oh, Ilvermorny, Massachusetts
We choo-choose-it
We choo-choose-it
The wizard school supreme

Your castle walls they kept us safe
Our days with you a dream
You taught us all our magic
And now one things quite clear

Where ere we roam
(Where ere we roam)
Our one true home
(Our one and own)
Is Ilvermorny dear

The song and its sentiments are sweet, and only hints at the horrors Isolt faced in her life, before she, her No-Maj husband, and their two adopted sons were finally able to run their school in peace and safety.

We’re not even positive that Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander will be the lead character in all four (yes, four) sequels, meaning someone with important, personal ties to Ilvermorny (even Tina or Goldie) could be the focus of a future film, leading us to the top of Mount Greylock. But no matter how we get there, we’re convinced we’re going to see Ilvermorny in all its glory. And this deleted scene just makes us more sure Rowling will choo-choose it as a future setting.

And when we do go there, we hope we make a grand, memorable entrance, even if we’re greeted in return with something like this.

But what do you make of this deleted scene? Is this proof that the Fantastic Beasts sequels will be going to school in America, or was this just some magical, musical world building? Make our comments section sing with your thoughts.

Fantastic Beasts Images: Warner Bros. Studios; Simpsons Image: Fox