But... Nora knew the Elder Futhark!

... sort of.

Yes, she'd seen the alphabet... once... somewhere. Yes, she did. Because she once wanted to write her name in runes, being so fascinated with that part of history, with the vikings and -

Ahem. "Nauthiz is my favourite," she grinned as her hand shot in the air. Well, of course it was her favourite. Nauthiz with N from Nora. Hehe. "It means responsibility, facing your fears," which she never did, "endurance and... obstacles, I think?" She hoped at least half of what she said was correct.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

"Alright. I am going to give you five minutes to have a look through your text book, pick out one rune and give me a brief description about it."

*EPIC EYE ROLL*

Again at that Slytherin kid, of course. Yeah. Every day somehow someone managed to prove how right she was to think that being Slytherin was...meh! Being a boy was...meh! And especially being a Slytherin boy was...MEH! That boy was a living proof of it.

When the professor showed the class the symbols on the board though, Lea stopped glaring at the boy and turned to examine the symbols. Oooh...yes. They were familiar no doubt. The little girl smiled at the sight of them. She really found them interesting. She found her text book in her bag and opened the page with the meanings. She did not look in there much though, as she knew which one talk about.

''My favourite is Thurisaz, professor.'' She said enthusiastically eyes growing bigger a bit. ''The rune of chaos!!'' Mwahahahahha!!! ''It might mean evil foces, chaos, temptation, suuuuper magical power aaaaaand can be a warning!!'' Yes, yes. That was very exciting. VERY. It was the best of the runes.

''It is not always a bad omen though. Those can also be used for good.''

Good thing Nigel brought his text book to class. Before he was wondering if he would need it on the first day. OK he had to find a rune he liked and describe it, So what rune would he like to talk about. He skimmed through his textbook and found the rune Ansuz. " Professor I pick Ansuz." He liked it because it looked like the letter F. " It means one of the gods right?"

Narumi flipped through her text book actually reading all of the runes and not just picking a random one. Finally she picked her favorite rune, which was a first for her, so she was pretty happy! I have decided my favorite rune is Othala! Remembering what it meant she added Othala is the rune of the ancient clan lands.

Theodore's eyes squinted at the board. How confusing was this?! He was thankful that they had an easy alphabet to work with, yup.

He flicked open the textbook and picked the one that looked kind of like a 'T'. 'T' for Theodore, ya know. Tiwaz... Oooh, this was a cool one!! Theodore raised his hand and TRIED not to read it all word for word.

"The Rune... Tiwaz represents winning and victory." YES. HE WAS USED TO WINNING.

He just won at life.

"And... it's all about proper leadership and success." He couldn't get his head around all these different meanings, though. Wasn't it just an ALPHABET? With letters?

Zack was happy to see the tree and the fountain like something in the class. He loved climbing on the trees, and hanging on its branches, but now he was in a class and he didn't want to get distracted by the tree. He looked back at the professor who was talking to them now.

He knew this one, it was the most common queston. He knew a little bit about it or else he wouldn't be sittin ghere. He raised his hand and said "Professor, Runes are alphabetic script used by the peoples of Northern Europe. They are also served as a system of symbols used for magic and divination." he said and brought his hand down. Trying not to look back at the tree.



Zack was still staring at the tree and then back at something that almost looked as a fountain and then back at the tree and the children climbing. He wanted to climb too, but thought better off it.

He liked ancients and now one of the reason to like it more was the way professor had the room set. He got a pleasant feeling sitting next to the tree. He looked at professor as he asked started the lesson. Hmm...Elder Futhark he knew a bit about it. He raised his hand and said "Professor, The Futhark originally consists of 24 letters. They begin with F and end with O. This form of the runes is known as The Elder and is also known as Germanic Futhark." he said and brought his hand down. He then looked back at the tree and smiled. Yeah it's still there he wasn't imagining it.



Zack looked at he board as the Elder Futhark appeared on the board. He was just about to say Wow, but stopped he did't wanted to look stupid. He didn't know all of them, it was a little bit confusing and stressful for him to remember all of them.

He looked at the board and back at professor who was now asking them to give a brief description on any one of them. He looked back at the chart n the board thinking which one he should choose. He looked at his text book and decided to take Dagaz. He raised his hand and said "Professor, Dagaz. It is a reminder of the cyclical nature of all things, like night and day. It shows that what rises must fall. It shows that all things are interconnected and in a state of constant flux. It also shows that there is balance in all things, celestial and material. For a better example, it can be said as the night has passed and a new day is beginning." he said. He looked back at his text book to check if what he said was correct and smiled. He then looked back at professor

Minerva looked at the runes, but wasn't sure which one to choose. She tried to pronounce some of them and found it a bit difficult. Why was this class so hard for her she thought. She then decided just to pick one at Random and opened her book. She skimmed through the book looking for it. When she found it she began to first try to pronounce it correctly and then Minerva scanned the pages to see what it meant.

She wrote on her parchment and then lifted her hand. "Professor, I decided to go with Pertho, I think that's how you say it at least." she checked her parchment at again. "It means birth or it can also mean the indications of hidden talents that were not revealed until now." she looked up hoping she had it all correct.

Ooooh yay!Her alphabet. Elise knew the alphabet, thank Merlin for that. A, B, C, D, E, and the rest. She didn't want to start singing and disrupt the class, anyway.

Raising her hand, she waved it around to get his attention. "I like Kenaz," she grinned. "It's like light. Creativity and all that stuff." It's cool!

"I like Sowilo," Sarah said rather shyly. "I like its symbol, it looks like lightening, and ightening has energy. ONne can hav all the brains in the world, yet if they don;t have energy there is notmuch they can accomplish. It also carries alot of positive character traits. The ability to be positive and energetic come from here. As well is motivation."

Sarah didnt know why she said about lightening, She was petrified of lightening.

Blue fished her Ancient Runes textbook out of her bag, a frown on her face. She probably needed to clean out her bag but she really couldn't have been bothered. Finally, she pulled it out and looked up Isa because...it sounded fun to say.

Okay.

Isa...Isa..Isa.

YAY! She had found it. Throwing up her hand, she said "Professor, Isa literally means ice. It's the rune of concentration of things in a frozen state. And it um- it also means self-image and ego." Yup. 'Twas awesome.

You give Ravenclaw five hundred points now?

Please?

With sugah on tooop????

It wasn't that Isidora wasn't interested in giving answers or excited about runes or anything, this was possibly going to be HER FAVORITE CLASS, except... well what was the tree for? Where they going to get to CARVE runes out of it? And the water fountain thing? Why were they outside inside? It had the first year a little distracted and quiet but she was paying attention, and casually flipped through her book when it called for.

"Kenaz," Her hand shot up before she had even reached the page she was looking for, and she started off from memory. "Means torch, and it symbolizes creativity and knowledge and power of light. Like, not really the power to control light, but to ability to shed light on important stuff, and to create reality from your imagination and wisdom and lots of other things." It was her total FAVORITE rune. But she didn't say that cause he wasn't asking was he? She didn't give out extra information cause he wanted it brief.

She was sooo good at keeping it brief.

Her hand tugged on a braid as it went back to her lap to fiddle with the pages of her book.

Pyrsephonie raised her hand to answer the Professor's question. "My favourite rune is Hagalaz. It symbolizes Rebirth in Destruction. You need to let go of the past for the future to take hold."

West stuck his hand up and then went back to making horns against his head. "I said one already. Uruz. I like it. Its the Auroch one. Its about being strong and manly and powerful, and having potential, except when its up the other way around and then it means weakness or like, power and strong stuff without sensitivity, like bullies and stuff."

He stopped being an Auroch and sat back, twisting this way and that to look at his classmates as they offered answers.

Doing as instructed, Dylan pulled out his Runes textbook and began looking for a rune. The Professor hadn't given any specific instruction as far as the one to be chosen. So, skimming the meanings, the Slytherin seen the word "giving" and went with it.

...Since he considered himself such a giver.

Raising his hand..."I'm going with Gebo. The Rune itself is shaped just like an "X" from the English alphabet...As far as the meaning goes, the book simply says it represents the act of "giving" in all forms. 'Positive emotions, acts of selflessness and the giving of gifts' to quote the passage."

Derrick listened to everything the Professor said and once she was finished,pick up his textbook.He flicked through it until he found his favourite.

It was easy to know but he still liked it.''Professor I Picked Eihwaz.''He said smiling.''It means Defence,Patience and Calmness.''He explained.

"Raidho, something to do with journeys." Eliza carelessly tossed into the conversation. Ancient Runes was a useless subject, and to add, she really wasn't in the mood.

Now that was a good question. Oliver gave the young Gryffindor a smile. "Runes don't predict the future as in the case of Divination. It is an Oracle which gives counsel to the reader, offering up an analysis to the problem as well as possible outcomes and solutions to one's spiritual path. And as you will see, each rune offers several different meanings which is why you should have a good understanding of them for when you do a runic spread." Which he was hoping that they would be able to get to do some time during this term. He hoped that helped the youngster.




"Very good." Oliver nodded his head, happy that they at least could read out of their text book. "So we know that the Elder Futhark is an alphabet used long ago to send messages. It also contains these symbols that have different meanings. And as I as explained to the young girl over there (Oichi)." he said pointing at the young Gryffindor. He really needed to get these kids names at some point. "The meanings of these symbols can help us in deciphering a problem that we may be having and give us a solution or outcome to that problem."

"So does anyone know how we could possibly use the runes magically?"

ooc: Sorry I took so long to reply. My internet was being a drama queen yesterday.

Nigel was right about it being a really old alphabet. But Nigel still did not know why knowing the definitions of runes would help him in his education here at Hogwarts. It seemed to Nigel like this was a class were you would get a word and you would somehow have to know its definition or you were wrong.

He had barely even opened the textbook before class to know why the runes could be magical or not. But since this class was basically only for first years like him he thought why not take a guess, it couldn't hurt. "Professor, maybe some runes are magical so you need to use magic from different runes to uncover what the meaning of what that rune is"

Gah, if only his mother could eavesdrop on this lesson...That woman was obsessed with this type of magic.

"Sir, if I may..." Dylan was raising his hand and shaking his head slightly. "Some believe that certain runes...when matched in the right way with others, could cast powerful, Protective magic..."

It wasn't that he didn't believe this possible...It just seemed so pointless. They had wands...and spells with actual incantations that did the same things. Why sit down in front of a tree stump with wooden tiles and try to accomplish the same thing?

Narumi raised her hand and said Erm cant some be used for transportation, protection? That was really all that Narumi knew aboout why runes were magical, she was only a firstie and she only knew what she said because of two certain Ravenclaws named Nerida and Sarassi...

West's hand went up again, cheerful as ever. "You sing them! It sounds funny. Even when my dad does it its funny. But it works." Well his dad said it was chanting but it sounded like funny singing to West.

Minerva thought about what Professor Jenkins had asked, she wasn't completely sure, but put her hand up to try and guess. "Professor does some of the runes protect you from bad things or give you good luck?"

Oichi was a bit surprised by the professors responce to her question. She had not expected runes to be more something to give counsel, like give you advice, luck or protection. Oichi copied this onto her parchment:

Then the professor how Ancient runes are magical. Oichi was not sure so she skimmed through her book and found what she though was an intersting answer, "Ancient runes are magical in that you have to have the extraordinary ability of magic along with the will to call on the ancient symbol for their specific counsel to get any result.".

How to use runes magically...

Nora raised her hand. "Each rune has magical meanings," or... they didn't? "So... maybe if we add an incantation or something while we carve them, we... activate the magical part? They could be used for protection, for example." She had no idea what she was rambling about.

"You can use them to look into your FUTURE." Her hand dropped her braid and shot into the air. "Divination and stuff. Or so they say in the books I've read." Which was to say, little Dora didn't really believe them. The look that went with her response certainly said so.