Ancient Runes NEWTs ((6th & 7th years))

[Professor Adam Greene]

Perhaps Adam was feeling a bit daring, or maybe he was just crazy. Either way, today's lesson would include him opening up a bit of himself and his life for his NEWTs class to interpret and analyze. It was a technique he had yet to try; for the entire class to do an analysis on a situation which was relevant to his life, but it was a technique he had read about while researching different methods for teaching runes. Since it was a new subject for him this year after Headmistress McGonagall asked him to teach Ancient Runes in addition to Arithmancy, Adam was still learning the benefits of which teaching methods worked for this particular subject. Overall, he realized that practical exercises were most important, and allowing the students to do interactive readings would provide the best insight and understanding. Still, it was a rather brave move of him to decide to let the class use situations from his life as an example. Then again, part of him felt that he needed to move on, to get a fresh view of his own life and maybe this was what he needed.

Before long, the entire class of NEWTs students had assembled, and Adam found himself looking at many familiar faces. Teaching the older students was both positive and negative for him. He knew that most of them wanted to be in his class or at least enjoyed it since it was an elective and they could have dropped it if they didn't want to take it. Then again, some of the older students were those who might have remembered him from when he was a student himself. Sometimes this caused it to be a bit awkward. As time passed though, it got easier, and by this time, Adam was pretty much used to the idea that he was just a few years older than many of these students. "Good afternoon class," he said in greeting, waiting a few seconds for the whispering and chit-chat to die down.

"Today we are going to do something a bit out of the ordinary. As a class, we are going to do a runic reading together. In just a few seconds, I will cast the runes after describing a situation from my life. Then, using what we've learned in the past weeks and what you were supposed to have read about the nine-runes cast for today's lesson, I will open up the class for discussion of what you might interpret or analyze for my runic cast. We'll then dive into some of your ideas and use this as a practical way to build off of the ideas of others as you see a nine-runes cast in practice. If there are no questions, I'll go ahead and get us started.

Adam opened his felt bag of runes and closed his eyes as he swished the rune tiles around with his fingertips. Then, counting them in his head, he selected nine of them and cupped both palms around the selected tiles. "For my situation, we will be analyzing my career path. As some of you might know, I started teaching here just last Christmas. It's been almost a year now, and though I started teaching Arithmancy, I now teach both that and Runes. However, three years ago, I'd have never seen myself in this position. I had great ambition to be one of the next Ministers of Magic, and upon graduation I secured a job with the ministry. Obviously, it didn't last. So, once I cast these nine runes, I'd like for you all to analyze them and provide any possible insights concerning the past, present, and even future path of my career. I know it's been a short career path so far, but I am open to your analysations and input.

Adam deftly cast the nine rune tiles onto the table in front of him. Then, taking his wand, he enlarged the runes and used a spell that levitated them in a way that they were hovering in front of the class so that each student could see from their seats what the runes looked like when cast onto the table. "Would anybody like to begin?"

Note: The runes with the blue outline landed face down. You can roleplay your student flipping them over. I showed you what they were in case you find them relevant and would have flipped them over. As well, some runes landed flipped (merkstave) and obviously some were completely flipped and others partially flipped. Use these factors in your analyzation since this is a class based on intuition and possibilities.

((Feel free to speak up as though Adam would have called on you. You can make insights, ask him questions, or even comment on other students suggestions. Please don't get carried away. I know that you could analyze a lot of things with just this one cast, but let others have a chance. Make a point or two and then wait for someone else to respond. All housepoints will be awarded at the END of the class and will be based on a mixture of participation (number of posts) and relevance (accurate and engaging context within the posts). Most importantly, have fun! I will add input when needed, but feel free to move the class along with discussion and speculation. In the end I will give you all your homework assignment which will be based on the nine-runes cast. )

Go HERE to find all information which is pertinent to this class.

[Ephraim Eades R7]

After having read about the nine-runes cast, Ephraim was eager to try it for himself. Even before class, he had done it a few times, though a few of his casts, if not all of them, seemed to contradict one another. Perhaps this was why Professor Greene had stressed the idea that when doing a cast, its best to do just one and really focus on interpreting and analyzing that cast. Somehow, this seemed too simplistic for Ephraim. Either way, he figured he'd be getting another chance to do a nine-runes cast in today's class. Perhaps this one, since it was done in class, would be the official one that he could go off of? He doubted that was how it worked.

Bright eyed and smiling (it was rare to find him any other way), E entered the class and found himself to be the first student. "Morning, Professor," he greeted, taking his usual seat in the third row. Never the front, never the back, he liked being in the center of all the learning. Soon enough, his classmates trickled in, some alone, others in pairs or groups. Ephraim smiled to each of them in turn, or at least those of which seemed kind enough to make eye contact and return a smile. Some people just weren't as friendly as he was. Nevertheless, his mood failed to be dampened.

When Professor Greene started the class, Ephraim was a bit saddened that he wouldn't get to interpret another nine-runes cast for himself, but he did find the thought of a classroom discussion appealing. Ephraim loved discussions and learning, and most of all he enjoyed working with others. As the runes were cast, E took a long and hard look, naming the five visible runes in his head. His natural curiosity wanted him to overturn the four runes that weren't face-up, but he refrained, remembering that you were to first focus on only the runes that decided to present themselves. He turned his attention next to the two face-up runes which were touching: Raidho and Hagalaz. "A journey of trial," he said quietlyy to himself, hardly meaning to speak out loud. Upon realizing his blurted interpretation, Ephraim quickly raised his hand.

When Professor Greene called on him, Ephraim gave a more audible version of his initial analysation. "The two face-up runes which are touching are Raidho and Hagalaz. Since they could be identified as the center of your cast, they could be the main focus. Raidho is symbolic of a journey or a path that you must travel. Hagalaz represents destruction, especially within nature, but could simply be forewarning of a trial. Together, it seems that you'll have some sort of journey which is lined with a trial." He flashed a sort of concerned look. Perhaps Professor Greene wouldn't take lightly to Ephraim announcing this journey through trial. Then again, the runes spoke for themselves. It didn't take an interpreter to make it true. Ephraim was only pointing out what he saw.

[Ruby Lehane]

Digits wrapped around the cloth tan strap of the over-the-shoulder canvas bag that was light as a feather. It was always so incredibly light even though it held a good five books as well as parchment, ink, quills, and whatever else needed to be dragged to class everyday. Magic had that ability to make things lighter…well not just that. Magic had a way of doing a lot of things. In this case it had a way of lighting the load that Ruby was going to be packing around for the entire day until her break came along. There were plenty of classes to go to and plenty of points to earn for Slytherin. That was something that Ruby was always interested in doing. For the last 4 years Slytherin had not won the House Cup. There were too many Slytherins that didn’t know how to exact revenge. They were all concerned with doing things in the open and lose Slytherin house points. That wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t happen. There were far too many that didn’t understand that going behind the back, that manipulating got better results. That was something they’d need to learn. Until then it was up to the few Slytherins that understood manipulation to earn the points back that Slytherin kept losing. Ravenclaw was not about to win this year. If it was the last thing Ruby did it was to keep Ravenclaw from earning the House Cup again.

Form moved from the 6th year dorm room. Stature stretched briefly with the bag on shoulder before feet carried her up the steps to the common room and then out the secret passageway. Feet moved through the echoic corridors, form tall, back straight, head held high as she moved. Long blonde tresses were hanging loose as always, slightly wavy giving her an air of someone far older than she. Through the corridors she moved and then headed up the stairs to the Ancient Runes classroom. She’d had an interest in Divination ever since she was a little girl and it hadn’t stopped. She was more than eager to learn about using the runes to divine something important and how they could help her strategize. That was something she needed…something that would be of use in the upcoming years.

Icy blue orbs settled on the door to the classroom and moments later she slipped through it and sat down. She was early as always. Taking her normal seat, hands brought her bag to the desk and she dug through it almost immediately grabbing up the quill, ink, and parchment that she would need for notes as well as her own set of Runes. Digits then tucked a few strands of blonde hair behind her ears as Professor Greene came in. Professor Greene…that was a new one. She remembered him as Adam Greene…not Professor Greene. However that was not the point. The point was that she could earn points in this class if she worked to answer every question for there was no way a fellow Slytherin would deny her that.

When Professor Greene shared they would be focusing on just one nine cast that day and having a group discussion Ruby inwardly groaned. It would be hard to gain house points with that, but still she had every intention of doing so. She was about to speak up when some Ravenclaw started in before she could. How annoying…she hated when they did that. They always thought they were better than everyone, well Ruby was in no mood for their annoying behavior today, not when she was so focused on getting house points. She raised her hand after the Ravenclaw boy spoke his mind. “However this journey of trial,” Ruby said, quoting the boys softly spoken words from before, “may not be cause specifically by you. As we see with Ansuz lying in near Merkstave position you will have a misunderstanding in some communication, or might be manipulated in some form or fashion as we can see with Uruz being in complete Merkstave. They compliment each other in the fact that both can be used to describe being misdirected and influence by others, whether by being dominated by others or manipulated by them,” Ruby said as she kept her gaze on Adam…Professor, whatever.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ancient Runes - cause to smile. It was Ivy's best subject, apart from Charms of course, and she always enjoyed it. Another reason to feel happy was that she was warm and cosy in the stripy jumper she had on beneath her school robes. It was cold outside and also in the castle, so it felt good to be properly protected against the effects of the early winter. She didn't want to get ill - she had Quidditch practices to run and she wanted her team to be the best one this year (not that she was displeased with second place last year). So she was just a tad smugly satisfied with herself for being so eminently sensible. On the other hand, she did need to hurry up and actually get to her Ancient Runes class. Ivy shoved her Runes textbook and notebook into her bag and tossed the smaller drawstring pouch that contained her set of runes in after them. She slung her bag over one shoulder, and settled the other strap comfortably on the other shoulder as she waited patiently to get out of the Common Room behind all the other people also needing to leave at the same time in the pre-lesson scrum.

She was one of the last students to arrive. A brown-haired boy sitting in the third row back smiled at her as she came in, and she smiled back, in a buoyant mood herself and also approving of someone being randomly friendly. He was sitting on his own at the time, so she went and took a seat next to him. She'd just taken out her books and runes when Professor Greene started the class. Their new teacher was very young. Ivy had yet to decide how good he was. She'd had great respect for Professor Vector, and Professor Tyler had been pretty good too. But they'd both had extra life experience, and some specialisation beyond NEWT level, which she wasn't at all convinced Professor (it seemed a bit silly calling someone barely any older than her that - she'd been at Hogwarts for the majority of the years he had been) Greene possessed in Ancient Runes. Perhaps he was taking steps to increase his knowledge beyond what he'd learnt at NEWTs level. Given that NEWTs students were supposed to do that themselves, he'd better be trying quite hard.

Ivy listened to what the other students were saying about the Runes cast and, frowning at one of them, she flicked through notes that she'd made in previous lessons. Once Ruby Lehane had finished speaking, Ivy continued on where she'd left off.
"Uruz is paired with another rune - it's the wrong way up at the moment though - but it might help with the interpretation of Uruz." She swallowed a little nervously - public speaking wasn't her forte and she was a bit shy to contribute in class. "Um... I always do the ones that are facing upwards first - Professor Tyler always recommended that, sir," she told Professor Greene, thinking as she did so that he'd probably been told the same thing by precisely the same teacher. "So Tiwaz. It's in partial Merkstave which could be... some sort of mental block or conflict - maybe arguments or problems communicating again... like Ansuz. But it's separated from the rest of the runes, so... while it's happened, it doesn't seem like the conflict is going to influence your future forever." She used her wand to turn over the rune next to Uruz. "Nauthiz," she mused. "That can be... endurance, acceptance of the situation facing you... taking the initiative to change it yourself."

[chace]

It was hard to believe that Chace was still in Ancient Runes. He really enjoyed it. That was true. But he wasn't so sure that he believed a rune could predict the future. He wasn't sure if anything could predict the future. If something or someone could then maybe his father would not have died like that. Maybe they could have done something, anything to prevent it. After that, Chace seriously considered giving up the class. He wasn't sure he would be able to handle the regular classes plus two electives but he decided against it. Ancient Runes was a fun class. Even though Chace did not believe one hundred percent behind runes it was still fun to learn and do his own nine rune cast. He would often do a nine rune cast and ask about Lara. For whatever reason, whenever he did this Berkano always seemed to be in the center, reversed. Whenever he did a nine rune cast and thought of Seth, Ingwaz and Gebo always lie in relation to each other and upright. But that couldn't be right, that's why he didn't believe in runes.

Arriving to class he immediately saw E and went to sit with him. Ivy got there first. Looking around for a second Chace also recognised Ruby but he had no desire to sit with her. He took a seat behind E not wanting to be any closer to the Professor. Professor Greene was young for his age but he seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders and seemed to manage a class just fine. If the Headmistress thought that Adam could be a professor who were the students to disagree? Professor Greene started class and told the students that todays lesson would be a group discussion. That was good. Chace feared that they would have to partner up with somebody and Chace would have hated being paired with Ruby. Chace, like most Hufflepuffs, got along with most everyone including Slytherins. However, he avoided them when possible.

Chace listened to each of the students response. E, Ruby, and, Ivy took turns deciphering the face up runes. Chace was interested in the face down ones. They were the interesting ones. He always wanted to know why they turned face down and was impatient to turn them over. Proper technique taught that one was supposed to analyse the runes that were already face up before turning the other ones. As soon as Ivy used her wand to turn the rune touching the reversed Uruz the rest were free game. Chace waited until Ivy was done talking before using a slight flick of his wand to turn over one more rune. Ingwaz. "Both Ingwaz and the other mystery rune seem to be separating Tiwaz from the rest of the runes," he spoke up. "Ingwaz cannot not be reversed but always looks the same which means to me that it foretells both sides, positive and negative at all times. It can mean male fertility, so be careful next time you see a woman professor," he smiled at the professor hoping to communicate that he was just having a lark, "but it can also mean movement without change. As if you feel like you're going through the motions of life without reaping any of the benefits. Tiwaz is in three quarters Merkstave which as Ivy says may mean mental blocks. Ingwaz represents virtue and strength and it is blocking Tiwaz from the rest of your life. Until you learn what true strength and virtue are, Tiwaz will always be blocked." The words left his mouth before his brain could stop them. He hoped that the Professor would not be offended by this. He blinked a few times before quickly adding, "That's just my interpretation though..."

[Seth Wright]

"Damn damn damn damn DAMN!" Seth hurtled down the hallway leaving trails of forgetfulness and clumsiness behind him. He skidded past a few giggling Fourth Years, pieces of parchment clutched precariously under his arms, causing the girls to laugh even more after his receding figure. He continued to curse loudly under his breath as he ran down a flight of stairs, almost tripping on the last one and bumping into a bewildered-looking Headmistress McGonagall. "Sorry, Professor!" he called out before she could stop or reprimand him. "That was close, very very close," Seth muttered. It was then his luck ran out. He swerved round a corner and slammed into someone who was also running at him - the impact was big. Both individuals went flying back and landed painfully on the floor. Parchment scattered everywhere, along with a few Muggle Studies (Seth's) and Transfiguration (the other's) textbooks. Seth groaned loudly as he scrambled up again. He hadn't hit his head - the person he'd hit was a lot smaller than him, so they'd only managed to collide with his chest. "So sorry, so sorry," Seth looked up, only to see his little sister glaring at him in obvious irritation. he gulped. "Oh. Hi, Eva."

"Hi, Seth." Eva Wright glared back with narrowed, glittering blue eyes. "What are you doing, running around school like a madman? Wait, don't answer the question. You are a madman. I forget these trivial details." Rolling her eyes with a more fond smile, Eva took Seth's outstretched hand. She hurled herself up and almost pulled Seth down with her. Sending him a pointed look that clearly said, You are so weak for a boy, she immediately took out her wand and waved it at the fallen parchment and books.

"Sorry," Seth grinned sheepishly as he let Eva's spell put his materials back into his hands - she had always been much more adept at the wand than himself. "For some weird reason I thought it was Muggle Studies after Astronomy.." He signalled his textbooks with a futile, wistful smile. "I brought all the books and everything. Then I burst into Professor Hardy's Fourth Year class." Seth looked miserable. "Then I remembered I have Ancient Runes - with Chace! How could I forget? Doh." He hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

Eva shook her head sympathetically and patted Seth on the arm, before tucking her wand away. "If you makes you feel any better, I'm late for Transfiguration too. Professor Granger is gonna kill me..." Eva grimaced. Seth inquired as to why she was late and Eva grinned. "None of your business, big brother. Let's just say I was occupied with a certain... boy." Before Seth could protest madly and fume at his little sister, she cleverly gave him a hefty push in the direction he was heading for. "But now's not the time to be talking about this. You get yourself in one piece to Runes and I need to get to my class. Bye!" And with another reassuring pat on the shoulder, Eva Wright was off again. With a long-suffering sigh, Seth clutched his stuff tighter and disappeared in the opposite direction. He'd roast his sister afterwards. Boys? At her age?! Pah. Seth totally forgot, of course, that he himself had began dating Willow in his Fifth Year.

Seth burst into the classroom just as the students were taking their seats. The bell had rung a while ago, so Seth thought he'd be late, but luckily they'd only just started. Seth mouthed a sorry to no one in particular, and catching sight of Chace's familiar head, immediately sat down next to him, catching his breath. "Hey," he murmured, dropping his books onto the floor and looking expectantly at his best friend who was looking questioningly at him. "Don't ask," he shook his head. "I walked in on a Muggle Studies lesson for Fourth Years and haven't got a single Runes book with me. Share?" He grinned innocently at Chace. Before he could say anything else, though, Professor Greene had started to speak, so Seth thought it wise not to continue. He fiddled with his quill as the teacher drew up the runes and he looked at this with interest. Seth was competent at Ancient Runes - he wasn't amazing at it, but he did achieve an E in his OWL, which wasn't bad for him. Seth didn't plan on talking much in the lesson - he never did. He merely sat there and absently listened to what everyone else contributed. When it came to Chace's turn for offering an answer, Seth watched his best friend with hidden pride.

However, then Professor's Greene's eyes slid to him, and Seth started and blinked. Did he expect an answer? Then his name was called. What did he think? Seth groaned inwardly. Great. He never contributed in lessons, but now he was forced to pay attention. It was bound to happen sometimes. Seth took a deep breath, aware that most eyes in the classroom were upon him. "Um... since... there are only two left I'll... turn them around." He gave Professor Greene a tight but lopsided smile and flicked his wand nervously. He spun one rune round too much and he grimaced; it evoked some laughter from the class. Rubbing his head in embarrassment and glancing briefly at Chace for encouragement, Seth began to speak as he racked his brains for what the rune might indicate. "That one's... um... Manaz. It means man. Um..." Seth sighed, gathered his wits - because he did know this material - and tried again. "Sorry, um, well, basically, Manaz means the human race or the person. It indicates... people's attitudes. It symbolises intelligence, skill, ability... But anyway, it's in the Merkstave position, so that means..." Seth thought for a moment. "Depression, mortality, blindness, self-delusion, cunning, slyness, manipulation, craftiness, calculation... And don't expect anyone to help you, because you won't get any." Seth floundered in embarrassment. "That might indicate that you're depressed..." It was sounding worse by the minute. "Or that you can't see that someone's going to betray you... so you should be careful. I think someone said that before?"

Seth gulped and continued, though. He couldn't stop there! His wand carefully turned over the other rune. "Algiz, Protection," he mumbled. "This one symbolises... a shield - the protective urge to shelter... maybe yourself from the people who will betray you, or shield other people, which may lead to people betraying you..." Seth shrugged self-consciously. "Algiz with Manaz it is possibly implying that you should guard yourself from the eventual evil to come... That you will be blind to it at first but you will... be strong. It's meant to be a connection with the gods, like an, well, awakening, a higher life. Follow your instincts." Seth nodded. He remembered the latter statement from the textbook. "So um... yeah," he concluded lamely.

[Mrs Norris]

Mrs Norris would never understand how humans walked around without a coat of fur. It was a crisp November morning and luckily she had her coat to protect her from the cold castle. What about the poor students? All they could do was put on processed cotton. How did the professors expect them to stay warm in the drafty castle? Maybe it was all this running they had to do to get to class on time. Mrs Norris was thinking of one particular student this morning. She was doing her usual rounds making sure everyone was getting to class on time and that no one was breaking the rules. When a tall boy (all humans are tall when you are a cat) ran by her. He had touches of yellow on his robes and she thought that it would be fun to follow him. She quickened her pace as he hurtled down the corridor obviously late for some class or another. Then BAM!

The boy that she was following ran into another student. Mrs Norris kept her distance but wanted to make sure both were all right. There was nothing worse than getting attacked in the corridors. Personal experience for her. Both seemed fine although a little shook up. They exchanged words and the boy continued on his way. Mrs Norris made eye contact with the girl as they passed but she continued to follow the boy. He entered a classroom she knew belonged to Professor Greene. Adam Greene was still a kitten compared to some of the other professors and the bald headed man could be heard to mumble in his sleep that he could teach classes better than these pretend teachers. Mrs Norris withheld judgement until she saw for herself. She could care less wither they were good teachers. What she wanted to know was whether they could contain their classes.

She followed the boy into the classroom. He took a seat next to another tall boy. She hopped onto a desk at the very back of the classroom and sat on her hind legs. Her glowing eyes observed the students as they waited for the lesson to begin. Her tail swishing back and forth slowly. She licked her lips as the professor began to speak. Who knows what he was saying, she never learned to understand human language. Nor did she care to. The students seemed to be behaving for the most part although these students were on the older end of the spectrum so that helped. Adam used his wand to enlarge some little rock looking things. Mrs Norris viewed them wide eyed. Floating rocks should not be that big. In fact, rocks shouldn't float. She slowly backed away from the floating things forgetting that she was on a desk and could not back up very far. "Rwarr!" she cried as she fell to the ground. She quickly regained her senses and swiftly and as quietly as she could slipped out of the room hoping no one noticed.

[Professor Adam Greene]

At the sound of a meowing cat, Adam's attention darted to Mrs Norris who was fleeing from the classroom. He had hardly noticed her entrance as his attention had hung on every word that his students spoke. Aside from the fact that they were analyzing his runes cast, Adam was highly impressed with the five students who seemed to lead the discussion. Since runes was based on interpretation, there was little he could do to offer much more advice, seeing that they had all correctly identified the runes and provided at least reasonable input as to what they meant. "Highly insightful," he spoke finally, nodding to the class. "Ten points a piece to Ephraim, Ruby, Ivy, Chace and Seth." Adam often preferred using the students first names as opposed to their surnames. Perhaps it was because there was little difference between his age and their own, or perhaps he felt it seemed more friendly and less formal. If there was one thing Adam remembered hating about school, it was how formal and uppity the professors would sometimes act. He loved it when a professor would just tell it like it was and not pretend as though they were the expert and nothing else mattered. Granted, most professors weren't entirely like this, and perhaps calling one by their surname wasn't all so terrible. Still, by using first names, Adam felt that he was creating his own sort of reputation. He didn't want to be known as arrogant or cold. The best way to teach was the reach the students where they were... that was his philosophy.

"I can't say I have much to add for this particular runic reading. It seems that you've all done your homework and are well read on the nine-runes cast. Well, at least the five who spoke up seem to be. So, if you could, please break up into pairs and take turns doing a nine-runes cast for the rest of our time. Be sure to copy down both yours and your partners cast onto a piece of parchment, and then I want a detailed interpretation written for the cast of your choice. You can do your own or your partners, whichever you find most interesting. I'll be coming around to observe and note your progress."

Adam waved his wand and cast the appropriate charm to return his runes to their original size. Then, having collected them all, he gathered them into his leather pouch and levitated it to his desk drawer. Slowly, he mad his way around the room, watching and listening as the students continued to prove why they were studying runes at a N.E.W.T level.

((Note: This class is officially over. If you wish to gain more house points, you may send me a copy of your character's homework. You don't have to include a visual of the runes if you don't want, but you must at least give me a verbal depiction of how they landed so that I can determine if your interpretation is accurate. If you choose to do this assignment, please PM it to me no later than 12 January if you want credit. Any submissions received later than that date will not receive credit. Thanks for participating! I look forward to seeing you all in Arithmancy next! ))