Ancient Runes ( Gryffindors & Slytherins )

[Professor Juliette Vector]

(( This class is only for those who signed up to take it. Also this is a classroom not a social hall, this is not the place to have a running conversation with someone. The Ancient Runes page will be important, I suggest you go look at it before class begins, it's in the Class section.))

Juliette Vector's classroom was on the 2nd floor near a stairwell to the Great Hall. Though it was quite a busy walkway, enough charms had been placed on the door and walls to dampen the sound. This was a necessity for such a subject as Ancient Runes which required great concentration. Ancient Runes was the ancient art of magic that was used before wands. The entire classroom was carpeted with a soft white carpet that was spotless and always soft as a feather. The center of the room had twenty oak student tables with two cushioned swivel chairs at each table. The wall opposite of the door was lined with cabinets that were all locked. Within were scores of runes, which would soon be in use. The back wall contained two large windows that let ample amounts of sunlight in the area, also by the windows sat four pale blue couches. Under the windows sat a small cabinet that contained a couple wizard chess boards, as well as about a dozen other games. To Juliette, a good classroom was one that students enjoyed coming to, she did her best to make sure that her class was comfortable enough for students to do their best work, though foolishness was quickly dealt with and the offender soon found that they no longer had any privileges in the class. When not teaching a class, Juliette would allow any student who so desired to come to her room to study, relax or simply talk and hang out. Today was no exception as a pair of Hufflepuffs had set up shop on the couches and were busily engulfed in a game of wizard's chess.

As Juliette sat at her desk in the front of the room she went over the roster of students she would be seeing very soon. Gryffindors and Slytherins together was never a good sign. Flipping through her lesson for today, it would be a fairly easy one. It would also be a good chance to weed out those who simply didn't have the patience or ability to handle the concentration required to use runes. Glancing at her watch, there was just a few minutes until the class would begin. "Mister Patterson, Miss Jennings, Runes is about to start, you may return later if you wish." The pair of Hufflepuffs then got up and waved goodbye before leaving the classroom. Now in silence, Juliette awaited the arrival of the students to begin the new term.

[dawn]

Dawn walked down from the Owlery after sending a owl to her sister. Looking at the clock over the banaster into the main hallway it read 10:40. 'twenty minutes till Ancient Runes.. what to do.." she thought as she slowly paced down the stairs to the second floor.
Turning to her ancient runes classroom she decided, why not show up early. What harm could it do.

Turning the door knob she walked in. A comfortable class room shoed on the other side of the door. Sofa's and cushioned chairs. Also a wizards chess table. Turning to the professor she Grinned as she said, "Hello. Sorry Im so early, nothing better to do." she said as she went to the wizarding chess table. Looking over it, she grined as she remembered how she used to play it with her brother. Now she hardly sees her brother. Oh well, people change. Thats what she always thought. Turning to the clock Dawn read she still had much free time. Standing up she went over to a desk and put her head in her arms as she started to fall asleep before class begain.

[Professor Juliette Vector]

Juliette's head turned as she saw Miss McGrogan enter the classroom fully 20 minutes ahead of schedule. She still had yet to finish the last minute preparations for class. Watching the girl she walked about the room then went to a desk. "Miss McGrogan, perhaps you could help me with some last minute details for today's lesson." She said as she stood up and grabbed a large bag of candy from Honey Dukes. Walking over to the far table where 20 boxes sat. "Would you be so kind as to put one candy in each box, then close the lid?" She asked as she set the bag of candy down on the table.

[dawn]

Dawn slowly raised her head as Professor Vector talked to her about putting one cany per box. Cracking her neck Dawn stood up. "Sure, doesnt seem that hard." she said as she walked towards the professor grabbed the bag and made he way to the bakc of the rooma nd started on her assignment of putting one campy per box. Dawn snuck a few candies in her pocket, but then again there were way more candies in the bag then boxes.. no big. Plus Professor never said not to take any for herself.

[Pansy Parkinson S7]

Pansy woke up and tossed on her bed. A dull light shone from the fireplace in their dorm room providing enough light to make out objects around her. Sitting up she stretched, yawned then decided to go back to sleep for a while longer. Laying back down her back ended up landing on a teddy bear. Cursing at the bear, Pansy grabbed it and threw it at her bedside curtains. As the bear flew past the curtains and onto the floor, she could clearly see that Dawn’s bed was empty. Again rolling over she looked at her clock for the time. It was indeed later than she had first imagined, she was supposed to have been in Charms class nearly an hour ago. Slowly she got out of bed and changed into her school robes and fixed her hair. When at last she was ready and left the common room, it figured to be about the same time as Charms class was letting out. Oh well, whatever Pansy thought to herself as she walked up the stairs to the Great Hall. The hall itself was fairly empty as apparently students were in class. Taking a seat at the Slytherin table she grabbed some breakfast and looked at her schedule of classes for the day. She could still make it to Ancient Runes so the day wasn’t a total loss.

After her breakfast was finished, Pansy climbed the stairs to the 2nd floor and found the Ancient Runes classroom. She was a good 10 minutes early but decided to go in anyway, no point walking around like a 1st year. Upon entering she found Dawn busy doing something at the far table. A quick glance about the room showed Pansy where Dawn had set herself up and she too walked over to that table and sat down, crossed her arms across her chest and waited.

[Professor Juliette Vector]

Juliette looked over her lesson for the day while Dawn busied herself by placing the candy in the boxes. Looking up towards the door she saw Pansy Parkinson enter the class and take a seat next to where Dawn was sitting. Returning her attention to Dawn, she saw the girl quickly stuff a couple candies into her pocket before setting the bag down and returning to her desk. "Thank you Miss McGrogan, oh and by the way, the next time you're hungry, just ask for some candy."

Juliette greeted each student as they entered. When most had arrived she began class. "Welcome to Ancient Runes, you will not need your wands here so you may put them away. In this class we will be working with magic the same manner in which the ancient Britanians used it. Runes were used as an early form of writing, soon they began to be infused with magical powers and their appearance never drew a second glance from muggles. To use runes a great deal of concentration is needed, if you are sitting with someone who will pose a distraction to you, I strongly suggest you move seats. Now then, you will each proceed to the cabinets and take a bag of runes."

When all students had returned with their runes Juliette emptied her own bag of runes onto her desk. Picking up her wand she levitated 9 runes. The runes then swelled in size until they were as large as a book. She then waved her wand again and the runes flew towards the chalkboard and stuck. "Today we be using these nine runes and will be practicing some basic runic magic. Please take out these runes, then place the rest of your runes back in your bag and place the bags under the table, you will be needing your whole desk today." Again waving her wand at the board, writing appeared under each rune naming them."

*UUS, HUR, POR, IN, LOR, EX, YLEM, AN, KAL*

[Alaizabel]

Alaizabel walked into the Runes class, her bag hanging off her right shoulder, and her left hand continously stroking the left side of her hair. She had noticed that already two Slytherin girls, Dawn and Pansy, who had already situated themselves at tables. She sighed, "Why the heck am I taking this class anyway?" She thought to herself as she took her seat, and laid her bag upon the table. She looked up when Professor Vector began to speak, and followed the directions that she had just given out. She looked down the the run blocks that lay in front of her, and then up at the words written on the board. Alaizabel was no doubt confused, however, willing to give this Runes lesson a try.

[Nasser Salah G6]

Nasser looked at the piece of paper McGonagall had given them the day before with their schedules for there new year. He winced slightly when he discovered that his first class of the year was with the Slytherins. At least it was Ancient Runes. Professor Vector was one of the teachers Nasser liked. She was stricter than some teachers but knew her subject well and explained it well to her students. Nasser was better at Ancient Runes than Arithmancy, for numbers weren't his favourite thing in the world, but being a hard-working student he usually managed to score good marks on both Runes and Arithmancy, though he had to put a lot more effort into learning the latter. Nasser walked into the class just a minute before it started, greeted the Professor with a smile and a "Good morning", and then took a seat in the second row beside a fellow Gryffindor.

Not one to waste a minute of her lessons Professor Vector waved her wand on the board and the names of 9 runes appeared in the board. Nasser emptied his bag onto the desk, found the nine runes required and out the rest away into his bag. He placed the bag under his desk, moved a few inches away from the person sitting beside him, and looked at the rather dull-looking stones in front of him. It was surprising how such innocent-looking stones had such magical powers. Nasser tried to remember some of the magical powers while he waited for further instructions from Professor Vector.

[Professor Juliette Vector]

Once all students had their runes ready, Juliette waved her wand and summoned dozens of small locked wooden chests from the far table. Each chest then floated and landed on the front table. "Our first spell we will try is a summoning charm, it acts in the same manner as the "Accio" charm. To cast the charm you will need the runes KAL, and YLEM. Arrange them as such on your desk" She then waved her wand and the large *KAL* Rune on the blackboard slide down, next *YLEM* slide over and rested parallel to it, forming a sideways *T* "The KAL rune is infuse with the magical property of summoning, while YLEM effects objects. To cast this charm first arrange your two runes in a *T* as you see on the board. Next you need to focus on a chest you wish to summon, while concentrated on the chest chant the runes slowly "Kal-Yeem" Ylem is pronounced as "Yeem" so make sure you pronounce it correctly. As with wand magic, it will take you some time to get the feel for runic magic. Now if there are no questions you may begin attempting to summon your chest."

(( Hermione Granger isn't in this class, therefore I don't expect to see anyone get this charm mastered on the first try! ))

[Pansy Parkinson S7]

Pansy rolled her eyes, she wasn't into this whole thing about playing with old rocks, regardless of the fact they had magic in them. She had a wand, and that's all she needed, stupid stones were for stupid stone people, cave people, Neanderthals and what not. Slamming down KAL and YLEM on her desk she looked at the table and picked out a green box. "kal yeem" she said in a disgusted manner which caused the green box to flip over backwards and fall off the back of the table. Cursing softly so that only Dawn could hear, Pansy set her sights on a purple box. "kal yeem!" She said as the frustration began to build to up in her. The purple box simply lifted off the table then fell to the floor. Slamming down both runes against the table in frustration Pansy crossed her arms and glared at the stupid boxes in front of the stupid room. As her anger began to rise she felt her head start to throb, glaring at the stupid runes in front of she grabbed them both and again looked at the purple box. "KAL YEEM!" She shouted and the box rose 5 feet and flew at Pansy at high speed. With only seconds to react, Pansy ducked down as the box narrowly missed hitting her. Instead it smacked off the wall next to her and landed on the floor. Reaching down she picked it up and threw it down onto her table, her eyes them looked at the clock to find out how much longer she had to stay in this class.

[Professor Juliette Vector]

Juliette watched as most students managed to perform the runic magic, some were still summoning their boxes but the majority were prepared for the next step. “As I see most of you have gotten your boxes, the next spell you will be to unlock your boxes. You will need two runes for this, EX, and YLEM.” YLEM again works on an object, EX will free something, so in this spell you will be freeing the lock, or unlocking it.” Waving her wand, Juliette moved the two runes on the blackboard into a new formation. “To cast the unlocking spell you will need to arrange your runes in the form of a straight line, EX should be top, and YLEM should be below. Again you must focus on your lock while chanting Ex-Yeem, it may take several tries depending on the complexity of the lock that is on your box. Once your box is open you may enjoy your treat that waits inside your boxes. Now then if there are no questions you may begin.” She then watched the students begin to work on unlocking their boxes for inside each box was a Honey Dukes’ chocolate bar.

[Pansy Parkinson S7]

Grabbing her two runes, Pansy slammed them down on the table and looked at her box. "EX-YEEM" she said in total disgust. The box simply sat there and did nothing. "Ex-yeem!" She repeat and still the box did nothing! Looking around the room she saw the professor busy with another student, picking up her box Pansy threw it down onto the carpet and kicked it against the wall. "Stupid box" she hissed at it before picking it pack up and slamming it down on her table once more. "Ex-yeem!" Pansy said as she glared at the box, which luckily for the box clicked up and open. Pulling the lid off and found a chocolate bar, hardly worth her time. Taking the bar she threw it over to Dawn and slammed her lid shut once more.

[Professor Juliette Vector]

Juliette walked about the classroom observing the students and their progress. It appeared that most had by now managed to get their boxes open. Walking over to Miss Parkinson's desk she saw the girl was in a rather disgruntled mood already, though Juliette wasn't entirely shocked by that. "Good work Miss Parkinson, 5 points for you." She then looked at the clock, there wasn't much time left in class so they'd have to wrap things up for the day. Turning to the class she addressed them. "Now that you have your boxes unlocked, the last two spells we will do today will be reversal spells. You will now lock your boxes, then send them back to the front table. First to lock them, you will again need *EX* and *YLEM* which you used to unlock them, however since you are locking, you will also need *AN* The rune *AN* has a negating power, so when you line *AN* *EX* and *YLEM* up in a straight line, and cast AN-EX-YEEM your box will eventually lock itself. Once that is completed you will send your box back to the front, earlier you summoned your boxes using *KAL* and *YLEM* To send them back you will also add *AN* You will once more make the *T* shape, with *AN* and *KAL* forming the base of the T, and *YLEM* making the top. You may now begin. Once you've finished, you may leave, your homework is on the board."

(( Homework: Look at the list of Runes in the class page. You need to try and put runes together to make spells. For homework you need to try at least 3 new spells and also write what you believe the spell will do. Please IM your homework to me, all homework must be in by 5pm Pacific time, September 13th. If you have more than one student in class, put all their names on your homework, you only need to do the homework one time ))

[Nasser Salah G6]

Nasser listened attentively to Professor Vector’s and then picked out the runes he would need for his first task. The explanation behind why the runes enabled you to summon objects in just the same way you could summon items using your wand was interesting he thought as picked the KAL and YLEM runes and pushed the other runes away from him. Nasser formed the T shape the professor had shown them then tried to summon a chest. He realized he hadn’t focused on a particular and so he chose one that wasn’t too far away n focused on it. Still he did not succeed as he tried once again. Nasser looked at the position Pansy had placed her hands on her runes. He tried again and this time the box shifted a bit from its original position. Excited about this movement Nasser tried again and chanted “Kal-yeem,” with a bit more confidence and the box flew towards him, and Nasser caught it and held it firmly in his hand, feeling victorious.

Now he prepared himself for his next task which Professor Vector had just explained. They were to unlock the boxes they had just summoned. Unlocking something with a wand was easy enough but with runes? That didn't sound too easy. Nasser frowned a little and resigned himself to the fact that he was just going to have to try. He could always ask the professor for help anyway Professor Vector never embarrassed you in front of any of the other students. Nasser put the KAL runes away and looked at through the other six runes then found the EX rune. He arranged the runes in a straight line then took a deep breath before continuing. "Ex-yeem," he chanted softly, trying to get the pronunciation correct and focusing only on the box. After a few unsuccessful trials Nasser took picked up the box and looked at it more carefully. He then put it on his desk at a different angle and got off his seat and set the runes and the box in a straight line once again then attempted to unlock his box again. He now had his complete concentration on the task at hand and had blocked out the sounds of the other students as they chanted around him. "EX-YEEM!," said Nasser, his eyes on the lock. Nasser heard a click and looked at the lock. Had it budged at all? Nasser touched the lid and the box suddenly sprang open! Finally! Nasser pulled out the chocolate inside and pulled the gold paper it was wrapped in it and popped the chocolate into his mouth. It was delicious and creamy, and Nasser thought it was really nice of Professor Vector to prepare such a surprise for them. Professor Snape could do with taking a leaf out of her book.

They still had one more task to do before the end of the class. Basically what they were supposed to do was reverse all their previous actions and lock the box and send it back to the front table. Nasser wiped his hands and picked out the AN rune. He set the runes once again in the same T shape and prepared himself for the last task. This time Nasser got the box locked on his first attempt. He couldn't believe it when the box locked itself on his first try. However the box refused to fly back from it had come from despite Nasser's efforts. He had already tried about ten times and the box hadn't even moved an inch from its position. Nasser sat on his desk feeling very frustrated. All they had done was add one more rune. Why wouldn't it work! Nasser was half-tempted to just pick up the box and return it and tell the Professor he had had enough. He decided to look at some of the other students first. Nasser saw a student try two times and finally get the box to fly across room. She was a Gryffindor Nasser didn't know too well. Nasser thought he'd try just one more time and he imitated the girl's every move. This time the box flew across the room and Nasser sighed in relief. He copied down the homework Professor Vector had written on the board and smiled at the professor before leaving the class.

"Ancient Runes is fun, but it needs perseverance! Loads of patience too," thought Nasser to himself as he walked off to the common room for a little break before his next class.